pjgordon - Oct 17, 2007 5:45 pm Date Climbed: Apr 19, 2007
SE Ridge
No snow, nothing but loose scree. A large boulder rocked and rolled across one of my friends knee, so we turned back for some other peaks. Will try again in the winter.
Michael Graupe - Aug 6, 2007 8:42 pm Date Climbed: Aug 2, 2007
Traverse from Excelsior
Warm-up hike for the 2007 Sierra Challenge. Traversed the ridge from Excelsior and got chased off the summit by thunderstorms.
Adamus - Jul 21, 2007 4:37 am Date Climbed: Jul 14, 2007
Southwest Slope
Decent scramble. Solid. Straight up ridge from TH. 1:15 up.
JasonH - May 13, 2007 10:29 pm Date Climbed: Apr 29, 2007
Route Climbed: SW Slopes
The whole south face was melted out. A combination of late start, not enough time, and no snow made us turn around at 10 am. The climb was a slog up talus and scree. We wanted to stick to the ridge but the rock was loose so the hand holds were really sketchy. I will try this mountain again but only if there is snow.
jonhersh - Sep 11, 2006 5:39 am Date Climbed: Sep 4, 2006
Route Climbed: SE Ridge
Tried to avoid the loose stuff on the slopes by sticking to the ridge. However, seemed like some of the 3rd class rock wasn't real solid.
Route Climbed: SE Ridge Date Climbed: 24 July 2005
Found the SE ridge as the others did. I descended the first chute I found toward Moat/Blue lakes. Mix of scree and talus made the fun/work ratio almost even. Up and down in 3 hours with 30 mins. at summit is nice for any Sierra peak. On top by 8:30 am, beautiful morning.
A solo climb. Got a nice route description from the woman at the Virginia Lakes store. Slogged up the slopes above Moat lake. Lots of loose talus and scree. Moved on to the ridge for some more interesting climbing. Finally reached the summit. "Scree-skied" down some slopes on the south side back to the lakes. Met back up with Jason and admired his fish.
Route Climbed: SE Ridge Date Climbed: July 15, 1983
Highlight of a college roadtrip-lots of lucky lager, long soaks in the hotsprings near Bridgeport and good friends. The view from the summit was worth the effort! Someone wrote in the summit register, "Dreaming is for sleepers, I'm awake and this is reality." So true that day.
Route Climbed: SE Ridge Date Climbed: 17 August 2003
Heh-heh, I thought the SE Ridge was a pretty forgettable route myself. ;-) But Barry's route description was dead on. The scree is pretty bad all over the mountain, but if you stick to the class 3 scrambling, you can avoid much of it.
That being said, summit views were FANtastic! We were blessed with a warm and relatively windless day. A pair of large birds of prey (falcons, golden eagles???) put on a high-speed acrobatics show around the summit.
On the way up I saw a sweet-looking scree chute, so instead of following the spine of the ridge, we did a lot of tedious traversing on the descent, looking for the elusive chute. Eventually we did find it, and used it to descend the last thousand feet or so in less than twenty minutes. We met a use trail about halfway between Moat Lake and Blue Lake, and just followed it and later an official trail back to the parking lot.
We drove in the night before and slept under the stars in the sagebrush. Mars and the Moon put on a great show. Started the climb at 7:15, took around 2 hours to ascend, spent an hour or so on the summit, and then took something like 1h30 to descend. We planned to climb Mount Dana later in the day, but after a tasty burger and shake in Lee Vining, we felt soft and instead took a swim in Tenaya Lake.
Judging from the volume and looseness of the talus, I would guess that rockfall from the towers on the south slopes could be troublesome in spring. The mosquitoes followed us, but only up to 10,500' or so. Oddly, I would see them disperse when I'd kick a loose rock. There must have been some water on or near the surface. Perhaps some springs, or residual snowmelt?
Route Climbed: SE Ridge (ascent) / West Ridge (descent) Date Climbed: Aug 8, 2003
Great views from the summit. bearbnz is right on about the SE Ridge. It has pretty firm rock and some very fun class 3 if you look for it. The West Ridge is a forgetable route - I took it just because it was different. Warm up for the 2003 Sierra Challenge.
pjgordon - Oct 17, 2007 5:45 pm Date Climbed: Apr 19, 2007
SE RidgeNo snow, nothing but loose scree. A large boulder rocked and rolled across one of my friends knee, so we turned back for some other peaks. Will try again in the winter.
Michael Graupe - Aug 6, 2007 8:42 pm Date Climbed: Aug 2, 2007
Traverse from ExcelsiorWarm-up hike for the 2007 Sierra Challenge. Traversed the ridge from Excelsior and got chased off the summit by thunderstorms.
Adamus - Jul 21, 2007 4:37 am Date Climbed: Jul 14, 2007
Southwest SlopeDecent scramble. Solid. Straight up ridge from TH. 1:15 up.
JasonH - May 13, 2007 10:29 pm Date Climbed: Apr 29, 2007
Route Climbed: SW SlopesThe whole south face was melted out. A combination of late start, not enough time, and no snow made us turn around at 10 am. The climb was a slog up talus and scree. We wanted to stick to the ridge but the rock was loose so the hand holds were really sketchy. I will try this mountain again but only if there is snow.
jonhersh - Sep 11, 2006 5:39 am Date Climbed: Sep 4, 2006
Route Climbed: SE RidgeTried to avoid the loose stuff on the slopes by sticking to the ridge. However, seemed like some of the 3rd class rock wasn't real solid.
Summit was windy, but the views were great.
Desert Solitaire - Sep 27, 2005 9:08 pm
Route Climbed: SW Slopes Date Climbed: September 25, 2005I tried to think of something nice to say about this peak, but couldn't think of any. Pretty much a slog any way up or down.
uwjennie - Sep 25, 2005 9:45 pm
Route Climbed: SW Slopes Date Climbed: Sept. 24, 2005Pretty much a slog with some class 2-3.
Matt Worster - Jul 24, 2005 10:04 pm
Route Climbed: SE Ridge Date Climbed: 24 July 2005Found the SE ridge as the others did. I descended the first chute I found toward Moat/Blue lakes. Mix of scree and talus made the fun/work ratio almost even. Up and down in 3 hours with 30 mins. at summit is nice for any Sierra peak. On top by 8:30 am, beautiful morning.
Brian Kalet - Jul 18, 2005 12:31 pm
Route Climbed: Southwest Slopes (ascent) / Southeast Ridge (descent) Date Climbed: July 16, 2005From Excelsior.
fedak - Jun 14, 2004 7:23 pm
Route Climbed: West slope from Gilman Lake Date Climbed: 12-Jun-2004The west slope is pretty much a long, evil, loose talus slog. Great weather, no skeeters, and outstanding views from the summit.
Pics are here.
Matthew Holliman - Jun 7, 2004 2:58 pm
Route Climbed: SE Ridge Date Climbed: June 4, 2004Climbed this Friday evening. The scrambling was better than I'd expected on this slag pile... but still not a classic climb.
birdhead - Feb 4, 2004 1:40 am
Route Climbed: SW Slopes Date Climbed: June 2002A solo climb. Got a nice route description from the woman at the Virginia Lakes store. Slogged up the slopes above Moat lake. Lots of loose talus and scree. Moved on to the ridge for some more interesting climbing. Finally reached the summit. "Scree-skied" down some slopes on the south side back to the lakes. Met back up with Jason and admired his fish.
Dave Dinnell - Jan 8, 2004 6:51 pm
Route Climbed: SE Ridge Date Climbed: July 15, 1983Highlight of a college roadtrip-lots of lucky lager, long soaks in the hotsprings near Bridgeport and good friends. The view from the summit was worth the effort! Someone wrote in the summit register, "Dreaming is for sleepers, I'm awake and this is reality." So true that day.
mpbro - Aug 18, 2003 10:58 am
Route Climbed: SE Ridge Date Climbed: 17 August 2003Heh-heh, I thought the SE Ridge was a pretty forgettable route myself. ;-) But Barry's route description was dead on. The scree is pretty bad all over the mountain, but if you stick to the class 3 scrambling, you can avoid much of it.
That being said, summit views were FANtastic! We were blessed with a warm and relatively windless day. A pair of large birds of prey (falcons, golden eagles???) put on a high-speed acrobatics show around the summit.
On the way up I saw a sweet-looking scree chute, so instead of following the spine of the ridge, we did a lot of tedious traversing on the descent, looking for the elusive chute. Eventually we did find it, and used it to descend the last thousand feet or so in less than twenty minutes. We met a use trail about halfway between Moat Lake and Blue Lake, and just followed it and later an official trail back to the parking lot.
We drove in the night before and slept under the stars in the sagebrush. Mars and the Moon put on a great show. Started the climb at 7:15, took around 2 hours to ascend, spent an hour or so on the summit, and then took something like 1h30 to descend. We planned to climb Mount Dana later in the day, but after a tasty burger and shake in Lee Vining, we felt soft and instead took a swim in Tenaya Lake.
Judging from the volume and looseness of the talus, I would guess that rockfall from the towers on the south slopes could be troublesome in spring. The mosquitoes followed us, but only up to 10,500' or so. Oddly, I would see them disperse when I'd kick a loose rock. There must have been some water on or near the surface. Perhaps some springs, or residual snowmelt?
steeleman - Aug 17, 2003 10:48 pm
Route Climbed: South Couloir Date Climbed: May 2003Unlike Bearbnz, it took me about ten hours from Virginia Lake to summit :-)
Skied the south couloir back down. Three hours later, a huge avalanche swept the entire chute. That's why you get up early...
Bob Burd - Aug 17, 2003 10:30 pm
Route Climbed: SE Ridge (ascent) / West Ridge (descent) Date Climbed: Aug 8, 2003Great views from the summit. bearbnz is right on about the SE Ridge. It has pretty firm rock and some very fun class 3 if you look for it. The West Ridge is a forgetable route - I took it just because it was different. Warm up for the 2003 Sierra Challenge.
bearbnz - Aug 2, 2003 12:24 am
Route Climbed: SE Ridge Date Climbed: July 23, 20031:28 from the Virginia Lakes Trailhead to the summit, went after work on a thunderstormy day. No rain, no nearby thunder made for a successful ascent.