Approach via the north side and buttonhooked around to the west/ southwest very near the top. Found a more solid way to go (5.3?) for the last bit but the descent was super loose.
nice solo hike from Clear Lake, traversing through couloirs high up and some 4th class exposed sections, the final scramble was pretty solid.
I was ready for much more difficulties and was actually a little surprised how easy it fell to me. There were small cairns here and there marking the way.
Went onto V 5 afterwards.
this is a bitchin looking peak but the chip rubble really scared the crap out of me in the little couloir. Looking at member Jack B's spring winter image make sme think an Ophir pass approach in early mid spring would be the ticket. snow would be helpful though it would still be pretty steep. Skiing in the bowl below here next to Ophir Pass is said to be excellent. Ophir is the secret ski stash...
SarahThompson - Feb 28, 2008 11:04 pm Date Climbed: Jul 14, 2007
Typical San Juan sketchiness
Started off with tame V5 and finished up with this bad boy. A good route description beforehand helped, but the gully we used to reach the summit block (same one shanahan96 used) was nerve-wracking. Even though there was a sling over a big rock near the top, the rock looked so sketchy that we opted to downclimb the section even though we had a rope.
shanahan96 - Aug 12, 2007 1:56 am Date Climbed: Aug 3, 2007
lookout, oh yeah
hands down, the most evil mountain i've ever come face-to-face with.
the routefinding and dealing with the ridiculous amount of loose crap made this mountain the ultimate challenge. now that we know the route, it's not that bad....but it was then!
Andinistaloco - Jul 15, 2022 9:27 am
Annoyingly looseApproach via the north side and buttonhooked around to the west/ southwest very near the top. Found a more solid way to go (5.3?) for the last bit but the descent was super loose.
Liba Kopeckova - Sep 20, 2016 6:10 pm Date Climbed: Sep 20, 2016
surprisingly much easiernice solo hike from Clear Lake, traversing through couloirs high up and some 4th class exposed sections, the final scramble was pretty solid.
I was ready for much more difficulties and was actually a little surprised how easy it fell to me. There were small cairns here and there marking the way.
Went onto V 5 afterwards.
seth@LOKI - Jul 1, 2009 12:35 am
evil look out indeedthis is a bitchin looking peak but the chip rubble really scared the crap out of me in the little couloir. Looking at member Jack B's spring winter image make sme think an Ophir pass approach in early mid spring would be the ticket. snow would be helpful though it would still be pretty steep. Skiing in the bowl below here next to Ophir Pass is said to be excellent. Ophir is the secret ski stash...
SarahThompson - Feb 28, 2008 11:04 pm Date Climbed: Jul 14, 2007
Typical San Juan sketchinessStarted off with tame V5 and finished up with this bad boy. A good route description beforehand helped, but the gully we used to reach the summit block (same one shanahan96 used) was nerve-wracking. Even though there was a sling over a big rock near the top, the rock looked so sketchy that we opted to downclimb the section even though we had a rope.
shanahan96 - Aug 12, 2007 1:56 am Date Climbed: Aug 3, 2007
lookout, oh yeahhands down, the most evil mountain i've ever come face-to-face with.
the routefinding and dealing with the ridiculous amount of loose crap made this mountain the ultimate challenge. now that we know the route, it's not that bad....but it was then!
hey, maybe a return trip is in order sometime?
jamie