Split Mountain Climber's Log

Viewing: 1-20 of 189
Scott M.

Scott M. - Aug 16, 2006 2:49 am Date Climbed: Aug 9, 2006

Red Lake North slope  Sucess!

A deviation from the planned Sierra Challenge peak of Mt. Prater. Made it up in 5:10 and met among others Dick and Jill from China Lake. Started with Bob Burd who was up in 4:05 which smoked everyone and I enjoyed the top with Cliff and Cory, too.

catullus

catullus - Aug 15, 2006 7:22 am Date Climbed: Jul 15, 2006

red lake to north slope  Sucess!

Camped at red lake on first night. Ascended via snow-covered saddle to north ridge. Considered descent down saddle too dangerous, so climbed down rocks to the right of the saddle. On our way down we saw someone perform a just-in-time self-arrest sliding down the saddle (was sliding in self-arrest position for a good 200-300 ft). Hiked back to trailhead under moonlight...and got lost in the jungle. Had to bushwhack through jungle at night, but eventually found trail again. Beautiful mountain. Fun trip.

rgreene

rgreene - Aug 10, 2006 5:36 am Date Climbed: Aug 6, 2006

North Slope  Sucess!

3 years of taunting by my nemesis, the 2nd time on trail after a humiliating defeat in 2003. This day I emerged victorious, but some may say ... at what cost. Aug 7 was my birthday, and suffice it to say that I celebrated my hour of birth (4am local time) huddled shivering in an emergency bivy cave somewhere north of 13000' on a "way too dangerous" wall I'd accidentally downclimbed onto in the dark before giving up for the previous night... well, at least it was a birthday like none other! After that, spent the remainder of the day hiking out, got lost in the upper jungle (on the previous trip, I'd gotten lost in the lower jungle, so I count that as complete now), and then after making it to my car in daylight, proceeded to get lost trying to drive out, and taking over 4 hours to finally get back to civilization. Um, old age, anyone??

Ranboze - Aug 9, 2006 12:28 am Date Climbed: Aug 6, 2006

Route: Red Lake/North Slope  Sucess!

Did this as an overnighter and glad I did. Red Lake trail is as advertised and very unendearing. Boulder gully to second saddle above Red Lake snow filled so scooted up the rocks to the right of it.

tb00957 - Jun 21, 2006 10:57 pm Date Climbed: Jun 26, 2005

regular route  Sucess!

easy 14er. The drive to the trailhead is the hardest part.

dervin

dervin - Jun 20, 2006 4:06 am Date Climbed: Sep 6, 2004

North Slope  Sucess!

This hike was when I became a believer in hiking light. Beautiful alpine glow, but I could have skipped the talus. Cheers.

whaynal

whaynal - Jun 13, 2006 1:07 am Date Climbed: Jun 11, 2006

Slowest Summit via North Slope from the East  Sucess!

Drove to within 4.5 miles of the Red Lake trail head (in a 2001 Honda Accord sedan via the 'official' route from Big Pine through McMurray Meadows), biked half the remaining, then mostly pushed the bikes for the other half (biking in sand is terrible). Hiked almost to Red Lake, camping for the night.

At 6am we started out late for the summit. I think it was 3 miles and we made it in snails-pace 8.5 hours, which put us there at a very late 2:30pm, my first 14-er (and my first time above 11,502'). Snow was a very packed and mostly still frozen. Glorious views, very little wind. A bit warm.

Descended slowly at 3:15pm. Snow was now a little wet but stable. We did not see or hear any rock falls nor avalanches.

After repacking our bags at camp, we hiked out the rest of the way in the dark (with headlamps and a GPS track to reference). We made it back to my car by 1am, substantially later than planned, very tired and fairly dehydrated.

I found the road easily navigable, even in the dark. I didn't think the trail was very hard to follow out in the dark, but I did have to check the GPS a few times. I wish I had read these Climber Logs before I went or I would have taken a notebook for the register--it is indeed full. Someone had signed the back of a printout of the route description from Summit Post...but I forgot the name.

rhyang

rhyang - Jun 5, 2006 9:14 am Date Climbed: Jun 4, 2006

East couloir attempt

Partner had been up the East Couloir in June four years ago and found ice, so I figured "why not" and decided to go check it out.

Started from camp at Red Lake at 3:30am, soft snow conditions persisted up the glacier - probably never got below 40F at the lake (whose surface ice was melting). Got to schrund around 5:30-6ish - some ice there. We simul'd up to chimney on 45-50 degree soft snow. To climber's right of chimney was a gushing waterfall. Some ice in bottom of chimney, but with big gap and lots of snow; didn't look climbable. Partner led up half of rock route in crampons to climber's left of chimney, then retreated. He reported seeing an ice axe embedded in the couloir above that point.

We downclimbed from there to just above schrund, then crossed to climber's right onto a rock buttress which was slung with a faded rap anchor. Rapping on one of our 60m doubles got us down to the glacier.

Lots of rockfall as the day warmed - saw / heard several in St. Jean's area. Will consider returning in the fall. Trail up to Red Lake is heinous !!

forjan

forjan - May 31, 2006 1:14 am Date Climbed: May 29, 2006

St. Jean Couloir  Sucess!

A spicy gully climb with the very hard snow we encountered; it demanded full concentration while cramponing up. It had been unseasonably cold the past three days. I climbed the St. Jean couloir with Brad and Mark. We started up at 4:23am from our camp at Red Lake and summited by 9:50am. BTW, the register is full. Whoever goes next please bring a notepad for the summit register. I screwed up on the descent and went down to the lowest saddle by Prater. Had to climb back up 500 feet to find the correct Red Lake pass (elev ~ 12,950') descent. Reached camp at 12:50pm. Took just 2 hours to hike out back to the Red Lake trailhead (6,568'). We had excellent weather both days.

Zzyzx - Nov 17, 2005 1:46 am

Route Climbed: East (Central) Couloir Date Climbed: November 13, 2005  Sucess!

Great climb and great company! Climbed with Pavel (kovarpa) and Doug (dug). The weather was awesome. Couloir was filled with pretty deep snow, but at least we experienced no rockfall.

kevin trieu

kevin trieu - Nov 7, 2005 2:11 pm

Route Climbed: North Slope from the East Date Climbed: November 6, 2005  Sucess!

Good clear sky with strong wind. Crappy drive to the trailhead. Do not drive in or out in the dark. It'll not be fun. Same applies to the trail. Hard to follow in the dark.

Kaikaapro

Kaikaapro - Oct 31, 2005 5:54 pm

Route Climbed: Western Date Climbed: August 13th  Sucess!

We left a Russian Shopka (a fur hat) up there somewhere on the mountain. If you find it, post, for a laugh. You can keep it. Good weather- the damn trail is difficult to follow- esp. at night with no flashlight.

A pseudo-summit on the way too.



Kai Kaapro

Aaron Lieberman

bechtt

bechtt - Oct 25, 2005 8:33 am

Route Climbed: North Slope from the East Date Climbed: 23 Oct 05  Sucess!

Incredible weather-- warm and clear on top. Views were stunning. Some snow on the North Slope but no equipment needed for the ascent. Fun finding the right road out in the dark -- Tinemaha road definitely the way to go.

tdoughty

tdoughty - Oct 17, 2005 4:34 pm

Route Climbed: St Jeans's Couloir  Sucess!

easy gully climb with soft snow

thenunz

thenunz - Oct 17, 2005 2:21 pm

Route Climbed: North Slope Date Climbed: 10/03/05  Sucess!

Very windy on the hike in. Calmed after sunset. A lot of talus all the way from Red Lake to the summit. Well consolidated as far as Sierra talus goes, though. 9 hours round trip from Red Lake. Great day and nice summit.

Kerstin

Kerstin - Sep 17, 2005 12:24 pm

Route Climbed: North Slope from Upper Basin Date Climbed: September 14, 2005  Sucess!

My husband Dan and I hiked in over Taboose Pass to Upper Basin. We hiked up Split Mountain from there. What an incredible view from the summit! A beautiful day.

avghiker

avghiker - Sep 15, 2005 3:30 pm

Route Climbed: North Slope Date Climbed: Sep, 09, 2005  Sucess!

Solo Dayhike. CA 14er - # 12. Afternoon snow flurry near the summit added some excitment to the laborious hike.

RickF

RickF - Sep 15, 2005 2:54 pm

Route Climbed: Red Lake/North Slope Date Climbed: September 11, 2005  Sucess!

Thanks to party members: Bob, Joe, Phil and Karen who shared the summit with me. On this 9-11 we acknowledged those who lost thier lives on 9-11-01 and we honored those who fight for the freedom we have to make our summit sojourns. It was beautiful on top, we could see for miles in all directions. Trip Info: Friday we drove to the trail head via the Tinemaha Campground route which took about one hour from 395. Saturday we hiked for over 5 hours from trailhead to Red Lake. Sunday 9-11 we left Red Lake at 6:00 a.m, summited a little after 11:00, started down at 12:00 noon, got back to Red Lake a little after 3:00 p.m., broke camp and made it back to the trail head around 9:00 p.m.

lefty

lefty - Sep 8, 2005 1:35 am

Route Climbed: North slope Date Climbed: September 5, 2005  Sucess!

Very enjoyable climb on a beautiful day.

mdash

mdash - Aug 13, 2005 8:44 pm

Route Climbed: North route Date Climbed: August 7, 2005  Sucess!

Dayhiked this, starting at 9 AM, back at 6:40 PM. Thunderstorm on the summit and got lost in the vegetation on way down. Beautiful area!

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