A panorama of Mount Humphreys...

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A panorama of Mount Humphreys...

A panorama of Mount Humphreys...

A panorama of Mount Humphreys (right side of photo) and the Humphreys Basin. Bear Creek Spire is at the left edge of the photo. Desolation Lake is the large body of water below Bear Creek Spire. Mount Morgan is the tall pyramid left of center. The summit block of Lost Lakes Peak is in the foreground, below and right of Mount Humphreys. The west summit of Mount Emerson is at the right edge of the photo.
Tom Kenney
on Dec 8, 2003 1:03 am
Lat/Lon: 37.22180°N / 118.6798°W
Image ID: 34975

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desainme

desainme - Dec 8, 2003 9:17 am - Voted 10/10

great basin shot

Does the ridge dropping to the right from the top and creating a shadow get climbed?

Tom Kenney

Tom Kenney - Dec 8, 2003 2:29 pm - Hasn't voted

Re: great basin shot

Do you mean on Mount Humphreys, or the closer Lost Lakes Peak summit block?



If the former, I've read that the ridge on the right skyline was the original route up the mountain, with the "Married Men's Point" on the shoulder just below the summit.



If the latter, it wasn't on my route. That side of the summit block was quite vertical. If you look on the left half of the photo, the blocky ridge at midground is the edge of a plateau. I scrambled down the rightmost visible part of this blocky area into a narrow notch (not visible, behind summit block) and then came up around the left side of the summit block to the point from which the picture was taken, then scrambled across the narrow area at foreground to the top. On the right side of the photo, the sunny lower tower makes one wall of a steep, slabby chute dropping to the east - this chute is bottomless and drops you onto this face somewhere above the dark chute (snow-free) with talus fan, right of the center couloir below the deep notch.



Though there probably are some climbable routes on this side of the mountain, the rock can be a bit loose and crappy, so careful route finding would be required.

desainme

desainme - Dec 8, 2003 3:37 pm - Voted 10/10

Re: great basin shot

Thanks Tom,

I was wondering about Humphreys-though it seems as if Lost Lakes was fun. The ridge just to the front left of the shaded couloir on Humphrey's is what I was referring to. The couloir appears to divide Humphreys with the higher peak to the left(north?)

Misha

Misha - Dec 8, 2003 4:11 pm - Hasn't voted

Re: great basin shot

Isn't it a portion of the East Arete?

desainme

desainme - Dec 8, 2003 10:15 pm - Voted 10/10

Re: great basin shot

I thought the east arete was on the back(east side).

Is not the east ridge pretty big-rising about 10K ft from Owens Valley?

Misha

Misha - Dec 8, 2003 10:43 pm - Hasn't voted

Re: great basin shot

It is, but I thought that we may be able to see the upper section of that ridge on this photo. Perhaps, I am wrong... I will tell you for sure next year once we climb it :)

Tom Kenney

Tom Kenney - Dec 9, 2003 12:00 am - Hasn't voted

Re: great basin shot

I think the East Arete is behind the shaded area on the right skyline. In front of that shaded area should be the Southeast Buttress. The arete left of the shaded (small) couloir should be the Hutchinson Route. I'm looking at page 313 of Secor's "Peaks, Passes, and Trails" and that's what he has marked. The picture in the guide is from a slightly different angle - what looks like a narrow couloir in my shot looks like a deep, complex chute in his shot.



BTW, I haven't climbed Humphreys yet, so this is all 'guidebook knowledge' - I plan to try early next year.

Misha

Misha - Dec 9, 2003 1:54 am - Hasn't voted

Re: great basin shot

Which route are you planning to take?

Tom Kenney

Tom Kenney - Dec 9, 2003 8:22 pm - Hasn't voted

Re: great basin shot

One of the North Couloir variations - probably the wimpy one! Any pointers?

Misha

Misha - Dec 9, 2003 8:40 pm - Hasn't voted

Re: great basin shot

Climb North Couloir Direct and make our fellow SP-er Craig Peer (first ascentionist) happy! This couloir looks sweet. I will personally go for the rock route (East Arete). We climbed the regular route this September, it was fun too!

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