Northeast Ridge, class III
This is just a quick trip report on Red and White Mountain. It’s located way back in the McGee Creek drainage. While this peak can totally be done in a day it was very pleasant to have a base camp.
Or, as it’s referred to amongst my community of co-workers ‘the ice’. We classify our lives according to what we do ‘on ice’ versus or ‘off-ice’ time. Our ‘ice friends’ vs our regular friends. This isn’t out of feeling special but rather the difficulty of trying to explain to any rational person what we do ‘down there’ and why we keep going back.
This outing brought all smiles! Petite Griffon is a striking pinnacle nestled between Mount Abbot and Mount Mills. I am always willing to hike far for routes with good names or striking lines and this was no exception. My GPS reported a little over 11 miles roundtrip for 2 pitches of climbing. #Worthit
Dragon’s Tooth 5.6 A1 or 5.10
This was a very short but special peak to climb. Dragon’s Tooth is located next to (North of) Dragon Peak out of Onion Valley. I am hugely fond of all things related to Dragons, Hobbits, and the Lord of the Rings. So naturally, these two peaks have been on my short-list to climb.
This is a classic ridge scramble out of the Bishop Lakes area. Emerson has a bit of everything one would look for on an alpine scramble. It’s got 5th class climbing, easy 2nd class terrain that you can move quickly in and then very exposed 3rd and 4th class on an incredible ridge line finish. Making it an excellent intermediate level route.
This is a scramble right out of McGee Creek. I parked the car a little before the pack station. There is no trail, but navigation is straight forward – just go up the ridgeline. The first (and only crux) was finding a way across the creek. We ended up wading across. The water was a little above the ankles and fast-moving. I wouldn’t want to wade across if it was any higher.
Last week my partner and I took advantage of a cold snap to climb Checkered Demon Couloir. Checkered demon peak is on the Bishop skyline and the couloir is hidden on the right side. It had been on our list for a few years. Chasing snow & ice in the Sierra Nevada is an ephemeral hobby.
12 years ago, I decided to up my game in the outdoors. While I wasn’t starting from scratch (far from it!), I entered a phase in my life where the most important thing was becoming competent in the backcountry.