Walking the Thin Line on the Palisade Traverse

 This summer has started out as quite a warm one, with some record breaking temps in the Owens Valley, and long stretches in the 80s even here in Mammoth Lakes. I feel lucky then, to be spending as much (or more) time guiding in the Palisades than I have been at home.

 There have been trips up Temple Crag and Mount Robinson, as well as two Palisade Traverses (Thunderbolt Peak to Mount Sill) in both North and South directions. Conditions have been changing quickly up there, with snow lingering still but going fast. It has been unbelievably nice at 14,000ft, with overnight temps only barely touching 40 deg!

 The Palisade Traverse trips are a far cry from the casual rock climbing missions in the Whitney Zone I have become so accustomed to, though there is a different kind of reward in carrying over so many peaks and getting to bivy high en route looking far out into the depths of the High Sierra.

 I first climbed the Traverse some 8 years ago with my good friend Matteo, and it is always a treat to get to flip back through the summit registers and find our entries from that early alpine experience.

 Now I pack food and gear for one more trip into this storied sub-range, my third Traverse trip in as many weeks, and although I am looking forward to the rest of the guiding season and the many other places I will get to climb and explore I am happy to savor my time at each one of these iconic summits while I have the chance.

Wet and Wild in Miter Basin!

Since it is now officially the 21st century, I have finally decided to get with the times and move this blog over to its own page, www.ryanhuetter.com.  The format will remain the same, and all of the old trip reports and posts will still be available.  So to start this thing off on a good note, here is a brand spankin' new TR from a trip over the past week into the Miter Basin- enjoy!



Once in a while, we get a trip that comes in that is off the beaten path and offers a chance at something new and adventurous.  Last week, Bob Miller returned to SMC with an ambitious plan to hike into the less travelled Miter Basin, south of the Whitney Zone, to climb some of the high peaks which surround the basin.  Having never climbed any of these peaks myself, I was excited to get out and see some new areas, and onsight guide in new terrain.



Miter Basin is approximately 11 miles in from the Horseshoe Meadows trailhead, no matter if you go over New Army or Cottonwood Pass, so the food dehydrating prep and the lightweight tester gear I had made the packs nice and light on the way in.  Sadly, when we arrived at the parking lot the skies had just opened up and the rain was torrential.  Thank God for the umbrellas.




Hours of hiking in the rain got us to our camp in the basin, and we got enough of a clearing to dry out briefly.  Before the thunder and lightening arrived again and gave us a fireworks show through the night that we won't soon forget!



The weather was a factor on this trip, for sure.  We woke up late on a couple mornings, having to wait for the morning showers to clear out before committing to our peak of the day, and we had to hustle a bit more than normal to get things done before the afternoon storms unleashed again, but despite these concerns, we had opportunities to climb every day, so we were successful in our ascents of Mt. Pickering (13,474), Mt. LeConte (13,960+), and Mt. McAdie (13,799).



Each day saw us commute through lush alpine meadows and past deep azure lakes, teeming with large golden trout, and our routes were often interesting adventures through complex rocky terrain, with amazing views, especially north to the Whitney Massif.



After 3 days of peak bagging we had to head back, managing to reach the trailhead just in time to avoid the first of the afternoon thundershowers, with new experiences to recall and new objectives to look forward to.

Crystal Crag West Couloir

A couple weeks ago I got to guide a really cool trip for SMC- the West Couloir to the South Ridge of Crystal Crag.  I climbed with Alex Caillat, who I have done a bunch of stuff with over the past year (Mountain Madness in the Palisades!) and Nayan Savla, his friend from Santa Barbara.  Both are keen to get into ice and mixed climbing so we first spent 2 days working on ice skills in Lee Vining Canyon.

Crystal Crag is a great climb, summer or winter; the only catch when you climb it in winter is that you need to ski approx. 10 miles round trip to make it happen!



































So we got Alex and Nayan set up with AT gear and got skiing out of Twin Lakes by 6:30am.  
The day was a perfect warm and sunny day, so in no time were we booting up to begin the climbing below the West Couloir.  The snow conditions were less than ideal, with 16" of loose sugary facets sitting on top of the older crust.  This made for slow going and interesting mixed climbing through the narrow chokes up higher, but Alex and Nayan both cruised through once I got the rope up there.
After we hit the ridge the climbing became much more like the classic Sierra 4th class ridges we all love, and we hung out on the summit for a bit before picking our way down the West Face, which unfortunately also was a bit hairy with all the loose unconsolidated snow.  
A little bit of survival skiing down to Crystal Lake and then through the Lake George Gully got us back to the cars by 7pm, leaving the crux of the day for Alex and Nayan, who still had to drive back to SB!  
Enjoy the pics, courtesy Nayan Savla.

Mountain Madness in the Palisades!

Ah, the Palisades.  The Sierra Nevada have a lot to offer, but it is in the upper reaches of the South and North Forks of the Big Pine where a truly spectacular and humbling mountain environment exists.  Here the mountains rise up in the greatest grouping of 14,000 ft peaks in the range, dropping down along their gendarmed and complex ridges and faces towards the Palisade glacier and a host of milky azul lakes and groves of aspen and lodgepole pine.  In other words, it is pretty cool.  

Over the past week I have climbed a cool route on Temple Crag with my friend Jonathan Cooper, and then guided a 5 day mountain camp for Sierra Mountain Center along with fellow guide Andrew Soleman.  With Pete, Alex and Bronson, we worked on snow and rock skills, then put those new skills to the test on the Fornication Arete of Mt. Robinson, the Yellow Brick Road on Mt. Gayley, and the Starr Route on Mt. Sill.  

With incredible (and very windy) weather, we were able to do all the climbing we hoped for, and have a really fun time on the way.  

Thanks to Tom Kurzeka, our tireless (now probably pretty tired) intern, who took most of these photos for me as we climbed our routes.  

Coop navigates the upper reaches of Venusian Blind

The Youth, doing his best to make a graceful entrance into Third Lake

Pete Barry enjoys the corners on Fornication Arete

Pete climbing over towers high on Mt. Robinson

Andrew brings Alex and Bronson over the first tower

Alex self arrests high above Moraine Lake

Above the L-shaped snowfield, into the rock part of the Starr Route

Atop Mt. Sill, perhaps the single greatest vantage point in the Sierra

Lowering down after climbing Mt. Sill in a vrey quick camp to camp time

The season is really just getting started, and it is shaping up to be a very fun one with a lot of good trips coming up- Whitney, Mt. Lyell, Temple Crag, Crystal Crag, the list goes on!  

Now it is time for some relaxing and being light duty for the next week...