boyblue - Aug 13, 2009 7:21 pm Date Climbed: May 25, 1986
Northwest Slope
Most of this route above Horton Lake was completely snowbound at this time. The upper 1000 feet was frozen hard wind-swept ice. Glad I had my crampons with me. Saved a lot of time. The weather and the view were incredible.
ChuckO - Jun 8, 2009 6:47 pm Date Climbed: Jun 6, 2009
East Couloir
Great climb with Ken T. Overnight camp at the mine and good weather made for a leasurely wake-up time. Cool temperatures had the snow in excellent condition for both ascent and descent. Wanted to look for PeeWee Croft's paw-print in the summit register, but couldn't find it (the register), maybe buried under snow in a pocket/crack.
PrestonRhea - Sep 3, 2008 6:05 pm Date Climbed: May 17, 2008
Northwest Slope
Fun climb, still a lot of snow pack there when I climbed it. Finally got to the top and then came down the east chute bypassing the class 4 sections by going down a chute on the south side to traverse to the east chute.
fossana - Apr 9, 2007 12:53 am Date Climbed: Aug 3, 2004
SC Day 4
Day 4 of the 2004 Sierra Challenge. Climbed some with random chute with Joe D. Rescued fellow SCer on the descent.
mlarkin2002 - Oct 10, 2006 2:03 am Date Climbed: Aug 3, 2004
Dayhike via N. Slopes from Horton TH
Part of '04 Sierra Challenge. Nice climb featuring two interesting events; 1 stranded climber, and 1 impressive mountain lion near Horton Lakes. The climber was able to exit on his own with help from another in our group. The mountain lion.. well, I didn't stay around to see what it did after it chased some deer into a box canyon. I went the other way (quickly).
Route Climbed: E Couloir variation Date Climbed: 16 July, 2005
Started at a late 10.42. The first time I'd been near 13k' in awhile, so it took me awhile to get going. Various threatening-looking clouds kept me second guessing my decision to continue as well, until I stashed my hiking poles & crampons at a notch between the main peak & a minor buttress. Decided to start here instead of continuing up the steep garbage chute.
Went up the face from aforementioned notch (to the R of a prominent dihedral on the main face), somehow reasoning that I'd eventually meet up w/ the standard route. I didn't, & spent a lot of time route-finding. Sort of zig-zagged up the face on rock from good to crumbly shit. Mostly sustained 4th class, with a few places of 5.2. Heard thunder as I neared the summit, making me quite anxious.
Summited to discover that there was a storm over the Owens Valley. Enjoyed the views with a Sierra Nevada Summerfest & a smoke, before going down the standard 4th class route to the notch (rock quality definitely much better here). Incredible views of Humphreys & Tom, & even a good gander over to the Palisades! Wonderful peak.
Had a monster standing glissade down, albeit with a swarm of mosquitoes that I couldn't seem to escape. Glissaded all the way down to the bottom of the snow line (maybe a few hundred ft above the mineshaft). Could definitely see coming back to snowboard down! Great day in a beautiful part of the Sierra.
Route Climbed: East Couloir Date Climbed: June 12, 2005
Climbed with Al Kwok and socalmtneer. We started early at about 2:30AM from the locked gate and so we had great cramponing on hard snow pretty much all the way to the top of the notch. I climbed the rock section up & down in 45 minutes. Spent 10 minutes on the summit perusing through the summit register and couldn't find Peter Croft's entries (guess I didn't look hard enough). Had a fun glissade down almost to the mineshaft area.
Route Climbed: East Couloir Date Climbed: June 6, 2005
Jim Wosnak and I started out at 8:45 am from the locked gate. Windy most of the way, but still a little warm. Made the top of the couloir by 2:30pm. The 4th class rock climb was enjoyable but very cold and windy with solid 4th class - maybe a couple 5th class moves. Downclimbing and one rappel led us back to the snow. We skiied from the top of the couloir all the way back to snowline - around 10,000 ft. and walked back to the car by 6:00 pm. Great day!
Route Climbed: East Couloir Date Climbed: May 1, 2005
Starting at 3:30 am from the base camp (abounded mining cave) we reached the ledge of the Basin Peak by 8:00 am. The anticipated scramble to the summit ended up being a mixed rock and ice climb with lots of route finding. We reached the summit by 12:00 pm.
Route Climbed: E Couloir Date Climbed: May 14, 2005
Almost continuous snow from the cars made this go a lot easier - until it got soft near top of couloir..........Made it from notch to cars in less than 1.5 hours thanks to an almost uninterrupted glissade.
Route Climbed: East Couloir Date Climbed: May 29, 2005
Day (or shall I say night) hiked with Steve Larson. We found great snow conditions in the couloir on the way up. And what great scrambling to the summit!! While downclimbing the rock section, I took a wrong turn and found myself at the top of a cliff marked w/ fresh rappel slings. Not feeling like downclimbing vertical rock in mountain boots, I climbed up a bit, eventually found my way to the notch and plunge-stepped down the couloir. Burgers at Jack's marked a fine end to this great outing!
Route Climbed: East Couloir Date Climbed: 14-May-2005
Bivied in the mine, then climbed the couloir. Snow was firm until around 7:30am (the sun really started beating down).
Climbed the rock section unroped - probably class 4+ with some 5th-class moves thrown in for good measure. Spent a good bit of time getting used to the feel of my boots at that climbing level, downclimbing, pondering, etc. Encountered ice in some of the cracks, making for some interesting moments.
2 guys came up while I pondered, and broke out their rope (37m x 8.5mm double), harnesses, pro, etc. which they were able to use to rap off.
Descended the class 2 scramble, then down the chute Doug noted in the route page. Beware of melt-freeze ice / scree near the rock; I eventually elected to stay well clear of that and plunge-step down the snow gully, eventually contouring to the scree / snow gully opposite the couloir. Climbed about 500' or so on scree / talus (nasty), then glissaded the couloir, which by early afternoon was pretty soft.
Route Climbed: East Couloir Date Climbed: Aug 3, 2004
Day 4 of the 2004 Sierra Challenge. Climbed with Mark (PellucidWombat) and Michael Graupe on a very fun traverse up the East Couloir (ok, the couloir was a scree slog, but the class 4 above it was nice), over to S. Basin Peak, and on to Four Gables. The NE Ridge of S. Basin Peak had some great class 4 scrambling. Trip Report
Route Climbed: Northeast Chute Date Climbed: August 3, 2004
Took a route to the right of the East Couloir that did not look like such a scree slog. Class 3 and short class 4. Popped out on the summit ridge 1.5 miles north of the summit and tagged the peak from there.
"Bag it, tag it, sell it to the butcher in the store."
Route Climbed: East Couloir Date Climbed: August 3rd, 2004
Day 4 of the Sierra Challenge. I took a bad fall in a chimney when a chockstone that I was standing on blew out - gouged my shin pretty bad. Luckily I still had the energy to do the class 4 ridge to South Basin Mountain and traverse to Four Gables!
boyblue - Aug 13, 2009 7:21 pm Date Climbed: May 25, 1986
Northwest SlopeMost of this route above Horton Lake was completely snowbound at this time. The upper 1000 feet was frozen hard wind-swept ice. Glad I had my crampons with me. Saved a lot of time. The weather and the view were incredible.
ChuckO - Jun 8, 2009 6:47 pm Date Climbed: Jun 6, 2009
East CouloirGreat climb with Ken T. Overnight camp at the mine and good weather made for a leasurely wake-up time. Cool temperatures had the snow in excellent condition for both ascent and descent. Wanted to look for PeeWee Croft's paw-print in the summit register, but couldn't find it (the register), maybe buried under snow in a pocket/crack.
PrestonRhea - Sep 3, 2008 6:05 pm Date Climbed: May 17, 2008
Northwest SlopeFun climb, still a lot of snow pack there when I climbed it. Finally got to the top and then came down the east chute bypassing the class 4 sections by going down a chute on the south side to traverse to the east chute.
hikinedd - Jul 1, 2008 5:57 pm Date Climbed: Sep 12, 2004
From Horton LakesWith Patty Rambert.
Brian Kalet - Mar 26, 2008 12:45 am Date Climbed: Mar 22, 2008
East CouloirTrip Report
fossana - Apr 9, 2007 12:53 am Date Climbed: Aug 3, 2004
SC Day 4Day 4 of the 2004 Sierra Challenge. Climbed some with random chute with Joe D. Rescued fellow SCer on the descent.
mlarkin2002 - Oct 10, 2006 2:03 am Date Climbed: Aug 3, 2004
Dayhike via N. Slopes from Horton THPart of '04 Sierra Challenge. Nice climb featuring two interesting events; 1 stranded climber, and 1 impressive mountain lion near Horton Lakes. The climber was able to exit on his own with help from another in our group. The mountain lion.. well, I didn't stay around to see what it did after it chased some deer into a box canyon. I went the other way (quickly).
Diggler - Jul 21, 2005 5:11 pm
Route Climbed: E Couloir variation Date Climbed: 16 July, 2005Started at a late 10.42. The first time I'd been near 13k' in awhile, so it took me awhile to get going. Various threatening-looking clouds kept me second guessing my decision to continue as well, until I stashed my hiking poles & crampons at a notch between the main peak & a minor buttress. Decided to start here instead of continuing up the steep garbage chute.
Went up the face from aforementioned notch (to the R of a prominent dihedral on the main face), somehow reasoning that I'd eventually meet up w/ the standard route. I didn't, & spent a lot of time route-finding. Sort of zig-zagged up the face on rock from good to crumbly shit. Mostly sustained 4th class, with a few places of 5.2. Heard thunder as I neared the summit, making me quite anxious.
Summited to discover that there was a storm over the Owens Valley. Enjoyed the views with a Sierra Nevada Summerfest & a smoke, before going down the standard 4th class route to the notch (rock quality definitely much better here). Incredible views of Humphreys & Tom, & even a good gander over to the Palisades! Wonderful peak.
Had a monster standing glissade down, albeit with a swarm of mosquitoes that I couldn't seem to escape. Glissaded all the way down to the bottom of the snow line (maybe a few hundred ft above the mineshaft). Could definitely see coming back to snowboard down! Great day in a beautiful part of the Sierra.
Samantha - Jul 11, 2005 10:51 am
Route Climbed: East Couloir Date Climbed: July 10, 2005Gained the summit on a gorgeous day. Had to downclimb the rock section for lack of anything we could rap off w/ confidence.
forjan - Jun 13, 2005 3:59 pm
Route Climbed: East Couloir Date Climbed: June 12, 2005Climbed with Al Kwok and socalmtneer. We started early at about 2:30AM from the locked gate and so we had great cramponing on hard snow pretty much all the way to the top of the notch. I climbed the rock section up & down in 45 minutes. Spent 10 minutes on the summit perusing through the summit register and couldn't find Peter Croft's entries (guess I didn't look hard enough). Had a fun glissade down almost to the mineshaft area.
rdesota - Jun 8, 2005 9:29 am
Route Climbed: East Couloir Date Climbed: June 6, 2005Jim Wosnak and I started out at 8:45 am from the locked gate. Windy most of the way, but still a little warm. Made the top of the couloir by 2:30pm. The 4th class rock climb was enjoyable but very cold and windy with solid 4th class - maybe a couple 5th class moves. Downclimbing and one rappel led us back to the snow. We skiied from the top of the couloir all the way back to snowline - around 10,000 ft. and walked back to the car by 6:00 pm. Great day!
Zhenya77 - Jun 7, 2005 10:59 pm
Route Climbed: East Couloir Date Climbed: May 1, 2005Starting at 3:30 am from the base camp (abounded mining cave) we reached the ledge of the Basin Peak by 8:00 am. The anticipated scramble to the summit ended up being a mixed rock and ice climb with lots of route finding. We reached the summit by 12:00 pm.
RSN473 - Jun 2, 2005 12:42 pm
Route Climbed: E Couloir Date Climbed: May 14, 2005Almost continuous snow from the cars made this go a lot easier - until it got soft near top of couloir..........Made it from notch to cars in less than 1.5 hours thanks to an almost uninterrupted glissade.
Misha - May 31, 2005 1:00 pm
Route Climbed: East Couloir Date Climbed: May 29, 2005Day (or shall I say night) hiked with Steve Larson. We found great snow conditions in the couloir on the way up. And what great scrambling to the summit!! While downclimbing the rock section, I took a wrong turn and found myself at the top of a cliff marked w/ fresh rappel slings. Not feeling like downclimbing vertical rock in mountain boots, I climbed up a bit, eventually found my way to the notch and plunge-stepped down the couloir. Burgers at Jack's marked a fine end to this great outing!
rhyang - May 15, 2005 12:00 pm
Route Climbed: East Couloir Date Climbed: 14-May-2005Bivied in the mine, then climbed the couloir. Snow was firm until around 7:30am (the sun really started beating down).
Climbed the rock section unroped - probably class 4+ with some 5th-class moves thrown in for good measure. Spent a good bit of time getting used to the feel of my boots at that climbing level, downclimbing, pondering, etc. Encountered ice in some of the cracks, making for some interesting moments.
2 guys came up while I pondered, and broke out their rope (37m x 8.5mm double), harnesses, pro, etc. which they were able to use to rap off.
Descended the class 2 scramble, then down the chute Doug noted in the route page. Beware of melt-freeze ice / scree near the rock; I eventually elected to stay well clear of that and plunge-step down the snow gully, eventually contouring to the scree / snow gully opposite the couloir. Climbed about 500' or so on scree / talus (nasty), then glissaded the couloir, which by early afternoon was pretty soft.
Views were fantastic, and the day was perfect.
cottersnow - Feb 28, 2005 3:24 pm
Route Climbed: Basin Couloir Date Climbed: January 2004Great mountain and much more fun in the winter.
Bob Burd - Oct 12, 2004 5:31 pm
Route Climbed: East Couloir Date Climbed: Aug 3, 2004Day 4 of the 2004 Sierra Challenge. Climbed with Mark (PellucidWombat) and Michael Graupe on a very fun traverse up the East Couloir (ok, the couloir was a scree slog, but the class 4 above it was nice), over to S. Basin Peak, and on to Four Gables. The NE Ridge of S. Basin Peak had some great class 4 scrambling. Trip Report
stoneman5 - Sep 13, 2004 7:38 pm
Route Climbed: East Couloir Date Climbed: March, 2004Snow conditions prevented summiting, but skiing was good, if a bit wet.
josephgdawson - Aug 13, 2004 3:01 am
Route Climbed: Northeast Chute Date Climbed: August 3, 2004Took a route to the right of the East Couloir that did not look like such a scree slog. Class 3 and short class 4. Popped out on the summit ridge 1.5 miles north of the summit and tagged the peak from there.
"Bag it, tag it, sell it to the butcher in the store."
PellucidWombat - Aug 10, 2004 4:30 pm
Route Climbed: East Couloir Date Climbed: August 3rd, 2004Day 4 of the Sierra Challenge. I took a bad fall in a chimney when a chockstone that I was standing on blew out - gouged my shin pretty bad. Luckily I still had the energy to do the class 4 ridge to South Basin Mountain and traverse to Four Gables!