Manventure 2014 - Banner Peak > Thousand Island Lake

Manventure 2014 - Overview

For a detailed report of the entire Manventure Trip from Rush Creek Trailhead to Thousand Island Lake, head over to the blog at http://www.jonathantmeek.com/manventure-2014 and check out the Photobucket for the 400+ photos

Below is the Banner Specific Report and BETA for your liking and hopefully help you in your journey. Enjoy!

Thousand Island to Lake Catherine

 
 
“Jon…. Wake up…. its 4:30am….” Tyler says to me as I slowly come out of sleep and into Saturday morning. It’s still dark out? I thought there’d be a slight glow on the horizon, but not quite yet. I slowly got up, got on my clothes and got moving. Matt, Shane and Thomas were all up doing the same. Matt fired up the jetboil to make some coffee and other hot water. I had some oatmeal. Thomas had a new concoction of a breakfast. He put 3 packets of oatmeal and 3 packets of instant coffee all in one pan. Looking back I wish I would have taken a picture of this. As you might imagine, it didn’t taste very good… I told everyone we should be moving by 5am with the subconscious goal to be moving by 5:15am (based on experience, everyone’s always moving slower in the morning). A quick group prayer for safety and good weather and we were off at 5:20am. We started down the same path we hiked into the lake on, just further southwestward towards a ridge. Tyler and I decided the best course of action was to start by gaining the ridge up a grassy hill which turns into a talus field. *NOTE* this was not the best route. Instead, move further west and go around the ridge into the gully you cannot see. There are a few climber trails that go up this way along a creek. The grassy/easy terrain go up further in this part of the gully which would have made for faster moving earlier on in the day. See the Strava GPS photo for what I’m referring to. Regardless, it was fun moving up over the ridge, and we did start a little higher in the gully when we got there. Up and up we went and finally gained the first crest. This brought us to a small bowl between the gully and Lake Catherine. The easier way is to go towards the low part of the crest towards the right. We went up a steeper variation towards the left. Both work fine, but the path of least resistance is to the right. Makes for a slightly longer path, but easier. Upon getting out of the bowl we had our first view of Lake Catherine and the next ridge we’d need to gain that separated us from the glacier we need to ascend to ultimately get to the Ritter/Banner Saddle. I moved on ahead acting as the ‘Sherpa Guide’ as the guys call me, and working on navigating the best route. I got ahead a ways and realized that Thomas was stopping. He had enough and was just going to chill out at Lake Catherine. Once Thomas announced his plan, Matt saw a window of opportunity to join him. Therefore, Tyler, Shane and I pressed onward towards the next ridgeline we needed to gain and follow. This was a lot of Class 2 & Class 3 scrambling. Very fun, protected, easy climbing. We were still in the shade so it was nice, cool and comfortable.

Lake Catherine to the Saddle

 
 
 
We continued to get higher and I tried to find a good place to descend the other side onto the glacier. We tried at one spot but the scree/dirt was no good. Steep, soft and no fun. We decided to get back on the ridge and continue up the class 2 and class 3 scrambling and get as high as we could.At this point there were three guys ahead of us we’d seen earlier in the day that had taken a much higher route. We saw them up ahead in the distance. We sort of followed what we thought was their path which proved to get us to an apex point where the ridge turned into cliff and joined the snowfield. This was not fun getting off the ridge and onto the snowfield. There was a specific series of ledges we followed, but we made it. Now I was watching the three guys ahead of us and they looked like they were in a bit of trouble. I could see they had axes but it didn’t look like any crampons. I could tell just by looking at the glacier that the crust was completely iced. Perfect for crampons, not for boots. One of the three guys was in the middle of the snowfield and wasn’t moving. His buddies were trying to verbally help but were in no physical condition to do much. I got my crampons on and ran over to them to assist. I gave the guy a mental & physical spot to ensure he could get back to some rocks. A slight push on his back and about 15 steps got him back to safety. The guys were very appreciative for rescuing their friend. I then went back to help assist Shane. This was Shane’s first time wearing crampons and using an ice axe. Tyler gave him the low down on self-arrest and cramponing and we started moving over the glacier. Keep in mind, we were at a very low angle, maybe 30-35degrees so was very safe and protected. I walked just below Shane in case something happened. The three of us made it with no issues. We ascended across the glacier from North to South and up to the top right where the lowest part of the saddle was. We got off the snow and back to rocks, put the crampons away and took a much needed break. Its approx. 45min – 1hour left to push to the summit from the saddle.

Saddle to Summit

 
 
We got up and took a few photos looking to the east towards Mammoth then continued up the ridge. We held a pretty close line to the ridge and only moved back west a bit. It felt very class 2 lower then class 3 as we got higher. If you move further west I believe it’s more class 2. That’s how we descended. Up and up we went, sucking air as we go, taking a few mini breaks along the way. It’s definitely a push to the summit, but very fun, safe climbing and scrambling. As we got higher, it was difficult to determine what the true summit was. We aimed right for the middle between two summit blocks. As we got towards the end, I decided to take a vertical 4th class finish of about 4-5moves to the top of the right summit (south), and Shane and Tyler took a class 2 finish to the summit of the left (north). Turns out Shane and Tyler were on the true summit. However, I got an awesome finish, some sweet photos, and the chance to tag both tippy tops of Banner. WOOHOO! WE MADE IT! Just ahead of 10am. 4.5hrs to the summit from Thousand Island Lake. Upon stumbling onto the summit blocks the east side of Banner drops off over 1,000ft. This is the prominence you can see from HWY 395. It’s a breathtaking view down to Thousand Island, Garnet Lake, and a series of other lakes below. To the Southwest Mammoth Mountain was in full view, easy to spot the ski runs and it looked so small from up there. Further to the south you could see all the way to the Palisades, Mt. Williamson & Tyndall and I’m pretty sure we were looking at Mt. Whitney, but was hard to tell. To the west was never ending Sierra Nevada awesomeness. We could see the area where we had basecamp down at Thousand Island Lake but couldn’t see the tents. I typically start singing the hymn ‘How Great Thou Art’ from a summit, but this time I started yelling it! Not sure what prompted the aggression, perhaps adrenalin, maybe joy. Either way, the words to that song resonate every time I climb in the backcountry. “Then Sings My Soul, my Savior God to Thee. How Great Thou Art. How Great Thou Art.” He spoke all this stuff into being. It absolutely blows my mind trying to fathom it. I look over and Shane was tearing up. Although Shane’s been higher than this before in the Andes, he’d never summited something so difficult or technical. It was a special moment to be a part of my buddy’s first BIG SUMMIT. For Tyler and me, it was another one to add to the resume, but seeing Shane’s reaction reminded me how special the mountains really are, reminded me of how I felt when I summited Mt. Whitney, Mt. Rainier, Snake Dike on Half Dome, and a gaggle of others. It’s like 15 years of climbing flashed before my eyes in a matter of seconds. It was a great moment and one of the greatest climbing days I’ve had ever. Great company, safe climbing, and a beautiful weather. I’ll remember this one forever. God was worshiped and glorified today. 1 Corinthians 10:31

After snapping a few more photos we got a text message through to the wives and parents letting them know we made it safe to the summit. We got the summit register out. The guys opened it up to find…… hair! A ball of hair…. It was gross. I don’t know who put it there, but really? Amidst the hair was the register. We each signed it, got a photo of it and put it back. I got to sign a ‘BE NON HUMAN’ logo which was fun. Definitely the first BNH logo in a register and I was excited to get some photos in my BNH top for Rudy and Steve for their website and Facebook marketing. Two of the three guys in the party I helped on the glacier made it to the summit. They followed us up and were moving a little slower. I chatted with this cool guy named Jimmy on the summit. They were on day 6 of their through hike on JMT. They detoured today to climb Banner and were planning on Whitney at the end of the trail. His brother is the one who I helped on the glacier and he stayed at the saddle after having the willies. They wanted to follow us down as well, which was fine. We both agreed the view was beautiful and amazing which gave me the easy opportunity to point it to Jesus and his creation. He agreed! Then a couple more people randomly appeared climbing up to the summit. One guy took the ridge the entire way. It had to have been 4th class and some 5th class the entire time and I’m not quite sure where he even started from. He was by himself and was looking solid. I called him Average Joe because he looked like he was dressed for a nice stroll down a grassy path, but this guy was the real deal and a strong climber. His name was Nick. *NICK* if you happen to read this, you’re the man! Nice to meet you. Same to you Jimmy! Hope you and your bro and buddy enjoyed the rest of the JMT!

Summit back to Thousand Island

We started descended just ahead of 11am and a little less aggressively than our ascent. We went a little further west then came back southeast to the saddle. This proved to be less steep and easier down-climbing. We got back to the saddle, got the crampons on and decided to move further down the snowfield and try to find a better place to gain the ridge instead of getting back on the ridge so high up. Again, a good decision. I pressed on ahead and decided we could descend the entire snowfield to the lake. It looked like a small section to get on and over the ridge vs. higher up where the ridge was steep. After getting to the bottom in no time, I shed the crampons and scrambled up the ridge. Wouldn’t you know, there was a giant Cairn right there and a nice view of the lake. This was clearly the way we should have come this morning and the way I recommend for you should you use this beta. Stay low along the lake, get over the ridge where it’s low to access the glacier, and then ascend via the glacier climb. Tyler and Shane joined me and we made our way down only to find a small 25’ vertical drop off and a 45degree snowfield to get below it. Back on with the crampons and down climb the snow to get to the lake. This snow, unlike the hard crusted glacier, was super soft. Easily kicking steps the entire way made for easy going.

We moved quickly across the lake, climbed up onto of a runoff waterfall that goes into Lake Catherine and back over to the bowl. Thomas and Matt were gone by now and had headed back down to basecamp at Thousand Island. There was a group of people that had day hiked up to Lake Catherine that were watching us on the snow. Tyler chatted with them for a couple minutes and then they took off. Tyler took the lead from here on out getting us back. We descended the bowl, then the talus field to the gully I said earlier we should have ascended. This was much easier hiking on very tired legs. Thunderheads were building to the west and north now and it was looking gloomy. We had avoided weather the entire trip thus far, but appeared we were going to get wet today. Tyler suggested we fill up some water now since rain was most likely headed our way. GREAT IDEA, AS USUAL TYLER. We took a quick pit stop for water coming out of more snow runoff and started moving again. By now, Tyler was the energizer bunny and moving like he just woke up from a nap. Shane and I were moving slower. The awesomeness of the summit had worn off and my heals were screaming at me, “you idiot! You’ll pay for this!” I’ve effectively bought myself 10days in flip flops after I make it out of the backcountry. Then, it started to rain. First just spiting. No big deal. Then it poured. Enough that we stopped to put our gain gear on. We pressed onward and hit a trail. We thought this was our trail but apparently there are two trails that go around the lake. One that hugs the lake (the one we came in on) and one that takes it slightly wider. Of course we were on the wider one. We could see camp and appeared to be 20yards away, yet the trail turned away and wrapped us around a few small ponds. Nothing more demoralizing than seeing camp so close, then having a giant pond in your way so you can’t get to it. Eventually we found our way around and made it back. By now the rain was really coming down. My bivy had giant puddles on top of it. All my gear and clothes were in there. This was a true test for my bivy and first time it had this much rain on it. I prayed it was dry inside but didn’t want to look while it was raining so hard. We all took shelter in the tents and waited out the storm. Shane dove in his sleeping bag to warm up, Thomas was sitting down and I laid across the tent resting my head on Thomas’ ankle/foot. I was worried for a few minutes when I was still cold and couldn’t get warm. I didn’t want to open my bivy in fears my down jacket and bag would get wet. Fortunately a few minutes later we peaked outside and the rain had digressed. It was blowing like crazy which worked to our favor and helped dry things out, but was still cold. I ran over to my bivy and to my surprise, everything was perfectly dry inside! Way to go Outdoor Research! I now have more faith! I got my jacket and beanie and jumped back in the tent. Within another half hour the wind died down and the sun was shining through again. We started joking about a ‘death march’ all the way back to the car. Suddenly it became real and we all rallied around that idea. We all wanted a beer and a burger. It was around 5pm when we were all broken down, packed up and moving. Deep down I figured 2 miles in the death march idea would fizzle out and we’d stop at Clark Lakes, the original plan. I was wrong… It didn’t fizzle out in 2 miles; it fizzled out in .2 miles. We all wanted to get back to Camp 1 and pass out! We prayed no one was in our awesome spot and our prayers were answered. Matt and Ryon had raced ahead and claimed our spot for the evening. We setup camp, built our fire and life was back in the balance. Never ceases to amaze me how thunderstorms can blow in and out so fast in the sierra.

I finally shed my boots to find a nasty surprise on my heals. They looked bad and they hurt. I grabbed my Nalgene bottle head to the lake with Shane to pump some community camp water. I put my feet in the lake while I pumped a couple gallons through the filter and swatted off mosquitos. On with some socks and my TEVAs and back to camp for dinner. Tonight is ‘operation eat as much as you can to lessen the weight to take back to the car tomorrow’. I ate a TON. Around 9pm it was getting dark and there was one big log in the fire we were waiting to naturally crack and fall. I didn’t want to be the first person to turn in but I was so exhausted. Ryon pushed the log, it cracked and I peaced out to bed. Zipped up the bug screen and looked at the stars as I drifted off to sleep. Next thing I know I’m awoken by a light drizzle coming down on us. I zipped up the bivy all the way and fell back asleep in the rain. It’s so peaceful with the rain falling. Fortunately it didn’t open up like it had earlier that afternoon. Just a light rain off and on for the rest of the night.

Images

View Manventure 2014 - Banner Peak > Thousand Island Lake Image Gallery - 14 Images