Route Climbed: North Ridge Date Climbed: August 5, 2002
This was our second multipitch climb, after the south slopes of Mount Starr King. Considerably more committing! Although we made pretty good time to the start of the ridge (~ 2 hours from the car), I believe we spent about 8-9 hours on the windy ridge. This was due mainly to unnecessary use of the rope! Other than the downclimb/rappel on the second tower, the climbing never seemed harder than 5.2-5.4. To top things off, we got off-route on the descent and ended up doing much of it with headlamps. BTW, the register is full, for people who sign it.
Route Climbed: South Slope Date Climbed: July 7 '02
Conness is a great day climb in the Tioga Pass area. The summit block was fun, similar to Matterhorns. A bunch of marmots were up there. The basin from Sawmill campground to Alpine Lake and up to the saddle between Conness and White was filled with killer mosquitoes, I didn't stop till I got to the saddle where the wind kept them at bay. Solo
Route Climbed: Glacier Route Date Climbed: June 30, 2002
Summitted Conness via the far right chute on the glacier route. Main purpose was to ski that chute and the bowls off the east ridge. There was still a fair amount of snow heading into July, although getting very suncupped. Click here for trip report
Route Climbed: North Ridge Date Climbed: July 8, 2002
After bagging North Peak, I traversed over to the summit of Conness. 5.6 is a very generous rating for the North Ridge. IMO, it's more like 5.2. I saw that Joe Hanssen had been there the day before. It's always fun to run into SP people's log entries. Car to car in 4:55.
Route Climbed: West Ridge Date Climbed: August 2000
We took the slow long way. Hiked into Youngs Lake from Lembert Dome. First night out we heard a bear running by as other campers banged pots and shouted.
Next morning we took off, overlarge rack clanking away, and climbed one of the finest ridges in the Sierra's. It was a great mix of easy simul-climbing with shorter, harder belayed sections. We were S-L-O-W. Fervent promises were made to go faster and lighter in the future. Surprised at how many other parties were on the route. Finally summited and ran down the sandy slopes back to camp.
That night the camp was cleared out, and the bear harrassed us until 4:00am. In case you're wondering, no, we had nothing close to camp to attract the bear, except our own BO. It's an overused area, so she's conditioned to keep looking for food 'till she finds it.
Climbed the W. Ridge on a beautiful Fall day with my partner Larry. It was a fourteen hour trip from car to car. Included in that time were a couple of questionable decisions on the approach such as decending from the plateau into the notch closest to the SW face. I suspect much time would be saved by decending the notch located much farther to the South.
I don't know how mother nature managed to sneak one last perfect day into the mix before she let loose with more typical October
weather, but I know that we were lucky to have it. Even on the exposed ridges and on the summit itself, the sun was coming through with nary a breeze to pierce it's veil of warm comfort.
The climb itself was more sustained that I suspected in that I perceived that after the first few hundred feet the terrain would taper off to easy third class climbing. This was not the case at all and we encountered solid fourth and moderate fifth class here and there until high up the route. Since we were soloing with a lot of weight on our backs, we were looking forward to the route easing off, but we were not able to take off our climbing shoes until only a few hundred feet below the summit.
The trip back was thankfully uneventful, except for meeting a fellow climber named John who had climbed the East Ridge. He told us about this great site SummitPost.com.
Route Climbed: North Ridge Date Climbed: October 5, 2001
After a very short bouldering session at the Volcanic Tablelands near Bishop, I drove up to Saddlebag Lake. I left my car at 12:15, intending to run a few laps around the lake for exercise. But when I caught my first view of the North Ridge of Mount Conness from the NW corner of the lake, I decided to go check out the route instead. Before I knew it, I was at the base of the North Ridge. After a few minutes of thought, I decided to go for it. I was wearing running shoes, shorts, and a button-down-the-front, short-sleeve shirt. I had no food, water, backpack, or rope...nothing but my car keys, which I tucked into my sock.
After gaining the ridge via some nice 5.easy rock, I cruised the knife edge on terrain that started at Class 2, then increased in difficulty to Class 3/4. When I reached the "tower," I downclimbed some fun Class 5 rock, then cruised up to the summit. I stayed close to the ridge so that I could enjoy some of the excellent exposure. Near the summit, I encountered some hysterical women who commented on my attire and the fact that I had no water with me. I mumbled something about "deprivation training," but what came out of my mouth was probably incoherent. I descended the Alpine Lake Route, getting back to my car at 4:25pm. Car-to-Car time: 4 hours, 10 minutes.
Route Climbed: North Ridge Date Climbed: August 2000
North Ridge of N Peak to N Ridge Conness, car to car from Saddlebag in 9 hours.
Only challenging climbing is the downclimb on Conness, blood, gore, and death potential. If you're not comfy soloing 5.7, take a rope, and you'll probably only use it for this rap. A 100 foot rope would do it.
Route Climbed: Alpine Lake Date Climbed: September 1, 2001
I found this route to be mostly second class. There are a few fun third class moves along the way. BTW this is my third time on Conness. Standard route from the southeast, N ridge, and Alpine Lake. Looking for someone that wants to do W ridge.
Route Climbed: From Young Lakes Date Climbed: Aug 1, 1993
Stopped at White Mtn on the way up, but no more than class 2 the whole route. Mosquitos were nasty at the lakes, but no problem while hiking. Took a class 2-3 chute down on the southwest side and stopped at Roosevelt Lake on the way back before returning to Young Lakes. Trip Report
Route Climbed: Alpine Lake Date Climbed: September 25th, 1999
This was my third attempt from the Saddlebag Lake trailhead, I finally made it with Shubo (Steve) Dai. The first time in 1998 Devesh and I turned back from the Conness-White Mountain saddle, where there was steep snow (we had no ice axe or crampons). The second time in August 1999 Darrin and I turned back at the east ridge after running out of time. Conness glacier is an impressive sight.
mpbro - Aug 6, 2002 4:57 pm
Route Climbed: North Ridge Date Climbed: August 5, 2002This was our second multipitch climb, after the south slopes of Mount Starr King. Considerably more committing! Although we made pretty good time to the start of the ridge (~ 2 hours from the car), I believe we spent about 8-9 hours on the windy ridge. This was due mainly to unnecessary use of the rope! Other than the downclimb/rappel on the second tower, the climbing never seemed harder than 5.2-5.4. To top things off, we got off-route on the descent and ended up doing much of it with headlamps. BTW, the register is full, for people who sign it.
Read my trip report
Joe Hanssen - Jul 29, 2002 6:29 pm
Route Climbed: South Slope Date Climbed: July 7 '02Conness is a great day climb in the Tioga Pass area. The summit block was fun, similar to Matterhorns. A bunch of marmots were up there. The basin from Sawmill campground to Alpine Lake and up to the saddle between Conness and White was filled with killer mosquitoes, I didn't stop till I got to the saddle where the wind kept them at bay. Solo
steeleman - Jul 16, 2002 9:01 pm
Route Climbed: Glacier Route Date Climbed: June 30, 2002Summitted Conness via the far right chute on the glacier route. Main purpose was to ski that chute and the bowls off the east ridge. There was still a fair amount of snow heading into July, although getting very suncupped. Click here for trip report
Josh - Jul 8, 2002 4:23 pm
Route Climbed: North Ridge Date Climbed: July 8, 2002After bagging North Peak, I traversed over to the summit of Conness. 5.6 is a very generous rating for the North Ridge. IMO, it's more like 5.2. I saw that Joe Hanssen had been there the day before. It's always fun to run into SP people's log entries. Car to car in 4:55.
darinchadwick - Mar 31, 2002 4:48 am
Route Climbed: West Ridge Date Climbed: August 2000We took the slow long way. Hiked into Youngs Lake from Lembert Dome. First night out we heard a bear running by as other campers banged pots and shouted.
Next morning we took off, overlarge rack clanking away, and climbed one of the finest ridges in the Sierra's. It was a great mix of easy simul-climbing with shorter, harder belayed sections. We were S-L-O-W. Fervent promises were made to go faster and lighter in the future. Surprised at how many other parties were on the route. Finally summited and ran down the sandy slopes back to camp.
That night the camp was cleared out, and the bear harrassed us until 4:00am. In case you're wondering, no, we had nothing close to camp to attract the bear, except our own BO. It's an overused area, so she's conditioned to keep looking for food 'till she finds it.
crackclimb - Nov 1, 2001 10:42 am
Route Climbed: east ridge Date Climbed: summer 98a great day
jtree - Oct 14, 2001 1:56 pm
Route Climbed: West Ridge Date Climbed: 10/13/01Climbed the W. Ridge on a beautiful Fall day with my partner Larry. It was a fourteen hour trip from car to car. Included in that time were a couple of questionable decisions on the approach such as decending from the plateau into the notch closest to the SW face. I suspect much time would be saved by decending the notch located much farther to the South.
I don't know how mother nature managed to sneak one last perfect day into the mix before she let loose with more typical October
weather, but I know that we were lucky to have it. Even on the exposed ridges and on the summit itself, the sun was coming through with nary a breeze to pierce it's veil of warm comfort.
The climb itself was more sustained that I suspected in that I perceived that after the first few hundred feet the terrain would taper off to easy third class climbing. This was not the case at all and we encountered solid fourth and moderate fifth class here and there until high up the route. Since we were soloing with a lot of weight on our backs, we were looking forward to the route easing off, but we were not able to take off our climbing shoes until only a few hundred feet below the summit.
The trip back was thankfully uneventful, except for meeting a fellow climber named John who had climbed the East Ridge. He told us about this great site SummitPost.com.
A truly great route with magnificent exposure.
DJ Reyes
Josh - Oct 6, 2001 10:44 pm
Route Climbed: North Ridge Date Climbed: October 5, 2001After a very short bouldering session at the Volcanic Tablelands near Bishop, I drove up to Saddlebag Lake. I left my car at 12:15, intending to run a few laps around the lake for exercise. But when I caught my first view of the North Ridge of Mount Conness from the NW corner of the lake, I decided to go check out the route instead. Before I knew it, I was at the base of the North Ridge. After a few minutes of thought, I decided to go for it. I was wearing running shoes, shorts, and a button-down-the-front, short-sleeve shirt. I had no food, water, backpack, or rope...nothing but my car keys, which I tucked into my sock.
After gaining the ridge via some nice 5.easy rock, I cruised the knife edge on terrain that started at Class 2, then increased in difficulty to Class 3/4. When I reached the "tower," I downclimbed some fun Class 5 rock, then cruised up to the summit. I stayed close to the ridge so that I could enjoy some of the excellent exposure. Near the summit, I encountered some hysterical women who commented on my attire and the fact that I had no water with me. I mumbled something about "deprivation training," but what came out of my mouth was probably incoherent. I descended the Alpine Lake Route, getting back to my car at 4:25pm. Car-to-Car time: 4 hours, 10 minutes.
brandon - Sep 18, 2001 4:03 pm
Route Climbed: North Ridge Date Climbed: August 2000North Ridge of N Peak to N Ridge Conness, car to car from Saddlebag in 9 hours.
Only challenging climbing is the downclimb on Conness, blood, gore, and death potential. If you're not comfy soloing 5.7, take a rope, and you'll probably only use it for this rap. A 100 foot rope would do it.
tiogap - Sep 2, 2001 9:56 am
Route Climbed: Alpine Lake Date Climbed: September 1, 2001I found this route to be mostly second class. There are a few fun third class moves along the way. BTW this is my third time on Conness. Standard route from the southeast, N ridge, and Alpine Lake. Looking for someone that wants to do W ridge.
Bob Burd - Aug 26, 2001 5:15 pm
Route Climbed: From Young Lakes Date Climbed: Aug 1, 1993Stopped at White Mtn on the way up, but no more than class 2 the whole route. Mosquitos were nasty at the lakes, but no problem while hiking. Took a class 2-3 chute down on the southwest side and stopped at Roosevelt Lake on the way back before returning to Young Lakes. Trip Report
gordonye - Aug 14, 2001 3:25 pm
Route Climbed: Alpine Lake Date Climbed: September 25th, 1999This was my third attempt from the Saddlebag Lake trailhead, I finally made it with Shubo (Steve) Dai. The first time in 1998 Devesh and I turned back from the Conness-White Mountain saddle, where there was steep snow (we had no ice axe or crampons). The second time in August 1999 Darrin and I turned back at the east ridge after running out of time. Conness glacier is an impressive sight.