My computer isn't doing to well and I can't post photos at the moment. Hopefully Sean and some others can post some more if they get a chance. It's been beautiful weather with gorgeous views the past few days. We've been pretty busy.

Yesterday we went to Stanton Peak in Yosemite NP out of the Green Creek TH. We had more than a dozen make it to the summit in various groups. More than half also tagged nearby Grey Butte before heading back. A few others went to (also) nearby Virginia Peak instead of Stanton. It's a pretty impressive looking mountain with beautiful orange rock. Sean managed to climb Stanton, Virginia and Twin Peaks, all in about 9hrs. On my way back over Virginia Pass I hoofed it up to Camiaca Peak and then over to Epidote Peak before dropping down to the East Lake Trail. I saw another participant atop Camiaca while I was on Epidote, but I've yet to identify just who that was. All in all, a fine day for all.

Today we went to Blacktop Peak just outside Yosemite's eastern boundary, starting from Silver Lake. There were another dozen that made it to the top, a good number considering the 6,000ft of gain to get there. Nice views of Koip Crest. Sean talked three of us (Darija, Brian, myself) into joining him for a traverse of the crest to Kuna Peak, rated class 4. I had planned to take it easy today, but he was rather persuasive. It was great fun. From Kuna we headed east to Koip Peak, down and across Koip Pass, then up to Parker and Woods. From Woods we dropped more than 5,000ft down to Silver Lake by way of miles of scree and some steep, loose chutes that we managed to negotiate without bonking each other on the head.

Tomorrow we're heading over Minaret Summit to Agnews Meadow for a rather tame climb of Volcanic Ridge. A few others are planning to do various combinations of Banner, Ritter, Clyde Minaret and perhaps others. 6am, if anyone would like to join us at the last minute!

Just a couple shots from day 2. First, for reference, here are Stanton and Virginia peaks as seen from Virginia Pass:

Second, here's the first page of Twin Peak's nice old register:

Evidently it doesn't get much traffic, other than one other hardy Challenger who got lost and had to bivvy in the Virginia Creek area.

Here are a few shots from day 3. First, here is what Blacktop looks like from the southeast:

The register had a nice little history lesson on the first page:

Here is the southern part of Koip Crest, rated 5.8, with the Minarets, Ritter, and Banner in the background:

It's rated 5.8, so we steered clear. And here is the northern part, rated class 4, with Koip Peak in the background:

It was actually more like class 3 (but loose) if you stayed to one side or the other. Here we are starting the traverse:

And last but not least, Adam took some time out to work on the railroad:

Small epic story:

Bill Nelson was scheduled to join us for the Friday hike, planning to do Matterhorn as an alternative to Finger Peaks. I didn't see him at the TH, so figured he started earlier or didn't show. Next day, Sean reports seeing a signature from Bill NelTson on the summit of Twin Peaks. Hmm. Perhaps he was very good and did both Matterhorn and Twin. Or possibly he mistook one for the other. It was the only day he had signed up for, so expected he was back home.

Bill showed up at the TH this morning and told me about his little adventure. Apparently he got off-route going up Horse Creek Canyon somehow, mistook Twin for Matterhorn and climbed the wrong peak via some sketchy loose route. Late in the day he decided to descend the easier route to the south and bivy at Virginia Pass, figuring he'd see us coming over for our climb of Stanton. 10:30a the next day and he sees no one. Of course we've had more than a dozen folks going over the pass. Bill realized he wasn't at Virginia Pass, but some other saddle further north. He saw some participants but was too far away to get their attention. He then crossed west into Spiller Canyon and then north back to Horse Creek Canyon. Around 6pm he came across a Sierra Club party camping. They gave him some food and helped direct him back to Mono Village that evening.

Today's effort to Volcanic Knob turned out to be a bit tougher than expected. The easy routes come up from the south and the Minaret Lake Trail, the harder ones from the north and the Shadow Lake Trail - the one we used out of Agnew Meadows. We had more than 20 folks today, best ever showing for a Monday (or any mid-week day). The trail portion was fairly tame, but the cross-country was steep and relentless. Four of us (Darija, Adam, Vitaliy) made it to the summit via Cabin Lake in 3.5 hours. The views of the Minarets were spectacular, as expected:




And of course, Ritter and Banner as well:



The four of us decided to head southeast for a bonus peak called Red Top Mtn about 3mi distance. We spent 2.5hrs dropping down to Minaret Lake, following the trail down a short ways, then cross-country up to Red Top. An old register from 1981 had dubbed the peak BannRitt Peak, but the name never stuck. Another register under a different cairn was more recent, a classic MacLeod/Lilley variety:



As far as I know, everyone made it to the top of Volcanic Ridge that was heading that way. We had a few others doing Ritter/Banner, but didn't hear back from them yet.

Bob Sumner drove out from Hawthorne, NV to have dinner with us this evening in Mammoth, sharing stories and lies. It was good to meet him for the first time after many email exchanges.

Tomorrow we head to Convict Lake for a climb of White Fang and possibly the Baldwin->Morrison traverse. Should be great fun. The creek crossing where the bridge is out might be the crux.

Bob Burd wrote:Small epic story:

Bill Nelson was scheduled to join us for the Friday hike, planning to do Matterhorn as an alternative to Finger Peaks. I didn't see him at the TH, so figured he started earlier or didn't show. Next day, Sean reports seeing a signature from Bill NelTson on the summit of Twin Peaks. Hmm. Perhaps he was very good and did both Matterhorn and Twin. Or possibly he mistook one for the other. It was the only day he had signed up for, so expected he was back home.

Bill showed up at the TH this morning and told me about his little adventure. Apparently he got off-route going up Horse Creek Canyon somehow, mistook Twin for Matterhorn and climbed the wrong peak via some sketchy loose route. Late in the day he decided to descend the easier route to the south and bivy at Virginia Pass, figuring he'd see us coming over for our climb of Stanton. 10:30a the next day and he sees no one. Of course we've had more than a dozen folks going over the pass. Bill realized he wasn't at Virginia Pass, but some other saddle further north. He saw some participants but was too far away to get their attention. He then crossed west into Spiller Canyon and then north back to Horse Creek Canyon. Around 6pm he came across a Sierra Club party camping. They gave him some food and helped direct him back to Mono Village that evening.

I friend of mine on that Sierra Club trip that helped out Bill contacted me at 4:00 today asking if I new about a missing hiker in that area. Since I didn't do the first day hike on the Challenge I knew nothing about it. Know it makes more sense.

My palms are still sweating from those photos of Incredible Hulk. It's been on my list for quite a while already - what a line - absolutely incredible.

Well, I'm stuck in Kingman, Arizona for the time being due to car troubles. I'll have to miss Feather Peak . With luck I'll be able to join you guys for Thursday's hike, but I'm not counting on anything yet, I thought my car would have been fixed by yesterday.

Props to Bob and Sean for successfully completing the traverse from White Fang to Morrison. You really have to have some balls to risk death in order to get an extra bonus peak.

On a side note, is it just me or is Sean and Bob an exact physical replica of each other?




Clones!

Update from yesterday:
While most of us were taking it easy, JD M. was out doing Ritter/Banner in 14hrs, a good showing. Sean went one better and did Banner/Ritter/Clyde Minaret in 12:45hrs. I think that's the first time for that dayhike combo. Sean was a little tired this morning.

Day 5 - White Fang

We had two start early and 13 starting at 6am from the Convict Lake TH. There were some exciting moments when the group reached the washed out bridge and went about getting across the creeks, quite high with water for August. Some made spectacular jumps, other made less-spectacular splashes into the water, some just walked through, wet feet be damned.

Not long after crossing we left the trail to head up steep and loose talus slopes to Bright Dot Lake. From there, a group of seven headed to Mt. Baldwin while the rest went more directly to White Fang. It took the Baldwin group about 4.5hrs to reach the summit, around 10:30am. Not all of the group realized they weren't atop White Fang until after reaching Baldwin's summit. Pays to pay attention, eh? After a nice break, we started off on the traverse to White Fang, but it was so loose, crappy, and scary that only Sean and I got down the initial descent. The others thought we were nuts and left to head back down to Bright Dot Lake. Sean and I figured they'd never do the additional 2,000ft to climb back up to White Fang via the class 3 route.

The crux of the traverse turned out to be the North Ridge of Baldwin, but the rest of the way to White Fang was not easy. It took us two hours to cover the distance, mostly class 3 with several class 4 sketchy sections. We saw some of the others atop White Fang while we were doing the traverse, but they were long gone by the time we got there around 12:30p. It had been a hair-raising traverse, not one I would lightly recommend.

The next section to Morrison's South Summit was easier, loose class 3 and long. Halfway along we suddenly came across Adam, Bob J, Darija, and Vitaliy heading to White Fang. Holy Cow - they actually came back up to tag White Fang. Only they had picked the wrong chute to climb and had ended up to far north. Luckily the traverse wasn't too bad (only class 3 between Morrison South Summit and White Fang), but they would be a while getting back.

Sean and I reached Morrison's South Summit around 2:30pm (spicy class 3 to reach the higher of the two points there). After getting back off the highpoint, the rest of the traverse to Morrison was pretty easy, no more than class 2, taking only half an hour. We decided to forgo Mono Jim which would have continued the traverse back to Convict Lake because we were too beat. Time to head back...

Current leaders:
Yellow & Green jersies: Bob Jones (age 57), 5 Challenge Peaks, 47hr50m
King of the Mountain: Sean O'Rourke, 17 peaks
White Jersey: Vitaliy Musiyenko, 5 Challenge Peaks, 48hr50m

There's competition in all the categories this year. We have six folks who've managed 5 Challenge peaks in the first five days, the strongest showing ever. The yellow jersey lead is only 5min ahead of the runner up. The runner up for KoM has 16 peaks, only 1 behind the leader. You can see the stats here.

Bob, our party of 4 backpackers had a fun time getting passed by all the very enthusiastic Challengers on day two: Stanton Peak.

How old do you think that iron register is on Finger Peaks?

Bob Burd wrote:There's competition in all the categories this year. We have six folks who've managed 5 Challenge peaks in the first five days, the strongest showing ever. The yellow jersey lead is only 5min ahead of the runner up. The runner up for KoM has 16 peaks, only 1 behind the leader. You can see the stats here.

Is this fellow laying low until day 10???

Good job to all actually... and great photos!

mrchad9 wrote:Is this fellow laying low until day 10???

Good job to all actually... and great photos!

No, he's doing the best he can. Just can't keep up with the new blood.

BHunewill wrote:How old do you think that iron register is on Finger Peaks?

I dunno, but maybe 60yrs? Just a guess.

Day 6 - Feather Peak

Feather Peak lies in the Royce Lakes area of the John Muir Wilderness, the most difficult of the three peaks lined up along the lakes (Merriam & Royce being the other two). We started from the Pine Creek TH at 6a with a group of 15. Of those, five were headed to Julius Caesar instead.

Where White Fang was an exercise in loose volcanic talus, Feather started with a 500-ft snow climb. Secor describes it as a class 3, 45 degree WI, but we found no ice today and probably about a 40 degree angle at its steepest - still a good climb. Once at the Royce-Feather Col, the southeast face is a challenging class 2-3 climb for another 600ft. In smaller groups, all ten eventually made it to the summit, anywhere from five to six hours from the TH.

I got down the snow portion while most of the others were on the summit. I then headed up the class 2 south side of Spire Peak, only to find Sean had gotten to the summit five minutes earlier. He had gone to Julius Caesar with his copy of Secor in his pack, then sat at the summit to figure out where to go next. Hilgard, Gabb, BCS, Abbot all seemed too far, but then he saw Spire Peak's North Ridge was class 4 - so he went there. From Spire Peak the two of us went to nearby Bear Claw Peak. Both of these peaks have impressive summit blocks. I got the bright idea to try dropping down off the North Face down a steep, blocky chute that we couldn't see the exit off. Sean relunctantly agreed and we headed down. I got spooked after getting stopped several times while Sean made better progress. I ended up climbing back to the summit and back down the easy south side while Sean forged a route all the way down that he described as spicy class 5. To rich for my blood.

Most of us returned after around 11hrs. From Feather, Adam Jantz was heading up over Royce and Merriam and got back at 8pm, a long day. Three others were still out after Adam got back - Darija, JD, & Vitaliy - we're not quite sure where they headed after Feather Peak.

Current Leaders after day 6:
Yellow Jersey: Bob Burd, 6 Challenge Peaks, 59hr5min
Green Jersey: Bob Jones, 6 Challenge Peaks, 59hrs30min
White Jersey: Adam Jantz, 6 Challenge Peaks, 62hrs55min
King of the Mountain: Sean O'Rourke, 20 peaks

Tomorrow we head to Lake Sabrina for a hike over Haeckel Col to Mt. Spencer in the Evolution Region.

That snow slope today has me convinced that there should be a winter version of the SC. Would love to see just how fast Sean and Bob could move while swimming up to their hips in snow...

Me, I just live for postholing. It's where I live...