The Basics
Bitterroot Mountains, Montana
El Capitan 9983'
The Lonesome Bachelor 9185'
West Como Sister 9624'
Middle Como Sister 9530'
East Como Sister 9485'
A sixteen plus odd mile traverse (with 16,000 plus odd feet of elevation gain/loss) would take us from the Little Rock Creek trailhead across the summits of these five peaks, and back to the car, hopefully in less then a day.
The Trip
The day of heinous started a little before midnight as we (Dyaln, AJ, and I) set off for the Little Rock Creek trailhead. None of the three of us got more than an hour or so of sleep beforehand, so there was a general feeling of dread as we locked up the car and started hiking.
The idea to climb El Capitan, The Lonesome Bachelor, and all three Como Sisters had been floating around in the back of my mind for a little while (probably since I climbed El Cap a couple of years ago). There was just the problem of mentally and physically committing to an arduous series of climbs, not to mention finding partners who liken “fun” to such a task. I should pause to mention that we wanted to do it in one day, car to car. We had previously talked about such a trip, but it didn’t start to come together until Friday afternoon. I had called Dylan and AJ that afternoon, posing the question: “What are you doing between midnight tonight and midnight tomorrow night?” I got nervous laughs for answers.
All three of us had been to El Capitan before, so we knew the approach alone is slightly less than fun (and generally tick-ridden). With six miles of crappy trails, and a couple more of bush pushing, it is a five plus hour approach to the base of El Capitan.
The plan itself was loosely tied together, contrived in our heads and modified as we climbed. We had the general idea that we were going to summit El Capitan first, then follow the ridge to the Lonesome Bachelor and the three Comos. Having little beta on the Lonesome Bachelor and a moderate amount of info on all three Sisters, we brought a rope, some harnesses, a few nuts, and rappel material.
We planned to climb El Capitan first, and then make our way back South along the ridge (summiting the other four peaks) before dropping back onto the trail. We had planned for 20-24 hours, considering that it was more 15 miles, mostly off trail, with 16,000-odd feet of elevation gain and loss.
![Moonset over the Lonesome Bachelor]()
The Moon and The Lonesome Bachelor, right before nap-time
As we arrived at the base of El Capitan, we decided that a short nap was in order, and proceeded to do so on some large rocks. That was right at sunrise. El Capitan was a straight forward slog to the summit. We reached the summit at about 8:30 am, and were a little worried about time at that point; 8.5 hours in and we had summited one peak of five.
![S. Couloir, El Cap.]()
Dylan, heading up the couloir under the Lonesome Bachelor![El Capitan]()
On The summit of El Capitan![The Lonesome Bachelor]()
AJ, heading down El Cap, and toward the Lonesome Bachelor
The Lonesome Bachelor was next, and we were a little worried, as the peak itself is very steep and exposed, not to mention we had very little beta on the peak. We stuck to the South ridge, and were able to summit fairly quickly. The scrambling is pretty straightforward, and very exposed. The very top of the peak provided some steeper climbing (one section of low 5th class). We were able to descend the peak in a slightly easier manner, traversing ledge systems and down-climbing short sections.
Next up was the long haul to West Como Peak. At 9624 ft, it was one of the harder legs of the trip. We had to lose substantial elevation to bypass a small ridge before heading to the summit. We had also been on trail for more than 14 hours by the time we summited.
![Middle and East Como Sisters]()
Middle and East Como Sisters
Middle Como peak came pretty quickly, after a slightly scary section of steep, slick snow on the way down from West Como. It only took us an hour from West to Middle Como.
![Descent]()
Sketchy going down...
From the Middle Sister, the East Sister looks like a brute, with steep, exposed rock faces. We continued to follow the ridge, and found that it wasn't as bad as it looked. It only took one more hour from the Middle Sister to the East Sister.
![East Sister]()
Last summit, 17 hours in, looking and feeling better than we should
5:30 PM, 17 hours in, put us on top of our final peak. Done, out, closed...right?
Well, what goes up must come down. Now only 5,000 feet and several miles down to the trail, and a few more out to the car. We were able to descend the East Sister fairly easily, sticking to the ridge before dropping into the cirque below it and following a scree field that appeared to nicely put us right on the trail.
After a bit of scree hopping and navigating around small cliffs, we finally had to use the rope I had been hauling. A little cliff posed a problem, and there was what appeared to be a bypass to the East, but we didn't want to do any more "over" hiking. We wanted to go down. A sixty foot rappel and more scree put us back on the trail, with daylight to spare.
![Cliffed Out]()
AJ raps the cliffout
An hour or two of Rock Creek's famously fun creekbed/wet root/down tree hiking brought us to the end: that part of the trail you look forward to the most: the several hundred foot climb back up to the cars. There was still enough light out that we didn't even have to use our headlamps.
10:10 pm brought us back to the car, 22 hours later. All in all, things went well. There were no injuries, route-finding mishaps, gear malfunctions, or hunger/exhaustion breakdowns. There was still a bit of recovery time involved, though...
And finally...
Note: "Bitterroot Grand Traverse" name was borrowed from SP-er Mtn_Ear. Some of the photos (all the B/W ones and more) were taken by Dylan
(Alpine Climber). More photos to come, as I develop/scan slides and hopefully get some from AJ, too. Happy climbing everyone.
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