Alvin starting with a full pack
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Deep in the heart of the Sierra are a
number of high priority peaks for the
adventurous ski mountaineer. Access to
them by skis requires days and
commitment in order to surpass their
barriers and distances. Highest on the
list for this tour is Mt. Goddard at
13,568 feet that is accessed from a base
camp at Muir Pass then via Ionian Basin
that is over Solomon Col and across a
long series of lakes that lead to the
slopes and ultimately the summit.
Nine days of supplies had been put
together to accomplish the first goal
and the many other climbing and skiing
goals along the way. The route started a
Lake Sabrina and headed to the Sierra
crest south of Mt. Darwin. After
climbing and skiing with a 53 pound pack
for 12 hours that first day, I reached
Echo Lake that was solidly frozen over
and a good sign for the rest of the
trip. The remoteness was beginning to
sink in as I took in my steep, wild and,
in some ways, intimidating surroundings
where everything appeared straight up.
My first camp near the edge of the lake
was pleasantly cool, slightly windy and
in an excellent position for an early
assault on the crest via Echo Col the
next morning. After a satisfying
breakfast, it was time to buckle up the
crampons and ascend the steep, solidly
frozen slope to Echo Col. Stepping up to
the edge of the col opened up views of
the Sierra that only the heartiest ever
get to see. At that point, I also had to
slightly repack in order to down-climb
the upper 100 feet of exposed, 3rd and
4th class rock on the very steep west
side of the col in order to get down to
skiable snow again.
By late morning, the snow had ripened
nicely, making my descent down into Le
Conte Canyon a treat that any skier
would find a total joy. As I approached
the bottom and traversed as much as
possible to avoid excessive elevation
loss, I set my day's goal to reach Muir
Pass that is the highpoint in the long
valley that separates Le Conte Canyon
from Evolution Valley, where the
watershed drainage leads in opposite
directions.
At the pass is the Muir stone hut that
was built in 1930 by the Sierra Club to
offer shelter for anyone caught out in
the elements. It was empty and open and
I decided to use it as my base camp for
the many nearby peaks that I wanted to
climb. I slept well and got an early
start on what I expected to be a long
day to reach the summit of Mt. Goddard.
Solomon Pass was a steep 600 feet above
the hut that warranted crampons then
descending down 1,000 feet to the first
of a series of lakes on frozen but
moderately pitched slopes was just more
of the fun of being out in this wild
country on skis. The series of lakes
were frozen early in the day and I was
able to take a direct route over them
and the undulating terrain that brought
me to the view of Mt. Goddard and its
mirrored reflection in an area of open
water just in front of the peak.
Impressive! I continued across the last
long lake at 11,951 feet and up the east
to northeast slopes. It seemed as if it
didn't take that long before I was at
the top and ogling the views. I was
thrilled!
Mount Goddard and it's reflection
It was time for a lunch break followed
by getting ready for the descent that
would be in ideal springtime snow
conditions for the next 1,500 vertical
feet. I varied my turns from short,
tightly linked parallel to carved
parallel to drop kneed tele turns and
back again as only a tele equipped skier
can do. My quads got a very satisfying
burn as I approached the bottom of this
wild and remote mountain to glance back
at my track that I knew would remain
there unblemished until enough days had
passed for the sun, wind and freezes to
bring the silky snow texture all back
into pristine uniformity once again.
On my return across the lakes later in
the day, I was considerably more
cautious as there were many areas of
standing water around the edges of the
lakes and I gave them broad berth. From
the base of the last 1,000 foot climb to
Solomon Pass, I took a reflective look
at what I accomplished and where I
accomplished it and how I accomplished
it - solo -- and felt good!
On Solomon Pass, it was only about 600
vertical feet to the summit of Mt.
Solomon that I knew I could make in the
remaining daylight and was soon on the
top basking in the very late afternoon
glow. The steep face slope I was
planning to ski was now in the shade and
the snow was crusting up. Cautiously, I
got off the top traversing the hard pack
until I got down to softer snow where I
completed many fine turns on my way back
to the hut.
Early again the next morning, I was on
my way to the Black Giant that had been
the next highest peak priority. It was a
colder day with a light wind blowing
keeping the steeper slope frozen. At the
summit, I gained an excellent
perspective on other peaks that I wanted
to do and the best route to them and my
choice for the rest of the day was Mt.
Fiske. The descent off the "Black Giant"
was on textured ice that was really
quite fun as it propelled me quickly
over a lot of terrain in my desired
direction. Heading up the irregular
geology on the south mini-cirque side of
Fiske got me up to a high, steep bowl
where I had to leave my skis and proceed
through the very steep mixed granite
blocks and snow on foot. This approach
turned out to be very challenging as I
often hit deep, soft pockets where I
sunk up to my hips or waist then crawled
out on to exposed 4th class sections of
rock where I had to pause to regain my
strength. This tested my mental will as
it went on much longer than I would have
liked and the risk was substantial. When
I reached a high plateau, the peak was
far to the west yet a pretty straight
forward hike over breakable patches of
snow. On the summit, I thought to myself
that I really earned this one and also
decided I would find a better way down
which, fortunately, I did.
Back at my skis, the snow and slope were
just right for laying down a
photo-quality track right through all
the geological features to the lake
where, again, I proceeded with some
trepidation due to the softening of the
snow and ice permitting my poles to
punch through to water in some places.
Relieved to be off the lake, it was
somewhat more than an hour tour uphill
to my base at the Muir Hut.
Muir Hut
Having accomplished most of my climbing
goals in the immediate vicinity, it was
time to pack everything and start
heading north with one exception -- Mt.
Warlow. Another early departure and a
stop with the full pack at the base
where I proceeded up a nice firm slope
with my day pack toward the top of the
snow very near the summit where I
reveled in the glory of another new
mountain. The steep snow descent was as
fun and as good as it gets and it was
finally time to heft the big pack and
head down into Evolution Valley where to
my complete surprise in this deep area
of the Sierra I encountered a solo
skate-skier coming toward me with the
lightest of lightweight gear. We stopped
and exchanged stories. Peter's mission
was to do a long, one day, double
marathon loop deep into the Sierra and
out. We wished each other well and
headed off in our respective directions.
Considering it was still early in the
day and I was in no rush to leave this
area, I decided to leave my big pack
next to Wanda Lake and make another run
on Mt. Warlow - it was worth it as
conditions were exquisite and I knew my
chances for any other summits would be
very limited. Following Evolution Creek
to a high, exposed rock bench above
Sapphire Lake, I decided to make my camp
on this rock outcrop with a fine view of
the valley below. One big motivator for
this seemingly high early stop was the
fact I had seen at least three separate
sets of bear tracks that I figured would
be headed to lower vegetation-abundant
areas since I wasn't prepared to do any
bear proof food storage thinking I am on
a winter trip when bears are still
hibernating. The reality was that they
were just starting to wake up as it was
already late spring. I spent another
night enjoying all the splendor and
tranquility that the mountains can
bestow and perhaps experienced the
Bedouin proverb "When you sleep in a
house, your thoughts are as high as the
ceiling; when you sleep outside, they
are as high as the stars."
As I started out in the early morning,
the snow bridges were solid; yet there
were areas where the river gushed out of
the snow and rushed down over the rocks
creating water-wheels that would delight
anyone who had a passion for seeing
Nature express its springtime
exuberance. Further downstream just
before Evolution Lake at 10,852 feet, I
had to make my crossing on thin ice to
head up into Darwin Canyon that was my
planned route.
Darwin Canyon with a series of nearly
frozen-over lakes in a deep exposed rock
gorge with no vegetation was the
ultimate in wild-looking places. At the
upper end of the canyon and opposite Mt.
Darwin and its spectacular glacier, I
set up an ideal base camp for attempting
Mt. Darwin the following day. I reviewed
the write-ups on approaches to climbing
Darwin and felt I had a very good
chance.
Considering that to me summiting Mt.
Darwin at 13,831 feet has a much higher
priority than just skiing glaciers, my
direct approach to the notches that are
supposed to be 3rd class and to the far
right of the main couloir were where I
was headed first thing in the morning.
On approach, the snow in the sun was
already softening and when I got within
the shadow of the higher notch, I
encountered cold wintery snow that I
climbed to its upper limit where I was
stopped by 4th and 5th class rock. The
second notch had the same limitations;
so, I decided to ski a long traverse all
the way across the glacier to attempt
the left shoulder that got me partway up
and to another stalemate. The main
couloir was my last option and up I went
kicking steps in cold, firm pack snow to
what I thought was the highest finger
that would ultimately head to the
summit. I reached an altitude of 13,630
feet just about 200 vertical feet below
the summit where I was stumped again
even though I spent over an hour working
options at that level when I finally
decided the risks for a solo climber
with no protective equipment were too
great. I descended down to my skis on
about a 40+ degree pitch of the couloir
on smooth-packed powder and worked my
way down to a point where I had some fun
turns.
My thoughts were temporarily dominated
with disappointment for getting so close
after putting in so much effort and not
making the top -- but this is not the
first time this has happened on big
mountains and I plan to go back for
another attempt by different approaches
or different strategies or both.
Back at camp, I reflected again on what
I experienced and accomplished in the
past 8 days including savoring the very
remote location I had to myself that
evening that was all a part of the
burning quest I had to solo ski and
climb those mountains deep in the
Sierra. The last day was a leisurely
climb over Lamarck Col with some fun
skiing and a lot of hiking back to my
truck at Lake Sabrina. So at last for
me, I had a great time and look forward
to spending more time climbing and
skiing more mountains in the deep and
wild Sierra.
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