Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board North Peak Ice Climbing

Bob P. introduced me to this wonderful peak which included a great climb up some ice. If anyone was curious as to the current ice conditions, please feel free to view these 18 photos for our trip. Can't wait 'till winter starts!

http://gocarine.smugmug.com/Category/North-Peak/25995271_QTpPN4#!i=2157245005&k=fMGZBpR

How was the ice? I was thinking about getting up there in the next couple of weeks!

This was Carine's first couloir climb, so I brought a 70-meter rope, some screws, and a few nuts. The bergschrund was partially open, but it would have been easy to climb around the right side. Carine and I climbed directly out of the center of the bergschrund on some firm névé.

The first two pitches were névé with just a little recent snow on top. The third pitch was mostly porous ice with a few inches of recent snow on top. I ran out of rope on the third pitch about 30' below the top of the ice, so I let Carine lead the last part. She just scampered up it. Good job!

The rock above the couloir was nice and dry. It's easy to make it a class 3 climb to the top, but we took a route that ends with a couple of harder moves directly below the summit. I let Carine go first, and she struggled a little with heavy boots and a pack that included two technical ice tools, crampons, and the screws and nuts. She eventually found all the right holds and popped out on top of the world.

What a view! I pointed out the north Ridge on Mt Conness, and I think she's stoked to do it next year.

Nice work, Bob and Carine! Did you bring along the inclinometer??

Been meaning to tackle that couli (the right one, yes?) for a while, and was disappointed to follow my friends slogging up the scree to the summit of North a few weekends ago. Sounds like its mostly good neve?

-L

Yes, the right one. As usual, the other two couloirs are two thirds snow and ice and one third dirt and loose rock. There is something special about the right couloir on North Peak. I've done it twenty-something times, and it's always in good shape. Many of the other Sierra couloirs melt out or drop tons of rock. Split, Gilbert, Thompson, Mendel, North Palisade, and many others are hit-and-miss, at best. North Peak may not have the ratio of ice to snow that you prefer, but it's always a good climb. It's at least two thirds névé right now. It's lots of fun, but it usually has much more ice this time of year.

No, I didn't bring the inclinometer. It was 45º-46º when I measured it back in the early 90s. Despite you-know-who claiming that it changes by 20º depending on snow depth, it's still the same.

Go do it before another storm covers it up and closes all the roads until June.