Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board Mt. Williamson, East Ridge

Can anyone direct me to info about the East Ridge (the one that splits the south and north forks of Bairs Creek) of Mt. Williamson? I am especially interested in photos of the East Ridge from the north and south. Thanks.

If you mean the NE ridge you can check out our website www.sierramountaincenter.com There are a few picture there.

Thanks Eric, but I do mean the East Ridge.

Hi Google Earth lets you see the mountains in detail, one should be able to see and then label the route you are looking for.Thanks Doug

Thanks Doug. I've spent an hour or more studying the GoogleEarth image and angles, and they are extremely helpful. However, the views of the south and north sides of the east ridge are not sufficiently clear (especially the north side). Specifically, I want to see if there are feasible ways of traversing from roughly midway up the east ridge into the upper reaches of the south and/or north forks of Bairs Creek.

Here's one view:


For higher resolution:
http://www.dbdimages.com/photos/741813448_XhTSZ-O.jpg

Dale B. Dalrymple
http://dbdimages.com

We went up George Creek a couple years ago. I headed over to Trojan Peak, so I took a couple of pictures of Williamson from the south - on and near the summit of Trojan. I'm not sure if that's what you're looking for, but you can find them in this album:

http://kathywing.smugmug.com/California-...294296460_cyXge

I hope to eventually head back up George Creek to do Barnard.

Dale: That's a really useful (and totally awesome) image. Sort of reminiscent of a Bradford Washburn photo. Do you have any more images of the east side of Williamson (especially the east ridge)? I had a quick look on your website, but my computer froze.

Kathy: Thanks for the link to your photos (I've found myself on your website a few times now). As far as I can tell, there are some shots of the upper southeast ridge of Williamson, but not the east ridge.

Sam, it's been some years now, so I'm a little fuzzy, but on the south side of the ridge (south fork valley), there is a ramp that runs nicely up to the top of the ridge. However, from there west to the south plateau, which it intersects, is some serious climbing. A buddy of mine tried this route a few years back, and found it quite challenging. Can't remember who, though.

I do not know the severity of the climb up the east ridge, but if you got that far, it would be an easy descent down into the south fork, but I'd guess it is about 8/10ths of the way.

As I recall, the guidebook that covers skiing in the north fork mentions that the east ridge cliffs on this side are sheer and would be technical.

G'luck!

Sam: That sounds about right from where I was - oh well. I always thought Bairs Creek had the same restrictions as George Creek, but it looks like it might be open from 12/15 to 7/15 like Williamson Bowl from this map:

http://www.its.caltech.edu/~alpine/SheepClosures.jpg

Good luck on your trip planning.

Kathy

Ken: Thanks for your helpful comments. That's all consistent with what I've been able to gather.

The image I posted above is the view of Williamson's east side from the north. Other views are included within panoramas from my site:

East (look just left of the middle)
http://www.dbdimages.com/Eastern-Sierra/...823_WpPHA-O.jpg
South (look at the right end)
http://www.dbdimages.com/Eastern-Sierra/...985_4p2z9-O.jpg

Dale B. Dalrymple
http://dbdimages.com

Dale: Thanks again. That second image is very helpful (not to mention absolutely amazing).

Hi Sam

Maybe this shot on my blog will help.
http://dittli.wordpress.com/



John Dittli

Great shots!

John: Yup, that helps a lot. Gorgeous shot. Thanks. I'm planning to be up there from Sunday to Tuesday.

I will be there as well. I suspect the snowshoes are gonna get a lot of use this weekend.