Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board Thor Peak east couloir climb

This past Sunday Bob Rockwell, Tom Sakai, Dan Bishop and I climbed the most northerly of Thor's east couloirs, descending via the Secret Route and down the North Fork to complete the loop. Since then several have emailed to find out more about the climb, beyond Bob's brief comments on another thread regarding current Ebersbacher Ledge conditions.

While a report on the conditions we encountered is no longer as relevant, given the recent change in weather, it may still be possible to glean some useful information from the pictures linked below. And I could ramble on for quite awhile on what it's like to climb with seminal mountaineers and legendary Sierra figures like Bob and Tom, and to see in Dan a slightly younger version of both of them. But pictures can usually tell a considerably more compelling story, much as they did with Bob's report on our Whitney MT climb late last November; so this report will be rather laconic.

The most northerly of the east couloirs is not often climbed; to give an idea, this was just Bob's second trip up in 35 years (although he's descended it many times), and the first for the rest of us. There was abundant avalanche evidence in the lower half, so everyone wore transceivers. For most of the climb, the conditions were far from ideal, with unconsolidated, heavy spring conditions, and some difficult waist-deep postholing in some of the steepest sections.

But it was ultimately well worth the effort, if only to get a shot of Bob and Tom at the top of the Secret Route, with Sakai Col and the Rockwell Variation on Mt. Russell behind them.

Thor Peak east couloir climb 3/28/10
(probably best to view in 'Slideshow' or 'Full page' format; just hit the pause button, and page forward manually)

EDIT: Sorry; if the link at first appears to be a dead end, just click 'View Jay's Gallery', and it should take you to the pics.


Bob has also posted pictures from the climb:

2010-03-28 Thor Peak

Nice work!

Question: but what exactly is the "Secret Route"??

I've heard it mentioned a few times...

Looking at the map I can see a route from LBSL to Thor peak, is that it??

Cheers,

Kristoria

Jay and Bob, good to see you guys out and about. Jay great captions on the photos.

Paul

Nice work. I guess climbing with those guys is like 'stepping into the footprints of legends'. Fantastic photos and captions! Loved the "Nuts! That wasn't the top of the mountain after all." Think we've all been there...

Great photos. That is the same couloir that our "Stemwinder Group" climbed on the WPSMB group hike last October. You guys had more snow and so were spared the fun of the dense brush on the approach. Good times!

Great job guys!

Excellent pics as well; really ecapsulates what the conditions were on the date of your adventure.

Thank you

-Ski