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Anyone Ever Climb Lone Pine Peak?

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1K views 4 replies 4 participants last post by  Gene S 
#1 ·
You have all seen this mountain, just about every SUV or truck ad has used it for a backdrop and dozens of westerns have been filmed in front of it since the invention of the movie camera. It is perhaps America's most scenic peak posed majestically in front and to the left of Mt Whitney. One of Ansel Adams most famous pictures is of the two peaks. LPP is much more dramatic than Whitney with it's glacially carved ridges running from the headwall to the desert floor. In my early backpacking days I drove by many times and often drove up the Whitney Portal road to just stare at the knife edged arete that is Lone Pine Peak's north ridge. It always seemed like a classic climb along the ridge with massive amounts of exposure on each side and stunning views in every direction. The ridge haunted me every time I would see a picture of it which to this day is quite often.

Back in the 60's I hung out with a number of Yosemite climbers and several of them frequented my house and parties in Fresno. I tried to get some of them interested in climbing the north ridge but most poo-poohed a climb outside of the Valley. Big wall climbing was their gig and they could be met at the top by broads, booze and food-no such luxuries in a back country climb. In 1966 I finally got two big wall climbers to make the trip from Fresno to Lone Pine and attempt the ridge. We made good time for much of the day but the weather turned sour mid afternoon and we had to get off quick. We made 7 one hundred and fifty feet rappels before we could find something level enough to stand up on. Darkness caught us and we slept in the snow. That dashed my hopes for that year.

In 1967 my roommate and I drove over in May to give it a shot. The weather was perfect and climbing conditions were optimum as well. We got an early start and made a lot of progress before dark. When nighttime came we found a small shelf big enough for two and roped our selves securely to the rocks before sleeping. Owens Valley sunrises and sunsets are often stunning and didn't disappoint from our vantage point of almost 11,000'. Pictures of the north ridge seem to indicate from afar that the edge of the ridge comes to almost a knife edge at the top. It is no illusion, in places we crossed the ridge with one boot on the west side, the other boot on the east side using two hands to grip the razor edge as we crossed. With about 6,000' of exposure on one side and almost 3,000 on the other it was a rush! The morning of the second day found us in the clouds as we approached the headwall. We climbed the headwall to the top and broke out with a relatively easy final slog to the summit. We got some pictures but the great view of Mt Whitney we had hoped for just wasn't to be had.

Getting down was the next order of business and after a day and a half on the mountain we were eager to get down to some cheeseburgers, fries and a milkshake. Over the years of scouting the mountain I had concluded that the shady couloir on the east side of the north ridge probably offered the best path down. It held snow or ice much of the year and I hoped that we could glissade the length of it while exerting very little energy. From the summit we headed east to the head of the couloir and looked down. Damned scary! It was steeper than I had imagined and to make matters worse there was a cornice at the top with no way around to get into the couloir. We had ice axes and since we were gearing up for a trip to Mt McKinley we had to go for it-too late to sissy out by then. In a leap of faith I jumped off the 10' high cornice and immediately accelerated to what felt like subsonic speed. The landscape was screaming by in a blur and it took all of my concentration to stay on the narrow chute without hitting the rocks on the sides. In what seemed like seconds we had descended about 5'000 feet, the air was warm and we could stand up to make the now short hike out. A day and half of climbing reversed in a matter of a couple of minutes. It was a great trip, a real mountaineering trip with a variety of climbing and some truly spectacular vistas.

I recently Googled Lone Pine Peak and was surprised to find that it has become a really popular climb and has many videos and write ups on line. Some outfits are offering guided ascents for around $750 so relatively novice climbers can make it up without the rigors of route finding which can burn a lot of time. Next May will be the 50th anniversary of our climb of the north ridge and apparently we were pioneers at the time. One article on the history of LPP ascents stated that the first climb of the north ridge was made in 1986! Our climb predated that by 19 years. I guess we should have left a note.

Any of you aspiring climbers that want a really satisfying mountaineering experience should give LPP some consideration. Do it in the spring under a full moon and just be amazed.

Ive
 
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#2 ·
Interesting to hear of your Sierra climbing days.

While in grad school in San Diego I had the opportunity to make many Sierra backpacks, usually a couple of 7-8 day trips a summer plus, if lucky, a long weekend. Subsequently, working on the east coast, summer trips were still made, sometimes to the Sierra and sometimes to Washington state, before I moved here.

If you have not already seen it, there is a documentary on Netflix about the yosemite valley climbing scene covering wall sieges from decades back, working up to the present, with walls being free climbed in a matter of hours. ... "Vally Uprising". This is no boring documentary. Its well done with interviews, music, animations, video, ...

Its been many many years since I have been in the Sierra backcountry, but I plan to get back next fall, thanks to a friends initiative and planning, hiking two weeks on the John Muir Trail with packer support to schlep gear from camp to camp. In other words, we will be day hiking 6 to 11 miles per day. We will start in at Cottonwood pass and head out over Bishop Pass and South lake.

I was not a fly fisherman back then, so I'm looking forward to floating a fly in the Sierra, although fishing will not be the emphasis. Our route should intersect golden, rainbows, and brook trout, all originally planted.

Of course, now some of the lakes and basins are barren as the fish have been removed to restore mountain yellow legged frog habitat. I can remember tarns and lake edges full of tadpoles back on our early backpacks, not so much on later year trips.

Steven Schalla's fly fishing the sierra web site has some great maps you can browse, some of which can be purchased in print form, with up to date information on which lakes are fishless (darker blue vs lighter blue), and generally a beautiful treatment of what you want to see in the terrain without excessive contour lines to confuse. Nicely done.
http://stevenojai.tripod.com/sierra.htm
(He also sells fly tying materials and has been a nice guy to correspond with as well.)

So yesterday and a little this morning, I was watching youtube videos of John Muir Trail hikers, selecting those that went from south to north.

So, I too was thinking about the Sierra this holiday.

But, to answer your question, no I never climbed Lone Pine peak. or Whitney for that matter. Mt Langley is the only 14,000 plus peak I have stood on top of. I was not met at the top by "... by broads, booze and food"

Jay
 
#4 · (Edited)
Yeah, we did McKinley in '67-the year of the big storm. We were pinned down at about 18,000' feet for 10 days with over 100 knot winds on the camp. It was the worst storm in over 50 years and 7 guys perished in that storm which I think was the worst disaster in American mountaineering history. It was a grueling ordeal and as I lay there listening to the roar of the wind I swore that if I survived I never wanted to see another glacier as long as I lived.

We were on the mountain for 21 days with food for about 14. Flying back to Talkeetna after it was all over was one of the happiest times in my life. I'll never forget the first shower after getting down. It was in a ratty assed metal shower stall with lots of rust and a rickety door. The best shower I ever had in my life.

Lone Pine Peak was a lot more fun.

EDIT: Two of my buddies went up the following year and were off of the mountain in 7 days. Never saw a cloud. Just the luck of the draw.
 
#5 ·
Interesting Ive.

Mountain climbers that take on tall vertical faces are a different breed of cat altogether. Never could figure out what makes you guys tick...my knees shake just at the thought.

I did backpack the Emigrant Wilderness in the Sierra's in the early 60's as a teenager. Each summer we would set up camp at Kennedy Meadows at the base of Sonora Pass then head out in the Emigrant for weeks at a time. Fishing the many alpine lakes and streams was great and seldom saw other backpackers during the entire trip. Brings back fond memories...
 
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