Mount Islip via Northwest ridge Attempt.....

brian90620 · Post by **brian90620** » Sat Mar 14, 2009 10:48 pm

My gf and I set out yesterday 3/13 to practice our winter skills in the Mount Islip area.

We arrvied at Islip saddle at about 10am after a long delay due to a car going off the side of the ACH on the way up......

This took up a lot of our time since I had to be home by 4:30........ When we got there we hiked up to that little bowl looking area just above the parking lot and practiced self arresting, and being able to self belay with each step. We would hike up to the top and try to slide uncontrollaby down in different positions and self arrest. Well after about 2 hours of this, we began heading up the northwest ridge of Mount Islip. The ridge varies in steepness as you go up, it starts at around 30 degrees but gets to around 40 degrees in spots according to the slope meter I got from rei. It is a very nice route but is a little bushy in spots due to a thinning snow cover. The whole time you have great views of Mount Waterman and the Twin Peaks and once you get higher up you can see a long way into the desert, which is very cool. But since we didn't have much time we only made it up to about 7500 feet, at about this level the ridge begins to not be as steep, and looked more gradual the rest of the way to the summit. Well all and all we had a great time just wish we would have had more time to make it up to the top, but it doesn't really matter anyway since my gf and I decided that we will be going back next Saturday to complete the route and make it to the summit.......

Here's my pics if anyone's interested:
http://picasaweb.google.com/brian90620/ ... 3790670722

Also there's a summitpost page on this route:
http://www.summitpost.org/route/285126/ ... ridge.html

lilbitmo · Post by **lilbitmo** » Sat Mar 14, 2009 11:06 pm

Brain, it's very quiet and peaceful in that area, nice work on the practice, that comes in real handy when you really need it.

Great pictures, good TR.

Thanks

Post by **Taco** » Sun Mar 15, 2009 11:54 am

Cool pics dude! Lucky man to have a GF that goes outside and does stuff with ya.

406 · Post by **406** » Mon Mar 16, 2009 9:43 am

nice. Did the snow ever get soft on the north facing slopes? How much snow on the highway past the gate?

brian90620 · Post by **brian90620** » Mon Mar 16, 2009 6:12 pm

406 wrote:nice. Did the snow ever get soft on the north facing slopes? How much snow on the highway past the gate?

The snow never really got that soft, but as the day went on it changed from being really hard to a just hard.... I don't know if this makes alot of sense,

but at the begining it was difficult to break through all the way with the ice ax, but later my ax went into the snow easier but it was still really firm.....

Past the gate there was probably at least 2 feet for the most part maybe 2 and half in spots but there were a few spots that the road was showing through....Higher up on the mountian there is still at least 3 feet, and I came across spots that were maybe 4 plus feet......It also felt like there was a few inchs of powdery snow on top of the ice underneath.....

406 · Post by **406** » Tue Mar 17, 2009 8:24 am

^^^ yeah that makes sense. thanks for the details.

EnFuego · Post by **EnFuego** » Tue Mar 17, 2009 11:46 am

So cool to have a girl to get out there with you. Congrats.

Nice pics.

Tim · Post by **Tim** » Tue Mar 17, 2009 11:06 pm

Very cool, Brian! You guys have the right gear and are doing the right things by practicing first and being safe. Good job and have a safe and successful climb to complete the route this week.

brian90620 · Post by **brian90620** » Mon Mar 23, 2009 11:47 am

My gf and I made it up to the summit via the northwest ridge on Saturday 3/21.

The snow conditions have changed drastically since last weekend,

all the snow at Islip saddle is now gone and not much snow remains behind the road closure. You really dont encounter full snow coverage until your about 300 feet above the parking lot. Beyond this point the snow varies in depth from maybe a foot to 4 plus feet. It was pretty warm the whole day Saturday (mid 50's) which really softend up the snow along the ridge line. We fell through the snow alot, but there were still a few spots that were hardpacked. When we made it to the top, we had decent views in all directions. The hut thats on the summit is still nearly buried completly in snow. After leaving the summit we descended the east ridge toward Little Jimmy Campground. This way was actually pretty fun since the snow was icy enough that we could sit down and slide along the ridge. Once we reached a point directly above Little Jimmy we began going straight towards it, walking down the steep sections, then eventually sliding right into the campground. The campground still has alot of snow, the benchs are mostly buried and the top of the stoves are barely peaking through. After taking a short break at Little Jimmy we decieded we were not in the mood to fall through deep snow the whole way back, so we decided to descend down the hillside untill we found the road, once again we walked down the steep sections and slid down once we reached a more gentle slope. This time while sliding disaster struck, my crampon point sliced my new gaitors

, this made me angry the rest of the walk back to the car. Well I guess thats the kind of thing that can happen when sliding down a hill with crampons on....While walking along the road I noticed there is still a few feet of snow on the road most of the way back to Islip saddle except for about the last half mile, also in the areas where the snow is all gone there are a few giant boulders laying in the road under the slide areas. Well all and all we had a great time, if I don't count tearing my gaitor.

Here are some pics if anyones interested:
http://picasaweb.google.com/brian90620/ ... #slideshow