Jepson Peak 4.27.11

norma r · Post by **norma r** » Tue May 03, 2011 12:36 am

Last winter as i summited San G from the north ridge i had eyed Jepson and was blown away by the beauty of the mountain and knew i would get there eventually to climb a chute. In January of this year as i viewed Jepson from Charlton Peak, i picked in my mind the north chute with the biggest cornice as the one i would like to do first.

Fast forward to April and with the snow now consolidated, Dave G and i headed up the South Fork trail last Wednesday for a chance to climb that chute. It was one of those days you hope for... perfect weather and great conditions. What we got was a great snow climb, a beautiful summit and a way fun glissade descent of Big Draw. Pretty much a perfect day in the mountains!

The January view that lured me

Dave heading toward the Jepson north couloir #1

Steep is good

G-man is digging the climb

We nod Hello to Etiwanda, Cucamonga & Mt. San Antonio

Summiteers at 11,205 feet

Chillin'

Dave checking out Big Draw.

The illimitable inventor strapped a camera to his headlamp for a glissade video!

Perfect snow conditions allowed us to begin our glissade right from the top of Big Draw

A look back at our glissade and boot track. Way FUN!

Jepson's beautiful northeast face as we descend Big Draw

Lovely Limber Pines in the drainage below Jepson

Deer at Horse Meadow

Our steed awaits in the setting sun at the quiet TH parking lot

rest of my pix are here:
https://picasaweb.google.com/ryan.norma ... hFace42711#

Burchey · Post by **Burchey** » Tue May 03, 2011 7:55 am

Looks like a blast, Norma! What time did you get started and when did you head back? I think I'll head up there this Sunday for a day attempt.

Dave G · Post by **Dave G** » Tue May 03, 2011 8:38 am

norma r wrote: ↑ Pretty much a perfect day in the mountains!

Ditto on that, Ms Norma!

Got a few snapshots of me own: http://www.flickr.com/photos/21042415@N ... 633318840/

norma r · Post by **norma r** » Tue May 03, 2011 8:56 am

Burchey,
we began at 7am and finished at 7pm. no speed record as Dave and i always seem to enjoy the journey and take lots of pix. plus the summit and views were so nice that we took a 30+ min summit respite.

tinaballina · Post by **tinaballina** » Tue May 03, 2011 10:38 am

Nice TR-great work Dave and Norma.

lilbitmo · Post by **lilbitmo** » Tue May 03, 2011 11:04 am

Norma and Dave, great to see you two back out, very, very nice TR and great pictures - still some good "white" to be had.

Dave what did the "Incline-O-Meter" say the angle on that slope was near the top - looked to be very steep - niceeeeeeeee

And how soft was the snow on the way up?

Thanks for sharing.

TracieB · Post by **TracieB** » Tue May 03, 2011 11:34 am

Nice. Great pix, glad you got that one out of your head at last 8)

Sam Page · Post by **Sam Page** » Tue May 03, 2011 1:35 pm

Nice. Miguel climbed the route a few days after you. That view from the summit of Charlton also lured me up the same couloir last spring.

hvydrt · Post by **hvydrt** » Tue May 03, 2011 9:22 pm

Looks like a fun day! How did the helmet cam glissade video come out????

So.BayMark · Post by **So.BayMark** » Tue May 03, 2011 10:04 pm

Nice norma and dave...like those pictures, fun time...

mark

Dave G · Post by **Dave G** » Thu May 05, 2011 7:33 am

lilbitmo wrote: ↑Dave what did the "Incline-O-Meter" say the angle on that slope was near the top - looked to be very steep - niceeeeeeeee

And how soft was the snow on the way up?

Thanks for sharing.

Hey Patrick, the highest angle I measured was 46 degrees. The snow condition was just about perfect. You could almost get away w/o crampons if you kicked hard.

hvydrt wrote: ↑Looks like a fun day! How did the helmet cam glissade video come out????

Hi Mark, in the excitement of dropping in on Big Draw I neglected to turn on the "Ghetto Cam"

. I did get one of Norma though while I was wearing it.

hvydrt · Post by **hvydrt** » Thu May 05, 2011 7:55 pm

Dave G wrote: ↑
hvydrt wrote: ↑the "Ghetto Cam" . I did get one of Norma though while I was wearing it.
I like the name!

KathyW · Post by **KathyW** » Fri May 06, 2011 7:24 am

That looks like it was a lot of fun. Jepson looks like it's the best option for fun in the snow at this point. Maybe the "chute of death" over on the NE face of San G still has good snow too.

Dave G · Post by **Dave G** » Fri May 06, 2011 9:53 am

KathyW wrote: ↑Maybe the "chute of death" over on the NE face of San G still has good snow too.

A friend and I have been eyeballing that chute, Kathy. Ever done it?

Burchey · Post by **Burchey** » Fri May 06, 2011 10:04 am

Dave G wrote: ↑
KathyW wrote: ↑Maybe the "chute of death" over on the NE face of San G still has good snow too.
A friend and I have been eyeballing that chute, Kathy. Ever done it?

I was planning to do a solo Jepson Dayhike Sunday....but if someone wants to join, I'd be down to check out this chute of death.

KathyW · Post by **KathyW** » Fri May 06, 2011 11:37 am

Dave G wrote: ↑
KathyW wrote: ↑Maybe the "chute of death" over on the NE face of San G still has good snow too.
A friend and I have been eyeballing that chute, Kathy. Ever done it?

I have gone down that way a number of times, but without snow. Anymore, that's my usual way down when I do San G via the South Fork Trail in the summer/fall. It's a 10 or 15 minute scree ski and you skip 3 miles of boring switchbacks. We were going to do it as a snow climb once in March a couple of years ago, but ended up doing the same old route up the chutes on the north side. Sometime I'll do it when there's snow. The area I'm really interested in checking out when there's good snow conditions is Glacier Valley. In December I climbed up the ridge from Poopout hill to Point 10,230 and then traversed to one of the chutes over there dropped down, but there wasn't enough snow yet; so it wasn't fun like it would be with good snow.

If you're ever over at the Mill Creek Ranger Station when their open, you can pick up one of the Defenders of the Wilderness Maps - it has the names of the areas like Glacier Valley, Christmas Tree Hill....etc. on it.

Dave G · Post by **Dave G** » Fri May 06, 2011 11:40 am

Burchey wrote: ↑
Dave G wrote: ↑
KathyW wrote: ↑Maybe the "chute of death" over on the NE face of San G still has good snow too.
A friend and I have been eyeballing that chute, Kathy. Ever done it?
I was planning to do a solo Jepson Dayhike Sunday....but if someone wants to join, I'd be down to check out this chute of death.

Hey Burch, I'd join you on Sunday if it wasn't for that Mother's Day thang.
I'd have my own personal "death chute" waiting for me at home if I went climbing.

Post by **Taco** » Fri May 06, 2011 1:10 pm

Wait, chute of death? In the NE Bowl?

Burchey · Post by **Burchey** » Fri May 06, 2011 1:14 pm

Dave - understood, trust me. You're cracking me up man.

Question for those more familiar with this area. Can you point this death chute out on this lil ole map?

Dave G · Post by **Dave G** » Fri May 06, 2011 1:31 pm

DCIQ:

Burchey · Post by **Burchey** » Fri May 06, 2011 2:15 pm

Dave G wrote: ↑DCIQ:

Awesome, thanks Dave. That's what I guessed. What are we looking at mileage-wise on this baby - 19ish round trip from South Fork? Yeah!

Dave G · Post by **Dave G** » Fri May 06, 2011 4:06 pm

Burchey wrote: ↑Awesome, thanks Dave. That's what I guessed. What are we looking at mileage-wise on this baby - 19ish round trip from South Fork? Yeah!

That might be a bit high, but it would be a full day.
Be sure and post up on what you find.

hvydrt · Post by **hvydrt** » Fri May 06, 2011 4:53 pm

We glissaded down part of it late June last year. It is steep near the top but looks like fun to climb up.

https://picasaweb.google.com/mrkmcormic ... FootRidge#

Burchey · Post by **Burchey** » Fri May 06, 2011 4:59 pm

Will do Dave, I need to remember those mileage estimates for the trails include a lot of useless switchbacks in spots. I'm going straight up.

KathyW · Post by **KathyW** » Sun May 08, 2011 9:30 pm

This map shows what I always think of "The Chute of Death", but there are lots of chutes you can take to get up San G. A friend called it the Chute of Death after going up it in the summer - it's hell to go up in the summer, but heaven to come down if you like scree skiing.

http://kathywing.smugmug.com/California ... ifLMQ-O-LB

Post by **Taco** » Fri May 13, 2011 11:09 am

Thanks Kathy!

Burchey · Post by **Burchey** » Fri May 13, 2011 11:51 am

Hmmm, Kathy's chute looks a little more deadly. I wonder which is the true DEATH CHUTE?!?!?!!

KathyW · Post by **KathyW** » Sat May 14, 2011 8:56 am

I think any of the chutes work. Here's a view from the Onyx summit area yesterday afternoon:

Not the same view, but I took some other pictures of the SGW from Butler Peak:

http://kathywing.smugmug.com/Trail-Runn ... 08_N4XFhGR

The snow looks like it might still be good in some of those chutes. I thought about heading up there today when I was on Butler yesterday, but my body is telling me it needs an easy weekend; so I'm going to go look for some flowers instead and wait until next weekend to go play in the snow somewhere.

Post by **Hikin_Jim** » Mon May 16, 2011 12:35 pm

Dave G wrote: ↑ "Ghetto Cam"

HJ

Norris · Post by **Norris** » Mon May 16, 2011 9:31 pm

This screen grab shows the route we did on Sunday. It was 14.7 miles according to Garmin. Of course, Garmin also said the summit was in the wrong place

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid= ... f4&theater