EISPIRATEN

I would like to scout the Three Tees trail in preparation for a group hike in March or so. What I was thinking of doing was starting at the top of the chair lift and then taking the Three Tees into Icehouse Canyon and out for a shuttle (maybe take the Chapman trail down the canyon).

I've never done this route and was wondering whether anyone was interested in coming along. I was also thinking of taking this opportunity to practice with crampons and perform a few ice axe arrest drills. I'm an ice axe and crampon noob, so I was hoping to get someone more experienced to accompany me on this hike.

I was considering doing this Saturday or Sunday the weekend of 9-10 February.

Any takers?

Sounds good. How would you take Chapman out? You might end up tacking a couple of extra miles onto the total if you take Chapman.

A reverse way that I think is easier, insofar as shuttles and cars goes, is to take Icehouse Canyon to Icehouse Saddle, do the 3-T's, Timber Tele and Thunder, then go down into the saddle between Thunder and Tele, and head south down that canyon, known as Cedar Canyon. This will eventually hit Chapman Trail, which dumps you back onto Icehouse Canyon closer to the parking lot, removing the need for a shuttle.

Or, one could do a theoretical "Mountaineer's 3-T's", by heading up Icehouse to the base of Timber's West Ridge, go up that to the summit, go down the North Ridge, then directly up the South Ridge of Tele, then down Tele's West Ridge, and up Thunder's East Ridge, and the fun part being descending Thunder's South Ridge (beautiful terrain) towards the parking lot, with "escape points" being some scree fields which drop you off onto Chapman Trail.

TacoDelRio wrote: Or, one could do a theoretical "Mountaineer's 3-T's", by heading up Icehouse to the base of Timber's West Ridge, go up that to the summit, go down the North Ridge, then directly up the South Ridge of Tele, then down Tele's West Ridge, and up Thunder's East Ridge, and the fun part being descending Thunder's South Ridge (beautiful terrain) towards the parking lot, with "escape points" being some scree fields which drop you off onto Chapman Trail.

I like the sound of that "Mountineer's 3-Ts". Let me know the next time you have somehting along these lines (or Like Baden-Powell) planned and I would like to join you. I need to get some crapons and USE THEM!!

I've got spares. Just hafta get paid first, and I'm good to go. Best bet is after the next storm + 5 days or so.

Sergei Gavrilovich Simonov, if you'd like to com ealong on one of these, lemme know. Might be a good "recon" of the terrain prior to bringing a group.

Thanks for the comments.

If I bring a group it will have to be over trails and not too difficult. I liked the idea of starting over on the Baldy side because it gives you a taste of Baldy while letting you bag three summits on the way over to Ricehouse.

Coming out Chapman would add mileage, but I haven't done all the numbers yet to see if it would be too much. I've never been on Chapman, but it seems to be a nice south-facing alternative to the trail down in the canyon, which might also be more crowded as we are coming out in the afternoon.

The Cedar Canyon route could be interesting as long as it is easy to follow and no bushwacking.

BTW, I'm not a big fan of shuttles generally, but I figure if there's an interesting hike that needs a shuttle, you may as well take advantage of a group (multiple cars) to do it.

Having only done part of Cedar Canyon, it looks like an easy bushwhack, as in, not a helluva lot of bushwhacking.

Chapman trail will take you away from most of the people, if not all, but it'll add a mile or so.

Well, we have a couple weeks to hash it out. Anyone want to leave those dates open?

BTW, and completely unrelated, here's a fun video I just found:

HAHAHA, great video!

We've got a possible storm rollin' in this coming week, so fingers crossed...

simonov wrote:BTW, and completely unrelated, here's a fun video I just found:

"Guys will be guys."

When I was a kid, we used to love anything connected with fire, explosions, or projectiles. We drew the line at human subjects, though. What cowards we were! But I thought that nowadays one got sent to Guantanamo for even looking at stuff like that! :-)

Hey, I'm still here!

j/k to all those watching... gotta be careful...

Well, the weekend is coming up quickly.

Especially in light of this last weekend's tragedy on the trail up Mt Wilson, I would be very interested in doing a hike during which I (and any others who think they could use it) could receive instruction and practice on winter mountaineering skills, particularly how to use an ice axe and walk with crampons.

Anyone interested in hosting something like that?