While eating dinner we talked about climbing up to the peak for sunrise Sunday morning....several hours later, after attempting to sleep, and after failing at waking John, Jeremy and I set off for the peak around 4:15AM Jeremy was feeling some altitude sickness and decided to head back to camp so I continued onto the northwest ridge. Once I got out of the trees and onto the actual ridge, the winds were very strong, some gusts enough to knock me around. The top of the ridge and near the summit was probably the worst wind/ spindrift I have ever been in. Of course I didn't bring my balaclava or goggles so I made do with sunglasses (in the dark for the first hour or so) and the hood of my shell. After reaching the top of the ridge I dropped down a hundred feet or so to avoid the worst of the wind and flying debris and headed east toward the summit.
video of spindrift near the summit:
I found a spot to hide from the wind in one of the rock shelters on the east end of the summit just in time for the sunrise.
video of view from rock shelter:
It was too cold to stand still for very long, so I headed back for the ridge. To get back on the ridge, I had to walk head on into the spindrift coming up over the crest. This was pain full! I kept my head down as much as possible, but my face was pelted with blowing snow until I was able to get a few hundred feet down the ridge. Part way down, John had woken from his slumber and was headed for the peak. Luckily he was prepared for the wind with goggles and a face mask and summited about an hour later After getting down near the trees I could finally relax and rest for a few minutes, from there is was an easy walk back to camp.
The South Fork Trail was spotty to Poopout Hill, then mostly hard packed snow and ice to South Fork Meadows. Past the meadow, we left the pack down path and snowshoes were needed. Switched to crampons at about 10,500 were there was harder snow and some ice. There are large drifts and cornices in lots of places between Jepson and San Gorgonio. In addition to the route we went, we saw a few others on Saturday going up the ridge that ends near bump 11490. It seems like there is a lot of snow above 10,000', more than I have seen in the past few years, but below that it seems to be less than years past.
more Pictures and Videos are here
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