20130530 North Pal U Notch in a Day
Posted: Sat Jun 01, 2013 1:04 pm
Deb had wanted to climb U Notch on North Pal/Polemonium for 7 years, and I was in town on my way up to shuttle Torrey back and forth for her Tuolumne to Mammoth trail run.
We set off from the Glacier Lodge parking lot at 0335 and got back at 0111. We got lost on the way down, trying to find and follow the trail down the morraine near 3rd lake and Temple Crag. It got dark during that time. Found the trail near Third Lake around 9 something at night, and the endless walking out started.
The route itself was cool, and reminded me of a lot of couloirs in the San Gabes, like on Baden Powell, but with blue ice and less stable snow conditions. A large rock flew past us about halfway up. We didn't see it coming until it made that sickening whirring past us about 25ft away or so, best guess. Went into turbo mode and started going fast. We took a right up the loose rock near the top. I removed a stuck BD .4 C4 up there, which is cool. Kinda paid for the trip.
The rapps took a long while. I would suggest twin/double skinny 70's for rapping down. Downclimbing woulda been really uncomfortable in the conditions present. The rapp stations are in various states of goodness, and not really equally placed. Not complaining or anything. With excellent snow conditions, walking back down the couloir would probably prove undramatic.
Hiked back to the biggest flat boulder on the glacier, cleaned up and packed, then started the hike down past the lake on the right over the boulderfield. I've been finding myself on boulderfields and morraines a lot lately, and I think I've proven to myself just how little I enjoy them.
I explained the descent earlier, so we can skip doing that again.
If I were to go do V-Notch or something else requiring the same work, I'd suggest the twin 70's, approach shoes for the hikes, good food, Wu Tang Clan in yer iPod, and a general lightweight approach except for pack straps. I have a light alpine pack, and the shoulder straps were killing me until I was too beat to care.
I didn't bring much food. I had packed for the trip up north thinking I was going to do quicker stuff where I'd get back to my tent in Alabama Hills or Bishop or wherever and cook up some canned food or noodles with a stove, so I didn't have good stuff for this kinda long day trip. I had two bags of dehydrated fruit from Target, and one small bag. Deb shared a buncha her food with me. That kept me moving.
Anywho. Cheers folks. I can upload pics sometime if you guys want to see them.
We set off from the Glacier Lodge parking lot at 0335 and got back at 0111. We got lost on the way down, trying to find and follow the trail down the morraine near 3rd lake and Temple Crag. It got dark during that time. Found the trail near Third Lake around 9 something at night, and the endless walking out started.
The route itself was cool, and reminded me of a lot of couloirs in the San Gabes, like on Baden Powell, but with blue ice and less stable snow conditions. A large rock flew past us about halfway up. We didn't see it coming until it made that sickening whirring past us about 25ft away or so, best guess. Went into turbo mode and started going fast. We took a right up the loose rock near the top. I removed a stuck BD .4 C4 up there, which is cool. Kinda paid for the trip.
The rapps took a long while. I would suggest twin/double skinny 70's for rapping down. Downclimbing woulda been really uncomfortable in the conditions present. The rapp stations are in various states of goodness, and not really equally placed. Not complaining or anything. With excellent snow conditions, walking back down the couloir would probably prove undramatic.
Hiked back to the biggest flat boulder on the glacier, cleaned up and packed, then started the hike down past the lake on the right over the boulderfield. I've been finding myself on boulderfields and morraines a lot lately, and I think I've proven to myself just how little I enjoy them.
I explained the descent earlier, so we can skip doing that again.
If I were to go do V-Notch or something else requiring the same work, I'd suggest the twin 70's, approach shoes for the hikes, good food, Wu Tang Clan in yer iPod, and a general lightweight approach except for pack straps. I have a light alpine pack, and the shoulder straps were killing me until I was too beat to care.
I didn't bring much food. I had packed for the trip up north thinking I was going to do quicker stuff where I'd get back to my tent in Alabama Hills or Bishop or wherever and cook up some canned food or noodles with a stove, so I didn't have good stuff for this kinda long day trip. I had two bags of dehydrated fruit from Target, and one small bag. Deb shared a buncha her food with me. That kept me moving.
Anywho. Cheers folks. I can upload pics sometime if you guys want to see them.
