Mt. Timpanogos, Everest Ridge “Attempt”
Over the weekend we tried to climb the Everest Ridge (emphasis on tried). In the end it turned out to be a poor imitation of a snowshoe trip (without snowshoes) with some mountaineering skills practice sessions in between. We turned around about at the saddle because of the terrible snow conditions. The snow was either thigh deep powder or it was a semi-hard breakable crust that went to somewhere between mid-shin to knee deep (it was rather obnoxious because sometimes it could support your weight, but most of the time it couldn’t).It was rather exhausting–a good analogy is trying to run with a large tire dragging behind you or trying to run through water. I heard that there was a boot pack so travel would be easy and snowshoes not needed, but it was just the opposite. It took us 7 hours to go from Battle Creek Trailhead to near the saddle (about 3 miles and 2500 feet of elevation gain), which shows how little progress was being made. Anybody considering doing it would be advised to start from Dry creek where there would more likely be a boot pack and bring snowshoes or wait a few more weeks until the snow becomes more firm around the end of March or even into April.
4 comments February 26th, 2006