Mt. Timpanogos, Everest Ridge “Attempt”
February 26th, 2006 osgumero
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.
Entry Filed under: Whatever!, Climbing, Hiking, Winter Rec
4 Comments Add your own
1. Summit | February 26th, 2006 at 11:38 pm
Oops! I think that I was one of the people that said you probably wouldn’t need snowshoes. When did the snow start to get deep? I think you should have kept going. Once you get onto the ridge (which is right after the saddle) snowshoes aren’t needed but crampons are. Sorry you didn’t make it!
2. osgumero | February 27th, 2006 at 7:25 am
I sort of thought that the ridge would have been okay like you said, but the main thing was that we were way behind schedule and we were didn’t have enough energy to keep on going. It took us like 4 1/2 or 5 hours to get where we did and we were already pretty tired. Some other week…….
3. yaju | March 2nd, 2006 at 12:43 pm
Where is the access to Battle Creek Trailhead? Is it from the Alpine Loop which is closed for the winter, right?.
The only winter trailhead I was aware of for Timp was from Aspen Grove.
4. osgumero | March 2nd, 2006 at 8:17 pm
Battle Creek Trailhead is on the West Side of timp. I’m not sure exactly the directions since the person I went with just told me where to turn at 1 in the morning so I don’t know which road it was. Basically you just head north towards and east towards the canyons that are on either side of Baldy. The north canyon is Battle Creek and the southern canyon is dry creek.
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