Everest Ridge Success, Mt. Timpanogos
We finally completed the Everest ridge this weekend. Originally I wasn’t going to go due to the iffy weather, but I changed my mind at the last minute and hit the trail at 8 Friday night and camped at the saddle (Dry Creek Canyon is better than Battle Creek Canyon for the approach hands down). It was the coldest night of my life (my water bottle spilled in my sleeping bag in the middle of the night, so that probably had something to do with it). At around 6:30 Brenton met me at the saddle (he hiked in that morning) and we started out on the route.
The weather quickly turned from fair to not so fair and by the end of the route we were in a white out. It was my first time experiencing icicles growing on my eyelashes and nose. The Serac Club was also doing the route, so it worked out nicely since a lot of the trail breaking had already been done. It took us around 4 hours from the saddle to reach the top of the ridge and from there it’s about a 45 minute sketchy traverse to the true summit.
The descent has some nice glissade potential, but be wary of the avalanche conditions.
Note: Anybody attempting this route make sure they know how to use and ice ax and know how to use it well. There are several sections where the route gets relatively steep and has somewhat airy exposure(put it this way-if you slipped and fell from the upper route and couldn’t arrest your fall you’d be in for the ride of your life)
Add comment March 12th, 2006