Trip: Mount Conness/North Peak - Conness Glacier/NW Ridge

Date: 6/18/2007

Trip Report:
At 5:25 am Sunday morning I set out from Saddlebag Lake to the Northwest Ridge of North Peak. I caught early morning light at the basin below North Peak and stopped many times for reflection photos.















The Northwest Ridge of North Peak was a sweet route with nice exposure and views down to Upper MaCabe Lake. It was short though, and I was atop the summit of North Peak at 7:55 am.






View of the Northwest Ridge of North Peak and Sawtooth Ridge in the distance.



After resting on the summit, I headed down toward the Conness Glacier. I wasted some time figuring out a route through steep slabs (hoping I could avoid elevation loss) when should have just went around.



Once on the Conness Glacier, I cruised up to the couloirs that went to the East Ridge. I chose the middle couloir sneaking around a bergshrund around the far right side (photo below). The couloir had hard snow so I ascended carefully with my trail runner/crampon set-up.





Once atop the coulior it was a short walk to the summit of Conness, arriving at 10 am. On top of Conness, I enjoyed the views with a climber who had done the NW Ridge of North Peak earlier in the morning and soloed the North ridge of Conness while I did the Conness glacier.


View of Lyell Canyon.


View from Conness to Grand Canyon of the Tuolumne


View to Half Dome and Cloudsrest.

I left the summit and headed down the East Ridge and then into the Alpine lake/Carnegie Institute valley. The basin was gorgeous, but the mosquitoes kept me moving. The walk back up to Saddlebag was a bit of a slog and I arrived at the trailhead at 12:10, 6 hours and 45 minutes after starting.


Gear Notes:
Ice axe and crampons used and needed on Conness Glacier route, especially in couloir.

Approach Notes:
Trail in good shape.

Damn, nice photos.

Where's all the rain and clouds though

I spent an entire summer backpacking through that part of the park, mostly off-trail and cross-country, for a job. Unfortunately, I did not carry a camera.

Thanks for bringing back those memories.

Thanks for posting those pics, I miss that country terribly. Brings back memories of terrifying lightning, a fun jaunt up North Peak Couloir, a relaxing fat splief and an unexpected navy helicopter popping over the ridge...

Nice work The north ridge of Conness is a great solo, though I personally wimped out and rapped the 5.6 downclimb Didja get any shots of the right couloir on North Peak ?