Quick Stats: 26.3 Miles & 8,416′ gain over three days in the Eastern Sierra.
When Frankie and I first met, we spent a portion of our first date talking about the plans we had in the Eastern Sierra over the summer and how we were going to do some of them together. When Frankie told me about her John Muir Trail (JMT) plans, I was educated on what a “resupply” is, and immediately told her I would bring it to her if she wanted. Fast forward to the beginning of July, and it was time for Frankie to set off on the JMT; but this time with some peakbagging thrown in. Her original plan was to start out of Red Cones, and exit at Onion Valley near Independence, CA. Our new plan meant we were going to climb Independence Peak when we left her car at Onion Valley as a sort of acclimatization adventure, before doing the first couple days of the JMT together with Crystal Crag and possibly Duck Lake Peak being other objectives.
Day 0 – Independence Peak
Independence Peak, which I’ve climbed before, is a lot of fun. The standard route, South Ridge via West Face, is a mixture of scramble and scree slog until you gain the ridge; then a very satisfying 3rd class scramble followed by a scree ski descent. Frankie and I followed the same route, and decided to help her save energy by only having one pack between us. Having spent so much time in the High Sierra recently, neither of us had any real issue with the altitude, and we often opted for the fun lines scrambling up. When we made it to the top of the ridge is when the fun really begins. When reading about the route, I’ve heard that you can make things spicier by staying directly on top of the ridge which makes the route 4th or low 5th class. Having done the 3rd class line already, I decided to stay on top of the ridge as much as possible, and succeeded in staying directly on top of it the entire time. This did not disappoint, and made an already satisfying climb so much more enjoyable. With Frankie beginning a 2 week thru-hike the next day, she opted for something a little less dangerous and taxing; so occasional 4th class moves on top of the ridge while mostly following the 3rd class route to the summit.
One of my favorite sights (which I’ve written about before) is the shadows cast by mountains, and standing on the summit of Independence Peak as the sun was getting low was a real treat.
After some time spent taking in the views, it was time to get down. The sun was beginning to set, and we had an entire west face to descend followed by a short trail. Much to my dismay (I’m not the biggest fan of finishing in the dark), the sun fully set as we got back to the trail, which is also when I realized I forgot to grab my headlamp when I took the lid off of my pack. Lucky for me, I keep an emergency headlamp in my emergency kit; silly of me, I decided it was too much effort to get it out and opted to use the ample twilight and follow behind Frankie and her headlamp. After a nice hike that ended in darkness, we were back at Alyx at Onion Valley where we decided to dirtbag for the night.
Peakbagger (dot) com Entry from 7/6/2022
Days 1 & 2 – Crystal Crag
The next morning we woke up feeling pretty awesome from the adventure from the day before, and ready to make our way further North to the start point. There was no real reason to cook at Alyx, so went to a diner in Bishop on our way North. At this point we already knew our plans no longer included starting at Red Cones, but instead would begin out of Mammoth Lakes where we planning to set camp at the base of Crystal Crag, scramble the South Ridge, and then relax at camp before the next days of Frankie’s JMT adventure. Looking at a map over breakfast we charted a solid adventure: We would climb Crystal Crag via the South Ridge, then head back the way we came to hit the Mammoth Crest Trail, taking that in toward Duck Pass, climb Duck Lake Peak, and then continue onward. Along the way would be 2 nights of camping, and at some point I would head out while Frankie continued along the JMT with me returning to meet her around Bishop Pass in a week. We ended up doing everything faster and shorter, which made our plans change course.
The approach to Crystal Crag is short and sweet. It was fun to see the area dried out, and I even recognized the lake where we set camp on my Winter ascent (frozen over in the winter, it was now a nice little pond in the summer), and I recognized the “business center” where I had two guides start to climb up a slope while I was using a wag bag (not my finest moment, but they were absolute gentleman about it). Rather than do the same route I had done before (South Ridge via West Couloirs), we decided to do the entire South Ridge.
I live for 3rd / 4th class ridgeline scrambles, and Frankie is developing the same passion. When we were getting close to the base we realized it was really early in the day, and setting camp now would be silly. We decided we would camp elsewhere, and instead cached our gear just below the saddle where the South Ridge begins.
Now the South Ridge of Crystal Crag can be split into two distinct routes depending on which line you take– The 3rd Class “South Ridge,” and the 4th / 5th Class “South Ridge Direct.” Taking a page from our adventure the previous day on Independence Peak, I decided I wanted to broaden my horizons and do something more difficult and opted for the South Ridge Direct as an ascent route. Similar to the day before, Frankie took the 3rd class line, occasionally spicing up her climb with some 4th class moves here and there.
While it’s no Mount Russell, the South Ridge of Crystal Crag is very satisfying, and offers some really fun scrambling that I highly recommend everyone do at some point. Definitely more fun than the using the West Couloirs to gain the ridge, and some very airy moments of exposure which was super fun!
We took the South Ridge back down as a descent route so that we could get back to our gear cache, and then begin our journey back out so that we could catch the Mammoth Crest Trail–
Except the saddle where the South Ridge starts is a great launching point for some open country travel up a slope to catch the Mammoth Crest Trail and bypass a lot of not terribly fun hiking in what looked like a burn scar. After repacking our packs and talking it over, we decided this would be the best way to go.
It was a mixture of scree, scrambling, really steep hiking, and even a brief section of snow climbing that we managed to avoid. . . but after a whole lot of effort expenditure later and we were on the Mammoth Crest Trail. From here on it was a nice hike on a maintained trail, and we were unsure now of what this would mean for the rest of our adventure– we were effectively a day ahead of schedule and didn’t know where we planned to set camp, nor what our objective would be for the next day. Didn’t matter though. . . we were together in the Eastern Sierra. I was in my happy place with my happy person.
Frankie eventually found us a nice place to camp near the Deer Lakes on the way to Duck Pass. We set camp in a nice spot, and I took a page from Frankie-the-Thru-Hiker’s book at took a dip in a lake to get cleaned up. In the winter, my base layer stays on and I hardly even shed my outer layers; plus there is no liquid water that you could (or would want to) bathe with. Even on my summer mountaineering trips I tend to keep a light base layer on the whole time. Frankie is correct in how nice it feels to clean up though, so I think for 3-season adventures bathing will become a ritual.
We eventually had company in the form of a noisy family, and Frankie being my wonder Honey Badger politely (at first) to please both keep it down and give us a little privacy. We didn’t get as much space as we would have liked from that party, but we did get some quiet, which made for a wonderful night of sleep with my babe.
Day 2 began with very crisp air and gorgeous alpenglow. We were a little slow getting started as we are still in that phase where all we want to do is cuddle (this has to change in winter since we have snow quality to worry about), but we had an absolutely delightful morning breaking camp and having breakfast together.
We were unsure of what the day had in store for us. Our original plan was to camp around Duck Lake and then climb Duck Lake Peak. Now at 7 AM we found ourselves just a few miles from Duck Lake wondering what we would do.
Eventually we made our way along the trail and up to Duck Lake, with Duck Lake Peak looming in the distance. Frankie has a pretty intimate knowledge of the JMT, so we decided to continue onward, possibly as far as Purple Lake and then assess from there– maybe we would come back and climb Duck Lake Peak, maybe we wouldn’t. We were also getting into territory where it was looking like I might end up leaving a day early since we would be getting pretty deep into the Sierra and I was still exiting out of Mammoth.
Whatever. All I knew is I was in my happy place with my happy person, and experiencing a part of the Eastern Sierra I had not seen before. It was an absolutely gorgeous place.
Further along we went, and eventually we arrived at Purple Lake where we decided to stop for a rest. There, wearing my summit slippers and taking in the views, Frankie officially bowed out of Duck Lake Peak, and I decided this would be as far as I go. At this point I was somewhere between 10 and 15 miles from Alyx in Mammoth, and I was still considering climbing Duck Lake Peak on my way out; so continuing further would mean things get pretty exhausting on the way out. We had a snacky sort of lunch, had a weird conversation with a stranger, and then off I went to make my way back to Alyx. I made short work of the trail between Purple Lake and Duck Lake, and then I paused for a second looking in the distance. I had only a little beta on Duck Lake Peak; it was described as a 2nd / 3rd class Route, and from afar it looked like a lot of scree. I leaned against a rock taking in the view and deciding– my last two ascents were absolutely amazing adventures that really fulfilled me; did I really want to go deal with a less than satisfying solo climb of an unlisted peak simply because it’s there?
There’s a George Mallory reference in there somewhere that I decided not to follow. Instead I made my way out through the beautiful trails strewn throughout Mammoth and found myself back at Alyx in the early afternoon.
I was already missing Frankie, but I knew that it wouldn’t be long before I’d be headed into Bishop pass with her resupply.