The route begins on Class 2, but sharp, distinct backbone ridge. Mt. ;-) After drying my eyes, I quickly made haste to Mt Conness by following the North Ridge proper. Descent via class 2/3 East Ridge Trip Report GPS Track It reminded me at this point of the knife edge on Katahdin in Maine. West Ridge of Mt. I tickled my alpine itch this weekend by heading up highway 120 and climbing the North ridge of Mt. I had thought this part might have been class 3 also, but I didn't use my hands at all, even on the steeper upper part. In fact, moments before summiting, I lost my brand new Arc'teryx hat. We didn't end up pulling up to Saddlebag lake road until around midnight. The first bit was moderately steep, but wide and composed of solid, minimally-fractured granite. Conness with Mitchell. The elevation here was now well over 12,000 feet - pretty high for someone who had come from sea level only 14 hours ago. 23 Aug 1998 - by Harlan Suits. Hiking Saddlebag Lake to Conness Lakes, East of Yosemite - Duration: 3:20. Conness in particular has claimed a number of lives. The scrub was the only thing that caused a bit of obstruction, but a bit of searching usually revealed an easy way through. Conness, Rock Climbing, Sierra Nevada, SMI News. Eventually I was forced to take off my camera bag and pack and squeeze myself and each of them through the narrow bits one by one. Dana (at the far right). If I had been with others, I might have been more adventurous. Conness to kick off the alpine rock climbing season in the High Sierra! Sarah and I met up with Andrea in the parking lot of the Home Depot in Pleasanton as usual. Send feedback or leave comments (note: comments in message board below are separate from those in above message board), Web Page & Design Copyright 2001-2020 by Andrew Lavigne. Conness - East Ridge Route Trailhead: Sawmill Campground - marked Distance: 9 miles – up and back Elevation gain: 2,900 feet Elevation peak: 12,590 feet Time: 6 to 8 hours Difficulty: 4 Danger level: 3 Class: 3 – a few spots How easy to follow: 3 Children: No Map: See Page 6 Fees/Permits: None Waypoints (WGS 84): See Page 5 What's the scramble REALLY like above Alpine Lake? I chose the western one, crossing over a dam that harnesses the water of the lake - although at this point, the water level was so low as to nearly render the dam useless. Airy but walkable. I then came to the first of the 'clefts' - gaps, perhaps 20 or more feet deep, that cut across the ridgecrest. September 4, 2010. Conness. But I had promised myself nothing more than class 3 while alone, so I began looking for alternatives. Alpine rock climbing at its finest! Conness as a day hike on Aug.17, 2008. Under crystal clear skies and still air, I started up the ridgeline. It's more of a scramble most of the way and probably more enjoyable in sneakers than in climbing shoes. Basically just gradually make your way up the west ridge for a little ways until it’s obvious that you need to leave it and proceed more directly up. On the opposite side of this mini plateau I could see a small knob of highly-fractured granite. Trip Date: 9.7.19. After about thirty minutes and four hundred or so feet of climbing, I popped out onto the so-called summit plateau - a broad southward-slanting plain of barren gravel and rock (or snowfields early in the season) that connected the east ridge route with the summit block. I made for the most reasonable line up the broad face before me - it looked quite steep, but as I began up it, I found that it was an easy series of gravelly ledges. Pleasant, super-scenic ridgecrest walking brought me to a high bump along the ridgeline, roughly at about 11,700 feet. I was able to more or less regain the crest as I neared its western end. Mt Conness East Ridge/Buttress Route Overview. I took a little break when I had finally fully descended the chimney. Conness is a spectacularly long and serpentine alpine ridge … It is a scenic climb with not too much vertical gain and can be done in 1/2 day. The Conness Glacier was a fairly small sliver of its former self, hiding from the sun under the northeast-facing walls. One trailhead is on the northern side of Tioga Lake, which is located a few minutes east of Tioga Pass (the toll entrance station) at an altitude of about 3,000m. The rock began to transition to classic white Sierra Granite as I approached the saddle. To do the entire stretch of Mt Conness' east ridge, one starts at Saddleback Lake - a roughly 10,000-foot high body of water not far from Tioga Pass, and accessible via a short intermittently gravelled road off of highway 120 near Yosmite National Park's east entrance. The West Ridge of Mt. We found this route to offer various terrain, with some class 1 through class 4 stuff. Two trails encircle the waters of Saddleback Lake. Conness 7. I chose the northern Sierra as my target, but something a bit off the beaten path: a climb of Mt Conness, highest of the Sierra Peaks north of Tioga Pass and full of interesting routes, from easy to challenging. This was "Alpine Lake" - an important waypoint along the easier south-eastern route. Trip: Mt Conness - East Ridge from Saddlebag Lake Date: 7/26/2008 Trip Report: On Saturday we climbed the complete east ridge of Mt Conness (myself and friends Randy and Ken). Photo by Yao-Min Chen. It was airy in a couple of places, but only in one or two spots is a hand needed to assist progress. Conness is one the best moderate alpine climbs in Tuolumne. All Locations > California > Yosemite NP > Tuolumne Meadows > Glen Aulin Area > Mt Conness West Ridge 5.6 YDS 4c French 14 Ewbanks V UIAA 12 ZA S 4b British Lastly, how scary is that summit block? With the competition including Cathedral Peak and Matthes Crest, this says a lot. Hiking Las Vegas.com 1 Hike: Mt. Its standard class III climbing with a mercifully minimal amount of scree and boulder fields. Next was the long descent down the east ridge back to Saddlebag Lake. Summited in a couple more hours, quickly signed the register and made my way down the East Ridge. Conness, North Peak, Twenty Lakes Basin, Greenstone Lake, Saddlebag Lake, Mt. It took me quite a while to figure out how to safely descend the chimney. Mount Conness is right behind. A few minutes later, three more hikers arrived at the summit. Not knowing exactly what to expect, I was a little nervous as the mini-plateau narrowed and I approached the shattered bump of rock that marked the start of the knife-edged arete section. Left of Conness one can find Mount Ritter and Banner Peak. Armed with a favorable snow report from the guys at telemarktips.com, I made plans to head back to the backcountry skiing mecca of Tioga Pass -- specifically, to climb Mount Conness and ski the chutes and bowls on its east ridge. The North Ridge of Mt. The most direct start for the West Ridge Mt Conness starts at the Sawmill Campground, about halfway up the hill to Saddlebag. The emergence onto the plateau also meant that I had entered into the territory of Yosemite National Park. After passing beautiful alpine lakes, we get a view of the North East face of Mt. The summit block itself was very prominent, rising up another few hundred feet into the sky a short way to the west. From here you can climb the class 3 East Buttress itself for excellent views of North Peak and Mount Conness or skip the buttress by heading northwest to gain the East Ridge more gradually. There are at least two class 3 routes to the summit. al. Photo licensing info. It would certainly be easy to access, as you could definitely land a helicopter here. In fact, Peter Croft called it the best route he had done in the Sierra backcountry (albeit before embarking on some of his recent mega-traverse-linkups). "East ridge looked pretty prominent during our climb of the north ridge", they said. Overlooking Conness Glacier from a notch on east ridge. Rock began to transition to classic White Sierra granite as I neared western. We would traverse the ridge from the summit while to figure out how to safely descend the chimney alone so! A steeper class 2 section of dirt/rock mix Mt Conness by following the North ridge and plateau. 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