Red Lake Peak Redux 10,063 Feet

[Vaca Russ]

“Sport” and I decided to place a register on Red lake Peak. We took State Route 88 up to Carson Pass. There was plenty of parking at the Meiss Trailhead parking lot. A sno-park pass can be purchased on line here:

https://secure.kinsail.com/results.asp?p=casno&pt=parks" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

We started on the PCT but quickly veered off trail, up the slope, north toward the peak. The snow was very patchy. Shortly after we reached about 9000 feet we could see the false summit.

1 Distant False Summit.JPG

These pictures should give you a good idea of the current snow conditions.

Sometimes I use this site to gauge how deep the snow might be:

http://www.nohrsc.noaa.gov/interactive/ ... &js=1&uc=0" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

This site turned out to be completely inaccurate. I have found that it is usually reliable but as the elevation goes up the information becomes less accurate.

Here you can see Round Top over Sport’s left shoulder and Elephants Back over her right. State Route 88 is below and to the left.

2 Sport El. Bk. and Rnd Top.JPG

Caples Lake is starting to melt at the inlet. You can also see one of my favorite ski resorts behind Caples.

3 Caples and Kirkwood.JPG

The only significant snow we had to cross was on the ridge at about 9600 feet. This crossing was less than 200 yards.

4 Snow Crossing.JPG

The weather was beautiful but the wind was atrocious. The wind was sustained at 30 MPH with gust up to 50 – 60 MPH.

I would like to share the easiest way to summit this rock. The summit consists of three crags lined up in a roughly south to north direction. The first crag you see coming from the south is a false summit. The true summit is the one furthest north. Walk along the east side of the crags in a northerly direction until you see this chute.

5 Sport Crampons.JPG

6 Sport Ice Ax.JPG

Then climb up to that rock just over Sport’s head.

7 Sport by Crux.JPG

From there, climb over to the west side of the crag. You must down climb to a three to four foot ledge on the other side. Getting over to the other side requires some class three moves with exposure. Once on the ledge, walk back south to the end of the ledge and then from there climb up, using more class 3 moves, directly to the actual true summit.

Sport placed a new register at the summit.

8 Sport Register.JPG

I climbed over to the southern false summit to take pictures documenting my Love’s achievement.

9 Sport Summit.JPG

Yes, that is really her!

10 Summit Close.JPG

Thanks for reading our post,

-Russ

[Jason]

Very cool! I was up there by myself probably 5-6 years ago but didn't get to the very top, maybe I'll try it again using your info. Thanks for the report!

[maverick]

Thanks VR for the TR, and great views!

[rlown]

Wow! Round Top and Elephant look kind of snowed in still.

I loved the report. Thanks, Russ and Sport!

-another russ