Mt Starr and Bloody Mountain
Posted: Tue Aug 05, 2014 5:49 pm
Two weekends ago I finally got out to the Sierra for a nice weekend of peak bagging.
On day 1, MrC and the pup fished little Lakes Basin while I climbed Mt Starr via the scramble from Mono Pass. I descended via one of the sandy chutes on the east side. That was a really fun way to come down, despite the one stretch of tricky route finding through the cliff band.
Follow the use trail from Mono Pass:
Eventually the trail disappears and it's a rock hop to the ridge. I didn't know which high point was the summit so I kind of tagged them all by scrambling along the ridge. Made it a fun little class 3 scramble. An easier alternate is to drop a little on the west side and follow the sandier paths. One of the many piles:
The views are, like all sierra peaks, fantastic.
From the summit I could spy several sandy chutes descending straight back into Little Lakes Valley so I decided to descend one of them. SO MUCH FUN. Until the rock bands. Had a tricky time finding a way through the cliffs, chimneying my way down a few cracks and gullys.
Here's a pic I took of starr from Morgan, where I've drawn in what I am pretty sure is my descent gully.
On day 1, MrC and the pup fished little Lakes Basin while I climbed Mt Starr via the scramble from Mono Pass. I descended via one of the sandy chutes on the east side. That was a really fun way to come down, despite the one stretch of tricky route finding through the cliff band.
Follow the use trail from Mono Pass:
Eventually the trail disappears and it's a rock hop to the ridge. I didn't know which high point was the summit so I kind of tagged them all by scrambling along the ridge. Made it a fun little class 3 scramble. An easier alternate is to drop a little on the west side and follow the sandier paths. One of the many piles:
The views are, like all sierra peaks, fantastic.
From the summit I could spy several sandy chutes descending straight back into Little Lakes Valley so I decided to descend one of them. SO MUCH FUN. Until the rock bands. Had a tricky time finding a way through the cliffs, chimneying my way down a few cracks and gullys.
Here's a pic I took of starr from Morgan, where I've drawn in what I am pretty sure is my descent gully.