TR: Excelsior Mountain, 6/8/16
Posted: Sat Jun 11, 2016 8:22 pm
A big, snowy slog up to Colosseum Mountain and Mount Perkins from Sawmill Lake got cancelled due to my climbing partner's work schedule. I had mixed feelings about this since 2.5 days to try for both peaks would have been slightly silly. Anyway, a last minute scramble 
to find something to do for my week off lead to an assortment of great day hikes. Basically, I went wherever someone would hike with me. The first day I joined some Sierra Mountaineering Club members for a trek up Horsetail Falls to Pyramid Peak where high water, soft snow, and tricky route-finding provided a variety of challenges. On the second day, I met a new friend at Virginia Lakes to tag Excelsior Mountain. On the third day, I rested my legs at Strawberry Lodge and checked out the rocks at Lover's Leap. On the last day, I joined an SPS list finisher for her second round on Dick's Peak. It was a fantastic four days!!
I thought I'd post some pictures from Excelsior since Dick's and Pyramid have both been reported on recently.
Looking back towards the Virginia Lakes Trailhead from where we leave the trail for Excelsior:
As we begin to ascend the NE ridge (the long one which is also a wilderness boundary) we got into some deep, soft snow.
Not postholing yet, but we do.
The ridge itself was pretty much naked with only a few patches of snow.
The summit in view now. It was very windy here.
View of Mono Lake from summit:
View towards Yosemite from summit:
Near the tarn below the ridge, I convinced two, wandering fishermen to come up to the peak with us. And they did! One of them was only wearing cowboy boots and long johns.
They took this picture of Joanne and I. I was the least like an Abercrombie model of the four of us.
to find something to do for my week off lead to an assortment of great day hikes. Basically, I went wherever someone would hike with me. The first day I joined some Sierra Mountaineering Club members for a trek up Horsetail Falls to Pyramid Peak where high water, soft snow, and tricky route-finding provided a variety of challenges. On the second day, I met a new friend at Virginia Lakes to tag Excelsior Mountain. On the third day, I rested my legs at Strawberry Lodge and checked out the rocks at Lover's Leap. On the last day, I joined an SPS list finisher for her second round on Dick's Peak. It was a fantastic four days!!I thought I'd post some pictures from Excelsior since Dick's and Pyramid have both been reported on recently.
Looking back towards the Virginia Lakes Trailhead from where we leave the trail for Excelsior:
As we begin to ascend the NE ridge (the long one which is also a wilderness boundary) we got into some deep, soft snow.
Not postholing yet, but we do.
The ridge itself was pretty much naked with only a few patches of snow.
The summit in view now. It was very windy here.
View of Mono Lake from summit:
View towards Yosemite from summit:
Near the tarn below the ridge, I convinced two, wandering fishermen to come up to the peak with us. And they did! One of them was only wearing cowboy boots and long johns.
They took this picture of Joanne and I. I was the least like an Abercrombie model of the four of us. 