High Sierra Topix

Here is a pic of University from Bench lake this May. The north Face route can be seen sloping up from the lower right of the face to Left of the summit. GB, is your route up the wide chute with a broad snow bowl at the top that is well right of the summit or up the more broken chute closer to the summit?

BrianF wrote:Here is a pic of University from Bench lake this May. The north Face route can be seen sloping up from the lower right of the face to Left of the summit. GB, is your route up the wide chute with a broad snow bowl at the top that is well right of the summit or up the more broken chute closer to the summit?

Hi Brian,

The route I went up is the lower chute with the broad snow at the top. From here (Bench L) the view is pretty oblique but the separation at the top is quite clear.

Sorry I don't have an image handy I can electronically annotate on. My dad made a big black and white print of University from Mt Gould and that would be the best one for me to use (although I'd have to use a bigger scanner than the one I have). He was very serious about photography and made the prints in his home darkroom. The big print from the north was part of the planning process when I thought up the trip in 1976 My dad had given me the route finding and trip planning duties from 1973 onward.

Here is the view from Mt Gould. I can see that the route on the south side of the ridge looks pretty straightforward. Thanks for the route info!

BrianF wrote:Here is the view from Mt Gould. I can see that the route on the south side of the ridge looks pretty straightforward. Thanks for the route info!

Nifty photo. Thanks for posting it. Yes, that shows the route very clearly.

That is a very nice photo to get peak baggers excited: Tyndall and Junction Peak look mighty nice in the photo, too.

Hi, I just wanted to add to the discussion that the North Face standard route is not technically difficult, even for "weekend warriors" like me who aren't the best at route finding. The thing to remember when climbing the North Face is when you get to the end of the rib (about 600' below the summit), go as far to the climber's left as possible. The very steep slabs that punctuate the middle of the North Face are much shorter and easier to climb at the far left end of this face. I'd say it was about 20' of steep (but easy) class 3. The most difficult route finding problem I had was at the end of the rib, there are drop offs on either side, and you have to climb through a window in huge talus to get to this final 20' climb up to the ridge (I'm not talking about the window on the final ridge traverse, this is down lower). This route was marked with cairns, but even without them, eventually you will see the way (unless you want to go class 4). I'm not super comfortable with exposure, but I never felt uncomfortable on any of the route, though some of the drop offs on the final ridge traverse were exciting!

Not trying to hijack the thread, but just wanted to let it be known that the standard North Face route really isn't that bad. And besides, you get the payoff of Center Basin when you get to the top, a fantastic reward!

cthenn wrote:Not trying to hijack the thread, but just wanted to let it be known that the standard North Face route really isn't that bad. And besides, you get the payoff of Center Basin when you get to the top, a fantastic reward!

Cthenn, Thanks for your post. Your post is totally relevant to this thread in fact, which is essentially about the best day-hike route options up University. Accordingly details regarding the level of difficulty on the standard North Face route will be very useful for readers.

I found this old thread while researching university pass. Now that I've been over it also in summer I would say it's no worse than most high passes rated class 2. Some steep loose stuff, not overly so. The talus at the base does make for slow progress, but even so we hauled very full packs into center basin starting from Onion valley at 11:30 in September. And I'm not 26 anymore...