University Peak??

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Trekker
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Post by Trekker »

It was certainly not my intention to step on anyone's toes (booted or not! :) ). Rather, to avoid the kind of discourse regarding what is risky or difficult and what is not that occured earlier this summer on the Whitney Portal board in regards to the Mountaineer's Route. I would certainly not have posted a comment if this was Climber.org or Summitpost.com, but the fact is that not everyone on this board is an experienced peakbagger, yours truly included. Maybe the original poster is a peakbagger, maybe they are not. I do know that a number of us may be considering climbing University later this month, if the weather holds, so this is an interesting topic to us.

My experience with tennis shoes is that they are not as sticky as a good pair of boots, trail runners, or approach shoes, but I'm not going to say I am familiar with all the tennis shoes out there, and like you said, that is another discussion anyway, to be undertaken by people much more experienced at climbing than me. Regardless, I figured you to be a more experienced climber, as evidenced by your nice explanation of the difference between class 2 and 3 on the "Technical" thread. Unfortunately, I have the old Secor edition, and I'm sure you are right as to the reason that was changed.

Here is part of a trip report on the same climb by Bob Burd, who is well known among the Sierra peakbagging community as a fairly accomplished peakbagger:

After our break we began climbing up again, spreading out as we went, myself in front, Michael second, David further behind. The route turned out to be surprisingly fun and challenging the whole way. Lower down, huge blocks of granite overlay the more solid rock below, mixed with some smaller blocks. This made for a steep class 2+ scramble rising half the height of the North Face. At this point a blocky arete pushed us futher right towards the center of the face. Traversing on some narrowing ledges, I made my way over towards the center which looked to offer the easiest way up. Michael was just visible behind me, David out of my view behind him. As the route grew progressively more difficult, I knew from last year that David would likely turn back - somewhere between class 2 and class 3 was where he exceeds his comfort zone. With about a hundred yards to the summit ridge, the boulders gave way to blocky face climbing - steep granite slabs punctuated with large cracks which kept the climbing to class 3 - just barely.

Once at the ridge, I found it to be a broken line of huge, off-setting blocks that made it impossible to follow on the ridge. I stayed 10-20 yards low on the north face as I traversed west towards where I expected the summit to be. It was 10:20a when I finally gained the highest block, finding the register tucked in a crack. The summit block was a bit tricky to get to, but the top is nearly flat and quite large. One could have quite a party up here. Though not high by the standards of the High Sierra in this region, the views were some of the best I'd seen. I could see north to Goddard and the Palisades, west to Brewer and the Great Western Divide, south to Williamson and Tyndall, and not a cloud in the sky. About ten minutes later I heard Michael's voice and helped direct him around to northwest side to get to the summit block. He confirmed what I had suspected, that David had turned back at the face climbing a few hundred yards from the summit ridge. Michael was a bit winded, but climbed impressively given his lack of acclimatization. He would continue hiking strong the next three days as well - clearly he was used to this type of abuse. We sat about the summit 20 minutes longer while Michael had his lunch and I took some more pictures. (Summitpost.com)

I guess my point is that, for those of us who are more like David than Bob Burd, a description more in line with our abilities is what we are looking for. And once again, I think your post on the "Technical" thread explains the differences nicely. :nod:

Anyway, sorry if I offended you.
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pcase
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Post by pcase »

Hi Trekker,

lol no need to apologize. I gotta watch my tone and ethos more carefully. Just wanted to follow up regarding your last post.

I'm not aware of the Whitney Mountaineer's Route dialog to which you refer...what was the deabate?

I read your summitpost "post" from Bob Burd....and his report gels well with my memory in that he says "With about a hundred yards to the summit ridge, the boulders gave way to blocky face climbing - steep granite slabs punctuated with large cracks which kept the climbing to class 3 - just barely."

Like I said yesterday the tricky part for me was a few hundred feet below the summit on slabs covered with snow and ice....In all honesty I was relieved to reach the ridge....as it represented a bit more security than I had enjoyed previously. I'll check my pics tonight to see if I have a good shot of the area in question...I'm guessing that I do.

I Google Imaged some pictures looking for a better summit area shot and these were the best I could find...the 3rd being the best...pretty straightforward all the way up.....the last few 100 feet will give you pause and reflection

Image

Image

Image


As for going to University later this month???? Better be good on patchy snow and thin ice, because the objective dangers just tripled in the last 48 hours. and I think the kind of verglas you're likely to encounter for the next 10 days or more would make this peak a real challenge on the North/ northeast route. The southern approach should clean up a lot faster at this time of year.

Good luck
wingding

Post by wingding »

Trekker, please don't apologize.

I might be the one who needs to apologize. I was just trying to explain that the North Face to University Peak isn't real difficult class 3, but that's just my opinion. It does have the "steep granite slabs punctuated with large cracks" once you get off the loose crap, but the exposure isn't too bad in that section.

On the other hand, I thought the class 2 chute to University Pass was really scarey because it was so loose. I don't think I'd go over University Pass again unless it was mostly snow covered.

Also, it was a long day for me. It took me at least 12 hours to day hike from the trailhead at Onion Valley and back.

Here's a shot of an area of the steep granite slabs:

Image

Here's when your below that area looking up:

Image

Looking down on the way back down (the loose section I wish I stayed out of:

Image

I got off that loose stuff and onto the snowfield as soon as I could and it was much better after that. I wish I had stayed on the snowfield longer on the way up, but on the way up I went up closer to the ridge.

The snowfield:

Image
wingding

Post by wingding »

Do be careful if it is icy out there.
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AfterSeven
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Post by AfterSeven »

University is a Sierra Classic. Fortunately, it lays out in such a way that any trouble you get in on the north face can be reversed without too much difficulty..... There are no sustained problems and the route is as about as straight forward as they come.

Good Luck and Have Fun
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Trekker
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Post by Trekker »

pcase;

Thanks for the additional info and the great pics! As it is primarily the people I would be with on the backpack trip that would want to do University, they will be making the decision as to whether to climb or not, as they have much more experience in that than I do. Your info on the route in regards to ice and snow will definitely be taken into account, and I can assure you that I will err on the side of caution and not go any farther than I feel my skills are capable of!

The Whitney post on the MR was started in late June-early July, and was started by an individual who tried it and found it to be extremely risky when it came to negotiating the snow and ice covered passages. This lead to quite a few individuals weighing in, some agreeing, others saying the group hadn't taken the right route, and others saying that it wasn't that difficult and that he was overstating the risk. It ended up being somewhat acrimonious. In the end, I realized that it depends on what your cllimbing comfort and skill level is, and what conditions you are comfortable climbing in, such as snow and/or ice travel. That's why I am always interested in knowing a little about the poster's skill level when describing a route. Your last post has done a nice job of being more descriptive for a novice peakbagger like me! :thumbsup:

Wingding, thanks for your info and pics, as well. This thread has actually ended up giving me encouragement to try this peak, if not this year, then next summer. This is one of the reasons why we have a forum like this; informative discussions. Good stuff. Thanks!:nod:
wingding

Post by wingding »

Trekker - With how short the days are right now and with the chance of it being icy up there, University would be a tough one for me to do. I know some people call it a half-day hike, but it wasn't for me. I've been working on moving faster, so I probably could it in less than 12 hours now, but it certainly wouldn't be a half-day hike for me.

If you're going to camp east of Kearsarge Pass and want to bag a peak then Mount Gould would be a really nice hike. It's a straight-forward hike from Kearsarge Pass over fairly easy terrain.
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pcase
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Post by pcase »

Hi Trekker,

Sorry to hear about the Mountaineer Route spat....that's unfortunate. With snow and ice that route can be tricky and unpleasant and is no place for beginners...that's for sure. The MR is a man eater and I know of several deaths and badly broken bones in the last 20 years. Seems to me the descent is the usual culprit. All the climbers guides, to a T, mention snow, ice and/or rockfall as things to beware of on the MR....how many other routes do you see consistant warnings of that sort??? Not many...Mt. Ritter comes to mind...and that's about it.

I peeked at some older editions of the Climber's Guide to the High Sierra last night just to see what they had to say about the North Face of University....The 1950's guide states there's a knife edge that leads to the summit with relative ease (paraphrased) and the Roper 1970's guide says class 3 scramble leads to the summit via an inconspicuous route. Which is really not too helpfeul is it? ..just 1 sentence....like 8 - 10 words for the whole route and that's it. When I first climbed it in the pre-Secor days...that's all I had to go on. Frankly it's not inconspicuous.....anybody can see the line fairly easily from Slim Lake or the Lake above...it's not inconspicuous...it's right in front of you!

I also looked through a few copies of Accidents in North American Mountaineering, which I haven't looked at in years. These are issued annually by the American Alpine Club. In the California Section...there always seemed to be more accidents in October in the High Sierra. I didn't do a statistical rundown but snow and ice tended to be the culprits....and btw it took about 30 seconds to find a death on the MR report.....

Based on the last few days, anything you attempt might require crampons and an axe....but I'm guessing your partners, many of the founders of this board, will have a handle on that. Whatever you do, be prepared to travel on steep snow and ice.... unless you are on some south facing cruiser route that you can see is devoid of hazards from the parking lot.

Good luck....take some good pics!
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summitscott
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Post by summitscott »

I don't want to overstate the difficulty of the ridge traverse or the exposure on that route, but will point out that a fatal fall occurred on that section of the climb in April 1974. This was in winter conditions. In summer the traverse is less dicey, but care should be taken. Only you know your skill level and experience.
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