Information on Black Kaweah East Ridge

[alpinemike]

Thank you for the photos Rogue. I've actually looked at them many times before exploring the areas through your travels. While looking at that photo that you took from Kaweah Queen looking SW at Black Kaweah it really does show the awfulness of that ridge traverse. I'll be staying away from it. I really do think only a handful of people have done that route as the rock looks even nastier than the West Ridge (which is also not fun to say the least). I noticed on your itinerary for this year you plan on climbing it. I'm assuming you'll be taking the standard Southwest route on it..?

[RoguePhotonic]

Yeah I plan to camp again at the lake below Red Kaweah to do it and then hike around the ridge to take the SW approach of Black Kaweah. Hopefully I can pull them off. I don't need to be like Clint Eastwood on the Eiger Sanction saying "I tried to climb it twice and it tried to kill me twice"

[alpinemike]

Definitely let's hope not! I'm sure it will be a tremendous climb with some unbelievable views. One thing for me though is I'll never forget the stories I've read about it and how everyone describes it as 'sinister', nasty, and just pure evil looking. I guess that's one reason they thought to name it Black Kaweah. The first view I had of it was last year from Kaweah Gap and wow... The mountain was just wrapped around in storm clouds pretty much confirming it's menacing look to me. And sure enough about an hour and a half later the most amazing and unrelenting lightning storm of my life started at Big Arroyo.

[RoguePhotonic]

Yeah it is a beast for sure. The sort of peak that leaves you feeling good that you did it.

I talked to a woman that had completed the SPS list though and Black Kaweah was one of the few she said she would never climb again!

[maverick]

Mike,

Don't know whether you saw either of these two TR's, first one has a slide show included
which photo's are quite informative, especially the descent photo's, and makes the
Southwest Face look quite doable as long as you don't go off route into the class 4 stuff.
There was a register back in 2010 with Norman Clyde's (1922) and Walter Starr's (1929)
signatures in the register.
http://www.ugcs.caltech.edu/~alpine/wik ... aweah_2010" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://sepwww.stanford.edu/~morgan/imag ... index.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[alpinemike]

Rogue: I actually meet a climber who was at peak 244 on the SPS list and he said that Black Kaweah was one he had not done due to the nastiness of the rock. I guess he was saving it for last in case of the worst. This was 2 years ago when he gave me friend and I a ride out to Fresno from Muir Trail Ranch. He may have not it by this point.

Maverick: I do believe I've seen one of those TR's. The southwest face certainly does look doable and shouldn't be a real issue. I tend to follow more challenging lines because of the fun involved but I have to take that into consideration when I'm climbing Black Kaweah. The way my route takes me this year I don't think I'll have time to do it, but it's mighty tempting. And unfortunately as Rogue confirmed in another topic.. that register is gone. Probably the finest register that was left in the Sierra is probably gone forever.