Ritter/Banner Saddle Conditions 8/12/2022

[alpinemike]

Wanted to post a quick report on the status of Ritter/Banner Saddle and specifically from the Lake Ediza side.

To my knowledge Ritter/Banner Saddle has always contained some amount of snow on the Ediza side. I went through the Sentinel Imagery through some of the drought years and even in October there was still some snow going up the chute to the top. Often times the top most section would be melted out but towards the middle and bottom there was always snow.

Quite incredibly this past weekend 8/12/2022 that is no longer the case. A "cataclysmic" (albeit jokingly, but the word my buddy and I used) event must have happened because there is no longer any snow in the chute at all. It is completely possible to go up to the top of the saddle without an ice axe and crampons, which from my understanding has never really been suggested.

It was apparent that a huge mudslide/landslide took out all of the snow in the chute. You can see in my photos below that there is a large debris flow that is taller than my hiking partner and he's over 6 FT tall. My guess is that one of the thunderstorms dumped an insane amount of water on the snow, weakened it and then it just all slid at once as if it as an avalanche. Rock and debris may have also been mixed in due to the amount of water flowing down through the chute. On either side of the debris flow you could poke into the sides and it was still solid ice, so the ice/snow was completely cut out of the center.

You can see that in the Satellite Imagery from Sentinel that the snow chute is in tact and goes almost to the top of the saddle. About 2 weeks later the snow is gone and there is an obvious brown debris flow. Seriously incredible to see this on satellite imagery. You can see other slide paths on the snowfield as well.

With regards to actual conditions in the chute... they weren't ideal. Everything is very loose, and at it's narrowest point you are basically standing in a body wide channel that at it's steepest point is 60+ degrees. The sides are very unstable and have residual debris. The bottom in various sections was muddy, silty, and very slick. And most importantly the rock that you must climb now is quite unpredictable and has many features on it that can flake off. A significant chockstone is located about half up now and it required a single Class 4 Move to surmount. It's a challenging feature because of the slickness of the rock/mud below it and the fact that your shoes got coated in mud while you were trying to climb up it... Serious caution should be exercised climbing the chute and a helmet should be mandatory gear, because of the potential for rock/debris fall from the inherent instability of the surrounding rock.

It's a little hard to believe that this "mostly permanent" snow feature is no more. At least for this year... I'm very interested to know if it will return in the capacity that it's been in over the last 50+ years. When you get rid of the underlaying ice layer it's likely that it will be much harder to retain it's full permanence as before. Just a reminder that the Sierra is in a constant state of evolution into it's next form...

IMG_6039.JPG

IMG_6042.JPG

IMG_6088.JPG

IMG_6089.JPG

IMG_6091.JPG

IMG_6092.JPG

Screen Shot 2022-08-15 at 11.41.35 AM.png

Screen Shot 2022-08-15 at 11.40.44 AM.png

[c9h13no3]

That's pretty wild O_o.

I'd bet that narrow slot would go back to holding snow, but you're right, it likely won't stick around as late in the summer without a bed of permanent ice beneath it.

I suppose the Lake Catherine side becomes the preferred approach to Ritter's N face?

[CAMERONM]

Wow, thanks for the post.

[alpinemike]

That's pretty wild O_o.

I'd bet that narrow slot would go back to holding snow, but you're right, it likely won't stick around as late in the summer without a bed of permanent ice beneath it.

I suppose the Lake Catherine side becomes the preferred approach to Ritter's N face?

Yes the Lake Catherine side will now likely be easier overall, but that North side snowfield/glacier is a little more active with crevices and what not, so timing will have to be key. The loose rock in the chute of Ritter/Banner Saddle is definitely not for the faint of heart, along with some of the tricky climbing.

[commonloon]

I was in the area this past weekend; I took the family up the Volcanic Ridge. We camped at Ediza Friday night, and I was shocked at the amount of apparent glacial silt in the water.

Ediza from 1/2 up the ridge:

IMG_7101.jpg

Hoping for a big winter...

[Shawn]

Wow, that's really a sad to see the conditions up there.