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August 4th I climbed my 10th SPS Emblem Peak, and 31st SPS list peak - Mt Brewer! This completes my qualification for the lowest SPS award - the "SPS Emblem" in what I hope will be a record time, just 39 years after my 1st SPS peak and 1st Emblem Peak, Whitney in 1968. At this rate I can hope to complete all 15 emblem peaks in the year 2026, and finish the entire list in 2278
If climbing Brewer via Road's end and the western slopes is the "easy" way, then going via Kearsarge Pass, Vidette Meadow, East Lake and the East ridge is the pretty way, as well as the harder way. The class 2 route up the East Ridge is not the same kind of climb as the class 2 routes up the NW slope or the SW chute, but hiking it was as much fun as the scenery was beautiful.
This was a 3 day SPS trip led by Ron and Tom, along with John and Wayne.
It was about 13 miles in to East Lake with 4400' gain, but 4200' feet of loss on good trail. We took it slow, 10 hours, and it was surprisingly easy. The tough part was doing the east ridge of Brewer from East lake. One register entry said he made it up from East lake in 4 hours, but one of our guys wasn't feeling so good and it took us 8 hours up and 6 hours down, along with a little route finding trouble and travel in the dark. Shouldn't be hard if you're in good shape and/or if you do it from the west side.
Harry: Congratulations on getting Brewer and on getting your emblem - the east side did look more difficult than the west from the top of Brewer, but I'll bet the bushwacking wasn't as bad on the approach from the east as it was from the west.
KathyW wrote:...but I'll bet the bushwacking wasn't as bad on the approach from the east as it was from the west...
I'll have to admit it was easier to hump over Kearsarge to East Lake than it was to climb Sphinx Creek to camp at upper Sphinx Lakes. But Shawn and I were lucky on the way up Sphinx and had very little bushwacking, about as much as the group had last week when we got lost before we got above the tree-line from East Lake. Funny thing is, on the way down Sphinx creek our memory was too short and we had a terrible bushwack. Going down the east ridge we also had a short memory and got lost, but we were lucky and kept out of the bushes and otherwise improved on our route.
The real killer for me on the west was those steep steps on the trail down Sphinx Creek, and the 8,000 ft. descent. I was leaning on my hiking stick like an old man with a cane! (no I didn't make Brewer that time but I made it to 13000 ft. the last day.)
Another beautiful peak to add to the list. Beautiful shots! Congratulations!
I just noticed the captions at the bottom of webshots. I've been looking at pix tonight and didn't see the captions cuz they're hidden below the owners info, and in small print.
Expose yourself to your deepest fear; after that, fear has no power, and the fear of freedom shrinks and vanishes. You are free . . . . Jim Morrison
Congrats on your 10th Emblem and doing it in style (from the east side)! As to taking 39 years between no. 1 and no. 10, that aint so bad. It was 10 yrs between no. 1 and no. 10 for me (Whitney and Split, 1970, 1980), but I haven't done another one in the 27 years since no. 10. This is even though they switched the Kaweah emblem giving me one more sub-class 4 peak I could try--Since you did no. 1 back in 1968 you will recall that in 1968 Black Kaweah was the emblem in that region rather than the class 1 Mt. Kaweah (nothing will ever persuade me to mess with Black Kaweah). My poor dad ended up being stuck on no. 9 forever (Split with me in 1980 was no. 9 for him) because I didn't want to go back and climb Abbot a second time after nearly getting myself killed on my first climb and I didn't realize that I could have taken him to Mt. Kaweah for no. 10 instead. He died without ever getting no. 10 because of this.
By the way, I have no idea how the east ridge of Brewer climbs when there is no snow on it. I climbed it in May 1979 spring climb and it was 100 percent snow and thigh deep postholing from the shore of East Lake until topping the east ridge and going up the largely snow free south slope. The top of the east ridge was an intimidating snow/ice headwall then. Brewer also brings back sentimental memories of how awesome my dad was in his prime--he did it as a Loma Prieta Peak Climbing trip in the early 70's and made East Lake in a mind blowing 4 hours from Zumwalt Meadow.
I really enjoyed seeing your photos and most of all seeing your big smile on the summit with the register in hand (made me smile seeing you smile). Glad you got to do the east ridge from scenic East Lake.
Your new camera takes beautiful pictures. Such a cute picture of you on the top 
I've been looking at pix tonight and didn't see the captions cuz they're hidden below the owners info, and in small print.
