High 5 Traverse Recon

Last weekend (8/15), Bria and I made plans to backpack into canyon lake and climb the N ridge of canyon peak but a lightning caused fire broke out near canyon lake the following day so our plans changed to the N face of el capitan up little rock creek (supposedly III 5.7 8p).

Bria’s L knee was bothering her on the hike in and slowly getting worse so we decided to call it at the lower lake and camp there (despite planning on camping at the upper lakes).  We had a relaxing (and hazy) evening before heading to bed, having decided to evaluate her knee in the morning and act accordingly.

In the morning, with Bria’s knee feeling better but not great and knowing we still had a long approach to the N face, we decided to bail on that objective, and instead opted for a slow-paced hike to the upper lakes.  We followed a mix of faint trail, many conflicting cairns and some minor bushwhacking to the upper elbow-shaped lake where we spent an enjoyable afternoon, relaxing and having lunch.  A slow descent with much more bushwhacking than the ascent put us back in camp for the evening before hiking out the next morning. 

water refill at upper lake (photo: bria)

While it was a bummer to have bailed on our original objective, we made the right choice and I attributed the experience to being good recon for the high 5 traverse approach, which I planned to attempt in 2 days.

Also, I recently read a Loren Rausch quote about failing/bailing in the mountains that I really liked – “I’m not saying failing is fun, I hate failing, but it is important in tracing the learning curve.  So if you’re in the mountains of Montana (or any mountains) don’t be afraid to fail, harness the ego, smile at being alive in the midst of an adventure, and fail greatly.”

After an afternoon cragging at lost horse and an evening of car camping, Bria hit the road home early the next morning and I set out to tackle the high 5 traverse (el capitan, lonesome bachelor and the 3 como peaks).  Thanks to Brian for the beta and inspiration.

I made good time on the mostly runnable trail to the lower lake, arriving in 1:08 before shifting gears for the faint “trail”/cairns/bushwhack to the upper lakes.  The highlight of this section was spooking a bull moose from within a hundred feet, which was bedded down in some tall grass and trees.  This was a little terrifying but fortunately he proceeded to smash through the vegetation away from, rather than towards me.  I saw him again a few minutes later but from a safer distance and I snapped a great picture (but lost my camera later in the day). 

I arrived at the upper lakes in 2:17 and while re-filling water, realized I had dropped my camera at some point since seeing the moose (presumably when I caught my foot on a hidden rock in some tall grass and took a minor fall).  I irrationally thought it could be found, so after a little indecision I turned around and set out to find it.  After some hopeless searching, I returned to the upper lakes after a 90min detour, unsure of what to do next.  My excitement for the traverse was diminished by the lost camera (and lost 90 minutes of daylight) so I decided just to climb el cap and the lonesome bachelor and then call it a day. 

I ascended the 3^rd class ledges and grassy slopes just R of the obvious twin gullies to gain the S ridge and boulder hopped another 1000 vertical to the summit of el cap (3:34 excluding camera detour).  The smoke and haze really diminished the views but it was still great to visit this commanding mountain for my first time. 

generic el capitan picture taken from summitpost.org (photo: mike hoyt)

I dropped down to the saddle and continued south towards the lonesome bachelor, ascending the N ridge until it got really steep shortly before the summit.  I traversed R out a ledge onto the W face and followed my nose up low 5^th class weaknesses intermixed with ledges to the summit (4:47).  I looked longingly east towards west como peak but knew the remainder of the traverse was better saved for another day.  I reversed my route for the descent, arriving back at the TH in 8:47 (excluding 90min camera search detour).

Stats: approx. 19mi/6300 vert/low 5^th class in 8:47 car-car at moderate pace

Rose: seeing a bull moose from so close

Thorn: LOSING MY CAMERA!

Bud: returning soon for the full traverse

Thoughts: descending from the upper to lower lake is slower/harder than on the way up