Here was what I think would be a good season of mountaineering for us. High level details on the trips is below, plus some open questions at the bottom.
- Castle Peak :: Friday 2/17/2017 - Monday 2/20/2017 (presidents day)
- Lassen Peak :: Thursday 3/23/2017 - Sunday 3/26/2017
- Matterhorn Peak :: Friday 4/21/2017 - Sunday 4/23/2017
- Dana Couloir :: Saturday 5/27/2017 - Sunday 5/28/2017
- Mt Hood :: Thursday 6/8/2017 - Sunday 6/11/2017
Dates: Friday 2/17/2017 - Sunday 2/19/2017
I think it would be fun to climb Castle Peak one weekend in Tahoe. I did this during the SMC MTN 1 training in Summer, so I have some idea of the approach. The basics for us would be to hike up that valley we did with REI, but hang more right to angle towards the peak.
It's ~2.3mi and ~1800' from the road to the summit, so I think we could certainly do this as a day hike. If we wanted to camp overnight for practice, we could. If we did that I think we'd be best served getting there the night before so we can climb first thing in the morning.
Dates: Thursday 3/23/2017 - Sunday 3/26/2017
Lassen looks go be a relatively easy climb up, though a winter attempt requires a ~7 mile ski/snowshoe in from the visitors center at 6,723' to near trailhead at 8,800'. Based on our snowshoe experience I think it would take us one day to do just that. That said, from the campsite it's only a ~1,600' snow climb to the top via a 30-35º snow slope. We could probably cut down the day 1 snowshoe in to something shorter, which would make the summit day longer.
There is also a Northwest Ridge approach which comes, shockingly, from the north. It is a shorter first day approach - ~4 miles and 1,200', but a bigger climb day - ~1.8 miles and 3,300'. It's also a slightly more technical (but more fun) climb.
If we wanted to wait until the pass road opens to do Lassen, we could but that does not happen until late May to early June. I'd ideally like to do this before climbing Mt. Hood, but depending on the opening date of Tioga road that may not be possible.
I'd probably propose we leave on a Thursday after work and drive to the campsite at the start of the road closure. Spend Friday hiking to basecamp. Saturday summit day, Sunday hike back out.
Proposed Dates: Friday 4/21/2017 - Sunday 4/23/2017
This looks to be a relatively easy 2 day summit of a relatively short ~12,200' peak. With Tioga road closed, this looks to be a 5hr drive to the trailhead at Mono Village, which is near Twin Lakes near Yosemite. Mono Village is at 7,142', and from there it's 5 miles and 5,137' of elevation to the summit.
The route which looks the best for us is the East Couloir. Difficulty-wise, it's not any harder than a class 3, with ice axes "not usually needed" (according to Summitpost at least).
I think what we should do is drive to leave work a little early on a Friday and drive to Minden, NV. There are some hotels and grocery stores, so we can stock up as well. Saturday morning we should wake up early, drive the 1hr 40 min to the trailhead. If we're on the trail by 10am, we'll arrive at camp by late afternoon. Sunday we can wake up early and climb the 2,132' to the summit, then descend back down to basecamp. It should still be early enough to pack up and head down to the trailhead.
If we wanted an extra day, we could leave work early on Thursday, climb to basecamp Friday, summit Saturday and then come back Sunday. Depends on what we want to do.
Proposed Dates: Saturday 5/27/2017 - Sunday 5/28/2017
This is an easily accessible 1,200' snow climb up a couloir. The base of the climb is just a few mile hike off of Tioga road just outside the east entrance of Yosemite. We have to wait until Tioga road is open to climb it, but we should be be ready to do it very soon after it opens since the climb turns more and more to a pure ice climb as the season progresses.
Historically it opens some time in May, but it can be as late as mid-June if there is a large snowpack.
We could probably do this in a weekend, so I'd say leave early Saturday morning, drive all the way to the trailhead and then hike in the couple miles to the base of the climb. Camp there, wake up early Sunday, summit, then head back to camp to pack up and head out.
Proposed Dates: Thursday 6/8/2017 - Sunday 6/11/2017
This would be the big trip of the year. The only route that I would advise would be the main Southside/Chute Variation route. It's a pretty long climb though - you start at Timberline lodge at 5,800', have to climb the two miles to top of the ski lifts at 8,600', gain Hogsback (a snow ridge) at 10,600' and then you finally summit at 11,239'. So in total a 5,839' day. The park does advise you can camp at Triangle Moraine at ~9,000', which looks kinda fun actually. That turns it into a 3,200' day 1 and 2,000' day 2, which seems much more manageable. It also lets us get an alpine start to hit the steep section a the top with better conditions. People that start from Timberline lodge to do it in a day advise leaving absolutely before 2AM.
The route requires at the bare minimum a helmet, ice axe and crampons. I think it would be advisable to bring a rope, harness and pickets too just in case.
I'd probably advise flying seeing if we can work out of Portland for a whole week to wait on good weather conditions. Once we found good weather, we could drive up to Timberline and hike to Triangle Moraine in one day. Summit the next day and either sleep overnight there before heading down the next day, or simply just come back down the same day.
Generally speaking I'm hopeful the order of trips will help us work up in necessary skills. Mt Hood is no joke, and so I'd like to have some solid snow climbing, rope and crevasse rescue and (ideally) glacier travel experience before we go. That said, short of climbing on a glacier, I haven't found a great way to get actual glacier travel experience. There are organizations that offer glacier travel training, but most of what I've seen is training on rope team rigging and rescue systems, which we already have experience in.
So what I think would be best for us is to get out there and practice some of the things we've been taught. We can do that in conjunction with other trips or just even on a spare weekend somewhere where we can find space to do it - like in GGP.
The biggest open question I have is gear. To do these trips this year there are some things we'll need that we don't have. Namely:
- Rope(s)
- Snow protection
- 4 season tent
The snow protection is really cheap. Two pickets would cost $52.
For rope I think we'll want an 8mm-ish twin or half rope, either two 30m ropes or 1 6m rope. With my discount we're looking at around $70 - $100.
On the tent, we have a couple options. One option is that we can borrow a tent from SMC, though that requires getting up to Sacramento to get it which is a pain for most trips. The other option which I think makes more sense for us is to buy one - probably the Mountain Hardware Trango 3 or Hilleberbg Nammatj 3. Both would be about $450-500 on discount.
I actually don't mind buying the Hilleberbg Nammatj 3. I've been looking to buy a 3 person tent, and it's is actually light and adaptable enough to use backpacking trips. If I do that, can you guys cover split the cost of the the snow protection, ropes and any other miscellaneous runners, nylon webbing, cordelette, etc we'll need for our rack?
I can do February for sure. March I'm a maybe -- I need to confirm conference schedules, and the Thurs/Friday off could be complicated.
I'm +1 on either renting a tent, or buying something like the Trango. I would go with the Trango over the other one as IIRC it's much easier to setup in bad weather, whereas the other one I've heard can be quite the pain in the ass.
I also have a full rack (barring rope), and extra runners. I dont have the metal protection thing.