A Day (or two) to Remember
If you aren't sure how to do it - go light.
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It is 3 AM Sunday. I am shivering uncontrollably, sitting in a fetal position in a cold rock cave just above Mack Meadows. It is ~11,000 ft and it seems like we've been here for an eternity. I move my toes and fingers periodically to make sure I can feel them. I open my eyes every so often and my head spins. I try to get up and move around to get warmer but it is of no help. I just find myself stumbling over rocks like a drunk and go back to the cave. The wind picks up and my body starts to shake. I am not sure if I can handle this for too much longer.
"-Do you want to start going down in the dark?", I ask.
"-Yes" was the answer.
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33 hours prior, Friday, 6 PM. I catch the first glimpse of the Sierras. It is sunset time and the beams of the last light ascend high in the sky. I was here only 2 weeks ago and missed it already. I turn the cruise control on and quietly enjoy the view.
Several weeks ago Kam asked me to join her on Thunderbolt to Sill traverse, a rather interesting proposition, as it covers five, exactly one third of all of California's fourteeners in one trip. I talked to a few friends and it was the consensus that doing it car to car onsight (if you can call it an onsight with all that info out there on the internet) is going to be tough. I suggested we camp anywhere from the Third Lake to Mack Meadows and we agreed on that option. But when I put my backpack on Thursday night I quickly realized how much extra weight I would have to haul up there and my mind started playing tricks on me. We exchanged emails and decided to keep our options open until the last moment. And this moment to decide was now.
"-This pack of mine is so bloody heavy", I said.
"-Tell me about it", answered Kam.
"-Want to try it car to car?"
"-Sure"
And there it was, that little feeling in my stomach, which comes when you are about to do something you are not sure you can handle. It is going to be difficult, long, likely sketchy and it has too many unknowns right now. The farthest I've been on the trail to the Palisades was Second Lake. I have no idea about the descent route or conditions, either. Just a vague idea of how to get to Thunderbolt… There was however one thing that was perfectly clear in my mind - it is going to be one heck of an adventure.
Friday, 10 PM. We are packed for car to car for tomorrow and get into the sleeping bags to catch a few hours of sleep. The sleep is shallow and restless for me - I keep checking the time, but eventually get a couple hours of quality REM.
Saturday, 1:30 AM. Alarm goes off.
-"Did you get any sleep?", I ask Kam.
"-No".
Oh, well. It is time to get up anyways. A quick breakfast and a bottle of frappucino do very little to get me going. We are on the trail shortly after 2AM.
I've never hiked from the day use area at Glacier Lodge. It takes a few minutes to find the right trail but then it is obvious all the way to the Third Lake. Kam's pace is great, we are covering first several miles quickly. I follow a little behind, trying to go at my own pace to make sure I take it very easy and save energy for when I need it later. On the flat parts I manage to stuff some food into myself, which is very difficult at this hour. Kam's headlamp is flickering ahead and we get to the trail split shortly after going up the switchbacks above Third lake. In almost no time after that we are at Mack Meadows. It seems almost too easy, but the temperatures up here are much colder, with a bit of a breeze. I put my down jacket on as we fill up our water containers and have some food. Up from the meadows we travel via the right gulley. This involves some scree followed by some very icy rocks where the snow forces us to climb between the river and the wall. It is finally getting light. Once we pass this short steep section, I turn off my headlamp. The views are gorgeous up here. It is 6:15 AM.
We go by a beautiful green lake and make it to the glacier scree. It is mostly flat and solid, with just a few nasty, unstable sections. Aiming for the Thunderbolt North Couloir is easy in this morning light and we quickly make it to the snow. It is frozen solid and out come the crampons.
The hard snow is a trivial task with crampons. The sun is higher in the sky and the surrounding mountains are brightly lit. I accidentally make a hole in a patch of ice and find fresh water underneath. I top off my bottle just in case.
The big bergschrund up ahead seems passable on the left. The snow gets steeper and soon I find myself inside this crevasse, with great views all around.
I probe the way forward, climbing up the corner, where the ice meets the rock. Kam catches up shortly and follows me up.
The next section is much worse, and is quite sketchy. It is mixed climbing with solid ice and an insecure fingerlock or two in a dirty corner. I get to some rap slings and throw the rope down to belay Kam up. It is definitely harder that I expected. Kam continues passed me to the right, stepping on a narrow lip just above the bottomless crevasse and up onto the even steeper snow. I flake the rope and follow the exposed traverse. We just entered a no fall territory. We carry no ice axes, just hiking poles and crampons. This combo served me well in the past and I feel quite comfortable on this terrain. Kam makes her way up as well, and after some minor problems with her crampons, we decide to take the scrambling route on the left wall. It goes by quickly and we get to the SW chute via a windy notch. The climbing up the wall to Thunderbolt is exposed and fun. Definitely 5th class, and good moves! I look for the summit block and find it after an exposed but easy traverse.
10:45 AM - Being on top of the summit block feels liberating. No more ice for a while, the views are great, it is warmer, albeit windy and I feel right at home in this environment. I belay Kam up to the block and we head out to the raps. We take the left option at the blank tower and climb down. Eventually we find raps and get deposited into a narrow galley of the Underhill couloir. We climb back up into the notch and continue up the ridge to the Milk Bottle on Starlight. I walk around it and get ready to climb. Kam belays me up and I make it to the summit. I find no bolts or anything else to lower off of. I look up and see the real Milk Bottle much higher up. Darn, I have no idea how I could possibly not see it before. Now I have to reverse the climb with some sketchy moves that feel like 10+ downclimbing. Phew! We continue up some super exposed terrain to the top of Starlight, climb the Milkshake and rap down into the notch.
The route finding here is easy. Passing a hard section on the right we make it to the ridge and then make it to an awesome looking dead-end with options of crawling through a narrow hole down low, climbing out some difficult moves on the left, or chimneying up and right. I choose the chimney and get to the summit of North Palisade.
It is 2:15 PM. We waste no time and scramble down and right, then turning left and countour around at this elevation to get to another small notch. Kam climbs a small peak on the way, which is not Polemonium. We downclimb and then make two raps to get to the U-notch.
It is very windy here. We rope up just in case and I lead to where it gets easy and bring Kam up. We continue to the right to what seems like a ridge that can lead us to the summit. After some exposed 5th class moves, it does indeed culminate in a blank summit, just not the correct one. We climbed another side peak just to the left of Polemonium. After one quick forced rap and about 20 min of trying to get the stuck rope down we are back on track, climbing some exposed corner system. This finally brings us to the Polemonium proper.
It is 4:30 PM and Mt. Sill is in clear view. Descending Polemonium is very exposed and exciting. The ridge has just enough holds to make it possible and fun. Circling the next small tower on the right we get to an amazing display of sun-cupped snow. I cannot help but take a few minutes to take pictures of those waist-high, ice-hard ridges.
From here it is an easy talus, scree and sand hike to the base of Sill. Kam follows closely behind and we make it almost all the way to the top when she stops and announces that it is time to puke.
Which she does. I try to take a video of this proud event but fail to operate the camera properly. I heard somewhere that you cannot be a real friend unless you held the hair of your puking friend and I failed to do that, too. Darn! Kam quickly recovers and leads the way to the top of Sill. It is 6:15 PM, the sun is still high and we have done it! Kam cannot believe it and I am very deeply impressed with her effort. She never, never gives up.
We know there is not much daylight left and we have never been in the area. We rush to make it through the first section of the L-shaped couloir descent and find the raps and take the correct notch. What follows below is a field of hard sharp snow suncups. I stand in one, move my legs over it and slide down into another one. It seems easy but the edges are hard and sharp and it hurts to slide on them. I try to break the edges with my feet before sliding and it makes it tolerable. Very intense and new for me. We take a short break to get out the headlamps as it is getting dark.
The strangest thing happens next. The sunlight is barely visible on the horizon to our left but the opposite side is getting lighter. I think I am hallucinating and look again. I can now see a clear shadow line. That cannot be my vision. I finally realize that it is moonlight. I can see far and only need my headlamp for the nearest surroundings. It is 7:30 PM. It is completely dark in the glacier notch as the moonlight doesn't yet have the angle to get there. We find our way down slowly. It is a good trail, culminating in the glacier. We take another short break to put our crampons on.
~8-9 PM The angle is steep and it takes a great deal of concentration to stay balanced and safe here. We decide to go left to the flatter ground and then go to the glacier lake and countour that on the right into the notch. As we descnd, the frozen snow changes into ice and then into upward pointed icicles. These small features broke off under the crampons and sounded like windchimes. The moon was out again and looking back we could see the moonlight trail, much like it is on the ocean surface, but now it is up in the mountains. As we made it down to the flat ground, we passed by giant boulders precariously positioned on "tables" of ice. It was quite a surreal scene to observe in bright moonlight. As we made it to the lake, I found myself standing on top of a drop. I was loooking down into the lake and saw several large icebergs floating below. It only took a second to realize that i was standing on an icemine! This is where the ice breaks of from the glacier and falls into the the lake. Needless to say, we did not spend much time on the edge. Circling the lake a safe distance away, we finally made our way to the notch.
~10-11 PM Easy scree with a few steeper sections brought us down into some meadows and then down into a narrow gulley with rushing water. Going down became more difficult and we almost hit a dead end but found a way down. Eventually we came to an unavoidable steep ~45% hard snow. We couldn't see past the hump of ever steepening grade, is there a drop or a cliff below? At this point we were going for over 21h straight and decided it was reasonable to take a break to stay safe and then continue with first light. The wind was coming from the mountain and the only shelter was a small cave that was formed by a block that fell out. It barely had enough space for the two of us and the rock was cold. I find that no position is comfortable and there is nothing that protects me from the freezing rock.
~3-4 AM I am shivering uncontrollably, sitting in a fetal position in a cold rock cave just above Mack Meadows. It seems like we've been here for an eternity. I move my toes and fingers periodically to make sure I can feel them. I open my eyes every so often and my head spins. I try to get up and move around to get warmer but it is of no help. I just find myself stumbling over rocks like a drunk and go back to the cave. The wind picks up and my body starts to shake. I am not sure if I can handle this for too much longer.
"-Do you want to start going down in the dark?", I ask.
"-Yes" was the answer.
~4:30 AM We get up and slowly prepare for the descent. I eat some left over food and a well-caffeinated goo shot that I kept for a situation like this. It takes at least half an hour to start moving. GOing down the snow is not easy, the snow field is ~500 ft long but it is steep (>45%) in the lower section and it ends in a field of large talus. Definitely a no fall zone. It takes several minutes to get down safely and only several more minutes to reach Mack's Meadows. We fill up our water bottles and head down and into the sunrise.
6-9AM The hike down is pretty and uneventful, except for the hauling winds in the lower part. I will have very red eyes for the next couple of days. The picture below is pretty much how I saw it by the time we were done.
Thanks for reading and enjoy the mountains safely!
Andre