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Excelsior and Dunderberg 23-24 July 2005 Thumbnails!
Up toward Virginia Lakes we headed, getting into camp at our now standard time of 11:30. Amazingly, we found a campsite at Trumbell Lake Campground, priced out at $13. Well, it’s legal.
On Saturday, we awoke just before 7 and got ready to go. We were on the trailhead by 8, which seems to be our now standard time of getting ready weather we’re hurrying or not. This time, it was decidedly not hurrying, but still an hour.
The beginning of the hike for Excelsior from Virginia Lakes starts our easy. Similar to Mosquito Flat, the trail ascends through a series of lakes until it summits at a saddle at 11,000 ft. From there, the ascent was broken up into ascents and plateaus. We had a 400 ft gainer up some steep red talus, but the use trail that had been beaten into the slopes helped immensely. The next 600 ft gainer took us to the summit of the unnamed peak just north and 200 ft below Excelsior. From there, it was an easy walk-up. Our return was the same path, except for my small diversion. I came down with a slight strain of Bob Burd syndrome and traversed over to Pt. 12,126 just to see what was over there. Not much as it turns out, just a slightly different view a little further north of Excelsior. I debated continuing on to Pt. 11,270, but Chari was already heading down our original path, and I didn’t want to leave her alone for too long. Once we rejoined, it was a quiet hike down to camp.
At last! A class 1 hike, with the ice axe and crampons never leaving the pack! It was so nice to be a simple day hiker again. The hike was under 10 miles, but probably a bit longer than the other summit bids we’ve been making. And we didn’t even use the headlamps! I told Chari we should go ahead and start hiking Dunderberg today since we had so much time. She wasn’t with me.
I got up early the next morning to hike Dunderberg while Chari slept in. Unlike yesterday when we gained elevation in bite-size pieces, I stood at the base Dunderberg’s southeast ridge and looked up at 2,300 ft of gain in one shot. Cool. Like other trip report said, it is a talus pile, but if you stick to the ridge proper everything stays together reasonably well. There are two sections of the ridge that exceed Class 1. The first is a set of red rocks that provide easy, fun, low commitment class 3 material. The second is a set of gray rocks, and staying on the ridge is more difficult. I ascended a very short open book with 2 Class 4ish stem moves and then looked at the 25 ft tall rocks ahead. To stay high would involve some more class 4 traverse moves on shattered rock. I decided to heed the advice of mothers, wives, and girlfriends everywhere: I backed off. While doing so I set of a small rock slide, and then heard an echoing slide from far across the gully to the east. As I tried to see to the slide, I noticed instead to things that were moving down, but not behaving like rocks should. Bighorn sheep! I watched them descend, traverse, ascend, and then disappear over a notch in next rib over. Like everyone else who encounters them, I was just flabbergasted at how easily and rapidly they move over unstable, steep terrain. Opposable thumbs be damned, that’s just too cool.
I attained the expected false summit, and then cruised up and over to the summit, marked by a tattered flag, wood pole, and a Sierra summit register with a book placed 4 August 2004 by RJ Secor. I was on top of Scylla and Reinstein that day; I remember wishing Mom a happy birthday on Reinstein’s register. The ascent of Dunderberg only took 2 hours, so I sat and enjoyed the view in the early morning. As predicted, the views were beautiful, encompassing Lyell, Maclure, Dana, Cathedral, Conness, North, Matterhorn, Whorl, Virginia, and Tower. The peaks to the north were unfamiliar to me, so I had to confirm my photographs with Google Earth, which is just the coolest thing EVER.
I chose a chute from the saddle between Dunderberg and the false peak, heading straight down for the drainage between Moat and Blue Lakes. The chute varied from scree to talus, making the overall fun/work ratio almost even. It was still a rapid descent. I chose to hit the Virginia Lakes trail high above Blue Lake and descend on the trail rather than picking my way over more talus. The total descent was only an hour. There aren’t too many Sierra peaks you can get up and down in only 3 hours!
We had breakfast at the Virginia Lakes restaurant (pricey, mediocre breakfast) and then headed for Tuolumne debating our plan to climb on Stately Pleasure Dome. We decided to delay our plans since it was hot by the time we arrived. Another day!
--Matt
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