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Johnson 6.25.2005 Map - thumbnails -
Jan, Derrick, Mike Hazel, Chari and I ascended Mt. Johnson from South Lake via the North Couloir, on the west side of the north face. It's a direct snow ascent (not included in Secor) to the North Ridge, gaining the ridge about 250 ft below the summit. We gained the ridge and the clouds swooped in, snow began falling, and thunder began booming. We gained the summit as a byproduct of getting our tails down the SE slope to safety. Although I never had the hair-standing feeling, I never, ever want to hear the sound of a buzzing ice axe 12 inches behind my head. Heavy snow continued for 3 hours as we made our way down.
Snow info: solid at 10,500 ft. 2-3 ft sun cups from there up to 11,800 ft on non-steep terrain. Debilitating effect on progress up or down. Occasional post-holing on way down from 11k to 10.5k ft. Difficulty in crossing stream between two lakes at 10,660. A non-snow campsite or two could be found at Lakes 10,660; no non-snow conditions above there.
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