Climbing Sierra peaks in the summer months is usually a warm, casual experience but ascending the same peak during winter can be a totally different proposition. Snow, cold temperatures, wind, short days, and avalanche hazard conspire to make a more serious and difficult climb.

We have designed this course to give you a sample of the full winter experience, from steep ice to deep snow to a Sierra summit.
Our chosen peak is Mt. Morrison, located above Convict Lake, between Mammoth and Bishop. At
12,268 feet Morrison dominates the skyline as one drives Highway 395 to Mammoth. It’s steep North Face and Buttress has been described as the “Eiger of the Sierra” but we will avoid the rotten rock of these routes ascending the easier, but challenging, south-east ridge.

Itinerary

This is our ideal schedule but since this is a winter trip there may well be changes depending upon the weather.

Day 1; We will spend the first day working on rope techniques and on snowskills and getting used to climbing snowed up rock in heavy boots and making sure that everyone is up to speed on the basics before we head into the mountains. We will also cover the basics of avalanche beacon use and rescue.

Day 2; A day of ice climbing at June Lake. While we probably will not be climbing anything this steep this gives you the confidence to talked the less steep snow and ice we might encounter on the ascent.

Day 3; We approach our camp from the Convict Lake trailhead and after climbing steeply up over the huge old lateral moraine enter Tobacco Flat with wide open slopes and head up to our camp at about 9900 feet alongside a small, unnamed frozen lake.

Here we hope to have sufficient snow depth to dig a snow cave to provide a snug wind free new experience.

Day 4; We ascend a bowl that leads to a spectacular overlook of the North Face of Morrison and then wind our way up mixed rock and snow slopes to the summit and descend the same way.
We return to camp and then to the trailhead and the vehicles on the last day.