Last year Kelly did the ice couloir on North Peak with us. This year we did it’s neighbor, North Peak but by a pure rock route. The North Ridge is one of the easy classics of the Sierra with a short (by Sierra standards) approach to straight-forward, but spectacular climbing. We started from the Saddlebag Lake parking lot at 7.00am and were on the summit at 1.30, dragging our tired bodies back to the cars at 6.00pm. It is a long day and the descent seems to take as long as the climb.
The ascent has a little bit of everything in it, a rappel, downclimbing, easy scrambling and some nasty loose sand on the way up. Along the way we even encountered a group that seemed to believe that they were climbing North Peak. This was Kelly’s first big rock alpine route and it all went just great. Next up for her is Gilbert.