Mount Agassiz with SoCal Peakbaggers

pics by Harlan W.S. and others
Aug 20, 2011

 

Another great trip organized by Kathy Wing.  The folks in this group are great.

 

I almost didn’t go; 2 days before the trip, the doc called and said my X-Rays showed that I had fractured my ankle. The next day, a specialist concluded that the fracture was old and healed; my foot/ankle pain was due to an encapsulated ligament, from a previous injury.  Wonder of wonders-- the day after the hike, my ankle felt the best it had in 17 days.

 

Ah the irony. My biggest problem was from a prostate medication that lists “feeling like you might pass out” as a side effect.  And indeed, when I started up from Bishop Pass, I had bad vertigo.  So I “played to my strengths” and went up a class 3 ridge adjacent to the gully; I couldn’t balance on loose rock, but I felt great climbing up bigger boulders.  The medication wore off enough that when I was on the peak, I began to feel quasi-normal.

 

As a group, we turned out to be the walking wounded.  One fellow had a stress fracture in his foot, and later injured his knee; one woman had painful neuromas in her foot.

 

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24k topo map of route.

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100k topo map.

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Google Earth synthetic, view from N;

the top of Agassiz fades into North

Palisade.

 

 

 

 

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Google Earth synthetic, view from NE;

Bishop Pass to R of peak.

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Google Earth synthetic, view from NW.

HWS denotes route I took on ascent.

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OK, now real pictures.

We start off ~6AM from

near South Lake.

 

 

 

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Agassiz is the prominent peak at L.

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The crossing was submerged,

so we went to W around it.

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Columbine.

 

 

 

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Heading up tight switchbacks

below Bishop Pass.

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View WNW to Mt Goode. The big

boulder is a landmark for Agassiz.

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Sad-looking polemonium.

 

 

 

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Craig J just below.

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Tommey raced by me 30 seconds

below the top… but actually missed

the highpoint! He asked me, “is that

the highpoint?”

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So I said “yes,” and took a pic of him.

The higher Palisades are to his L; the

most distinct points are Sill (L) and

N Palisade (R).

 

 

 

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I think this is Mt Robinson.

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Yep, this is from the same point in the

picture above.  Dan didn’t catch me

at full leg extension, because he felt

it was more important for me to live.

 

 

 

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The Ladies arrive! View toward

Dusy Basin.

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Tina and Kathy.

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Tommey.

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Kathy.

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Ivy (R) and I (L) pose! Pic by Craig J.

I hadn’t planned on doing this stuff, because

of the vertigo, so I hadn’t stretched. This

pose was a comedy of errors; one of us

would be ready, but the other wouldn’t.

Craig finally caught this compromise.

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Starting down… this time

I’ll stay in the normal chute.

 

 

 

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Tina, view back up.

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Folks near the final snowfield.

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Inconsolable Range in back.

 

 

 

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We came down the right-most

chute, carefully avoiding the steep

hard snow.

 

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Tommey trucks out!

 

 

 

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Heather with bee.

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More heather.

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Heading N, just below

Bishop Pass.

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Cinquefoil.

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Rockfringe.

 

 

 

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Rockfringe, granite gilia, and onion.

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Pale version of scarlet columbine.

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Magenta penstemon.

 

 

 

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More penstemon.

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Larkspur.