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We camped out at the trailhead and decided that in order to do the traverse and both peaks we needed to rely on good weather and an early start. We estimated the hike would take 15 hours max. We left the trailhead at 2 AM rather than packing in a few miles.
We were above treeline by the time the sun began to rise.
There is still some snow on the southside of the mountain. We used crampons and ice axe to ascend this portion. I am not sure if there was another route. We did not check. We had crampons so we headed up the snow field. However, if anyone is planning on doing this, I recommend bringing the gear. You just never know.
Here is a picture of one snow crossing. Crampons were not needed on this. There were several snow crossings. It hasn't all melted, yet.
We continued our ascent. The sun began to come up and El Diente was close in sight.
Below shows what we ascended. The snow can possibly be avoided along the rocks on the side, but it is faster with crampons.
A look at a spot close to the top. Route finding was at times difficult. We began ascending El Diente through the snow and ended up on the traverse. From there we were able to follow the discriptions from 14ers.com to safely summit El Diente.
We summitted El Diente around 9 AM and because of clouds we decided to head back to the part of the traverse where we ascended to make our descision of heading back or continuing on the traverse. Here is a look at the pipes from below. Be sure to follow the route descriptions. They were very helpful.
When we reached the turn around point we assessed the weather. The clouds and rain seemed to be heading past us. The clouds began to burn off and the sky cleared up. We made the descision to continue. The picture below shows El Diente from the traverse about a third of the way to Mt. Wilson.
Another shot of the traverse. Jean is ahead on the ridge.
Mt Wilson can be seen here. The narrows are just to the left. Scary!
As we followed the route descriptions we had to go up and down to each saddle. Here are several pictures of the fun traverse.
We finally summited Mt. Wilson at noon. Here is a look back at El Diente. Gerry Roach says to plan 2-4 hours for the traverse. This is correct. We travelled at a mediocre pace and took 3 hours.
Our summit shot!
We descended through the couloir which is described in the Roach book. Crampons needed! We down climbed on the snow. It was slightly soft in spots and icy in others.
A look up about half way down the snow.
When it was safe enough we ditched the crampons and glissaded down. There were a few spots where it was possible. The snow was slow and bumpy. It hurt out butts. However, it killed some time which we would have otherwise continued walking down the snow. It was worth it. Jean can be seen ahead. He was a BAMF on this mountain. We may have been a little slow for him, but he was nice enough to wait for us.
Once we were down the rest was nice restful hiking. There are a couple of pretty waterfalls and a log crossing.
We finally saw the cars
We celebrated with a beer at 5:45 PM. The trip took 15 hours.
Thumbnails for uploaded photos (click to open slideshow):
We had planned on doing the traverse a couple of days ago from El Diente, but things just didn‘t work out. Still have to go back for Mount Wilson....hopefully soon. Happy trails!
Great report for a great hike. Thanks for doing the trip report DJ. Love your documentation of Jean. He truely is the most BAMF I have ever seen on a mountain
Jean Roy is A BAMF. I caught a couple of peaks with him earlier this year and hope to get some more with him if possible. Great TR. I can‘t wait to climb these. Also, Congrats to ksegasser!
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