Access: Piney

Start: 0815

Roundtrip Distance: 14.8mi

Elevation Gain: 5200ft

Duration: 6.5hr

Weather: 45-65F, mostly cloudy

Back in 2018, I did Ripsaw from C over to F and came within one false summit and 50 vertical feet of G before weather shut the party down. So I've been itching to get back since. I have seen several TRs for the Ripsaw and the Saw, but only a couple for the approach to G from Upper Piney.

One would think if you can descend off G or H and hit the overgrown, deadfall ridden, perpetually flooded Upper Piney trail, that doing the opposite would be just as easy. But it really isn't. I overshot the nonexistent turnoff for the G couloir and ascended further into the riparian suckfest before realizing I was closer to H than G. But with a little bit of bushwhacking I lucked out and found a lovely old slide path in between G and H's main drainage gullies enabling an easy climb to treeline and choice of couloir to ascend.

I veered climber's left and picked up the same coolie I had run, slid and tripped my way down 3 years prior. It's a fairly straightforward climb if a bit loose. Instead of gaining the saddle between F & G I avoided some late season snow with a more direct (see: fun) line to the saddle between G's northern false summit and the true summit. It went at 3rd cl without much exposure. The route up G wasn't so obvious from the north, so I traversed west and picked up a gully that had a few tricky 3rd class moves to gain the summit.

Looking south at Black BM and H, H is obvious but which of the many blocky gendarmes actually holds the benchmark is indecipherable. So I just climbed them all until I found it. It's an enjoyable 3rd class ridge run. The descent off the south of Black BM actually has an easily followable trail toward H. Sticking to the ridge quickly landed me atop a false summit to the left of Straight Arrow. I backed off it, skipped across the back edge of the cornice, and scrambled up to the true summit.

I lounged around atop H for awhile on this cool windless day. The dark clouds were on their best behavior. Eventually, I peeled myself up, surveyed the Straight Arrow entrance once more and started down west in the broad gully that gradually narrows into a roaring creek draining into Upper Piney. I opted to avoid the loose talus as much as possible by scree surfing between sporadic grass and boulders. Some of the deeper, narrower sections of the gully were bowling alleys best avoided. It took me over an hour to fully descend the gully back down to the Upper Piney "trail". Once below tree line I encountered more cliffs and deadfall than I had on the ascent. Seems unavoidable unless you luck out.

Ran back out the way I came, passing dozens of tourists in the last 3 miles along lower Piney. In summary: Peak G - 3rd cl+, Black BM - 3rd, Peak H - 2nd. Nice solo jaunt in the backyard.