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Cecile
Lake. From the top of the cliff
bands, we reached a relatively flat area, where we got
our first view to the south over Cecile Lake and down
towards the Silver Divide and beyond. The skies
were extremely clear, and we could pick out peaks in
the central and southern sierra. In this photo (click
to enlarge), Mt. Darwin is visible as the small
flat-topped summit at the center of the photo, well in
the distance. |
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SE
Corner Pinnacle. We followed some cairns
placed by well-intentioned folks and headed upwards
towards the glacier. We reached the top of a
rise and saw the SE corner pinnacle directly in front
of us (at middle of photo). The lower (east)
summit of Mt. Ritter is visible at right. At
this point, we countoured slightly downward around a
snowbowl (barely visible at lower left), then
climbed up some steep boulders to reach the snout of
the Southeast Glacier (the snowy triangle seen here).
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On
the glacier. We reached the glacier at about 9:30am, and the snow was
alternatively rock hard, or covered with a nice coat
of shiny verglas. Although the angle was not
that steep, we donned crampons because it was
impossible to kick steps into the ice. Here I am
climbing up with Ediza Lake far below.
(Photo
by Griffin Golamco) |
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On
the glacier. Here, Griffin angles upwards from
the bottom of the glacier. The Nydiver Lakes are visible, as well as
Garnet Lake at the left edge of the photo. San
Joaquin Mountain dominates the horizon. |
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Huge
Suncups.
The suncups on the glacier were pretty big. The
crampons came in handy literally frontpointing up the
edges of some of the larger ones.
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Approaching
the Summit Chutes.
Here, Griffin nears the end of our time on the
glacier, as we approach the chutes leading to the
summit. The gap between the SE corner pinnacle
and the main Ritter pinnacles is directly
behind. This was our entrance to the glacier on
our June '01 climb. |
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At
the Bottom of Owen's Chute.
Near the top of the glacier, we reached the end of the
large "three toed" buttress that juts down
from the summit into the upper glacier. We
curved around the top of this buttress and reached the
bottom of "Owen's Chute." In this
photo, I am standing (very small) at the bottom of the
chute, which rises above me. (Photo
by Griffin Golamco) |
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