Elevation: 12242 ft
Trailhead: Saddlebag Lake
Route: Northwest Ridge
Difficulty: Class 4/5
Watch Time: 6:18
Moving Time: 4:19
We went to North Peak at end of October looking for an easy day on good rock. Although North Peak is often climbed in conjunction with nearby Mt Conness, we declined to summit Mt Conness to keep our day short and fun. Our route was the northwest ridge, which is one of the classic routes on North Peak, the other being the alpine ice couloir on the north aspect of the peak. We found excellent rock and intense exposure and the type of solitude that abounds in the Sierra in late autumn.
We started from Saddlebag Lake and angled around the south shore. We could hear coyotes singing nearby and when we responded with our own howls they redoubled their efforts. After hiking past saddlebag, we were able to see the profile of North Peak (above). The long northwest ridge is in profile on the right side of the frame, with the north couloirs splitting the left face of the peak. At least a few climbers were in the shady couloirs navigating the large bergshrund at the base. As we approached the ridge, the wind began to howl over our heads. One gust carried a flock of small birds that narrowly missed my head as I stepped up onto the ridge.
We had a long discussion the day previous about risk management on North Peak. This type of climbing, not clearly class 5 but not easy scrambling, has always troubled me the most. Because the North Ridge is so long, it's very inefficient to rope up for the entire route. And due to the undulating nature of the ridge, having a rope often doesn't well protect the steepest sections, where a roped slip could still result in a ledge fall due to the inevitable slack in the system. Add to that the fact that I believe a rope in this situation often precipitates falls - due to rope drag and the changes in balance that come from wearing a rope. I think that if North Peak had sections of poor rock, or other objective hazards, we wold have chosen to bring a rope. But since it is a very clean and well trafficked route we left the technical climbing gear at home.
The ridge was composed of classic bullet-hard tuolumne golden knobby granite. As the ridge progressed we navigated a series of steps that involve down-climbing into a notch and then climbing back out. These notches were in general no more than 30 feet so, making falls here dangerous but perhaps not life threatening. In several places the route forced us onto sidewalks in the sky - narrow rock ledges with huge air on both sides but reassuringly solid rock underfoot. We surmounted a final steep yet easy section to arrive on the broad summit plateau where we walked up a boulder field to the true summit. We descended down the saddle that connects with Mt Conness and navigated cross country back to saddlebag lake.
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