Trailhead: Crescent Meadow
Elevation: 11600
Route: Traverse South to North
Difficulty: 5.7
From left to right, the Prism, Saber Ridge, the Shield
I'd thought about Saber Ridge for at least a decade. As a new climber I'd traversed Matthes Crest in Tuolumne meadows. When I read The Good, the Great, and the Awesome by Peter Croft I heard about Saber Ridge, reportedly a longer and more remote pure ridge climb. I'm glad it took me so long to get to it because the remoteness and the exposure of the route would have frightened me as a new climber.
As I start my last year of residency here in Fresno I feel the pressure of seeing the remote places of Sequoia and Kings Canyon while the park is still my back door. I first saw the towering granite walls of Valhalla from Kaweah Gap during FDK and my run through the high Sierra trail. Unfortunately by the time we descended into the valley darkness had fallen and I knew I'd have to return.
We picked Tamarack Lakes for our first foray to the area because of the abundance of moderate climbing in the area. We backpacked in with FDK and one of her friends who planned to run sections of the HST in daylight this time. The first day was a hot and arduous 15 miles with 40 lb packs. We'd heard of folks doing this trip with mule support but the Cedar Grove pack station said they no longer served that area so we humped our own climbing and camping gear. We camped at a lovely site in Lone Pine Meadows near a small cascade that fed into a shallow pool.
Our site is nestled in Lone Pine Meadow in the background of this photo
The next day we hiked towards Tamarack lake on a trail littered with blow-down. Right before the outflow of the lake Saber Ridge appears to the north along with the Prism and the Shield. A short steep approach up the hillsides and then third class slab brings you to the toe of the ridge.
We started off with a few belayed pitches to get the sense of the rock which was clean granite with minimal weathering. Further up on the ridge as the climbing eased we switched to simul-climbing, winding our way around gendarmes and across knife-edge ridges. I found myself relaxing and smiling despite the exposure and despite not knowing how far the ridge would take us. It felt like we continued in this way for hours and then suddenly came upon the summit plateau.
We enjoyed expansive views into Cloud Canyon to our north and then continued west on third class terrain down the ridge to our descent. Unfortunately we then classically took the wrong descent gully back towards Tamarack Lake (it's the second one guys, with a lower angle) and cliffed out. Fortunately someone had recently left new webbing on a rappel station that got us to the ground in a 30 meter rappel. The walk back to camp was only complicated by an abundance of flowers.
Similar to running the more I climb the more I seem to enjoy climbing which is a lovely feedback loop. I'm glad we saved this gem for a time when I could climb with less anxiety and genuinely enjoy the setting and company.
Comments