Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board Meysan Basin Traverse - 6/21/08

After summitting Denali a couple weeks earlier I was eager to get back to the Sierras. Not any hike would do. What I really needed was to get my hands on good ol Sierra granite. I didn't have a lot of time before the weekend for research so I decided to hit a couple peaks around the Meysan Basin that I had yet to explore. This would include Candlelight Peak and Peak 3985 sw of Lone Pine Peak. I knew Bob Rockwell was the expert with respect to the Whitney region so I took a quick look at a few of his photos to see if I could locate a route up Candlelight. I had no beta of any kind but from the photos it appeared a class 3 route went up from Lone Pine Lake. I also assumed there were other routes (probably easier) but a comment on one of the message boards from Kent Ashcraft indicated the route up from Lone Pine Lake was the best. The other peak (Peak 3985) was a bigger mystery. Secor says class 3 on the NE side and class 4 on the SW side. I also knew that Bob Burd had a rather adventurous time going over this peak. Another quick search popped up a short report from Bob Rockwell. The report didn't offer many specifics but the brief description of a traverse around the Meysan Basin captivated me and in an instant I knew I wanted to do it. I am frequently inspired by Bob Rockwell and this occasion was no exception. Thus, a traverse it would be.

I decided to make a few changes. Bob's group did the loop over 3 days in a clockwise direction starting with Lone Pine Peak. I decided to do it the other way around and to just do it as a dayhike. Though it would be a bit more work I wanted to hit the best route on Candlelight on my way up. It would also mean I would be doing the class 4 on peak 3985 going up instead of going down. Finally, I knew the sandy descent off Lone Pine Peak down to Grass Lake would make for a rapid descent.

With my course now plotted I set out from the Whitney Portal just after 5am Saturday morning. It didn't hurt that this was also the longest day of the year. I wasn't sure if I would still have any acclimation left over from Denali but I felt pretty good.

As I hoped, for the day, I got plenty of scrambling (mostly class 3 and a little class 4/5). There were plenty of small challenges along the way and I chewed up a significant amount of time in route finding. It took a little longer than I hoped (16 hrs 9 mins) but I was pleased to get down before it got too late. As I expected Peak 3985 had the best scrambling of the day. This peak really deserves a name.

Besides peak 3985, the traverse from Irvine to Mallory provided some interesting climbing as well.

Peaks:

Candlelight Peak (9:17a)
Mount Irvine (11:14a)
Mount Mallory (12:50p)
Mount LeConte (2:41p)
Peak 3985 (5:19p)
Lone Pine Peak (6:30p)

Photos are here:

Meysan Basin Traverse - 6/21/08

-Rick

1st off, congrats again on reaching the summit of McKinley! And congrats to this most recent adventure of yours. You keep amazing me with your day hikes. It was great running into you Friday night in Lone Pine (I didn't get your phone message until Sat). I'm still interested in Satan's Delight on Thor. Lemme know.

Rick - you, Bob and Matthew will certainly go down in Sierra history.

Rickers, you are truly my hero... and all with just a liter of water, right? It was great hangin' witcha on Sunday as you regaled us with the stories of Denali, the flights to get there , and what to do when you're stuck in a tent with the SAME PERSON for 14 hours straight!

Most excellent work on the traverse!

-L

1.5L plus an energy drink ... oh and I still had water left after returning to the Portal. hehe!

Agreed. Chillin out at the Portal Sunday was fun. My only goal for Sunday was to get a Portal Burger ... my first for the year. Superb as always! Thanks Doug and crew!

Yeah, that's just silly.

PS: I still want to take you up on the rappell lesson!

Rick, you pull off the most amazing epic hikes. That is a lot to do in one day, even for you.

Just how exactly did you climb Mt. LeConte. It seemed you climbed up the Northwest ridge....????

And that traverse from Irvine to Mt. Mallory.....certainly not easy.

I never saw the register on Mt. Irvine. I should have looked more carefully.

Not quite epic. It was a strenuous day but it doesn't qualify as "epic" until it exceeds 20 hours (by my definition anyway).

I explored the NW ridge on LeConte but was a bit uncomfortable with one vertical 15 ft "class 4" move so I resorted to the waterfall pitch which I had done twice before. Strangely that short pitch never seems to get any easier.

The ridge between Irvine & Mallory ate up a bit of time. Turns out the easiest route meanders around the gendarmes. I tried one side of the fin but when that didn't work out I ended up going around the other side. The last bit up to Mallory was pretty steep. I went up through a chimney but don't recall seeing the keyhole that Secor mentions.

Thanks for the report and the pictures. All of those peaks are on my list for next month - not all on the same day, though...

I guess three things amaze me.

1) How did you climb over all those peaks and not run out of water? You were away from water for over 10 hours.

2) How did you have the strength to keep climbing peak after peak for 16 hours straight?

3) The Mt. Irvine to Mt. Mallory traverse and the Mt. LeConte to Lone Pine Peak traverse are especially challenging. Yet you managed to work it out.

Although it is way above my level, I am happy I got to take the whirlwind tour through your pictures. Congratulations on outdoing yourself again.

Hi Rick,

I saw your name on the register of Lone Pine Peak. I climbed it with a friend on Tuesday.

Rafael...

Rafael,

Did you climb up the dreaded sand chute (NW Slope)? I've fortunately never done that without snow. Makes a great descent though. I've done LPP by 5 different routes now.

GoingBackSoon,

1) My water requirements are a bit less than most people. It helped that clouds came out in the afternoon to cool things down.

2) I've done a lot of hard dayhikes. 16 hrs is substantial but I've done many harder hikes.

3) Took a little route-finding and exploration but that makes it fun.

Wow.

I've tried the low water trick... and I have an 11 mm kidney stone to prove it. For some of us, genetics dictate more water!

Hi Rick,

Yes I did go up the sand chute. From a distance it looks sandy but it is a mixture of sand scree and talus. While camped at Meysan lake my friend Matthew was intimidated by the idea of going up it. Once there he realized it was not that bad. By staying on the left of the chute and careful foot placement we got up it without too much of the "take 5 steps and slide back 3". I've certainly seen and done worse scree chutes. I thought Independence Peak from Robinson lake was worse, as well as Mt. Adelaide in dry conditions. On the way down, Matthew bombed down it in about 23 minutes. I took about 15 minutes longer to play it safe. I think it took as about an hour and 45 minutes to go up it but I'm not sure since I don't look at the times that closely. All the chutes going north to LeConte, Mallory, Irvine still had some snow on them. Without the equipment and the training its hard to imagine doing any of the chutes in that area when they are loaded with snow. While traversing a small north facing snow field while going from Meysan lake to the beginning of the NW slope chute, I slipped while kicking steps and slid down about 150' down the mountain. I got some good "snow burns" on my forearms and elbows while trying to stop. I finally managed to stop by flipping over on my backside and digging my heels hard. This slowed me down enough to end my slide by catching a large rock. I ripped a hole in my pants during that move. I'm careful by nature but I have even more respect now for snow. On the way down to Grass lake after summiting we crossed a short snow field and aside from postholing, I sank down to my hips a couple of times. Exiting times on a great mountain!

Rafael...