(
click on any photo to enlarge) After four attempts, I finally summited Banner Peak with my best friend Jeff on Saturday. Thursday afternoon we left Reno and drove South on 395 to Silver Lake. The Rush Creek trailhead lies on the June Lake Loop road, just North of Mammoth. We left the truck at about 3:30pm with hopes of making it the 9 miles to Thousand Island Lake. We had 3000ft of climbing ahead of us and with full packs. After settling into a manageable pace, we started to tick off the miles in the afternoon sun. It started to get dark but we charged on and made it to the Lake at about 8pm. We put our headlamps on and searched for a campsite. We stumbled upon a super sweet site above the Lake tucked in the trees, hidden from the trail. We munched down a ProBar and crashed out. We awoke the next morning to an unbelievable view of Banner from our site.
We had planned on Friday being a chill day for some fly fishing and swimming. So we weren't in a major hurry to get out of camp. We had coffee and walked around the Lake. At about 2pm we packed up and headed closer to our climbing route. After an hour or two of hiking we found a spot about half way up North Glacier Pass. Friday evening the wind picked up and we started to worry about our summit bid the next morning. We awoke Saturday at 6am and loaded our summit pack with water and bars. We were at Lake Catherine in a little over an hour.
The wind had a bite to it but we both knew it wouldn't stop us from getting to the top. Because we were going light and fast we did not bring crampons or ice axes. This meant we had to skirt the snowfield that lies between Mt Ritter and Banner Peak.
Route finding on this climb was more difficult than I anticipated. The route is supposed to be class 2 the whole way. I knew we were off route when the climbing became a little 'scketchy'. Luckily, Jeff and I have good skills and eventually we made it to the Ritter Banner Saddle. From the saddle we had to negotiate talus and scree for about 1000 vertical feet to reach the summit. It was very windy on top.
Our summit photos show us just back from the edge of the top because we both thought we were going to get blown into the Owens Valley! I took a couple of photos of the Minarets to the South
and of Mt Ritter to the Southwest. Ritter looks much bigger than Banner even though they are very close in elevation.
I have aspirations of climbing Ritter soon and did some scouting of the North Routes. I realized I need Gregor to get me to the top of either the Muir route or the Starr route. I might be able to solo the easier Southwest route. That will have to wait until next summer. The descent is always the hard part. Down climbing scree and bowling ball size talus is a recipe for turned ankles. Since there was a cold wind the snow never softened enough for us to walk down it so we stayed high on one side of the chute to avoid sliding 1000ft down into freezing Lake Catherine.
We were back in camp by 2pm. We fired up the stove and made Pasta Primavera for lunch. We were going to hike for a few miles and find a campsite out of the wind. As we descended the wind subsided and the temperature rose.
We got to talking and hiking and before we knew it we were 4 miles from the truck. We made the decision to just suck it up and and get to the truck. It made for a very long day. We made it to the trailhead at 7:30pm after descending almost 7000ft! It was great to hike with Jeff and to finally summit a peak that we first attempted ten years ago! We were back in Reno at 10:30pm and asleep at 11pm. This will probably be my last climbing trip of 2009. I've had a great summer and look forward to next years climbing adventures. Cheers.
(click on any photo to enlarge) After four attempts, I finally summited Banner Peak with my best friend Jeff on Saturday. Thursday afternoon we left Reno and drove South on 395 to Silver Lake. The Rush Creek trailhead lies on the June Lake Loop road, just North of Mammoth. We left the truck at about 3:30pm with hopes of making it the 9 miles to Thousand Island Lake. We had 3000ft of climbing ahead of us and with full packs. After settling into a manageable pace, we started to tick off the miles in the afternoon sun. It started to get dark but we charged on and made it to the Lake at about 8pm. We put our headlamps on and searched for a campsite. We stumbled upon a super sweet site above the Lake tucked in the trees, hidden from the trail. We munched down a ProBar and crashed out. We awoke the next morning to an unbelievable view of Banner from our site.
We had planned on Friday being a chill day for some fly fishing and swimming. So we weren't in a major hurry to get out of camp. We had coffee and walked around the Lake. At about 2pm we packed up and headed closer to our climbing route. After an hour or two of hiking we found a spot about half way up North Glacier Pass. Friday evening the wind picked up and we started to worry about our summit bid the next morning. We awoke Saturday at 6am and loaded our summit pack with water and bars. We were at Lake Catherine in a little over an hour.
The wind had a bite to it but we both knew it wouldn't stop us from getting to the top. Because we were going light and fast we did not bring crampons or ice axes. This meant we had to skirt the snowfield that lies between Mt Ritter and Banner Peak.
Route finding on this climb was more difficult than I anticipated. The route is supposed to be class 2 the whole way. I knew we were off route when the climbing became a little 'scketchy'. Luckily, Jeff and I have good skills and eventually we made it to the Ritter Banner Saddle. From the saddle we had to negotiate talus and scree for about 1000 vertical feet to reach the summit. It was very windy on top.
Our summit photos show us just back from the edge of the top because we both thought we were going to get blown into the Owens Valley! I took a couple of photos of the Minarets to the South
and of Mt Ritter to the Southwest. Ritter looks much bigger than Banner even though they are very close in elevation. 
I have aspirations of climbing Ritter soon and did some scouting of the North Routes. I realized I need Gregor to get me to the top of either the Muir route or the Starr route. I might be able to solo the easier Southwest route. That will have to wait until next summer. The descent is always the hard part. Down climbing scree and bowling ball size talus is a recipe for turned ankles. Since there was a cold wind the snow never softened enough for us to walk down it so we stayed high on one side of the chute to avoid sliding 1000ft down into freezing Lake Catherine.
We were back in camp by 2pm. We fired up the stove and made Pasta Primavera for lunch. We were going to hike for a few miles and find a campsite out of the wind. As we descended the wind subsided and the temperature rose.
We got to talking and hiking and before we knew it we were 4 miles from the truck. We made the decision to just suck it up and and get to the truck. It made for a very long day. We made it to the trailhead at 7:30pm after descending almost 7000ft! It was great to hike with Jeff and to finally summit a peak that we first attempted ten years ago! We were back in Reno at 10:30pm and asleep at 11pm. This will probably be my last climbing trip of 2009. I've had a great summer and look forward to next years climbing adventures. Cheers.
