[TR] Vesper Peak - Sperry Peak Traverse- scramble routes and connecting ridge 7/23/2005

[zoroastr]

Climb: Vesper Peak - Sperry Peak Traverse-scramble routes and connecting ridge

 

Date of Climb: 7/23/2005

 

Trip Report:

My Climbing partner, Erick Johnson, was out today with an ankle injury, so I wanted to grab some miles and smiles on some tamer peaks. To this end, I left Redmond at 6:00 am with the idea of grabbing Vesper and Sperry via their respective scramble routes. The upshot: Vesper = simple; Sperry = kind of a pain, but nice!

This is a simple T.R. for a simple climb. I hit the trail around 8:30am, hiked up to Hedlee Pass and took obvious climbers' paths to the top of Vesper via some very fun, low-angled slabs, sat on top for an hour snapping snaps, voyueristically reading other peoples' register entries [weird] and generally ooh-ing and aah-ing.

Here's a snap of the Vesper Glacier and Copper Lake.

 

 

I then headed over to Sperry [i think that's what it's called] via the easiest line I could find on the connecting ridge. Looking back at Vesper's North Face from the Vesper/Sperry ridge:

 

 

The climbers' path on the ridge is spotty but useful until you're a couple hundred feet below the Sperry summit--then you're on your own, and it gets kind of nasty. Thankfully, there are always vegetable belays within easy reach. Sperry's actually a very nice summit. I wonder if there are gully options that take you to the approach side of Hedlee Pass...hmmm...

 

Here's a shot from a tarn on the upper slopes of Sperry...

 

 

...And a quick snap of that un-be-freaking-lievable slab ridge leading up to Big Four!

 

 

P.S. I met another CC poster named "Magellan." We chatted about the weirdness of the upper portion of the route on Sperry. Hi Mag!

--cheers

 

Gear Notes:

I brought:

* stout boots

* ice axe [not needed]

* food [desperately needed]

* a shell [never worn]

* .mp3's [solo hike, duh!]

 

Approach Notes:

Trail is bare. Don't let Vesper's foreshortening make you think it's any kind of challenge--it's a jog.

Edited July 24, 2005 by zoroastr