climbinpilot Posted July 11, 2006 Share Posted July 11, 2006 Climb: Mt. Jefferson-South Ridge Date of Climb: 7/6/2006 Trip Report: My partner had a family emergency the day before our trip, and I couldn't pass up the perfect forecast and midweek time off, so I decided to solo, joined only by Weezer on the mp3 player. I wanted to hit the Jeff Park Glacier route, but was told by another climber who'd been there the week before that the bergschrund near the top of the route was ginormous and spanned the width of the route, forcing a south approach for my first trip up this peak. I started at Pamelia Lake trailhead around 9:30 AM on the 6th, took the standard Pamelia Lake-Hunt's Cove-PCT route to Shale Lake (5900 ft.) and arrived early in the afternoon. The last mile or so of the PCT before Shale Lake alternated between bare and covered by feet of snow, making for tedious route finding here and there. Visibility was poor, it rained a bit and I hoped for a clear morning. Woke up around 2:00 AM to unlimited visibility and set out around 3:00. The route up was slogtastic, with firm snow punctuating scree. Got to Red Saddle, dropped the pack, and was happy to see that the traverse was in great shape. I made my way around to what looked like the 4th class scramble, and didn't hear a single rock fall. Call me lame, but there was a bit of firm snow on the way up the pinnacle, so I kept the crampons on and ax with me and frontpointed on the snowy portions up to the summit, arriving at 8:20. The view was unrestricted in every direction. Besides a guided group of two lower on the mountain, the place was mine to catch up on the Blue Album. I tiptoed down the pinnacle, back to camp, broke it, and was driving back to PDX by 5:00 PM. Beautiful trip. Looking south toward the Sisters, Three-Fingered Jack, etc. My tent between Mud and Shale Lake Enjoying the melodies from the summit The traverse Summit Pinnacle from near Red Saddle Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
corvallisclimb Posted July 11, 2006 Share Posted July 11, 2006 nice, music in the wild is very fun sometimes Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RogerJ Posted July 11, 2006 Share Posted July 11, 2006 Glad you got out and made it! I knew you were keen on this summit. Those pics are very nice. Damn what a weather window for me to have missed! Thanks for the new term "slogtastic". -r Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mtnmedic Posted July 26, 2006 Share Posted July 26, 2006 Thats it ! im taking off soon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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