Up Emmons, down DC. Your thoughts?

[kweb]

My climbing partner and I are thinking of doing this. Thought is day 1 up to Schurman. Day 2 overnight on summit. Day three descend via DC to Paradise.

 

I will be meeting him at White River. Thats his start/finish point for the Wonderland. So reversing the climb is not really an option.

 

Plan is for either June, July or August.

 

I know some here have done similar. Any tips?

[Stime]

That'd be fine and a fun trip. Lots of people have done it. I wouldn't want to reverse the climb anyways, the Emmons is much more fun to climb and the better hike/scenery to high camp.

 

Just make sure you know where to cut out of the crater to head down the DC. That seems really trivial in good weather with lots of climbers around, but if you haven't been to the top before (it's not exactly a small place) and you get into some white-out conditions, you don't want to be groping around to find your descent option.

 

Oh, and go in June. That's a great time of year to be on the hill.

Edited December 4, 2009 by Stime

[kweb]

I have been up via both routes. I'm not to worried about finding the exit out of the crater.

 

Our thought is to start climbing out of White River as early as possible. Take our time up to Camp Schurman or the flats. Sleep in a bit and get a "late" start up to the summit. Top out by noon. Set up camp, nap and explore. Watch the sunrise, eat breakfast, head down.

 

What can we expect for overnight temps? I'm guessing my regular sleeping set up won't be enough.... FF Vireo / Volant combo with closed cell and short Prolight 4. Should I bring my 5degree bag instead? Where is a good place to pitch the tent? Do we have any options for transportation or should we plan on having cars at both WR and Paradise. Any special permits needed for an overnight on the summit?

[jshamster]

WRT where to camp on summit, when we did it we set up tent on some bare part of the crater rim, and it was 80F in the tent all night. If you dug up the dirt a bit steam would shoot up. Pretty comfortable night out.

 

Have fun.

Jimbo