Lane peak?

[yellowlab03]

When does Lane peak usually start to get good to climb? It is on my to do list this winter.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[ajpederson]

I did The Zipper 12/22 last year and Lovers Lane 2/11. Both had little bits of ice, but would have been climbable before we were there.

 

 

 

 

 

[KaskadskyjKozak]

I did The Zipper 12/22 last year and Lovers Lane 2/11. Both had little bits of ice, but would have been climbable before we were there.

 

I climbed Lover's Lane last December (around the 18th if I recall). We brought 2 60's for the rap, but maybe that was overkill.

[ajpederson]

Yeah, we were able to rap with a 60 because the Zipper was so full of snow, but i wouldn't recommend that for this early in the season. I think a 70 would reach if you don't want to carry two 60s.

[JeffreyR]

I did the zipper around christmas a couple years back and wouldnt do it any earlier. With the amount of snow falling right now, it may get good in the next couple weeks if it all consolidates.

[laurel]

I did the Zipper last weekend. Conditions could be described as early season, but it's in. Especially if you like squirming behind chockstones. Do it now before it gets less fun (ie. easier)! Well, maybe not right this moment, since it is nighttime and the Longmire gate is closed and the snow stability may not be conducive to climbing a wind loaded terrain trap.

 

More details than you need:

 

There were more than average bushes, rocks, and stream crossings on the approach. I "discovered" a stream crossing technique that uses snowshoes to take advantage of excessive bushes.

 

On the route, we were expecting (hoping for?) two ice and/or steep snow steps -- instead we found three rock/mixed (ie mixed w/ the usual hollow ice, powder snow, dirt, plants, etc) steps. We roped up for the third one, which was probably not necessary, but I found a little chockstone chimney in the back of a cave that I had to squeeze through. No way would I have fit through with a pack with snowshoes strapped to it, so I needed to drag the rope up to haul with anyway, then it turned out the snow above could take pickets with a bit of stomping, so I built an anchor to haul the packs and belay my partner up the outside of the chockstone (figuring that trying to pull packs and snowshoes through the hole was just asking for trouble, and not having enough rope to finagle a way to haul on the outside and also allow my partner to enjoy the squeeze).

 

Most of the route was pretty much plowing heavy powder. Most of it was knee deep except for the last 50 feet or so at the top where it was above my head. You most likely are taller than me so YMMV.

 

Oh, and lest I forget the descent, we found more open creeks than expected coming down from the Denman/Lane saddle so we got extra fun on the way down too (or maybe we just went the wrong way).

 

Some photos:

 

I unfortunately did not get a picture of the awesome squeeze hole because I did not have room to get a camera out of my pocket but it probably looked kind of like this:

[yellowlab03]

I'll be heading down to CA next week, so it looks like January will most likely be when I will have my first shot at Lane. Thanks for the info all!

 

[jakedouglas]

Any update on recent conditions?

[alpine et]

...bump? anyone been up recently?

[dave schultz]

There is a good TR here:

 

http://www.turns-all-year.com/skiing_snowboarding/trip_reports/index.php?topic=26840.0

[alpine et]

I was hoping for some recent information. I saw that TR too, and didn't realize for a while that it was last year (2013 now). I expect we'll find similar conditions, and ice tools and screws will turn into training weight, but figured I'd see if anyone had been up there...

[alpine et]

oh nevermind! just noticed the author probably incorrectly wrote 2012. thanks for making me look at that again!

[yellowlab03]

I think (hope?) the person just labeled it wrong. It was posted up on the 5th of Jan 2013.