Harrington
is one of the classic peaks of the Sierra. Being away from the
Sierra Crest and relatively low elevation, 11,000 ft. has caused
it to be often ignored. But this peak has a beautiful summit that
is well worth a visit. It has been climbed only 3 times since
1996. All by PCS and SPS groups. We were the first entry in the
register this year.
In the weeks prior to the trip we spent time planning the trip,
investigating route choices and snow conditions. Thanks to the
mountaineering committee members Arun Mahajan, Kelly Mass, and
Peter Maxwell for helping make this an official Sierra Club Mountaineering
trip which included the use of ice axe and other necessary climbing
gear. Also thanks to David Harris for providing crucial up to
the moment information about snow conditions on the summit.
There
are 2 trailheads leading to Frypan Meadow, from which both peaks
can be climbed, Lewis Creek and Deer Cove. We chose Deer Cove
because it has no major creek crossing. Another big advantage
for Deer Cove is that it is on Forest Service land not on the
National Park and thus requires no permit. We could have saved
the time and hassle of getting the permit and started on the trail
earlier, but I wanted to be as legal as possible. So we got a
permit.
After
setting camp in Frypan Meadow we headed for Kennedy. We immediately
lost the Kennedy Pass trail under the snow, so we continued cross
country. A long and tiring climb up the Southern ridge brought
all but me to the summit. I stopped 500 ft short of the summit,
too tired to continue. Clouds were drifting in and out, but I
was able to snap a few pictures of the group climbing up to the
summit. We were back at camp by 8:30 PM exhausted from the 7,500
ft elevation and the 14 mile hike, half of which was done with
full packs, the other half kicking steps through the snow. At
camp we meet Kai Wiedman and Dot Reilly who were also going to
attempt Harrington the following day.
The
partly cloudy weather of Saturday was replaced by extremely warm
Sunday. Temperature on the summit were in the mid 70. And the
sky was mostly clear. Snow line was at about 9000 ft. with patches
down to 7500 ft.
We
started late on Sunday to allow everyone a good rest after the
long day we had on Saturday. (Dee stayed back in camp nursing
bad blisters.) The unmaintained trail to Grizzly Lake disappeared
under the snow after about a mile and we continued cross country
trying to follow the trail path as best we could. Harrington's
impressive summit block came in to view. We could see 2 sets of
steps in the snow. One set going to the South ridge which we assumed
belong to Kai and Dot. The other set going to the North ridge
which we assumed belong to David Harris and his girl friend. We
followed the steps to the North ridge up the wide snow couloir
to the saddle between Harrington and the snow hump just to its
North. This seemed to be a reasonable class 3 climb if the rock
was clear. But the wet snow, which covered all but a short wet
section of rock, made it a bit more interesting. Ice axes were
used for self belay. Self arrest was almost impossible as Ahmad
demonstrated on an unfortunate, but harmless slide.
Once
on the saddle we examined the ridge going up to the summit. There
was snow accumulation in several places, it was hard to see how
it could be climbed. Bob Suzuki took a belay and started to pass
the first snow field, but he quickly found a way on solid rock,
and we all followed unbelayed. As we were climbing we found that
the climb was not too bad. Snow did cover some of the route making
the climb a bit more challenging, but never harder then a high
class 3. Some of us used ropes for belay at several places, but
it was not strictly necessary. Almost at the top, Steve, Arun,
and Karon made some exposed moves using snow for hand holds. But
Jim was able to kick steps right through the snow, and the rest
of us followed the more protected rout.
On the way down El Nino snow pack treated us to some great glissading. I estimated we glissaded some 2,000 vertical ft in several runs. The longest was continues for about 500 ft. We got back to camp after 6:00 PM, packed up, and headed to the trail head. Unfortunately, it was 10:30 PM when we got to the trailhead, too late to drive all the way home.
Participants: Steve Eckert, Dee Booth, Arun Mahajan, Karon MacLean, Jim Ramaker, Bob Suzuki, Ahmad Zandi, Ron Karpel (scribe!)
Some notes:
The Deer Cove trail is a bit faint in few places. In particularly,
we missed the last junction about 1/4 of a mile before Frypan
Meadow, which cost us precious time.
The 15 minutes map displays the trails wrong in several places.
The 7.5 minutes map is fine.
There is a good bear box in Frypan Meadow.
Way points provided by Steve Eckert