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Ralston Peak (east ridge) 2007
Posted on Monday, October 08 @ 12:11:43 EDT by squishy |
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Before this successful peak bag, there was an unsuccessful attempt on the same route two weeks prior. We attempted the route per ScottyS's page and followed it to the letter, until we reached the second bump on the ridge past Saucer Lake, where we rested briefly before the final summit push. After navigating the gendarmes and bushwhacking, we were ecstatic to finally see before us the class 3 scrambling we read about; but after checking our water situation, we found only 2 liters of water among the 3 of us on a warm day. We decided to abort the summit attempt, divvy up the water, and cut across Evolution Valley past the west end of Upper Echo Lake to the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT).
The Desolation Wilderness. Lake of the woods and Luis in the foreground and the Crystal Mountains in the background.
On Sunday 9/30/2007, we summited Ralston Peak via the east ridge and looped back to Echo Chalet via the PCT. Distance was ~9.9 miles; 3.1 miles to Ralston and another 6.8 back to Echo Chalet. We did it in 8 hours with plenty of rests and slow-going bushwhacking.
After admiring the thin layer of new fallen snow and a short hike down to Lower Echo Lake to acquire permits, we started hiking up the hill from the upper parking lot into the woods. We found the use trail after traversing through a bit of snow and brush in open forest. (On the way we ran across the wheelframe of an old railroad car rusted out and left over from mining days. The center gear shaft still had rubber on it!) The trail led into a little gully that we traveled in for about a quarter mile until we reached the switchbacks to Becker Peak. The north side of the gully offered views of Lower Echo and damage from the Angora fires near Lake Tahoe from late June 2007.
Unlike our previous attempt, we shied away from the boulders cresting the ridge between Becker Peak and Talking Mtn, trading them for slogging and bushwhacking on the south side of the ridge. We had this damned fool idea of staying on the use trail, which sort of disappeared. Bad move. After Becker Peak, we should've gained the crest and stayed on the boulders as much as possible since there is much less bushwhacking involved, not to mention the views are better...
After eating the uphill bushwhack and finally gaining the crest, we found that the wind exposure there and on the south side of the ridge was considerable. We were unbalanced during the heavier gusts, especially while scrambling over the tallus around Ralston's satellite peaks. Traversing on the north side wasn't much better protected from wind. The summit of Ralston peak rewarded us with views of the Crystal Range and Desolation Valley, and we broke for lunch. From there it was an easy hike down the west ridge to Ralston Trail, past Haypress Meadow and back around Echo Lakes via the PCT.
Ralston Peak Gallery
Ralston Peak attempt 9/16/07
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Article Rating
Average Score: 5
Votes: 3
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