maa blog

A great group closed out 2018 with a climb of Round Top via the West Ridge on Saturday, December 29th.

A beautiful day turned to high winds as we ascended the base of the ridge. We took a break behind some rocks just below the summit, preparing ourselves for a quick dash to the summit in blowing wind. But then it died! 

We had great views, some snacks on the summit, took some photos, and headed back. The trip was about six hours car-to-car. 

Saturday,January 19th was very busy at June Lake! With avalanche danger running high in Lee Vining Canyon and at Horsetail Falls, every ice climber arrived at Roadside. Lucky for our team, we had all previously agreed to meet in Lee Vining at 6:30am - figuring there would be lots of climbers on the 3-day weekend. We were on the ice by 7:15 with two ropes. As more people arrived, including three guided groups, more ropes went up and most of us shared. We also tried to keep the climbers parallel with each other to avoid excessive ice fall. Also in our favor, the right side had some thin but climbable mixed ice, allowing for some great training! Hopefully we will get more ice and cold temps soon!  

8 MAA members joined me at Donner Pass this past Saturday to climb Castle Peak via the West Ridge.  What we had penciled out was a nice stroll up to Castle Pass, turn right on the ridge and then ascend the 1,100 feet along the ridge to the East Peak with beautiful views of the region.  What we got was low-lying clouds with poor visibility, intermittent drizzle and unconsolidated snow shortly after a blizzard had passed through. 

But plans are plans and you can’t change the weather so we left the Sno Park at 8:30am and were up to Castle Pass by 10 despite soft, wet snow along the entire trail.  Deep post holing with snow shoes on was intermittently enjoyed by one and all.

Before we left the parking lot we knew the avalanche forecast was not encouraging.  By sticking to low-angled slopes we planned to mitigate any danger but one section of the route ascends a 35 degree slope.  Sadly this section is more or less unavoidable.  I did have the faint hope that wind would have scoured this of excess snow accumulation rendering it climbable but visibility remained poor and the snow stayed deep.  Given that the avalanche forecast contained words like “considerable” and “historic” we felt discretion was the better part of valor and turned back, walking to the Peter Grubb Hut (neat hut, sad story see here: http://clairtappaanlodge.com/peter-grubb-hut-history) and stopped for a quick snack before climbing back to the ridge and then descending to our cars.

Everyone on the team did incredibly well and remained in good spirits despite less than ideal conditions and changes in plans.  Special thanks to Sadie and Bryce for all the help!

On our second expedition to this area, our team of eight MAA ice climbers assembled in Bozeman, Montana between Dec. 7 & 14 to climb in Hyalite Canyon for the week. We had a great time climbing single & multi-pitch ice up to WI5 and some mixed routes as well. Here's a few highlight pics. 

The event was organized and led by Paul Shaughnessy and Todd Martin. We'll be returning to this event every year, it's such a great next step for those who have put in some time in Ouray and Lee Vining and are ready for backcountry ice. Hope to see you out with us next year!

Overcoming 60 mph winds on the summit ridge, three members made the summit of Lassen Peak on Sunday, December 30th.

Our approach was from the south entrance to Lassen Volcanic National Park. 

It was 6 miles from the entrance, to our camp just above Lake Helen.  

On Nov. 2-3 our 8 person MAA team on a MTN 1 course successfully climbed  an unnamed rock gully on the north side, sumitting a little after noon. Camp was made at Young America Lake, completing a circuit with 3700' total elevation. Congrats team!

Devil’s Peak is a fin-shaped outcropping of volcanic rock perched atop a glacier-polished granite plateau near Donner Summit. At 7702’, it stands about 800’ higher than the surrounding lakes. We gathered late in the day at the Devil’s Outlook warming hut at Royal Gorge. After a leisurely hike to Long Lake, we enjoyed a beautiful sunset and settled in for the night. The Red Sox beat the Dodgers 9-6.

We departed at dawn for the short approach to the North side of Devil’s Peak. As a group, we decided to tackle the “North Chute” which Summitpost rates class 3-4 and describes as the “most interesting” route. We quickly scrambled up the chute and proceeded to a picturesque knife-edge ridge. For a little extra fun and training, Fletcher set up a fixed line to protect the crux below the true summit. After lunch, photos and Toblerone at the summit, we started our descent. We rappelled a short wall (more fun!), descended the chute and headed back to camp. We were back at the warming hut by 3 pm.

Thank you Fletcher and John for leading this event!

Our Nepal team has been in the Khumbu region of Nepal for nearly three weeks now. They've summitted Imja Tse 20,305 and yesterday we heard that all of the Ama Dablam team summitted as well! Another altitude record at 22,349! Congrats everyone! Here is a collection of the best photos from the expedition so far...

In our first ever MAA expedition in Nepal, our team of 8 successfully summited Imja Tse ("Island Peak") on October 10th. Congrats team! This mountain at 20,305 sets a new high altitude record for our organization. Island Peak has a breathtaking view of Lhotse, Ama Dablam and Everest. The climb culminated nearly a year of planning, training, and effort. The route to climb the peak involves trekking into the Khumbu, a high basecamp at around 16,000', crossing several large crevasses and climbing steep snow slopes to a windswept summit. 

Hey everyone,

Our Nepal team has now started their trek into the Khumbu - here are some pics they've sent back. They will be arriving at base camp in a few days, then will be climbing Imja Tse, a 20,305' peak with a view of Ama Dablam, Nuptse and Everest. Stay tuned!