Mt Ritter (13,157'), Sierras CA

“http://community.webshots.com/user/trailho

Met Sheebz, Dave-O, Powderhound and Kelly at the Mammoth Bus Shuttle. The shuttle dropped us off at Agnew Meadows.

The backpack:
Friday, 8/30/2002: Agnew Meadows (8,310') to Olaine Lake (8,041') to Shadow Lake (8,740') to Ediza Lake (9,295'), about 6.5 mi. We came out the same way on Sunday, 9/1/2002.

The dayhike:
Saturday, 8/31/2002: Ediza Lake (9,295') to Mt Ritter (13,157') in about 9 mi roundtrip xctry (as measured by Topo from our GPS track). We went up via the Clyde Variation, and came down Secor's Route. Got to climb the glacier and use ice axes and crampons, and got to practice self arresting. Powderhound slipped and self arrested for real, and we thought he was playing around! Dave-O wasn't feeling well so Sheebz and I entertained him on the way down. Nothing like two women yakking away to take your mind off of how worked you are. Views from the top: Half Dome to the west, Mono Lake, Banner Peak to the North, Boundary, Montgomery and White Mtn in the Inyos, Crowley Lake and Mammoth Mountain, Red Slate Mtn (where I was last weekend), and Mt Abbot from 2 weekends ago with this group.

Six of us summitted on Saturday, and there were 4 others already up on Mt Ritter. When we summitted Mt Abbot, there were only 15 names entered in the register for all of 2002! A big difference! The route to Ritter was not as technical as Mt Abbot. I was feeling good. SnowDude and I were planning to do Banner Peak the following day, until the little accident on the way down.

At the waterfall SnowDude flew down a 15' ledge, head first but bounced off the rock on his leg before landing in a pile of grass above another ledge. His hamstring looks tie-dyed in red, purple and green on his lily-white skin. We all kept saying "that was the most radical fall I've ever seen!". Unbelievable!

After coming out on Sunday evening, we had a beer, then showered. SnowDude and I weren't planning on coming out a day early, so we had to shop for clothes. I walked through the double doors of the Mammoth Mountaineering Store and into a pitch black store. I got out and notified the store next door, to try to get the owners out. It turns out I tripped the silent alarm, and the police were on their way. I told them what I did, and they weren't sure whether to arrest me or thank me. Someone just forgot to lock the front doors.

Six of us met for dinner at Alpenrose, where our snowboarding bud Doug was our server. This is where we had our first real meal after 30 days on the JMT. The food was great!

Monday morning we met Powderhound and Kelly for breakfast. We shopped some more and got some good deals on gear. On the way home we stopped at Mountain Light Gallery in Bishop and viewed Barbara and Galen Rowell's photos and purchased a couple of their books.

This was another great weekend with good friends, and another 13er to add to the list.”

“Dang Woman!!! You hike more than all of us COMBINED!”

“This weekend makes 45 consecutive weekends in a row. (Oct 26-28, 2001 I had to go to SnowDude's sister's wedding in Chicago)”

“Your just...........soooo special arnt you?





kidding, as always love the pics!”

“Wow, Snowdude's bruise looked pretty gnarly! Sounds like something much worse could have happened, so that's cool he came away with just a nice-looking battle scar to show off!

Great report and pics, I'm jealous of the elevation you always get! :-)”

“glad to hear SnowDude suffered no permanent damage.”

“Snownymph when you keep your man in line you shouldn't take pics. Its possible evidence.

Too cool trip report and pics. Glad to hear Snowdude lived to tell about it!! All this and a brush with the law--what a full weekend!”

“I was up there in July. I've seen less people at a shopping mall. Did you experience too many people (both camping and on the trail)? I had never been into that area before and was shocked. There were 15 people (count em) camped out at Iceberg Lake (one lake past Ediza). Ediza was full of campers.
I was fishing at Lake Ediza and a lady comes up and plops her pack down about 25-30ft away from me. Off come her clothes and in the water she went. Now as an avid fisherman I was really upset about this as she had the whole lake but instead decided to swim near the fisherman. I didn't say anything though....man what a babe.
Anyway, unbelieveable! It is very beautiful country but what a zoo.
More people than Yosemite backcountry.”

“Awesome trip and pics...as usual!”

“Excellent trip. Hope Snow Dude feels better. I got to get me a camera.”

“When I went at the beginning of July, packed all through the Minarets, including Iceberg, and saw very few people. Of course, we were up there before and during the 4th, so I imagine people were doing other things.

You can never predict what the backcountry traffic is gonna be like.

Would like to do Ritter sometime tho.”

“Super pics and trip report as well. That is one nasty bruise on the Dude's leg. You gotta start going easier on the poor guy. ;o)”

“Malinda has a huge bruise on her right butt cheek where she was slammed against the wall in ER by a gurney. I wanted to use the digital camera to take a photo and post it so you two could compare. She declined. Darn

By the way, your's would have won hands down. Glad you're OK.

Another great trip.”

“Fantastic !! Those are spectacular photos !!”

“SnowDude's fall scared me! When he landed in the grass, he paused, then held his head. He was mumbling, so I couldn't understand him. I thought he hit his head. From Powderhound and Kelly's view below, they were thinking "bivouac". It was like a summersault with a bounce off the side. Skeery stuff!

This morning he said it was sore for the first time since we hiked out.”