The North Ridge of Mt. Conness

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That’s me climbing a High Sierra classic, the North Ridge of Conness. Photo: Tom Stargaard

At the end of our pre-dawn 4 hour snow approach to the base of the North Ridge of Mt. Conness, my friend and climbing partner Thomas Stargaard asked how I was doing and if I was ready to start our climb. I was exhausted from kicking steps across what seemed like miles of high angle snowfields. We were a little behind the schedule I had hoped to keep (mountains have their own timeline). Before I answered his question I looked across the Conness Lakes basin to our descent route from the summit and then I looked back at Tom and asked him if he understood that that cornice on the ridge was directly in our path down from the summit. He said he did and that he did not believe it would be insurmountable. Tom has far more experience than I in these situations and I deferred to his judgment and said “OK then, let’s give it a try."

Many consider the North Ridge of Mt. Conness to be one of the most beautiful ridge traverses in the Sierra Nevada. Tom Stargaard and I opted to attempt an early season (relative to the lingering snow conditions) ascent of the North Ridge to avoid the crowds and to maximize the aesthetic with the addition of snow mixed with granite. We accomplished all that we hoped to albeit with twice as much effort and time than what we had expected. We left camp at 5am and made it back just in time to drive to get dinner at the Whoa Nellie Deli before they closed at 9pm (15 hours car to car). The approach hike was made arduous with the massive sun-cups that covered the landscape and the snow fields high above Conness Lakes made for some very “spicy” (to borrow a term from Tom) traversing conditions. The technical aspect of the climb was nothing but delightful. The views were outrageous (from Half Dome, to Banner Peak, to The White Mountains, to Matterhorn peak), the granite rock quality was solid and very clean, and the exposure was truly exhilarating. We simul-climbed the 4th class sections of the route and Tom led the 5th class sections. What weighed heavy on us all day was how difficult it was going to be to get around a large snow cornice that blocked our descent route off of the summit of Mt. Conness. We had done a recon trip on Wednesday to check route conditions and we spotted the cornice high on the ridge above literally blocking access to the descent chute. We could not ascertain if the cornice was still intact with the rocky ridge on either side of it but we trusted that a moat had formed separating the cornice from the rock that would allow us to squeeze past it. As luck would have it there was a moat and we got through (I don’t want to even contemplate what we would have done if the moat had not formed).

For years Conness has been in my sights. I’ve hiked, canoed, fished, back-country ski toured all around it. To finally have ascended the North Ridge to its summit makes me feel incredibly grateful and blessed. Thank you for your efforts Tom!

If you are interested in hearing more of the details of our trip please read the image captions.

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Ski Tour of Tioga Pass