Charlotte Dome

Just a quick blog 'cos I'm sat in a coffee shop in Lone Pine and we've actually managed to get some climbing done over the last few days.

Having been knocked back due to floods we spent a few days climbing at a place called Rock Creek, which is a high valley between Bishop and Mammoth. Nice climbing, but not what we wanted to do really. It was all that was available to us as it was 35 C in Bishop, but raining at altitude in the mountains. Neither are much use really!

The rain eventually looked forecast to stop so we dropped into the Ranger Station in Bishop and got a permit to hike (that's American for walk) in to climb something called Charlotte Dome in the Sierras.

Charlotte Dome has a famous climb up its south face which is one of the "Fifty Classic Climbs of North America" and so we went in to climb it.

This is Charlotte Dome. The classic South Face route climbs the left skyline.

The route itself is about 12 pitches long (maybe 400m high) but it took us three days in total to climb the route as it's 12 miles from the trailhead, and requires crossing some high alpine passes to get to it. We had to camp for two nights in the wilderness.

The climb itself wasn't that difficult. In fact the hardest part of the whole expedition was dealing with the altitude. At one point on the approach you have to cross the Kearsarge Pass which is at an altitude of 11,670 ft. This would actually make it the same height as a reasonable summit in the French Alps. The difference here though is that this time we were carrying heavy rucsacks filled with climbing gear, rope, tent, sleeping bags, and food for three days (stored in a heavyweight bear-proof cannister), and a stack of other assorted stuff. We carried all this stuff for 7 hours on the approach and never dipped below 10,000 ft after we left the van.

High meadows in high summer - very nice!

Ruth got a bit sick due to the altitude and felt nauseous. She also went a little bit grey for a while immediately after the Kearsarge Pass, but recovered when we dropped down a bit of height. Ruth approaching Charlotte Dome on day 1.

We camped for the night by a little spring at over 10,000 ft and climbed the south face of Charlotte Dome on the second day. Its not a difficult climb (5.8) but it is one of those routes that goes up a cliff that looks way more difficult than it really is once you get on it. The rock on Charlotte Dome is very featured when inspected up close, and covered in quartz knobs. This lets you climb up sweeping faces that look completely blank and impossible, but prove to be quite simple once you get on them - though sometimes the protection is 'sparse' shall we say.

Looking down Pitch 6 of the South Face.

We didn't see another soul all day, and probably had the entire valley to ourselves. It was a treat. A route as good as this in the Alps would have teams stretched from top to bottom, and guides climbing all over you. I remember climbing the Cassin Route a few years ago and thinking we were lucky only having 4 other teams on the route with us - how things are different in America!

We walked out back to the trailhead on the third day. Having subsisted on mostly tortillas, peanut butter and packet noodles for too long, we made a bolt for a pizza restuarant to stuff ourselves senseless. We have just this morning been successful in the bizarre ritual that is the 'Whitney Lottery Draw' which takes place at 11 o'clock every morning in the LOne Pine Ranger Station. This means we have in our possession two very interesting things: a permit to camp tomorrow night at Glacier Lake (under Mt Whitney's east face); and, a good weather forecast. So our luck is in now!

Innes