Mt Conness North Ridge Climb

It was a 14-hour day: 4 hours up, 6 hours scrambling, and 4 hours down. It was one of those rare days one gets to spend entirely among the pristine granite of the high sierra. We first looked up at the granite peaks, then saw more of the Sierra range near and far as we climbed higher, finally we enjoyed the range of light of sunset on these rocks during descent. I felt very alive the whole way, very focused, very in-tune with my body. I was at the edge of my ability during many parts of the day, mostly during hiking, but also when doing slab moves near the summit with only short rope protection. Definitely grateful for the breathtaking view, and the wonderful experience traversing the knife-edge ridges.

Fun part: From afar, Mount Conness North Ridge is very long, like a dragon’s spine. It was fun to move on the dragon’s spine, even more fun when it got spikier. 4 hours of up to 5th class scrambling at 12,000 ft elevation. Altitude affects me a lot, but thanks to the built-in breaks during roped climbing, I did okay. It was really cool to see the mellow-looking ridge we saw from Mt. Dana is actually made of giant spiky rocks with gaps in between. So occasionally we had to go around a rock tower, drop lower for a better lower traverse, sometimes we walked over the ridge, balancing on thin rock edges, and other times we hopped over deep gaps between rocks, through which we could see the ground hundreds of feet below. I really enjoyed the variety in climbing, traverses, foot rails, slabs, cracks, even a chimney. Compared to my previous 5.8 alpine climbing experience, I still prefer climbing, but this is really not far behind, and I’m glad to have learned to move through a different terrain safely and efficiently.

We rappelled to reach the base of the summit block before our final push.

I expected this to be at the edge of my ability, given my recent ankle injury and lack of high altitude training. Overall I’m really glad we pushed for the summit, even though it was a big day on the entry-level alpine terrain. I’m extra glad I completed the climb without injury. We had enough food, headlamp, and ability to filter water. So minimum suffering really. But it still kicked my butt, b/c I’m a solidly noob alpine climber. Thanks to Paloma’s guiding, we were able to mostly focus on moving and enjoying being on Mt Conness, leaving her the hard part of navigation and route finding.

The last two hours became an exercise in not letting pain become suffering. My feet ached at each step, and each 10 minutes felt hour-long. But I managed to not zone out and stayed with myself, and even managed to briefly pay attention to the beautiful forest we were in and a passing deer, and the Big Dipper above us.

I would like to keep experiencing the beauty of wilderness and pushing to the edge of my ability, but I feel very undertrained, especially comparing to my lifting competition prep. It was tempting to do these kind of big objectives without training. If I looked at this climb solely based on the outcome like I used to, I probably would have chalked it up as a success. But since I’m now trying to focus on the journey and having a deep experience at each moment, doing things this way would not likely lead to enjoyable ascent to higher and more technical peaks (i.e. climbing the Whitney!)

Thus is the learning from Mt Conness. It will take training to turn these intense one-off trips into consistent enjoyment. I will need to find a way to integrate these peaks in my life by training regularly, such as ankle balancing, trail running, and cardio.