Banner Peak / San Joaquin Mountain
Ascents of Banner Peak (Ritter-Banner Saddle and West Slope, class 3) and San Joaquin Mountain (from Minaret Summit, class 1), with Jerry Nickelsburg, June 14-16, 2014
Timeline:
June 14, 2014. Jerry and I spent the night in Mammoth and woke up early so we could drive to Agnew Meadows, where we had breakfast. We left the trailhead at 8:28 and reached camp at the tarn above Lake Ediza at 15:00. A 6:30 hour day.
June 15, 2014. We left camp at 5:51, reached the Ritter-Banner saddle at 8:00 and were on the summit of Banner Peak at 9:19. We were back at the saddle at 10:30 and stopped for lunch. We were back in camp at 13:00. We packed up camp and left around 14:00, taking another nice break at Lake Ediza and reaching Agnew Meadows at 19:00. Most of the campgrounds in the area were closed due to a destructive storm in 2011, but we found a campsite at the Devil’s Postpile campground where we spent the night. A 13:09 hour day.
June 16, 2014. We had a nice breakfast at the Mammoth Mountain Inn at Main Lodge. We were at Minaret Summit at 10:30 and set off on the hike to climb San Joaquin Mountain. It was an extremely windy day and we battled strong winds all day. We reached the summit of San Joaquin Mountain at 13:57 and were back at the car at 17:00. I went to pick up Robert at Mammoth Airport, and we settled for a comfortable night in Mammoth before setting off the next day for the Evolution region. A 6:30 hour day.