Cloudripper
Ascent of Cloudripper (East Ridge from Baker Lake, class 2), with Simon Wacziarg, August 17, 2018.
Timeline:
August 16, 2018. After a stop in Bishop to buy groceries, we set out on the road to Coyote Flat around 15:30, Simon and I in the 4Runner and my friend Lionel and his family following in their Ford Escape. After the flat portion of the Coyote Valley Road turned to switchbacks, it became abundantly clear that the Ford Escape would not make it up that road. Lionel and his family decided to go back to Mammoth. Simon and I proceeded with enough food for six people. We drove up the very rough road – massive potholes, portions with sharp rocks and others so washed out that the wheels of the truck were straddling deep clefts – better aim correctly! A tough high-clearance vehicle with four wheel drive is absolutely necessary here. The road improved somewhat upon reaching Coyote Flats. We drove all the way to the Baker Creek Primitive Campground, arriving around 18:30. We set up camp with nobody else around. We had a great dinner of roast chicken, corn cooked in foil on the open fire, and other delicacies. We played cards and went to sleep around 22:00.
August 17, 2018. The alarm was set for 4:45 and we had a nice breakfast of banana nut bread and coffee before setting out at 5:52. We proceeded up the trail that follows the Baker Creek drainage, leaving it toward the head of the valley. There, we angled southwest over easy cross-country terrain leading to Thunder and Lightning Lake. We were at the lake at 8:15 and started to ascend to the saddle between Sky Haven and Cloudripper, due south of the lake. The saddle offered the first view of the entire span of the Palisades – a unique sight that would accompany us during the entire ascent of the East Ridge of Cloudripper. This went fairly quickly, and we reached the summit at 10:45, finding even better views in every direction: Mount Humphreys to the northwest, the major peaks of the Evolution Range to the west, Mount Goddard and the Black Divide, Chocolate Peak and South Lake below, and of course the entire Palisade Range. This is one of the finest views of the High Sierra I have come across so far. We signed into the summit register – Simon's first 13er and his first 4,000 meter peak. Fearing the accumulating clouds, we left the summit at 10:54, making quick time on the descent. We were back at Thunder and Lightning Lake at 12:12 and stopped for a nice lunch break on a flat rock. We then hiked down the drainage back to camp, reaching the car at 14:22. We quickly packed up camp and set out on the return drive at 14:56. It took over two hours to cover the 20 very rough miles down to Bishop. We were back in Mammoth Lakes around 18:00, in time for dinner at the Smokeyard BBQ (an 8:30 hour day, 3,200 feet of elevation gain and 8.5 miles).