Disaster Peak
Ascent of Disaster Peak (North Ridge, class 2), June 6, 2022.
Timeline:
June 5, 2022. I left Mammoth after dinner. Once on Highway 395, I realized I had forgotten my camera, as well as the maps I had printed for the next day's exploration. Thankfully, I had an iPhone and my GPS watch as substitutes. I arrived at the end of the Clark Fork road at 22:30 and settled down for a very comfortable night in the back of my 4Runner.
June 6, 2022. A fisherman shuffling through his car trunk woke me up at 6:40. I had breakfast and started on the Disaster Creek trail at 7:35. My plan was to take a somewhat long route, using the Paradise Valley trail to connect with the North Ridge of Disaster Peak. I had read tales of a steep hike up the Southwest slope of the peak, and this did not appeal to me. Sticking to trails as much as possible, despite more mileage, held the promise of a faster climb. Indeed the 6.5-mile hike proved quite uneventful, and despite consistent hard-packed snow on the North Ridge, I was on the summit of Disaster Peak at 10:40. It was a beautiful day. I had the whole area to myself, and stayed on the summit for a good while, taking numerous pictures. I set out on the descent at 11:05, aiming for the Southwest slope. This was initially fine, but I could not find a reported use trail, and ended up descending the steep drainage of the main stream that flows down this side of the mountain. There was some bushwhacking, but I ploughed on down and was back on the trail at 12:22. There were only a couple of downhill miles left from there, and I reached the car at 12:48. I drove to the Sand Flat Campground, where I found a shady picnic table to have lunch. The drive back to Mammoth across Sonora Pass was gorgeous. (A 5:13 hour day, 4:49 hours moving, 10.25 miles, 3,500 feet of elevation gain).