Birch Mountain / Mount Bolton Brown
Ascents of Birch Mountain (Southeast Rib, class 2) and Mount Bolton Brown (Northwest Ridge, class 3), with René Renteria, June 21-22, 2023.
Timeline:
June 20, 2023. Our plan for this trip was inspired by a trip report by Bob Burd who years ago completed a full traverse of Birch Mountain, Mount Bolton Brown, Mount Prater and Mount Tinemaha in a single day. René and I doubted our ability to complete this traverse in a single day, so we planned to bivy in the middle. We were also uncertain of the direction in which we would carry out the traverse – clockwise or, like Bob, counterclockwise. We deferred making that decision until we could assess the conditions. In the afternoon of June 20 we drove from Mammoth to McMurry Meadows, along the excellent dirt road that branches off from Glacier Lodge Road in Big Pine. We set up camp in the southernmost meadow and spent a good night in my comfortable car-camping tent.
June 21, 2023. Ascent of Birch Mountain. We woke up early, packed up our camp and left the car at 6:12. A look at Split Mountain indicated that Red Lake Pass may be very snowy, so we decided to do the route counterclockwise, as Bob had done. This meant climbing Birch Mountain first, a 7,000+ foot ascent from McMurry Meadows. This took us a long time. We crossed the desert floor, gained a rib on the eastern aspect of Birch, and, at about 11,200 feet, moved left onto a snowfield on the low-angled South Face of the mountain. This led us to the summit at 15:50. It had taken forever to get there – about 8 hours of movement if one excludes stops and our lunch break - putting the complete traverse in doubt. We decided to spend the night at the base of the Southwest Ridge of Birch Mountain. After a fun class 3 descent of that ridge, we found a nice, flat bivy spot in full view of the steep East Face of Ed Lane Peak, and got busy melting snow and cooking dinner. The night at 12,700 feet of elevation was comfortable, though a bit cold at dawn. (An 11:31 hour day, 10:00 hours moving, 4.53 miles, 7,200 feet of elevation gain).
June 22, 2023. Ascent of Mount Bolton Brown. We waited for the sun to hit our bivy spot before getting up, as it was quite cold. We set out around 7:50 toward Mount Bolton Brown. This involves first a low-angled climb to a pass along the Sierra Crest, then a class 2-3 descent down a loose chute toward the Northeast Slope of Mount Bolton Brown, then a snow climb to the Northwest Ridge of the peak, and finally an ascent of that ridge. The latter was a fun and easy class 3 scramble to a pointy summit, which we reached at 11:10. We enjoyed the outstanding views of Upper Basin, Arrow Peak, and the Palisades, signed the register (dating back to 1974), and had lunch on the summit. We then retraced our steps to retrieve our gear at our bivy site (14:00). From our bivy site we descended toward Tinemaha Creek, glissading and walking down a continuous snowfield for thousands of feet. At one point, we reached the remnants of a massive avalanche which took out an entire forest of pines and aspens. At this point an option to rejoin the lower part of the ridge that we had ascended to the summit of Birch offered itself: the avalanche created a thick snow bridge over Tinemaha Creek, allowing us to choose which side to descend. René thought that staying left (North) would put us in a good position to rejoin our car at McMurry Meadows, but I thought the terrain on that side of Tinemaha Creek looked more difficult, so I proposed heading to the southern side of the creek down a broad ridge, thinking we could cross the creek at a lower elevation. This turned out to be a big mistake, as the snowmelt from the record-breaking 2023 winter made the creek impassable anywhere below the avalanche. So we found ourselves walking down parallel to the roaring creek, along a wildflower-covered broad ridge. At one point, a side creek on the right side of our descent path rejoined Tinemaha Creek, and the junction featured a thick forest of aspens, many of them recently downed. This required us to bushwhack a bit to regain easier terrain. After what seemed like an interminable descent through the desert scrub, we finally met the road to Red Lake. This road crossed Tinemaha Creek over a sort of bridge, so it afforded us access to the correct side, and ultimately to our car – but not without adding about three miles to our day. We had to take out our headlamps for the last stretch along the road, and reached the car at 21:42. (A 13:50 hour day, 11:26 hours moving, 11.14 miles, 3,200 feet of elevation gain).
Trip totals: 25:21 total hours, 21:26 moving hours, 15.67 miles, 10,400 feet of elevation gain.