Little Shuteye Peak 8353′
Sierra Nevada
Total Time: 3:00
Distance: 4.8 miles
Elevation Gain: 1200′
Crux: Class 3
Trailhead: Chilkoot Lake, no services
The Shuteye Ridgeline features some of the best climbing in the Western Sierra outside of Yosemite, with dozens of granite domes spread over two separate summits with over 1,000′ of prominence each. We had hiked to the top of Shuteye Peak on a smoky day before the Creek Fire, and I had climbed a number of the subdomes around the two peaks. But I had yet to visit the summit of Little Shuteye Peak itself. Despite its name, it’s actually a bit taller than Shuteye Peak, although looks a bit less striking with smaller domes and more forested slopes. With no trail to the summit, my plan was to head cross country out of Chilkoot Lake. Leaving home, I drove up Beasore Road and turned off at Coldspring summit, parking at the 2WD spot about a quarter mile from the lake. I had been here a number of times to climb on some of the smaller crags, most recently a fun day soloing top roping some multipitch routes on Hidden Eagle. I quickly reached Chilkoot lake and hugged the north shore, muddy from the low water level but the mud still firm and frozen in the early morning.
Little Shuteye Peak was through the trees directly ahead and it looked like there were any number of slabby options to reach the summit, although some holding some ice and snow that I would need to try and avoid. I dove into the forest without much of a plan, and was surprised to find a number of small creeks and gullies to cross, none particularly wide or deep but still slowing me down as I searched for the best spots to hop across.
The trees were replaced by manzanita as I neared the base of the slabs, and I stumbled on a cairn at an obvious weakness near the base. I headed up here, findings a number of additional cairns as I climbed higher, the views opening up to Hidden Eagle tucked in the forest behind me, along with Mount Ritter, the Minarets and Mammoth Mountain to the east.
I lost the cairns as the patches of snow increased higher up the slabs, but cross country was very easy and I made little effort to pick the use trail back up as I ascended. The slabs ended as I hit the summit plateau and I worked around thin manzanita to the summit blocks on the west side.
There were a number of blocky features vying for the highpoint, and I correctly chose the one furthest to the west, finding a ramp winding up the north side with a short class 3 step to the summit rocks. The views from the top were outstanding, with Fresno Dome to the north, the Clark Range, Redtop, Gale, Sing and Madera Peaks to the northeast, Mount Ritter, the Minarets and Mammoth Mountain to the east and the Abbott grouping to the southeast. Shuteye Peak was directly south, with the burn scar from the Creek Fire extending essentially to the summit of Little Shuteye Peak with evidence of cut limbs and firefighters having held the line at the summit.
I signed into the register, the peak seeing a handful of summits each year, with at least one annual ascent by a local named Clem. After tucking the register back into the summit rocks I dropped off the summit and started back down the slabs. I trended a bit more to the west on my descent hoping to hit some of the gully crossings a bit higher on the return to Chilkoot Lake. Unfortunately this resulted in me having to navigate a few class 3 steps and did little to avoid the ups and downs in the broad gullies below.
As I neared Chilkoot Lake, I dropped to the left of Catnap Dome, briefly chatting with a father-son climbing team climbing a 5.4 trad route before continuing back to the lake.
I decided to keep to the south and west side of the lake on the return, hopping over the outlet that drains all the way down to Bass Lake below. On the far end I picked up an excellent trail that led me back to the road and ultimately back to my car. Although a short outing it was an enjoyable one, and had me thinking about exploring more of the crags in the area on my next visit.