Mount Conness 12,590′- West Ridge
Rock Climbing– Sierra Nevada
Total Time: 11:45
Distance: 9.4 miles
Elevation Gain: 4500′
Crux: Class 5.6
Partners: Jason Meade
Trailhead: Sawmill Campground- trash, pit toilets
Mount Conness is one of my favorite mountains in the Sierra Nevada. I had been to the summit twice, once via the standard South slopes in 2016 and again via the fantastic North Ridge in 2020. The West Ridge, a long 5.6 romp with ~1,500′ of climbing and scrambling was a glaring hole in my Conness resume and would make for a good early season outing. Jason had been itching for me to take him on something alpine, and we left home at 2:30 AM for a sunrise start. We reached the parking area at Sawmill Campground with another twosome of climbers getting ready planning to climb Conness via the West Ridge as well. We shouldered our packs at 5:45 AM and set off through the campground, the sun still behind the mountains to our backs.
We quickly passed the ruins of the Carnegie Institute Experimental Station, the single track trail cutting across wet and muddy meadows through the forest. I kept an eye out for the turn off for Alpine Lake, following indistinct use trails up through the thin forest and pockets of granite.
It took us just over an hour to reach Alpine Lake 2.5 miles in, a good pace for the long day ahead. We topped up our water with Alpine Lake being the only reliable year round water source until the descent, although in reality there was so much snow melt we could have waited to filter until nearly to the East Ridge. A use trail continued along the shores of Alpine Lake and we followed it up towards the East Ridge, crossing a few small patches of snow but overall finding it easier to ascend than it had looked from below.
There were large patches of snow directly below the short class 3 section of the East Ridge so we headed up slope more directly to hit it above the snow. There was an unavoidable steep patch just above a shallow saddle, but we were able to follow steps kicked in by prior parties to quickly reach dry rock above. Although it had looked steep from below, the upper portion of the East Ridge was more class 2 than class 3, and we quickly reached the broad summit plateau only 2 hours into our day.
Our approach from the east required us to almost fully climb the entire mountain only to lose ~1,000′ to access the start of the route to the west. Small pockets of Polemonium guarded the upper cliffs and we found the correct notch marked with a large cairn and dropped down the sandy gully. The upper gully was loose second class, although we hit a patch of lingering ice and snow halfway down, requiring a circuitous scramble across class 3 slabs and ramps to get past. The southwest face of Conness was rather impressive on the descent, with our route up the West Ridge in view for the first time that day.
The sandy gully ended in a boulder field below, and I gradually pulled ahead as I navigated toward the base of the route. Since I would need time to flake the rope and rack up, I decided to press on to the base of the climb without Jason and be ready to go when he caught up, as he would get a nice rest belaying me. I skirted the southwest face on intermittent climbers’ trails before cutting up into an alcove at the toe of the West Ridge. The route begins in a shallow gully formed by two buttresses.
I had a quick snack and got ready to climb, Jason catching up to me about 15-20 minutes later. The first two pitches were the crux of the climb, and we planned to pitch those out and simulclimb the upper ridge. I started up on lead, the bottom of the pitch barely fifth class and gradually steepening to 5.6. I built an anchor on a small ledge and brought up Jason just as the other pair of climbers caught up to us.
After burning some time on a stuck cam, Jason met me at the first belay and I started up the second pitch, this one with a short 5.6 chimney partway up. I was a little surprised by the style of climbing, requiring a good deal of liebacking and stemming, unlike some of the other juggy Tuolumne classics like Cathedral Peak. I built the second belay in a steep groove with a stance big enough for one (I should have moved left) and brought Jason up to a stance just below me while the team behind us started up.
Just above the belay was the last bit of 5.6, a small rooflet with huge jugs above. I placed a cam under the roof and pulled over. Just above the roof, the ridge suddenly unfolded ahead of us, a jagged spine leading all the way to the summit. The difficulty quickly eased to class 3-4, and I quickly climbed upwards until Jason radioed up that I only had a few feet of rope left.
I placed a microtrax on a piece and continued upwards, the rope becoming tight as Jason broke down the anchor for his first experience simulclimbing. I had a second microtrax that I was able to place when he reached the first, allowing us to quickly climb three rope-lengths in a single long block. A large boulder made for a quick anchor and belayed Jason for a short rest.
Although we had effectively climbed five pitches worth of the route, it was still about 1,000′ to the summit. The twosome behind us climbed past as we ate our lunch, taking a left variation on the opposite side of a class 3 gully. We stayed true to the right ridgeline, climbing a beautiful section of 5.5 finger cracks in the second block of simulclimbing, one of the route highlights.
I led one more long block, taking a variation to the right of a tower, requiring an easy but very exposed traverse on knobs, the entire southwest face dropping 1,000′ below to our backs. This put us just short of the summit, with a little bit of exposed class 3 between us and the class 2 summit boulder field. I let Jason take the final lead and he scrambled up the ridgeline. I let him put a microtrax in the system before I started up behind him. I had reached the class 2 and was surprised to see he was still placing cams ahead. I untied and quickly caught up to him, and the two of us made our way to the summit. The long route had taken us a little under 5 hours to climb, not bad for Jason’s first technical alpine route. The views from the top were just as good as I had remembered, with Matterhorn, Virginia and Twin Peaks and Excelsior Mountain to the north, Mount Hoffman to the west, Cathedral Peak and Tuolumne Meadows to the southwest and Mount Lyell, Ritter and Banner to the south.
We took a long well deserved break at the summit enjoying the views, with a small isolated thunderstorm beginning to form over Mount Hoffman. It was about 3 PM when we began our descent, with hopes to make it to the grill in Tuolumne Meadows before it closed at 6. I dropped off the class 3 rocks to the south, finding it less exposed than I remembered, probably thanks in part due to the significant exposure we had been climbing with all day. I was a bit surprised when Jason complained about the class 3 section, the long day starting to catch up with him.
Crossing a few snow patches, we found our descent route down the East Ridge and I purposefully dropped down the now soft snow to boot ski and glissade down quickly. It was Jason’s first time glissading, and it was very clear that he was not enjoying the descent as much as me.
It took a little over an hour to get back to Alpine Lake from the summit and we filtered waters before the final descent back to the trail. I tried to push our pace to ensure we made it to the grill in time, Jason falling behind, unaccustomed to moving quickly in the alpine terrain. But he had a second wind when we reached the trail jogging out ahead. It was about 5:30 PM when we reached the car, giving us 30 minutes to drive back into the park for our food, more than enough time. We were cutting it close to 6 PM and pulled into the parking lot at 5:49…. only to find the grill had closed early for the day. Heartbroken, we popped into the store for a few snacks to hold us over until dinner in Oakhurst 2 hours later.