Dunderberg Peak 12,374′ and East Dunderberg Peak 12,280′
Sierra Nevada
Total Time: 3:40
Distance: 3.8 miles
Elevation Gain: 2700′
Crux: Class 2
Trailhead: Virginia Lakes- pit toilets
We had a short trip to the Sierra eastside planned for Memorial weekend, and I was looking for an objective that would get me home by midmorning. Although many of the higher trailheads and summits still had considerable snow, I wanted to tick a Sierra Peak Section Summit, and Dunderberg Peak by the snow-free south slopes fit the bill perfectly. In contention for one of the easiest SPS peaks on the list, the summit sits only about 2 miles from the nearest trailhead, although still requires over 2,000′ of trail less talus climbing. It has a reputation for being a bit of a slog, the main reason I had yet to tick it off, so it was with mixed emotions that I stepped out of my car at 5 AM at the Virginia Lakes Trailhead, the moon and rising sun providing just enough light to not need a headlamp.
The immediate trailhead was partially buried in snow, and I quickly crossed this and headed cross country, aiming directly for a shallow ridgeline of rock directly above. The grade quickly steepened, the high desert scrub replaced by surprisingly solid talus. There was a faint use trail along the ridge, but I largely ignored this, aiming for more solid outcrops of rock.
As I climbed higher, I began to feel that this peak largely gets a bad rap, the talus more solid than many other summits in the area- Excelsior Mountain a few summits over, Mount Tom to the south and the upper slopes of Mount Ritter just to name a few. I think the low mileage stats of the peak probably lure in less experienced Sierra peakbaggers, but the rock quality is on par or better than many other east side summits. About halfway up the ridge, I encountered a patch of bullet hard ice butting up against a rib of class 3 rock to the east, with very loose talus to the west. I tried to follow the more solid class 3 as best I could, needing to drop briefly onto the looser rock when things became too exposed.
The third class scrambling (which could be easily avoided if desired) was over too quickly, and the angle quickly lessened as I neared the saddle between the lower east and higher west summits. I decided to hit the eastern summit first (because Peakbagger told me to), taking about 5 minutes of rock hopping from the saddle.
I signed into the register, the summit clearly popular as a ski tour, then dropped back down to the saddle, taking under 15 minutes to cover the distance between the two peaks. The views from the top were better than expected, with Mount Dana, Mount Lyell and Mount Conness to the south, Excelsior and Tuolumne Peak to the southwest, the Sawtooth grouping to the northwest and the basin and range summits of Nevada to the east.
It had taken a little over 2 hours to tag the two peaks, and with a cold morning wind and no shelter, I started back down the way I came. Despite the class 3 section being short, I somehow took a very different line and wound up getting sucked into one of the loose gullies to the southwest.
Initially I found this to be a happy accident, finding a line of loose scree I could boot ski down. But this was all too quickly replaced by shifting talus, making the remainder of the descent a tedious affair back to the forest, certainly not a line of descent I would recommend.
I was back at the car in a little over 3 and a half hours, pleased with my time and ticking off an easy SPS summit to start the peak bagging season.
