Virginia Peak 11,983′ and Twin Peaks 12,321′
Sierra Nevada
Total Time: 10:30
Distance: 17.1 miles
Elevation Gain: 5,500′
Crux: Class 3
Trailhead: Green Lake Trailhead, pit toilets
The fickle weather in the Sierra had continued through May, with a final late storm at the end of the month expected to bring one final round of snow down to 7,000′ and temporarily reclose the high passes. I wanted to sneak in an alpine day before conditions got messy, and decided to revisit the mountains above Bridgeport, with my last visit a few years prior climbing the North Arete or Matterhorn Peak with Cory. I decided to utilize the Green Lake Trailhead and attempt a double header of Virginia Peak and Twin Peaks, tagging two new SPS summits as well as a P2K. Looking at recent satellite imagery, there would clearly be snow on route, and I left Mammoth well before dawn, driving north and reaching the trailhead in darkness. There were a few cars in the lot for Memorial Day weekend although I wouldn’t see a soul all day. I set out under headlamp, following the trail through the quiet campground. It took about an hour to reach Green Lake 3 miles in, with just enough light to turn off my headlamp for the rest of the day.
The maintained trail ends here, although there was reportedly an excellent use trail to get me to Virginia Pass. While I indeed found the use trail, the spring conditions made it far from excellent, with many sections muddy and flooded with plenty of downed trees to contend with. It took another 30 minutes to cover the mile leading to the Glines Canyon mining ruins, with a tricky creek crossing just beyond.
Failing to find an adequate log crossing and not wanting to risk wet shoes and socks so early in the day, I took off my shoes and waded across, my feet quickly numb by the icy cold snowmelt. I dried them quickly with my hanky and continued along the use trail, passing the shell of an old cabin before losing the trail in the forest as I began to encounter the first patches of snow.
The low elevation patches were either easy to avoid or deeply suncupped and there was no need for crampons as I worked higher towards the pass. I was only a few hundred feet below the pass, 2.5 hours in, when the snow became more continuous and quite icy, the morning sun not high enough to soften things. So I paused at a rocky outcropping to put on crampons, climbing the last 200′ quickly with the added traction.
The pass itself and southwest facing slope below were completely snow-free and I stopped to remove my crampons. I now had my first look at both Virginia Peak and Twin Peaks, the upper slopes still holding quite a bit of snow. I did a descending traverse to the northwest into the upper Return Creek drainage, with the plan to tag Virginia Peak first. I paused in the meadow below the upper bowl to put on my crampons and filter water, thinking it would likely be my last opportunity for some time once I was on the high ridge. From the meadow, it looked like there were a series of connecting ramps on a rocky buttress splitting two steep snow gullies that would work. I briefly followed the leftmost snow gully, then escaped on ramps to the right as the snow pitch grew steeper, scrambling up easy class 2-3 ramps to a higher snow slope just below the unnamed lake north of Virginia Peak.
Despite my early start, the snow was already beginning to soften, with the occasional posthole slowing me down as I climbed the snow slope up to the Eastern edge of the lake. The north face of Virginia Peak was striking above the lake, still completely frozen over with fresh avalanche slide on the opposite shore, likely having come off the north face of Virginia Peak over the weekend. Although another slide was unlikely, I took a very conservative line up the snow slopes to the low saddle between Virginia Peak and Twin Peaks, finding the ridgeline mostly snow free and removing my crampons for the final time that day. Virginia Peak looked just as impressive from the saddle, and I had my first looks at Matterhorn Peak and Whorl to the north, as well as plenty of summits around Tuolumne and the high country of Yosemite.
I followed the ridge toward Virginia and paused before the final summit ridgeline to cache some gear and extra water, saving weight on the final summit push. I had expected the final ridgeline to be chossy talus, but found it surprisingly solid, with stacked fins of rock and solid slabs, best near the ridgeline proper.
There was a short class 3 notch just below the summit, and I hit the high point at about 9:30 AM, a little over 5 hours after starting out. The views from the top were outstanding, especially with so much of the high country still holding snow. I could spot Cathedral Peak, Mount Hoffman, Clouds Rest and even the very top of Half Dome in the distance. I was surprised to find no summit register, which seemed odd for a relatively popular summit.
After a short break I dropped off, utilizing more of the class 2 talus and climbers trails west of the ridgeline as I descended. I repacked my pack with my cached gear and continued along the ridgeline, the summit of Twin Peaks only 1.5 miles to the north. I initially made short work of the ridgeline and quickly reached the crux of the day, a section of ridge just below the summit of Twin Peaks with multiple fractured gendarmes blocking progress.
I knew this section was class 3, although I had read it was easy to get into more difficult terrain, and the steep ice and snow sweeping up the east slopes to the ridgeline would likely limit my options to scramble down and around. The first gendarme was the largest, and I followed a class 2 ramp system with an occasional cairn on the east side. I had nearly scrambled fully around the obstacle when the ramp systems ended, forcing me to climb straight up nearly to the top of the tower with an easy scramble off the backside. I had thought that would be the end of the class 3 but there was still quite a bit more before me, staying true to the ridgelines over some smaller bumps and towers before dropping off the west side to climb up a gully to a notch with one final gendarme.
I assumed that in summer, one would probably scramble around the final tower on the east slopes, but ice and snow extended all the way up to the bottom of the tower, burying any potential ramps around. I briefly considered putting on my crampons for a fourth time that day, but thought I would investigate the western slopes first. I followed ramps to a short 8′ class 3 downclimb, leading me to slabs with just enough bare rock above the snow to lead to a final ramp system and regain the ridge past the last gendarme.
The short section of ridge had probably taken me close to an hour to negotiate, and I quickly hiked up the final class 2 summit talus, past a false summit to the high point of the day. This one did have a summit register and I signed in, seeing I was the second ascent of the year after Todd Ulz and Chris Lambert, a few climbers I knew from social media. I took another short break, with the summit views similar to Virginia although not quite as good across Yosemite.
Not wanting to deal with the complex ridgeline again, I dropped off the summit directly to the southeast down the broad drainage formed by the main summit and the lower eastern summit. The snow was now soft enough to boot ski down which I did with delight, descending about 1,500′ in under 30 minutes.
The snow gave way to talus which quickly became more tedious, and I left the drainage at 11,000′ to angle directly towards Virginia Pass, hoping to avoid climbing back up to it from the Return Creek Drainage. This worked well enough, with sections of nice clean slabs and ramps mixed in with pockets of loose talus, vaguely reminding me of the descent route off Mount Humphreys from the previous fall. It took a little over an hour to make it back to the pass from the summit of Twin Peaks and I dropped down immediately onto the soft snow, not needing crampons for the return.
I followed fresh boot packs through the snow back down to the mining ruins, this time butt scooting (successfully) across a semi hanging fallen log to save myself another ice cold wade. I stopped to filter a final liter of water at the outlet of Green Lake, then hustled down the trail the final three miles, the full outing taking 10.5 hours. While it was a touch longer than I had planned, the multiple crampon transitions wasted a good 30 minutes in total, and the ridgeline below Twin Peaks was more complex than I had anticipated. I headed back south to Mammoth, getting back just in time for dinner and drinks in town.
