Photo Credit: Mark Thomas
Temple Crag (12,999') in my opinion is THE MOST ICONIC looking peak in the entire Sierra Nevada mountain range. In all my years traveling up to the Palisades I've passed by this amazing looking mountain. The deep gullies and giant aretes fins gives it such an intimidating presence. I knew one day my time would come to jump on this mountain. With the 2014 alpine season coming to a close it was going to be now or wait until next summer.
Ivy and I actually planned to make an attempt back in July yet monsoonal rain chased us south to the Needles. September brings some of the best weather for the Sierras. For the most part, Thunderstorms are gone. Day time temps are still t-shirts while the nights are mild too. However, day light begins to run on the short side. With 12 hours on sun up to sun down times can limit objectives. With this being said, we agreed to pass on an even larger objective...Temple to Sill Traverse. I got the itch having completed part of the Thunderbolt to Sill traverse with Russ the previous month. After some research we knew the route was way outside our abilities per the shorter days in September. We needed something a tad shorter.
Temple Crag has four prominent aretes (fins). Each arete progressively gets harder technically as well as length. From left to right:
Such a toss between Venusian Blind (further known as VB) and Moon Goddess Arete (MG). Both are considered 4 star routes. All though MB is longer in total length, more of the pitches are less technical. Ivy and I decided to climb VB for our first attempt on Temple Crag.
The Plan:
- Drive to the eastern Sierra and approach via the north fork of the Big Pine trail and bivy for the night at the 3rd lake.
- Climb VB, hike out and drive home.
Thursday September 11th 2014:
Realizing the night before that I had left my rock shoes at Metalmark Gym I swung by at 6am and then southbound 99 out of town. The all too familiar drive to the east side is becoming a routine for me. Love's Travel plaza in Tehachapi has become the official gas/coffee stop before dropping in to the desert as well as the returning to the valley.
I stopped off at the ranger station in Lone Pine to get a permit and was informed that I got the last permit for the trail head. Upon arriving at the trail head parking lot I was surprised to also get the last parking spot. I've been to this trail head numerous times before on my attempts to the North Palisade. Those however were also in May and at max we might share the parking lot with another car.
Ivy and I rallied at noon. A quick check of gear and we were both off on the very hot steep trail. This being my 4th time hiking this trail I could gauge our progress quite well. I'll spare you the usual approach pictures but the views of Temple Crag from the second lake are just unbelievable! I've stood at that spot many times before and must have 20 pics of that mountain. In fact my last trip in May was during a snow storm with Temple Crag blanketed with a fresh layer. This trip was amazing to see the mountain lit in summer sun. Also take note in the picture below you can see Thunderbolt and North Palisade in the distant.... Yup, been there!
You'll note in the picture above the lake color is turquoise which is glacier melt opposed to snow melt (blue). I've seen some of the higher lakes have a turquoise hint but to see the lower lakes turquoise color meant lack of snow melt for a very long time. Just last month while on the Palisade traverse my view of the Palisade glacier was stunning. The melting of the glacier is happening at an incredible rate. The proof in now down here in the lakes. Which brings me to highlight of the day - filtering water. You see, I never filter water in the mountains. I mean it's got to a muddy poop pond before I might think about it. I didn't even bother to bring a water filter with me on this trip. Fortunately, Ivy brought a mini filter. A solid hour of the evening was spend filtering the gross gritty lake water.
We spent the night among at least 10 other campers at the 3rd lake. All were climbing parties who were spending many days on Temple Crag. We chatted with a few parties and found that we would have company tomorrow.
Friday September 12th 2014:
After a pleasant night's bivy and leisurely morning we were on the approach from the 3rd Lake by 7:45am. Temple Crag is a heavily used alpine climbing destination and thus the use trail was very used.
The use trail dropped us off at the base of a talus fan between the gully of Moon Goddess and Sun Ribbon. At the top of the gully a year round snow/ice patch guards the final approach to all climbs. In early season crampons are a must to get up the snow field. In the later season more low angle rock bypass options exist.
Upon arrival of the ice patch I was surprised just how icy it was. It was bullet hard ice covered in sand with no purchase to go up it. In the pic below - that is ICE!
So we opted for the loose 4th class gully to bypass the ice. Ivy is seen below coming up the gully.
About 15 minutes of 3rd and 4th class scrambling on edges and ledges deposited us at the base of both VB & MG routes.
I studied the photo below intently prior to leaving for my trip. I had read many accounts of parties climbing not only the wrong arete but even the "false Venusian Blind arete".
Photo Credit: Mark Thomas
Around 9:30 we arrived at the start of the 5th class climbing for Venusian Blind. We roped up and I took the first pitch. "Alpine topo maps" vs. "Alpine reality climbing" can really slow some parties down. Not only is it easy to get off route but a lot of time can be spent debating the route and thus precious time is lost.
So for me to give a "pitch by pitch" break break down on this trip report could be misleading to others. What was our 5th pitch may or may not align with others or topos for that matter. In fact, we didn't even rope up until SuperTopo's 3rd pitch. However here was our climb:
- Aaron lead - Climbed the right facing corning, traversed ledges, belayed below giant flake. (5.5)
- Ivy lead - Climbed TOO far right and had to backtrack when terrain got blank. Climbed ledges to large boulders (5.6)
- Aaron lead - Climbed a loose chimney to 4th class blocks. (Low 5th)
- Ivy lead - More low 5th blocks. (Low 5th)
- Aaron lead - Probably best pitch. Mixed face and crack up arete. (5.6)
- Ivy lead - Across the wide chimney and onto the face. (5.6)
- Aaron lead - More low 5th blocks. (Low 5th)
- Ivy lead - 5.7 hand crack which was over before the fun started. (5.7)
- Aaron lead - Mostly a traversing pitch with insane rope drag. (5.6)
- Aaron lead - A few strenuous pulls but nothing big over more and more blocks. (5.6)
- Aaron lead - Up and over the 3rd tower and across the 4' gap. (5.6)
- Aaron lead - Short pitch to just confirm nothing but 4th class left until the top. (Low 5th)
That was pretty much the break down of our climb. Ivy seemed to being getting tired by the 2nd half of the climb. Our overall feeling about the route was that it was extremely mellow. The route was loose and the sound of boulders crashing in the gullies next to use was a little unnerving. OK, bring on the photos!
Photo Credit: Mark Thomas
Above: Mark Thomas's annotated topo map. For us the bottom pitch was our 5th and top was the 6th.
Below: YES! This is an incredible picture I was able to take. I'm on VB looking through MG to a party on Sun Ribbon doing a Tyrolean traverse between towers!
Above: Looking down on Ivy on our 7th pitch. I prefered leading just to stay warm.
Below: The "5.7 hand crack". It was seriously only 10 feet long, sort of a disappointment.
Above: The arete in the foreground is Moon Goddess with a party on it. Beyond that is Sun Ribbon Arete and lastly Dark Star. The higher of the Big Pines Lakes can be seen as well.
Below: The "4 foot gap" to step across. Instead of making a jump for it I down climbed and was able to span it with my legs.
Above: A climber on Moon Goddess
Below: After topping out at 5:00pm. Me and the south fork of the Big Pine behind me. The east face of the Middle Palisade (Been there done it!) is in the shade.
The descent involved following several use trails down 2nd and 3rd class terrain until we were about 100' feet above Contact Pass. One rappel and we were literally at the pass.
The remaining 1000' of scree and talus trail sucked like predicted. Somehow I lost the use trail and not realizing that it bypassed a terminal moraine by going completely around we found ourselves in a dangerous situation down climbing the moraine. I freaked out and reclimbed the rubble pile watching refrigerator seized boulders move on their own. I found the trail and watch Ivy down climb the loose moraine. Once we were both clear we continued the hike out and arrived back to camp around 7:45. - 12 hours after we left. No speed record today.
Ivy announced to me that she was exhausted and could not hike out to the trail head. I left her with my remaining food and at 8:00pm we parted ways. About 15 minutes after walking on the trail with my headlamp it began to dim on me. It dawned on me I hadn't replaced the batteries after several trips this summer. I decided to roll the dice and hope they would hold until I could get back to the car. I ran ... seriously... ran all 5+ miles with a backpack down a rocky trail at night. Probably not the smartest thing I've done. Surprisingly, the light lasted until about half a mile to go. It went completely dark and I could not even see one foot in front of me. I managed to use my cameras LED screen to light up a little bit of the trail to make it back. I made it from 3rd lake to the trail head in 1:33 - that for sure is a speed record.
All this was followed by a 5 and a half hour drive back home. I arrived home shortly after 3 in the morning.
My final thoughts about VB and Temple Crag...
- With the short (alpine standards) approach it would be best to setup base camp and climb for multiple day even taking rest days.
- Temple Crag is loose but not enough to not make the climbing fun
- VB was OK. I think I could half my time on the route next time. The climbing seemed a little inconsistent to me.
