Lone Pine Peak SE Slope 4/22/05-4/23/05 Kent Ashcraft Mathew Ashcraft Brent Ashcraft Jeff Tanner Evan Stevens Having attempted Lone Pine Peak's SE slope back in February I was eager to get back up there and try again. It's not a long route (perhaps 4 miles from where the road makes a turn to the West) and that's one of the things that attracted me to it. In that relatively short distance however you must gain 6,625 feet. Thus, it doesn't waste any time with level terrain. Instead of going up the longer route up the back side via Meysan Lake (which becomes very difficult to get to when the Whitney Portal Road is inaccessible) the SE slope route goes up the SE side which is accessible year round. But few seem to go this way. Looking at a few photographs I had taken from the "Stone House" the year before, I could tell the route appeared fairly steep and there appeared to be quite a bit of brush. The optimal route seems to go up a significant gully just to the east of the Stonehouse Buttress (an interesting formation of rock just on the opposite side of Tuttle Creek from the Stone House). R. J. Secor mentions this SE slope route though it is used primarily as a descent route by rock climbers who have ascended the South Wall. I figured with good snow coverage, the brush could largely be taken out of the equation. On my first attempt back in February this was indeed the case. Most of the brush was covered. At that time however my party only reached about 9700 feet before we lost visibility in the clouds and opted to turn back. We also had to park down lower than expected due to recent snow which meant we would have to gain 7000 feet to the summit. It was an aggressive attempt and weather and other factors did not permit a successful summit. Now two months later, I was ready for another attempt. I didn't want to wait any further since I knew the snow level on the southern slopes had already risen quite a bit and thus I expected the first part of the climb would involve brush and sand. Kent Ashcraft was also interested in this route. I arrived at our designated parking location some time around 5:30pm. I was to hopefully meet up with Kent Ashcraft and his group of boys on Friday evening or Saturday morning. The boys aged 15 to 18 included Mathew Ashcraft, Brent Ashcraft, Jeff Tanner, and Evan Stevens. The obvious parking location and starting point for the hike begins on the north side of Tuttle Creek where the dirt road makes a turn to the West. To reach this point you drive up the Whitney Portal Road and turn left (south) on the signed Olivas Ranch Road. This road is rather good up to the point that it makes the turn West. At that point it becomes a 4wd road requiring high clearance. Thus, it is the obvious place to park. There were some other people at the parking location (fisherman perhaps?) who mentioned that Kent's group had started hiking about 20 minutes earlier. My original plan was to car camp at this location and then catch up with them in the morning. Since I wasn't that far behind them I decided to change plans and see if I could catch up to them. This would also give me a chance to test out my new Gregory Advent Pro pack on a light overnighter. unforuntunately it took me awhile to get my gear all together. In the process I forgot two items that I would later regret: sunglasses and sunblock. It was 6:19pm by the time I started hiking up the remainder of the road. Low clouds hung over the mountains and I feared this was going to be a repeat of the conditions that turned me back in February. There was some light precip/snow but fortunately it didn't develop further. After about 20 minutes I had reached the end of the road and began ascending the forested SE slope. As you ascend this sandy slope you will notice a rocky outcropping on a low ridge to the East. In some ways this rocky outcropping is mini version of the Stonehouse Buttress further to the East. To get into the proper gully it is best to cross east over the low ridge just north of the rocky outcropping. This will then drop you into the SE gully which terminates at the top of the rock band below the upper plateau. By the time I reached the low ridge it was starting to get dark and I was becoming lost in low clouds. My GPS didn't help much because I hadn't uploaded adequate waypoints. I was assuming I would have good visibility. In the distance I could occaisionally hear voices from Kent's group, but I knew finding them before dark was unlikely. I was beginning to wonder if I was in the right location when I heard running water. I guessed correctly that this was melt water draining down the gully and I headed over the ridge for it. Soon I spotted familiar ground and knew I was where I wanted to be at the lower end of the gully. I had also gambled that I would find running water here since I had brought none with me (and no stove to melt snow). The gamble paid off. With darkness setting in I quickly scouted around for a spot to bivy. As feared, there simply was no sufficient level spot so I had to level out a spot under a large pine tree. Soon I ate a quick meal and then jumped into my bivy. It was quite comfy but wind throughout the night kept me from much sleep. I was a little slow getting going in the morning but hoped that I would have a good chance of catching Kent's group. I ate a quick breakfast and then stowed my bivy gear. Soon I was heading up the gully through sand and brush. It was tiring but I soon reached the lower snow tongue in the gully and was glad the brush and sand was behind me. Though I didn't notice it this lower portion of the snow tongue was where Kent's group had bivied. They had carved out spaces in the snow where they spent the night. Now on continuous snow it was time for crampons. After a few minutes I spotted tracks in the snow and presumed these were from Kent's group. In another half hour I had caught up with the group near where the gully tops out (the gully makes a turn to the left toward the top). This was not far from where I had to turn back before due to weather. Today however the weather was rather good except for a biting wind. After some introductions we took a short break at the top of the gully and then headed up the transition zone to the upper plateau. This transition zone consists of a moderate slope that is lightly forested (unlike the plateau above). It lies between the top of the cliff band and the upper plateau. Above the transition zone is the upper plateau. This area is quite large and it took us some time to work our way up and to the south of the summit. The expenditure of energy was substantial. Fortunately we had ideal snow all the way to the summit and thus just after noon the group one by one reached the top. This was no doubt a challenge for all involved. We returned via our same route (doing some glissading in the process) and picked up our bivy gear on the way out. Though we still had to fight with the brush in the gully (which seemed worse on the way out than it was on the way up) the sandy terrain made for a more pleasant descent. Including the time from the day before it took around 7 hours to reach the summit. The descent however took less than three. Relieved to have finally returned to our vehicles, we sped off to Lone Pine for some well earned burgers. Log Day 1 06:19pm - Left parking area 08:00pm - Bivied Day 2 06:55am - Left bivy spot 08:23am - Caught up with Ken's group 08:45am - Reached top of gully - entered transition zone 12:03pm - Reached summit 01:00pm - Left summit 03:47pm - Returned to parking area Stats Time from bivy spot to summit: 5 hrs 8 mins Time on summit: 57 mins Time from summit back to parking area: 2 hrs 47 mins (including 20 min stop to pick up bivy gear)