Mt Sill Sept 19, 2015
On Saturday, Sept 19, 2015 I summitted Mt. Sill (14153').
After not hiking for two months, the mountains were calling, and I went.
Leaving San Diego Friday at 8 PM, I wasn't feeling very motivated: tired, out of shape, and the others who were going on this hike all bailed.
I stopped at Wal-Mart in Victorville for hiking snacks and found the most incredible Lego set - and it was on clearance. This was the little pick-me-up I needed.
I reached the trailhead at 3 AM, slept in my car for 3 hours, and hit the trail at 710 AM. Deer hunting season started today as well, there were a few hunters with guns, something I've never seen in person before. Dragging a dead deer down a trail doesn't sound fun. And they probably think climbing 14ers sounds insane.
The weather was warm, with cloudless (and smokeless) blue, sunny skies.
Based on my lack of conditioning the past two months, as well as my unprepared mini-bivy on Williamson, I decided to bring a full bivy kit - sack, pad, and 0 degree bag. This extra weight in my backpack was unwelcome, but I wanted to link Sill and Polemonium, and I didn't think I'd be able to complete both as a dayhike.
The well-defined trail along the North Fork of Big Pine Creek travels through some amazing scenery as it passes by three turqoise lakes and stunning vistas in every direction. Without a doubt the most beautiful approach I've experienced in the Sierras. It felt nice to be on a fast trail rather than the typical cross-country routes I subject myself to.
From Sam Mack Meadow, I crossed over the creek and up the switchbacks on the ridge leading down from Mt Gayley's northwest flank. The well-defined trail ends here and turns to a well-ducked/cairned boulder-hopping scree slog.
After lugging my heavy pack up to 13000', I decided to ditch the bivy, pad, and bag in the moraine just before the receeding Palisade Glacier. I did not want to scramble up to Glacier Pass and the summit with that weight on my back. At this point, I felt it was too late in the day to link Pol (and I was exhausted), so I downgraded my objective to just topping out on Sill.
I mistakenly thought Glacier Pass was around the next bump in the ridgeline, so I put on my helmet, crampons, and ice axe, walked about 10 minutes up the glacier before checking my map and realizing I went too far. I always make a couple of routefinding blunders. Crampons and ice axe were completely unnecessary for this hike as the glacier has receeded so much that one can skirt around Gayley and up Glacier Pass without getting on ice. Also, the north ("L") couloir was melted out.
From the Sill-Apex saddle, the difficult, exposed class 3-4 scrambling begins. Luckily I've been spending a fair amount of time in the climbing gym lately, which has lessened my fear of heights and improved my climbing. I picked a poor route and made things harder for myself than necessary. I was very worried about downclimbing this section. After gaining the southwest ridge, the descriptions I've read call for enjoyable, low-exposure, class 3 scrambling. Again, I picked a poor route and made things harder for myself here as well. The summit views were incredible, but I wasn't feeling well (again due to poor nutritioning). Apparently the summit box had been stolen, so the registers were in a nalgene bottle. I stayed on top for 15 minutes, then headed back down - this time finding much easier scrambles down. I threw up at the top and a couple more times on the descent. I really need to eat more.
Two brothers signed the register before me - they started at 214 AM and got to the top at 749 AM - a blazingly fast 5.5 hour ascent. They were going for the Sill-Thunderbolt traverse and apparently completed it that night.
By the time I got to the bottom of the couloir, it was time to put on a headlight to descend Glacier Pass.
It took me about 10-15 minutes to find where I stashed my bivy gear, then I continued boulder-hopping down the moraine for a couple more hours before exhaustion set in. Around 12300 feet, I found the flattest rock I could, which was a foot too short, but I layed out my sleeping gear and promptly passed out around 10 PM. I had to either prop my legs up or sleep in a lateral position with my legs bent. Every hour I would wake up and readjust myself. The tempratures were mild, I kept my head out of the sack and occasinally glanced at the passing constellations.
I slept in and woke up around 7 AM to another clear, sunny day. I slowly packed up my bivy gear and began trudging down the talus. I was still feeling tired and unmotivated to scramble over these boulders. As the ducks appeared more frequently and a trail appeared, I began to wake up and my pace quickened. My descent down the switchbacks to Sam Mack and the remainder of the trail went pretty quickly. I soaked in some more amazing views and enjoyed the trail and talking to other hikers going up and down. I reached the trailhead just before noon and dipped my feet in the creek before heading to the #1 rated restaurant on Yelp: Copper Top BBQ in Big Pine for a delicious pulled pork sandwich.
Mt. Sill Timesheet
0710 - Start
0840 - Ranger cabin
0938 - First Lake
1010 - Third Lake
1140 - Sam Mack Meadow
1325 - Gayley shoulder, Palisade Glacier comes into view
1600 - Bottom of L Couloir (North Couloir)
1633 - Sill-Apex saddle
1730 - Summit!
1745 - Depart summit
1902 - Sill-Apex saddle
1923 - Bottom of L Couloir (North Couloir)
2200-0700 - Bivy in moraine field
0745 - Depart bivy site
0755 - Gayley shoulder, Palisade Glacier disappears from view
0915 - Sam Mack Meadow
0955 - Third Lake
1014 - First Lake
1052 - Ranger cabin
1150 - Return to car
Early view to the Palisade Crest
I love Sierra water
Looking up the North Fork drainage
First Lake
Temple Crag
Temple Crag overlooking Second Lake
Between Third Lake and Sam Mack Meadow
Sam Mack Meadow
Me in Sam Mack
Lakes 1-3
Palisade Crest and Glacier
Skirting along the side of Mt Gayley
View from Sill-Apex saddle
View of Apex
Summit register (shoutouts to Snacking Bear!)
View to Glacier Pass and foot of glacier
Summit selfie
Sunset
Sunset over the crest
Morning
I love this view
New toy!
Pulled Pork
