For the annual big backcountry climb where Caitlin drags Alistair up a rock face, we decided upon the south face of Charlotte Dome. The south face is a 12 pitch 5.8 route with ~450m of vertical.
The route:
The dome is a 16.5km, 1400m vertical hike from Roads End in Kings Canyon National park, most of which (13km) is along the pleasant Bubbs Creek Trail.
 |
| Looking up Paradise Valley while ascending into Bubbs Creek |
 |
| Bubbs Creek |
The not so pleasant bit starts when turning off the Bubbs Creek trail to ascend up the Charlotte Creek drainage. From here the trail gains 700m in 3.5km! We missed the proper start of the climbing trail, but found it within 10 minutes of walking and didn't have too much trouble following it the rest of the way up.
 |
| A little after the start of the climbing trail - looking east up Bubbs Creek valley |
 |
| Climbing trail was a bit technical |
 |
| Looking up at Charlotte Dome from the approach |
We climbed past Charlotte Dome to get to the (perfect) camping location.The campsite was large, super flat, 30 seconds from a creek, and had a firepit ready to go!
 |
| Our wonderful campsite to the north of Charlotte Dome. |
We went to bed super early (thanks october!) and were up again at 530 to get ready for the climb. We left the campsite around 620 and were at the base of the climb at 7.
 |
| Early morning light on Brewer, North Guard and Farquhar |
 |
| Charlotte Dome in the morning light |
We started up the climb at 715, and just as we were about to head up, the second and only other party that day, showed up. We had finished our first pitch when they started their day up the climb. We were more or less the same pace as them throughout the day.
 |
| Views east from partway up the climb |
 |
| Looking down at the other party on the climb that day |
There was a decent bit of route-finding on the way up, as there are many places where you can really go your own way. We mostly stuck to the book, but ended up extending our climb up the furrows, and adding a pitch somewhere along the way (13 total for us).
 |
| Panorama from the summit |
 |
| Caitlin happy to be be at the top of Charlotte Dome |
We summited around 430 and were back at our campsite a little before 6... unfortunately that meant we were more or less descending in the dark after the time it took to tear apart and pack up our camp.
 |
| Light was fading fast as we were tearing down camp |
We had a little bit of light at the start of the descent from camp, and during that time managed to avoid the bushes and stick mostly to the cairned trail. There was a point at which we were supposed to traverse across a rock face, and we did not, and we subsequently spent 30 mins stumbling over manzanita and spikey bushes trying to get back onto the trail at a lower point. It was not fun at all... but we eventually made it back onto the trail and didn't have too many issues from that point on. It was a huge relief to hit Bubbs Creek trail, and honestly felt like the night was over, as it was all cruisey downhill from there. My headlamp died right as we got to the south fork of the kings river, but at that point we were only 3 miserable sandy kilometers away from the car. We made it out at 1130, and stayed the night in sentinel rather than trying to make it home. Was late for work the next day but...?
No comments:
Post a Comment