Monday, September 18, 2023

2023 Mt. Goddard 4b: The Wall

The rest of the group made their way down to camp around 1030, their attempt to summit a failure after hitting a snow-choked pass at 12,000 feet with a 1,000 feet to go.  We all began packing up, but then were derailed by yet another of 20 minutes or so. As soon as it ended, we hurriedly paced up our wet tents and loaded up.

Today we were headed up The Wall.



The Wall had loomed over us ever since we neared Martha Lake, a 12,000 foot rise that dominated one side of the valley facing Mt. Goddard.  The estimate from The Commissioner was that it should take us no more than one hour to scale it.


At the base we found ourselves clambering over granite avalanche scree, which transitioned into an upward climb as we created our own traversing lanes (there was no path), pulling ourselves up with poles or even sometimes grasping with our hands. In some places we started hitting and walking across small snow fields.

We were about a third of the way up when the wind and rain returned.


Re-gearing up with backpack covers and rain jackets, we continued on.  The rain did not make the hike impossible, but it did require greater care as we continued to climb up, at some point literally climbing up as if we were rock climbing.  

It was the moment that we hear the thunder boom and lightning overhead that things got exciting.


The picture is etched in my brain:  the nine of us strung out climbing up, rain whipping around us as we clambered up and everyone freezing for a moment when the thunder boomed - followed, of course, by a series of laughter, groans, and the inevitable "How could this possibly get worse?"


Somewhat surprisingly it did not:  Within a few minutes of the thunder the rain and wind disappeared, leaving us to continue to traverse in relatively silence.  At a few points, we put on micro-spikes - basically rubber slip-ons over the shoes with metal spikes, a sort of "shoe chain" - for covering the snow, which removed all slipping and sliding and unsteadiness.


For all of my concern - both for the general climb as well as my ability to make it - neither fear manifested itself; it was hardly the worst ascent I had made and I manifested no issues from any sort of altitude sickness.

The top of The Wall put us at Confusion Pass, 12,000 feet above sea level.  On top of Confusion Pass is the cleverly named Confusion Lake, so called because it is the divide between the Kings River and San Joaquin River Watersheds and streams flow to both sides from the lake.


Once again we were treated to amazing views:  behind us lay Mt. Goddard, ahead of us lay The Black Cap Wilderness.


The great part?  I can now start stories with "There I was, climbing on the side of a mountain in the wind and rain, when the lightning and thunder started..."


14 comments:

  1. I'm guessing this will end up being one of your most memorable hikes ever. Besides the views, of which "spectacular" doesn't seem to do them justice.

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    1. Leigh, it really has become one of the most memorable, all for the most unexpected of reasons: sickness, staying alone while others left, and then climbing up in the midst of a storm.

      The views were spectacular overall, but we are moving into the best ones.

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  2. Anonymous6:43 AM

    I agree with the above - those photos are wonderful ! Memorable trip indeed.

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    1. Thank you. For all of the weather "issues", it really added something to the landscape. The fact that California had a huge amount of rain and snow last year also meant that water and snow were abundant - had we gone the year before, I suspect it would not have been the same.

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  3. Nylon127:54 AM

    As the folks across the pond say..."Brilliant!"...Photos give that sense of a "top o' the world" look. Granite avalanche scree, or the results of giants bowling TB? Debris fields, thunder, lightning resulting from granite bowling balls slamming into granite pins......... :)

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    1. The Giants bowling from "The Hobbit"!

      Things like this do make me appreciate things like Tolkien's description of adventuring - on foot - across Middle Earth all the more.

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  4. At least for me, the thought that no one else in the group reaching the peak of destination would be a bit of a salve for not being able to attempt it myself.

    In all the peaks that I have bagged over the years, I can count a number of times we were racing ugly weather on the decent but I don't recall a single time when it ever had lightening when it arrived. It was always just a gentle rain that made the trail miserable to follow all the way back to the tent.

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    1. Ed, at least I did not feel I had missed something significant.

      We had a pretty wild rainstorm last year as well as we came down from Colby Pass to the Kern River - rain and wind, but no thunder and lightning. Rain and wind make for a pretty miserable hike indeed.

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  5. Speaking of Tolkien, I'm going to suggest that if you ever find a door into the mountain that is marked with elfish script, you pass it by.

    That is some beautiful landscape.

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    1. I would John, except there is this thrush cracking snails on a stone as the last light shines on Durin's Day...

      It was exceptionally scenic.

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  6. The diversity of God's creation. :) Thank you, TB.
    You all be safe and God bless.

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    1. It is indeed diverse Linda. It seems like an alien world from where I live at the moment.

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  7. TB, Your pictures do make the landscape look "otherworldly" - in the best possible way.

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    1. Thanks Becki - Honestly, there have been many comments about the pictures. It has to be the camera and the landscape; I am the same unskilled photographer I always was.

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