June 24 Mcloughlin
6/15/09
1905
2
After a long night of rest Jon and I were on our way to the Mt McLoughlin summit trail head. After packing up our gear and eating some quick snacks we were on the trail head around 10:00 with hopes that a later starting time would allow the higher elevated corn to soften. The McLoughlin trail was snow free for the first three miles then the occasional patch all the way up to the southern ridge.
Once we arrived at the southern ridge we finally got our first view of the summit proper and with an easy 3rd class scramble we found our way up to the high point of McLoughlin. The northern face of McLoughlin has over 3000 feet of exposure, couloirs and wide open faces so there were quite a few options. I chose to drop into the NE face which had some exposure for the first 500 feet then 1000 vert couloirs before entering the wide open apron for the final 1500 feet.
The eastern face of McLoughlin
Looking at the options on the North face
My line on the NE face
After riding down the NE face I down climbed through the dense dry forest an additional 1000 feet before reaching a trail that would take me to Four mile lake. The trail had received flood damage from earlier in the season so I was force to ford the creek multiple times through water ranging from ankle to knee deep. Mosquitoes hadnt been a problem up in the alpine but unfortunately they were swarming around the multiple lakes I crossed along the way forcing me to bundle up in my coat trying not to expose any of my skin. Once arriving at four mile lake I to hiked 3.5 miles back to the trailhead were Jons truck was waiting.
Once we arrived at the southern ridge we finally got our first view of the summit proper and with an easy 3rd class scramble we found our way up to the high point of McLoughlin. The northern face of McLoughlin has over 3000 feet of exposure, couloirs and wide open faces so there were quite a few options. I chose to drop into the NE face which had some exposure for the first 500 feet then 1000 vert couloirs before entering the wide open apron for the final 1500 feet.
The eastern face of McLoughlin
Looking at the options on the North face
My line on the NE face
After riding down the NE face I down climbed through the dense dry forest an additional 1000 feet before reaching a trail that would take me to Four mile lake. The trail had received flood damage from earlier in the season so I was force to ford the creek multiple times through water ranging from ankle to knee deep. Mosquitoes hadnt been a problem up in the alpine but unfortunately they were swarming around the multiple lakes I crossed along the way forcing me to bundle up in my coat trying not to expose any of my skin. Once arriving at four mile lake I to hiked 3.5 miles back to the trailhead were Jons truck was waiting.
Nice work Kyle -- you've been busy.
Nice job! I skied the NE face last year on almost the same date and there was a lot more snow.
I weaved through the rock towers and exited L, a few hundred feet below where your first photo was taken. It was a bit of a struggle to relocate the climbers' trail.
I weaved through the rock towers and exited L, a few hundred feet below where your first photo was taken. It was a bit of a struggle to relocate the climbers' trail.
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