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ryankelly
Trad climber
el portal
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Topic Author's Original Post - Nov 12, 2010 - 05:57pm PT
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Thinking of checking out the NW Arete of Mount Clark this weekend.
Any beta on the approach via LYV and getting on the proper ridge after the trail passes Bunnel Point?
Thanks in advance,
Ryan
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Gene
Social climber
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Nov 12, 2010 - 06:12pm PT
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Ryan,
Can't remember the cut-off point from the JMT. But I do remember that the creek drainages running west of Clark shown on the USGS topo are not accurate. I suggest you return the way you came.
Have fun.
g
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ryankelly
Trad climber
el portal
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Topic Author's Reply - Nov 12, 2010 - 07:57pm PT
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Hey Gene,
I've been looking at the Half Dome and Merced Peak 7.5 minute quads. Are these the ones you were talking about?
Thanks for the good word.
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Gene
Social climber
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Nov 12, 2010 - 08:14pm PT
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Ryan,
i got them all on CD now so I can't tell you which version is whacked. I don't recall a problem with the published maps going from the JMT to Clark. You might wanna check out the Mt. Clark page at summitpost.org.
Again, have fun.
g
Going to/from Clark westerly is a bitch. DMT?
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Slakkey
Big Wall climber
From Back to Big Wall Baby
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Nov 12, 2010 - 08:34pm PT
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I am not 100 % sure but I believe it is the 15 Minute Quad Map as it relates to this area that is whacked but best to verify that.
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Adamame
Big Wall climber
Santa Cruz
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Nov 12, 2010 - 10:44pm PT
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I approached from Starr King when I did it, but I would imagine that cutting off after Bunnell Point would be better with the recent snows. Given my experience in the area I would follow the trail around Bunnell Point and then cutoff the trail sometime after the last witchback and then contour around and up the eastside of the rock, then follow the ridge that leads in a SSE direction from Bunnell Point towards Mt. Clark. Aim towards the mellow slopes that come off the west side off the ridge a good 1.5-2 miles from where the ridge meets the summit and not too far to the east that you end up in the cirque to the north of the peak, which looks pretty hard to gain the ridge from. Definitley gain the ridge as soon as possible and follow it for what seems like miles. It is pretty cool the whole way. The route defintely felt like a classic sierra class 3 sandbag, with the mandatory 5.6 moves and all being quite exposed and exciting. One of my favorite Sierra Ridges ever! This way would avoid the problem area on the 7.5 min maps. The error being in the path that a few of the creeks take on the west side of the clark range. Those inaccuracies are not problematic when descending but would be if you were ascending towards the peak and trying to pick which creek to ascend towards the peak. Have fun.
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ryankelly
Trad climber
el portal
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Topic Author's Reply - Nov 14, 2010 - 08:12pm PT
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So we hiked out there and got totally shut down by snowy bushwhacking through what I think was Mt. Alder. The snowy talus fields were pretty slow too and our turn around time was 1 pm. We turned around at 8,000 ft, only around 3,000' short of our intended goal, and then walked the 8 miles back to the Valley so we could get pizza at the Carabiner.
It was a stunning day in the Sierra.
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Gene
Social climber
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Nov 14, 2010 - 08:16pm PT
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Glad you had a good day. Which way did you go?
g
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ryankelly
Trad climber
el portal
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Topic Author's Reply - Nov 14, 2010 - 08:20pm PT
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Mist Trail to LYV and along the Merced River and up the switch backs past Bunnell. Then we crossed a creek and started heading roughly south.
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Gene
Social climber
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Nov 14, 2010 - 08:21pm PT
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Thanks
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ß Î Ø T Ç H
climber
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Nov 14, 2010 - 10:25pm PT
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Rad. You gonna try again?
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LuckyPink
climber
the last bivy
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Nov 15, 2010 - 01:09am PT
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bump for good effort.. (trouble posting hope it doesn't show up twice)
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mouse from merced
Trad climber
The finger of fate, my friends, is fickle.
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Nov 12, 2012 - 06:00pm PT
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^^^^Bump in case anyone likes this sort of time in the Park.^^^^
this is not rocket science, finding the way into Mt. Clark. Judging from reports, the snow is going to look this way through Thanksgiving. I cetainly hope so. It's deserted in the LYV and the cables are down, the lakes are icy in the a.m. and it's freezing in the shadows of the camp, so get off your ass and move out.
Jim, my rocket science friend, climbed the NW solo in the eighties. We are working up his slides so we can do that TR. Here are a sample.
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Vitaliy M.
Mountain climber
San Francisco
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Nov 12, 2012 - 06:10pm PT
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It's a beautiful peak for sure. Did it last year as a day-hike. Up the arete.
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Adamame
climber
Santa Cruz
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Nov 12, 2012 - 06:20pm PT
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Its so much bigger then it looks in the last photo. Real Sierra class 4. I ran into fixed pins up there. Sure sign you're off route, or maybe on?
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graniteclimber
Trad climber
The Illuminati -- S.P.E.C.T.R.E. Division
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Nov 12, 2012 - 06:39pm PT
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Edit: Thanks QITNL
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Sheets
Trad climber
Livermore, CA
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Nov 12, 2012 - 06:41pm PT
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I day-hiked it early this year by going up the LYV.
Going around Bunnell point you eventually leave the trail and cut cross country up and onto a ridge which is followed to the NW ridge of Clark.
The crux of the trip for me was backtracking this cross country part, I wasted an hour or so trying to get down into the right drainage.
Kinda a long ways to go for a bit of a ridge scramble, sorta enjoyed the trip through LYV more than the ridge since I had never gone further than the H.D. trail before.
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Inner City
Trad climber
East Bay
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Nov 12, 2012 - 07:03pm PT
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Great effort trying to get up there this time of year. I love that part of Yosemite. Enjoyed doing that ridge, but must concur with earlier poster that the obligatory 5.6 moves on a "Class 4" were encountered.
Such a beautiful peak!
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HighTraverse
Trad climber
Bay Area
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Nov 12, 2012 - 07:40pm PT
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I've only seen Mt Clark from a distance. It's a much more complex and interesting peak than I thought.
Has anyone got closeup shots of the NE and E aspects?
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paul roehl
Boulder climber
california
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Nov 12, 2012 - 09:10pm PT
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A favorite peak... very easy, very beautiful and strangely isolated.
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ß Î Ø T Ç H
Boulder climber
bouldering
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Nov 19, 2012 - 11:36am PT
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LYV approach overview (not my foto)
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hailman
Trad climber
Ventura, CA
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Jul 16, 2018 - 06:43pm PT
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I've only seen Mt Clark from a distance. It's a much more complex and interesting peak than I thought.
Has anyone got closeup shots of the NE and E aspects?
This might be what you're looking for:
I completely agree, this mountain seems to change shape every which way you look at it.
We climbed the NW Arete and descended the class two terrain toward Peak 10987. This descent route worked out really nice as the terrain ended up being more sandy and open than the long lower section of the NW Arete.
What an absolutely burly outing from Happy Isles. I wouldn't go into this one for the rock climbing, that's for sure. Something like north ridge of Conness has better rock and way less hiking. Most of Mt Clark's NW Arete is just boulder hopping anyway.
But...that said, the total experience was awesome. Something very special about spending time in the Yosemite backcountry. And Clark does have a killer pitch or two of class three knife edge leading to the summit. We brought a very light rack and rope and made good use of it gaining the ridge. Just a few fifth class moves, honestly I was glad to have the rope as the rock was a bit grainy in places.
Here's some descent beta:
As for the cross country travel from the Merced River trail to our campsite at Lake 9235...I'll leave that for others to figure out. We tried two ways 1) bushwhacking hell and 2) cliffed out slabs. What an adventure.
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Scole
Trad climber
Zapopan
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Jul 17, 2018 - 09:37am PT
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I climbed it in the winter with F.B. III. We started out with a hot lap to Happy Isles at 2 AM after the Ahwahnee dining room closed. The approach up the mist trail was in crampons, then straight up onto the plateau above. We cached gear several times, and by the time we reached the peak we were down to one axe and a pair of crampons each. The ropes, tent, second tool and hardware were all left behind to shave weight. We climbed the N.W. Arete.
It was an outstanding climb, and one of my most memorable mountain experiences
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