Trip Report
A Mini Geezer Fest! 3 Old Friends On Conness.
Tuesday September 20, 2016 12:46pm
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Credit: survival
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It all started back in early May, when I reconnected with Mel Johnston and John Rich at Smith Rock.

I've known both of these guys for 40 years, since I was about 16 years old!

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Credit: survival
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John and I climbed Cathedral Peak together back in June, and had chatted about doing something else this season.
In August he asked about doing something further south, but I only had a small window in September before taking my daughter to UC Santa Barbara for school. So we settled on the West Ridge of Mt. Conness. Mel came along from Oregon to do a number of other things with John, so the September challenge was on!

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Credit: survival
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I had been in from the East three times before, for the Harding Route and the North Ridge. I could be persuaded, but as I told John, I didn't want to "climb the whole damn mountain to get to the base!"
So we all agreed to pack it in to Upper Young Lakes and bivy before heading up to the ridge proper.

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We had a little bit of everything! Clouds, sun, rain, heat, hail, snow, snail and WIND!!
But old guys are stubborn, and don't want to repeat long approaches, so we weren't easily dissuaded and endeavored to persevere!

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Credit: survival
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Once again I apologize for the cell phone TR, but as one of my old Master Sergeants used to say "You brought what you brung gimper!"

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Credit: survival
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Credit: survival
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Credit: survival
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Credit: survival
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Credit: survival
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Back in a bit with a slew of photos!



  Trip Report Views: 2,896
survival
About the Author
survival is a big wall climber from A Token of My Extreme.

Comments
survival

Big Wall climber
Terrapin Station
Author's Reply  Sep 20, 2016 - 01:29pm PT

































JEleazarian

Trad climber
Fresno CA
  Sep 20, 2016 - 01:32pm PT
Fun! A good trip report makes me wish I were there doing the route. This is a good trip report. Thanks.

John
survival

Big Wall climber
Terrapin Station
Author's Reply  Sep 20, 2016 - 01:58pm PT
Thanks JEl!





















SteveW

Trad climber
The state of confusion
  Sep 20, 2016 - 02:11pm PT
Neat stuff, Bruce! Did you get your bear canister for this?
Any bears???
Oh, and what stove did you eventually use?
survival

Big Wall climber
Terrapin Station
Author's Reply  Sep 20, 2016 - 02:25pm PT
Steve! Yes, we had 2 bear canisters between 3 of us. John has one, and they're super easy to rent at the wilderness permit office.
We used John's MSR stove. I didn't buy a jetboil yet.
















Ghost

climber
A long way from where I started
  Sep 20, 2016 - 02:47pm PT
What a disreputable crew! I wish I'd been along -- I'd have fit right in.

Say hi to Mel for me. It was great to meet him at Smith.
survival

Big Wall climber
Terrapin Station
Author's Reply  Sep 20, 2016 - 03:11pm PT
Ghost, you weren't invited because your chili's outperformed mine this year. One of the fat headed horses got to my big Ghost chili plant just when it started to kick ass. Par for the season...
this just in

climber
Justin Ross from North Fork
  Sep 20, 2016 - 03:13pm PT
Great pics, on the list.
survival

Big Wall climber
Terrapin Station
Author's Reply  Sep 20, 2016 - 03:20pm PT




















Getting close!




























Ezra Ellis

Trad climber
North wet, and Da souf
  Sep 20, 2016 - 04:38pm PT
Awesomeness abounds Bruce!!
SC seagoat

Trad climber
Santa Cruz, Moab, Bozeman, the ocean, or ?
  Sep 20, 2016 - 05:25pm PT
Wow! Just wow

Susan
survival

Big Wall climber
Terrapin Station
Author's Reply  Sep 20, 2016 - 05:48pm PT
Random shot!! Look what a cool Deadhead from Supertopo sent me!



































drljefe

climber
El Presidio San Augustin del Tucson
  Sep 20, 2016 - 07:59pm PT
Garcias

Great photos, totally envious.
Ed H

Trad climber
Santa Rosa, CA
  Sep 20, 2016 - 11:09pm PT
Clouds, sun, rain, heat, hail, snow, snail and WIND!!

Nice work boys!
phylp

Trad climber
Upland, CA
  Sep 21, 2016 - 10:37am PT
It's great to see old friends climbing together!
Mid-September - the start of the iffy weather season. It can be perfect or it can be rainy and cold. Glad you were prepared.
Thanks for the lovely photos.
steelmnkey

climber
Vision man...ya gotta have vision...
  Sep 21, 2016 - 12:37pm PT
Bravo!
The heck with the bears...
How many beer canisters did you have?
survival

Big Wall climber
Terrapin Station
Author's Reply  Sep 21, 2016 - 01:13pm PT
Thanks everyone!! Steelmonkey, none. Coming from 1,000ft elevation and being out of shape I tried to keep the weight down...

I carried the damn beret up there though, you better believe I was putting it on!










The wind was howling and moaning out of this notch!



survival

Big Wall climber
Terrapin Station
Author's Reply  Sep 21, 2016 - 01:17pm PT









Reilly

Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
  Sep 21, 2016 - 01:17pm PT
I understand the out of shape bit but please explain this concept of
having fun while climbing lung busting peaks? Did I miss that memo?
survival

Big Wall climber
Terrapin Station
Author's Reply  Sep 21, 2016 - 01:27pm PT
Who said it was fun? Hahahahaaaa!!






Reilly

Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
  Sep 21, 2016 - 01:31pm PT
My bad, I guess those grins were really grimaces? Carry on!
Ghost

climber
A long way from where I started
  Sep 21, 2016 - 02:04pm PT
Reilly, you sport weenie, if you had ever done anything other than clip bolts in a gym, you'd know the basic underlying principle of all other forms of climbing:

It don't have to be fun, to be fun!
skcreidc

Social climber
SD, CA
  Sep 21, 2016 - 05:39pm PT
Nice! Enjoying the mountains with good friends. What's not to like. Thanks for putting this up.
bluering

Trad climber
Santa Clara, CA
  Sep 21, 2016 - 06:08pm PT
Full value!!!

That's fun, friends, free-climbs.
splitclimber

climber
Sonoma County
  Sep 22, 2016 - 06:08pm PT
right on survival. great time of year to tag that peak
survival

Big Wall climber
Terrapin Station
Author's Reply  Sep 22, 2016 - 07:15pm PT
Fritz

Social climber
Choss Creek, ID
  Sep 22, 2016 - 09:03pm PT
Survival! Another Gneiss & Granitic trip report.

I do really enjoy your trip reports & there have not been nearly enough of them lately. Please apply yourself to taking more trips.

Looks like a fine adventure with old friends too!

(Any prehistoric women up there?)
yanqui

climber
Balcarce, Argentina
  Sep 23, 2016 - 03:37am PT
A geezer in a green beret on Conness. Just what I was looking for in a TR!
survival

Big Wall climber
Terrapin Station
Author's Reply  Sep 23, 2016 - 08:15am PT
Thanks guys!
Fritz, only one sighting. I'll post it up in a minute.











Rick A

climber
Boulder, Colorado
  Sep 24, 2016 - 12:51pm PT
Nicely done!

Conness was on my list this summer, but it didn't happen.

Somehow, sparkling Domes with short approaches always took priority!

Maybe next year.



NutAgain!

Trad climber
https://nutagain.org
  Sep 24, 2016 - 05:34pm PT
Nice! I haven't been there in a while, but Conness is one of my favorites. It's always nice to be in beautiful places with old friends.
survival

Big Wall climber
Terrapin Station
Author's Reply  Sep 26, 2016 - 11:38am PT
Thanks for the support everyone!
It's good to know that us geezers, gals, kids, sport weenies, posers and part timers of all stripes can get noticed here in our own little online mountain magazine!

So many of these pictures are much better after clicking to see the enlarged version. I didn't realize that cell phone pix would get that much larger! Some are not great, from trying to zoom too far. But I have decided it's worth posting a few more. Hope you enjoy!















































































melski

Trad climber
bytheriver
  Sep 26, 2016 - 02:19pm PT
The dream lives. I think we broke a few records on this trip buddy. .hi ghost ..thanks for the words of wisdom.you've been there .this trip will help me get through till next season .we'll all be comparing lists. Chow for now
melski

Trad climber
bytheriver
  Sep 26, 2016 - 03:24pm PT
Ps. Your timing on the trigger was perfect..trouble ahead trouble behind. Guess you know that notion just crossed my mind..
the Fet

climber
Tu-Tok-A-Nu-La
  Sep 26, 2016 - 03:29pm PT
Fantastic TR Survival. In the SuperTopo Climbing News email for sure!
survival

Big Wall climber
Terrapin Station
Author's Reply  Sep 27, 2016 - 08:13am PT
Thanks Fet!

Melski!!! So good to be up high with you, as always. FLASHBACK to spending the night in a snowstorm on top of Monkeyface, in 1977, just because we could.
Good times!
SC seagoat

Trad climber
Santa Cruz, Moab, Bozeman, the ocean, or ?
  Sep 27, 2016 - 08:48am PT
Gee...it keeps getting better. !!!


Susan
Alpinista55

Mountain climber
Portland, OR
  Oct 3, 2016 - 03:03pm PT
Thanks for the High Sierra awesomness, Bruce. Looks like a fantastic trip!
Vitaliy M.

Mountain climber
San Francisco
  Oct 3, 2016 - 03:21pm PT
Thanks for sharing. Geezer Patrol or Geezer attack would be a great name for a new route.... :)
survival

Big Wall climber
Terrapin Station
Author's Reply  Oct 4, 2016 - 06:00am PT
Thanks very much guys and gals.
Wow, a note from one of my original heroes (Jay alpinista) and a current one (V-man)!
Hey Jay, maybe you can do a TR on your high country backpacking trip this summer! Thanks for taking us sailing!!
Delhi Dog

climber
Good Question...
  Oct 4, 2016 - 06:34am PT
Fun stuff!
I did my own geezer trip a couple summers ago on Conness.
Glad we too opted for the Young Lakes approach as it added a whole lot more time to just be in the area.

That lake is a bust for fishing though:-)
What's the story with the snake?
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