Climbing; “Big Willy” aka Mt. Williamson
Climbing Mount Williamson. 14,334’. Sierra Nevada, CA. April 15-17, 2024.
The idea to climb one of California’s snowy peaks actually came to be while in an environment that could not be any different than said peaks, the 100+ degree Colorado desert of Southeastern California. In October of 2023, I was working with old friends Jackson and Max on the Colorado River when the interest in climbing a big mountain together came about. We all tended to disappear in the Summer months, so we thought it would be fun to try and tackle something in the winter and spring, before summer jobs and other commitments swept us away. First it was some Mexican volcanoes in December, and that fell apart. Then it was some ski mountaineers peaks in Colorado in winter… also fell apart and the dream faded. Time went by and it wasn’t until Max and I reconnected in Joshua Tree in early March of 2024. One night while sitting at a local bar in Twenty-Nine Palms after a day of rock climbing, we decided it would be Mount Williamson in mid-April… just a few weeks away. Next thing we knew, Jackson was coming in from Colorado to recert his WFR… so dates were adjusted and we began coordinating the trip.
The 14th of April was there before we knew it and all of the sudden the three of us were in my living room outside of Bishop, CA. With a window view looking south to the Palisades Crest, and my newly-rigged-full-house speakers blasting some CCR, we began laying out a bunch of gear and food for our climb. Ice axes, crampons, snow shoes, a rope! Things were now getting real for my two buddies who have had not much mountaineering experience to this point, yet they were stoked and ready for anything. And so was I! I got us through our gear, clothing, and food checks, and then we packed up and hit the road. That night would be spent at the edge of the desert at the trailhead of Symmes Creek, 8000 feet below our objective… the summit of Mt Williamson.
April 15th. We woke with the sun to a typical California day, blue skies that were getting hotter by the minute. After a quick brekkie, we hit the trail. Our starting elevation here was about 6300’. Within the first mile we hit the massive washouts from the big winter the year before. We had to pick our way through what felt like recent glacier deposition until we reached our first set of switch backs that would begin pulling us out of the Symmes drainage. Around 8000’ our trail was completely lost to snow, so out came the snow shoes. The next 1000’ of climbing was rather laborious with snowshoes sinking in soft snow. We took turns breaking trail. Eventually we gained the Symmes saddle and got our first view of Big Willy. It seemed massive, and still so far away. But the good news was that this south facing aspect that we were now on was now snow free, so we had some good miles of trail walking until hitting consistent snow again around 10,000’. This was all fine as we wanted to camp somewhere around Anvil Camp which was only a few hundred feet higher to go. However, the day was late and the spring snowpack was thawing, so we had to trudge through rather deep snow that even the snowshoes couldn’t keep us afloat on. All the while I was getting more and more nervous about climbing conditions the next morning, just hoping for an overnight freeze to make for easier travel the next day. Time would tell. For now we set camp on an old morraine above Anvil camp overlooking the Owens Valley. While dinner was boiling, we prepped ourselves for the next day. Water, crampons adjustments, plan for gear, it all was there. The sunset was perfect. Pondering out on the desert we all secretly wondered what the following day would hold.
April 16th. Alpine start for the boys today!! A cold, fresh wind was blowing on us at 3AM. We strapped our crampons onto cold feet that fortunately stood atop a firm snow surface. The going would be good, we just got to move while the cold is on our side! With some headlamp navigation I got us to the base of Shepherd pass. Here we donned the rope for the short, but steep climb up an icy and snow covered pass. At sunrise, and 12,000’, we crossed the threshold into Kings Canyon National Park. Mt Tyndall in our immediate view, Williamson to the South… but out to the West the sun was rising on the Great Western Divide. Always an intriguing sub-range out to the west there, always so enticing… one day soon I’ll get out there… but this day was not it.
We took a good break here on top of the pass. We took stock of our energy levels, watched a bit of the sunrise, high-fived! And then set sights for Williamson. The travel was easy here as we crossed big snowfields from the top of Shepherd pass out and through the Williamson bowl. Times like these make you grateful for snow when you know what the travel would be like without it!
09AM brought us to the base of the West Ridge at 12,600’. Almost 2000’ of rock and snow sat above us, but we had most of the day still ahead. At this point I started testing the snowpack a bit more with quick hand pits and an isolated ECT. Much to my chagrin I began realizing that the snowpack at this height was feeling more like a winter snowpack than a spring snowpack, and it had me wishing we brought skis. However, we did not! And the hasty ECT test results seemed in our favor… so we went! I set the boot pack most of the way, and by noon we were at 14,000’ just below the summit plateau with only a short chimney-like pitch of 3rd class, but icy climbing. With good mountain boots on and a trusty ice axe, I set up for a solo of this 30 feet of ice and rock, and next thing I knew I was poking my head up and over to the summit plateau. The wind was ripping through this little notch here, and made it tough to drop the rope back down to Jackson and Max. Once they tied in, I wrapped a boulder up top and got them on belay, then they climbed up this short but tricky section. They both did great and before we knew it the three of us were standing on the summit by 1pm. The views were killer… so killer that Jackson’s glasses snapped just from being there! The cold, probably? Well, that added some spice to the descent but really proved not much of a problem in the end.
After a 30-minute snack and photo break, we turned back and began the 4-mile and 4000’ descent back to camp. Once I lowered Jackson and Max down the chimney, we regrouped to assess conditions for our descent. Shortly in, after demonstrating the plunge step, Max started sliding down the chute. He made it 7-feet before the heavy, thick and wet snow stopped him in his track. A scary moment for him, but I had us all roped up still and I had him on a boot-axe anchor before he got any momentum. Fortunately the snow did all of the work for me, and it left Jackson and I laughing a bit.
After this bit of spice, we were quick to find our rhythm in our plunge steps and the rope came off. Before we knew it we were back at the base of the West Ridge in 45 minutes. A 3-hour ascent that we descended in 45-minutes. Feels good? Or demoralizing? Whatever the answer we were stoked to be safe and away from almost all of the hazards of the day. We collected our stashed goods and high-tailed it for Shepherd pass. The boys figured we were in the clear, but I still kept driving us as I knew that the top of Shepherd pass could ice up once the sun descended far enough to the West. Well, the sun descended far enough to the West, and it iced up! So, crampons and axes out again, but fortunately we all felt comfortable enough not to pull out the rope. We took our time navigating the convex roll into the shepherd basin and eventually we were down. Here is when the the hooting and hollering really began. Since it was late in the day at this point all of the snow we traveled on top of in the morning had melted down and we were trudging through it now. Out came the snowshoes and one by one we made it to camp… stoke was at an all-time high. We made it back at 4pm, just in time for dinner! A 13-hour day… miso soup never tasted so good.
After a nice dinner, we began the banter of three comrades who just completed something that seemed unobtainable just 24-hours before. We laughed about all of it, and how fun the whole experience was… but of course we eventually drifted our conversation towards what we would eat upon exit. Our minds set on the roadside taco truck down in Independence. Just 4000’ feet of snow and trail back to the desert.
April 17th. Up and out! We retraced our steps to exit, but this time taking us half the time as we were gaining oxygen by each step and we were almost exclusively descending. By 4pm that day the three of us were destroying street tacos in plastic seats at a roadside table while Williamson watched over us.
We had a great and successful trip, and I hope to do more with this crew sometime again soon. Maybe those Mexican peaks will pull us together again… I have some unfinished business down there…
Thanks for reading! If you are interested in climbing Williamson, Tyndall, or anything similar, please reach out!
See you in the mountains,
Larry
