Mt Williamson via North Fork of Bairs Creek hike

Mt Williamson 14,380 feet is the second highest mountain in both the Sierra Nevada range and the state of California. It's much harder than Whitney and have been on my to do list for quite some time. The standard ascent route is from the west side via Shepherd's Pass, involving 10,500 ft of elevation gain and 27 miles round trip. With top of the mountain still covered in snow we opted for direct and shorter route via North Fork of Bairs Creek, only 10 miles round trip, but there was no established trail in this area. Unfortunately, our car could not make it to trail head, crossing creek with deep swift water did not look very promising, which added another 2 miles each way.

First glimpse of the route

Bairs Creek

Waterfalls

Creek crossing

We camped at 10,000 ft just below the snow line. There was no good camping spots at that altitude and we have to flatten and move rocks around to make some.

 Grand Cirque

Flying off

Mt. Williamson register

Looking north

Mt Tyndall

Mt. Whitney via mountaineer's route hike

After hiking Mt. Russell previous day I was not sure I can make it, but at least I gave it a try. Started around 2:00 AM from Upper Boy scouts lake I made a good progress via Mountaineering route topping out around 7:00 AM. Direct route from the notch looked sketchy with mix of ice and rocks, so I went around, maybe next time I will check it out.

Iceberg lake still under the snow

Mt. Russell

At the top of Mt. Whitney

Mount Russell hike

Our ambitious plan was to camp at Upper Boy scouts lake a tackle both Mount Russell and Whitney in 2 days. Without much of acclimatization that was quite hard, but never the less we did it. I was definitely impressed by Russell 14,094 feet high. We use excellent narrow east ridge, which reminded me of Matthes Crest traverse in Yosemite, but larger with better views.

Sunrise

Tulainyo Lake

East ridge of Mt. Russell

Mt. Whitney

True west peak

San Gorgonio via South Fork hike

Overnight hike to San Gorgonio was a perfect opportunity to learn winter mountaineering skills for some of us. We camped at "not so" Dry Lake and tackle one of the snow couloirs, probably around 30 degrees.

Sunset

Our bivy spot

Dry lake

Snow started