Cornell and a few others

[greatshaitan]

I have attempted to climb Cornell peak 3 times before. First time nerves got to me and couldn't finish the final 20 ft to the final summit, second time we got shut out with snow, third time high winds and fog. My buddy and I started on the second tram up, took the Sid Davis and were quickly on the slopes of Cornell.



After getting to the peak register we donned helmets, harnesses and roped up. I lead and climbed to the top above the large crack with chockstone. This was as far as I have gotten before as the last 20ft or so is very exposed. We had about 30mph sustained winds but I decided to go for it. Placed a couple pieces of protection and finally made the tippy top of Cornell.



My buddy Patrick would make it to above the chockstone but not the final to the top and the winds+exposure would shake the nerves of anyone. Here he is heading back down from the summit register.


Back down and through round valley, spigot is bone dry.


We sumitted a few other peaks and had a great time! Some fun class IV stuff


And some of the damage from the Mountain Fire.

[zippetydude]

Congrats on making it! That exposed stuff scares me off every time! Like you said, so very exposed...makes me shudder just thinking about it.

z

[cynthia23]

This from the guy who sticks his head into a mountain lion's cave! Who knew there were things that scared Zip?

As for me, I have gone just to the base of that rock, and that's quite far enough for me and my nerves. Congratulations GS on getting up that thing!!

[tekewin]

Nicely done! I haven't visited Cornell yet, but if it scares GS, it's got to be something serious.

[jimson]

I needed a rope to get me over those last 20 ft, even though there wasn't really any place to protect. There is a concrete patch on top. Does anyone know if this was an old anchor that was removed?

The second to last picture looks like Divide Peak- one of my favorites.

[neverwashasbeen]

I've heard that the concrete patch is from an old summit register.

[Ed]

I've heard that the concrete patch is from an old summit register.

If so, removing the summit register to the foot of the summit block was a dirty deed. Wonder how many other mountains it's been done on, e.g., Thunderbolt where a fourth-class climb ends with a 5.7 summit block, Clarence King, etc.

Actually, I was never that fond of registers, and they seem very archaic today, when everybody snaps pictures of themselves with a cell phone. The only one I liked was on Black Kaweah, which I remember as a small spiral-bound notebook in a rusty can. It had only about 150 signatures at the time, including the famous one of Walter Starr, signed in his own blood, because he forgot to bring a pencil or pen. Not a difficult mountain to climb, but a very dangerous one, due to the loose rock and down-sloping ledges covered with everything from sand to boulders. Unlike many mountains, I never had an urge to repeat it. Raises my stress level to think about it.