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Pyramid Peak

September 1, 2007. A trip back to the Little Lakes Valley to summit Pyramid Peak (12,840 ft.). Some websites have the North West face of this peak rated class 3, however, except for maybe one or two moves near the summit (which may even be avoidable), it seemed like a fairly straight forward class 2 all the way. The view a the summit is definitely worth the scramble, with only Bear Creek Spire as a more impressive local peak. In addition, despite its name, the summit is actually not very pointy --- it is large enough for maybe 5 people to lounge around on. The register indicated that we were the only ones to have climbed it in a month. More people should take it up, considering the beautiful hike in and its unchallenging nature. (~10 miles round trip, ~2600 ft. gain)

Leaving Bishop

Erick Schat's Bakkery: Getting some of the best bread in the entire country as the sun rises. They also make the best fresh roasted turkey sandwiches with avocado. Mmmmm...

Little Lakes Valley

Nice Lighting II: Last time I was here, I got a really great picture around at this spot. This time I got great morning lighting again, but there weren't many flowers. (1) Peaks, left to right: Mount Morgan, unnamed ~12,700 ft. peak, Pyramid Peak, Bear Creek Spire (under clouds), Pip-squeak Spire, and Treasure Peak in front of Mount Dade (also under clouds).

Lakes: Heart Lake. (1) Box Lake. (2) Long Lake. (3) Largest Gem Lake.

Pyramid Peak

Scramble: After waiting out a drizzle at Gem Lakes, we headed directly up the slope south east of the largest lake (there's a easy to spot climber's trail). We made our way around the East side of the lake above the Gems and then went around to the North West face of Pyramid Peak. Here's some panoramas along the way. This one is from a spot above Gem Lakes. (1) Just starting to climb from Gem Lakes. (2) Just as the lake above the Gems (left) becomes visible. (3) Near the North slope of Pyramid Peak with Dade Lake visible (left most, partially hidden).

Climbing: My dad on the North West face. (1) The much steeper North East face. (2) This picture makes the North West face look pretty steep too. :) This was taken on the way down to Dade Lake. (3) The summit.

Summit: A great 360 panorama of the summit and the surroundings. My dad is actually on the true summit in this picture, which I took from a slightly lower false summit. (1) Mount Humpherys. (2) Three triangles: (3) Treasure Peak. (4) Merriam Peak. (5) Royce Peak.

More Views: Spire Lake. (1) Dad and Bear Creek Spire. (2) Dad and the register. (3) Me and the three triangle peaks. (4) Me and Treasure Lakes and the Little Lakes Valley.

Heading Back I: We descended all the way down the North West face to Dade Lake on the way back.

Heading Back II: Then we dropped down to Treasure Lakes before heading back to the valley.

Last modified: Thu Dec 06 15:32:22 CST 2007