This one had been on my to-do list since about 2002.
—–
Sundial is the pointy, awesome-looking peak left of center in the photo below.
The Sundial/Lake Blanche area panorama. Notice the waterfall (the thin white sliver) in the exact center of the photo (right of Sundial).
Walter and I made good time on the hike in (~3 miles), but I started way too far left for the first pitch. It was hard to protect and probably 5.7ish. We ended up rappelling back down to the big ledge and getting back on route for pitch 2. Pitch 2 was a lot of fun; it’s an easy 5.2 corner to a really thin, fun, polished 5.8 corner. Pitch 3 traditionally heads straight up from the belay but we opted to go right a bit to see what was around the corner. And pitch 4 was a short little 5.5 pitch to the top. I led all the pitches except the last one. The descent rappels (two with a single 70m rope) were pretty straightforward.
Oh, and it was freezing. Cold and windy.
For the rack, I took cams to #3 (with doubles in the .75, 1, and 2 sizes), a few micro cams, and a set of nuts. It was perfect.
Here are our times:
- 0:00 – Started hiking
- 1:29 – Arrived at Lake Blanche
- 1:54 – Arrived at the base of the route
- 2:12 – I started up the first pitch
- 5:42 – We both were on top. The actual climbing itself took us 3:30 at a relatively relaxed pace, including the time-consuming first pitch detour.
- 6:02 – We left the top to start hiking up to one of the higher-up points that are further north on the summit ridge
- 6:24 – We got to the top of one of the higher-up points and then turned around
- 7:32 – Arrived back at our packs at the base of the route
- 7:42 – Started the hike back down
- 9: 36 – Arrived back at the cars
Overall, the climb was awesome. The rock was a lot better than I thought it would be, and the climbing itself was a lot of fun. I’ll be back to climb some more variations on the face.
[As always, click on any photo for the larger version. And there is a fuzzy lighter-colored section on a lot of the photos because I touched the lens with my chalked-up hands. Oops.]
Sundial and Lake Blanche.
Looking down our first pitch.
Walter coming up the first pitch.
Looking up the thin corner crux of pitch 2. It most mostly face climbing--the corner is too small to use for holds or to get gear in.
Walter coming up pitch 2.
Walter topping out on pitch 2.
Looking down partway up pitch 3.
Me with a couple 11,000ers in the background.
Looking over to the waterfall that's visible in the panorama photo above.
Walter coming up the sweet dihedral on pitch 3.
Looking over to some cascades/waterfalls to the west.
Walter heading out on the final pitch.
Walter coiling the rope at the top. Lake Blanche is below.
Me on top.
Scrambling to get up to one of the higher points on the summit ridge.
The final rappel.
The red line is the route we took. The orange line is the more traditional route. And there are many, many other variations you could do, too.
Sundial. What a mountain, eh?
A rubber boa (at least, I'm pretty sure that's what it is) that we saw on the way down. Yes, apparently there are boa constrictors in Utah.