Mt. Lyell, Yosemite

[mojonh]

Anyone climbed this peak before. I getting shipped back out to cali for work in a few weeks. I'll be out there on and off till march and I want to try and bag Whitney at some point, but for my first trip I'm going to stay closer to home and hit up Yosemite again.


I'm reading up trip reports for Lyell and it doesn't sound too bad in terms of length or elevation gain. The only thing I'm worried about is the glacier itself. My ice/snow climbing skills are non-existent and I don't have crampons or an ice axe (yet....looking to get the basics down this winter).

I've read that you don't need to climb the glacier to summit...it just seems like most people do so every trail report i find is speaking of climbing it. I would prefer that method if I had the gear and experience. As I don't, I've read that I can merely traverse the glacier and climb up the rock scrambles on the opposite side to the summit. The grade at the base is supposedly flat enough not to require ice gear. I'll probably have micro spikes though just in case.

I don't want to be retarded about this but if this is doable then I'd like to do it. Anyone on this board done it before?

[KD Talbot]

I don't know Mt Lyell. I don't know Yosemite. Never been on a glacier, but I wouldn't go on a glacier in microspikes regardless of what I've read. If you "don't want to be retarded about this" you won't either.

KDT

[mojonh]

trust me...I know how this sounds. I've read a lot on the net about it though and it's not really a glacier in the true sense of crevasses,ice flows etc. It's basically a large snow field. It looks similar to Tucks actually, but MUCH less steep. It's not really that large at all. All I have to do it walk across it to the other side and then it's all rocks up the spine.

A lot of people don't bring mountaineering gear on this hike and still climb the snowfield by kick stepping....I wasn't even considering that. I was just wondering if anyone had any first hand experience with the peak. If I fall on the glacier I basically just get a little wet, it's not steep where I need to worry about slides. The microspikes would really just be to save myself from a wet bum.

I'm far from a novice hiker and am not about making ill informed decisions....hence why I'm asking around before trying.