Foerster Ridge

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Stanley Otter
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Foerster Ridge

Post by Stanley Otter »

GENERAL OVERVIEW: Leads between the Lyell Fork of the Merced River and Foerster Creek by way of the hanging valley between Mt Ansel Adams and Foerster Peak

CLASS/DIFFICULTY: Class 2

LOCATION: Yosemite National Park HST Map

ELEVATION: 11250 feet

USGS TOPO MAP (7.5'): Mt Lyell, CA

ROUTE DESCRIPTION: I crossed from east to west in mid-July 2018 -- winter 2017-18 had lower than average snowfall. There are two stages to this route: 1) climbing to the hanging valley beneath Mt Ansel Adams; and 2) climbing the north ridge of Foerster Peak. Coming from the east, getting to the valley is straightforward cross country hiking if a bit steep in places. From one of the pool lakes on the Lyell Fork I hiked up a talus slope to a steep meadow shown in the first photo below. From there I followed along the base of the large slabs on more talus and gravel until reaching the outlet gulley. From that point up to the small lake in the valley itself the route required navigating the large boulders among which the stream flowed. It was disconcerting to me not to be able to see the route to the ridge until I was almost in the valley -- until that point it sure looked like cliffs were the order of the day. From the valley, however, the crossing is easily identified and it involves only Class 2 scrambling -- free hands very helpful in spots. In the third photo below, I scrambled up the boulder field on the left side, directly in line with Foerster Peak. Then I traversed across slabs below the ridge and picked my spot to go over. The other side is quite easy and really doesn't warrant commentary. Hope this helps.
Dennis
Foerster Ridge A.jpg
Foerster Ridge B.jpg
Foerster Ridge C.jpg
Foerster Ridge D.jpg
Foerster Ridge E.jpg
Lyell Fork.jpg
Adams and Foerster.jpg
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jimmyjamhikes
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Re: Foerster Ridge

Post by jimmyjamhikes »

We did Foerster Ridge in August 2019:

https://jimmyjamhikingclub.com/2019/08/26/bench-canyon/

It is also possible to travel between Lyell Fork and Foerster Ridge on the ridge to the west of and above the hanging valley. Here is the route we took:

Image

From Foerster Ridge, the descent to the hanging valley looked very sketchy, but it sounds like Stanley found a sweet way up, so probably it's a wash either way you go. Our route involved low angle large boulders before dropping to the end of the hanging valley where the routes are the same.

Image
Just below Foerster Ridge, we stayed left and descended gradually

Image
Low angle boulder descent below Foerster Ridge and above the hanging valley

Image
Start of steep descent from outlet of hanging valley
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