Mt Tom via Gable Lakes Trip Report
Posted: Mon Jul 11, 2011 5:11 pm
Hi all,
I'm new to HST, I've already spent hours researching trips and new-to-me trails and found the TRs extremely valuable. Thank you all for your postings, in return, here's one from me:
On Saturday, July 9 we left the Pine Creek trail head at 11:00 am and took our time winding our way up the switchbacks to the penultimate Gable Lake. We climbed about 3,000 feet, camping just below 11,000 to get as high as possible before our morning push for Mt Tom. We chose the north side Gable Lakes route hoping for more shade and cooler temperatures; the classic/easy route from Horton Lakes/Buttermilk Road is south facing and 100% exposed to the sun. While it was a harder route than Horton Lakes, there are many highlights of the Gable Lakes Trail:
From the Hanging Valley, we took the south west ridge up to the peak. It was harder than we anticipated, more class 3 moves, no route we could follow. We were on top by 10:30, only 30 minutes later than we had planned. Hey, we're 42 and 53, live at sea level and were on the first climb of the year! Other than a big patch in the Hanging Valley, there was no snow on the west side of the peak. We descended the peak down a gully, pushing scree ahead of us as we dropped to Hanging Valley.
We descended the head-wall to Upper Gable Lake, unlike the group of 10, it only took us 20 minutes to get to the bottom. We were back at camp by 1:30. We packed up and headed out, getting to the trail head by 5:00 pm. That's a 6,000 + foot drop in a day.
For a first hand look at the snow levels and the route check out these pictures:
http://www.kodakgallery.com/gallery/cre ... aree-_-Top" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
I'm new to HST, I've already spent hours researching trips and new-to-me trails and found the TRs extremely valuable. Thank you all for your postings, in return, here's one from me:
On Saturday, July 9 we left the Pine Creek trail head at 11:00 am and took our time winding our way up the switchbacks to the penultimate Gable Lake. We climbed about 3,000 feet, camping just below 11,000 to get as high as possible before our morning push for Mt Tom. We chose the north side Gable Lakes route hoping for more shade and cooler temperatures; the classic/easy route from Horton Lakes/Buttermilk Road is south facing and 100% exposed to the sun. While it was a harder route than Horton Lakes, there are many highlights of the Gable Lakes Trail:
- A beautiful and tasty spring crosses the trail at about 9,200 feet.
Startling feats of mining engineering - and trash - abound.
An avalanche swept through the basin below the lowest Gable Lake making a huge mess for 1,000 feet down-canyon. The trail is impacted in the section just below the lowest lake.
There was only one section of mild bugs, as usual, it corresponded with the most abundant wildflowers. I saw the most dramatic display of shooting stars I've ever seen in the Sierra.
The two lower lakes are completely thawed, the two upper lakes are about 60% thawed. The highest is still frozen.
Walls, ridges and exposed slopes/rocks were thawed, otherwise snow covered about 80% of the ground above Lower Gable Lake (~10k ft).
We saw two day hikers coming down the trail, other than that we saw one group of 10 (yes, ten!) on Saturday and no one else the entire weekend. That's NO ONE on Mt Tom at all on a perfect Sunday in July!
From the Hanging Valley, we took the south west ridge up to the peak. It was harder than we anticipated, more class 3 moves, no route we could follow. We were on top by 10:30, only 30 minutes later than we had planned. Hey, we're 42 and 53, live at sea level and were on the first climb of the year! Other than a big patch in the Hanging Valley, there was no snow on the west side of the peak. We descended the peak down a gully, pushing scree ahead of us as we dropped to Hanging Valley.
We descended the head-wall to Upper Gable Lake, unlike the group of 10, it only took us 20 minutes to get to the bottom. We were back at camp by 1:30. We packed up and headed out, getting to the trail head by 5:00 pm. That's a 6,000 + foot drop in a day.
For a first hand look at the snow levels and the route check out these pictures:
http://www.kodakgallery.com/gallery/cre ... aree-_-Top" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;