Trip Report
Intermediate Alpine Climb - Sherpa Peak/West Ridge
A long one-day climb.
Stephen Sugiyama
- Sat, Aug 13, 2016
- Intermediate Alpine Climb - Sherpa Peak/West Ridge
- Sherpa Peak/West Ridge
- Climbing
- Successful
- Road suitable for all vehicles
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Other than the long and trying approach there were no significant route problems. Except for loose rock, which was everywhere.
Our party of three left the Esmerelda trailhead around 4:30 a.m. for a one-day climb of Sherpa Peak.
On the route we scrambled the easy sections, simul-climbed the exposed sections, and belayed the technical sections. A light rack of cams and nuts and was sufficient. On the final, crux pitch we went up the face on the right after exiting the “cave.” This pitch seemed harder than the 5.4 rating.
On the descent we used several single-rope rappels and one double-rope rappel. The double-rope rappel could have been done with two single-rope rappels.
Total time car-to-car time was about 19 hours, including more than an hour to deal with a stuck rappel rope.