Mount Humphreys (13,986 feet)

Where: Sierra Nevada, California
When: September 2004
Partners: Joe Dawson
Route: SW Slope/NW Face (Class 4)

What an approach!

In 2004, Joe Dawson and I journeyed up the southwest slope/northwest face route on Mount Humphreys, the 17th highest peak in California. Starting up the beautiful trail out of North Lake, we soon entered the amazing and vast, glacier-sculpted bowl below the peak and I realized we were in a very special place.
Humphreys Basin

What an amazing landscape...and with a giant peak hovering over it!
CP near the top of the Northwest Face

The route up the southwest slope quickly led to the base of the northwest face, where fun and exposed scrambling presented itself. Just beyond that, the small summit and its expansive views.
The final scramble to the top

I signed yet another of my bogus names, Ron Jeremy, in the register and headed down shortly thereafter.
Does that really say "Ron Jeremy, Porn Star?

Now several years later, Mount Humphreys still ranks among my favorite mountain experiences ever.

TOPO

Photos courtesy of Rick Kent, except the middle photo, which is by Joe Dawson