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Lake Agnes TH, 10300'(Corolla passable) 6:20am
Mount Richthofen, 12940' 8:05am
Mount Mahler, 12493' 9:50am
TH 11:35am
4miles/3200'/5hr 15min
The turn-off to the TH is a couple miles west of Cameron Pass on Hwy 14. After paying the $6 day use fee, I drove to the Lake Agnes TH, just a couple rocks bumping the underside of the Corolla.
A nice trail leads quickly to beautiful Lake Agnes, where I got views of the first Never Summer peaks I would hopefully climb. Mt Richthofen from Lake Agnes Mt Mahler and its rugged east ridge
I circled right(west) around the lake and worked my way up the gully. For the most part, the rock was very stable. Only in the last 100' to the Richthofen-Mahler saddle did I encounter much of the loose terrain the Never Summers are known for. Lake Agnes from the saddle
Taking the ridge east to Richthofen, I encountered some loose rock, but this steadily improved. The second half of the ridge was very enjoyable - narrow enough to feel airy, but not really dangerous. A class 3 gully leads to the summit. Looking down on Richthofen's crux gully
Views from the summit were striking! Nokhu Crags & Static Peak Clark Peak among the Medicine Bow Mtns south in the Never Summers Mt Mahler
I returned to the saddle and contemplated the traverse to Mahler. From Andy's page on summitpost, I knew there would be a deep notch, with the crux coming right after. My hope was that since he had downclimbed this from Mahler, it wouldn't be as bad going up. Soon enough, I reached the crux notch and a wicked tower. A nasty tower interrupts Mahler's east ridge. On the other side is the crux steep slope leading towards Mahler.
I wasn't sure if the tower had the 4th-class downclimb Andy described, and briefly considered trying to get up it. Instead, I descended steep terrain to bypass the tower, which looked very 5th-class once I got to the notch.
From the notch, I started ascending steep, grassy, ledgy terrain on the north side. At one point I felt I was getting more committed than I would have liked. I ended up making an exposed move to the right to reach somewhat easier terrain. Looking down on the notch from partway up the class 4 crux
Finally, I reached the ridge-top and was relieved to see that the difficulties were over. A second notch presented no challenge. The second major notch
From here I scrambled up easier class 3 terrain. Looking back on the ridge to the saddle
The ridge relented and I walked up to the summit, enjoying more nice views. Richthofen from Mahler Unnamed lake and Lake Agnes Nokhu Crags
From the summit, I descended the north face, a large talusfield. At times, I felt I was in potential rockslide territory and was happy to get down. I descended to a ridge west of the unnamed lake. unnamed lake
From the upper lake, I made my way slowly down, stumbling on to a break in the cliffs above Lake Agnes. Lake Agnes
At the lake, I met other hikers after having had complete solitude until that point. What a beautiful place the Never Summers are, and this relatively short loop has an incredible pay-off for only a half-day's effort!
Thumbnails for uploaded photos (click to open slideshow):
Mt Mahler‘s east ridge looks pretty sweet. And your shot ‘south in the Never Summers‘ is sensational. Congrats and thanks for the great TR.
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