Lowest elevation areas with serious mountaineering

14ers in California and Washington state or any other peak in the USA
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edmdais1
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Re: Lowest elevation areas with serious mountaineering

Post by edmdais1 »

I second the Superstition Mountains. Flatiron kicked my butt and it is a great winter option.
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JaredJohnson
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Re: Lowest elevation areas with serious mountaineering

Post by JaredJohnson »

Thanks again to everyone who replied. We just returned from our trip - we camped at Grand Teton NP for a week, visited Yellowstone for a half a day, and then camped at Glacier NP for a week. Doc approved of the itinerary and everyone had a blast. We didn't spend as much time as I imagined trying to climb things, the kids were having so much fun hiking to waterfalls, playing in lakes, seeing wildlife and pretty stuff etc. But I did take 36 hours off on my own to solo up and rappel down the Grand Teton, which was incredible!

Next year we expect to be able to take baby to any elevation we like, but I still expect I'll be reviewing this thread for some years for more ideas to expand my horizons. I passed the wind river range on the way to Grand Teton NP and this might have to be next up!
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JChitwood
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Re: Lowest elevation areas with serious mountaineering

Post by JChitwood »

Congrats on your solo summit on the Grand that’s an impressive peak. And glad your little one is doing better.
"I'll make it." - Jimmy Chitwood
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SchralpTheGnar
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Re: Lowest elevation areas with serious mountaineering

Post by SchralpTheGnar »

I’m thinking of soling the grand , did you carry twin ropes for the raps?
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Eli Boardman
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Re: Lowest elevation areas with serious mountaineering

Post by Eli Boardman »

Congrats on the Grand Jared, and glad to hear your little one is doing alright.
SchralpTheGnar wrote: Wed Sep 14, 2022 10:16 pm I’m thinking of soling the grand , did you carry twin ropes for the raps?
I just did the raps with a single 60. Sargents Chimney works great with a 60. For the main rappel, if you use the slung boulder (not the bolts) and throw <hard> left, you can get down to scrambling territory with a few feet to spare. Knot the ends of your rope and try to push yourself over to climber's right as you rappel. Of course, officially you need a 70 m. The ends of the rope were dangling in the air when I started down (before I pushed myself over to climber's right), so if that idea is bothersome it's probably safer to go with at least 70 m of rope.
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JaredJohnson
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Re: Lowest elevation areas with serious mountaineering

Post by JaredJohnson »

SchralpTheGnar wrote: Wed Sep 14, 2022 10:16 pm I’m thinking of soling the grand , did you carry twin ropes for the raps?
Long story short, I brought a 50m thin rope and a 2mm tag line, did a double rope rap down 25m of sargents, a 50m single strand rap down the main rap station, and a bonus 25m rap to avoid downclimbing the eye of the needle.

Making the 2mm tag line work involved a lot of testing and fiddling before the climb, and I wound up stuffing the line into a pouch and clipping it to me on the rap, it was a bit silly to go to all that trouble to avoid carrying a 7mm tag line but now that I've got the cord and the technique I'd do it again the same way!

Having been there I agree one can get away with a shorter rope but I preferred to complicate the rope recovery rather than complicate the rappel-route-finding (:
Otzi
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Re: Lowest elevation areas with serious mountaineering

Post by Otzi »

SchralpTheGnar wrote: Wed Sep 14, 2022 10:16 pm I’m thinking of soling the grand , did you carry twin ropes for the raps?
I've done the Grand twice, another option is to just downclimb it without ropes (if you're comfortable in that terrain, I realize it's not for everyone). To me, it didn't seem like anything more than hard 4th class; and the hardest moves aren't in very exposed sections (Sargent's Chimney). I'm tall though so maybe that had something to do with it. Carrying a rope for piece of mind is probably worth it your first time.
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Re: Lowest elevation areas with serious mountaineering

Post by DuneTransit »

Salt Lake City has great terrain and is mostly 8k-11k with a few that nudge 12k. There's a couple great Traverse routes that during the summer is mostly Grade III -> IV scrambling when the snow is gone (July-Sep). The city and surrounding area is ~3.5k elevation and there is a road going up to Alta that is paved and goes up to the ski resorts at 9.2k. Upside is that the airport is becoming a major hub (cheaper, more direct flights) and it takes only about 30 min from the airport to start getting on trails. Lots of easier stuff to do with the family too and great views don't take much walking to find.
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Re: Lowest elevation areas with serious mountaineering

Post by Istoodupthere »

The class 3 knife edge on Katahdin is something everyone should do if they are in Maine. In NH there are multiple difficult routes up Mt. Washington, especially in the winter. A really cool mountain. Plus the Presidential Traverse. Mount Mansfield in VT has a short but fun class 3 section. I agree with others about the Superstitions
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