Tom Grundy's 2023 Sierra Challenge Day 6 Cheba Spire Page

8-09-2023, In the 2012 Sierra Challenge on day 4 we went by Cheba Spire in going to the Challenge Peaks - in fact the pic "a bonus peak that I didn't climb" was of Cheba Spire. I guess it had been in Bob's thoughts ever since then and it finally made the list this year. We didn't really know a lot about how hard it would be to get to the summit of Cheba Spire, so we brought some ropes and climbing gear and many people had harnesses, helmets, and climbing shoes. Chris and I had a "carry no group gear" policy after day 5 which we managed to hold ourselves too. I started a few minutes late because I was pretty tired and slow to get packing in the morning so I wasn't quite ready for the 6 am start from South Lake. I left a few minutes later though and hurried up the trail trying to catch up. I later heard some people accidentally took the old Bishop Pass trail that bypassed the turnoff to the Treasure Lakes trail - that we were taking. I caught up to a few people along the Treasure Lakes trail and we all left the trail at about the same place and headed up the slope. There were some mosquitoes here, but the occasional breeze helped keep them bearable.

South Lake and the mountains in the morning

We went up over the ridge and looked for a place to drop down into the next valley - unfortunately to avoid a cliff we had to drop down lower than we wanted to. Then we put on crampons and headed across and up the snow slope. Unfortunately the snow was starting to get sloppy, so we cut over onto the rocks and headed up that way. When we topped out and worked our way through the trees we could see Cheba Spire (or at least the ridge it was part of) and headed that way. There were plenty of people ahead of us so we could choose which path we thought made the most sense. We headed for a steep sand gully figuring we could head up it or to either side. We ended up on the climber's right side. As we got higher we kept an eye on all the people across the cliffs above trying to get a sense of the correct way to go. Eventually someone said what appeared to be the highest spire wasn't the correct one - it was quite a bit behind it. I headed off more to the left to get over a shoulder and see what was beyond. By the time I traversed a bit around I could see Clement up near the top and he told us how he had come up - a 4th class traverse followed by some more 3rd and 4th class scrambling. Some people behind me set up a rappel to avoid the initial insecure descending and traverse.

nearing the top of the ridge - Hurd Peak on the left

heading down into the valley - Cheba Spire is behind the far right

starting up the snow across the valley

Iris heading across the snow towards Cheba Spire behind the ridge in the center

Cheba Spire is the second peak from the left, Clement is on the higher looking peak on the right

I followed others along this route opting for the closer to 3rd class traverse around right of the notch and climb up rather than heading straight up the cracks on the face (I kept my floppy running shoes on rather than switching to climbing shoes too). I made my way around, up, traversed over some more and then scrambled up to the summit. It was quite exposed and either somewhat difficult but in a secure chimney or out on a reachy corner but with pretty decent solid holds. The summit top itself was a sloped block about 8 feet by 2 feet which was quite secure to sit on top. I spent some time sitting there while various people came up via either a longer climb up the arete or a traverse on another block to join the arete 2/3 of the way up (how I came up). I saw Bob far below at the saddle between Cheba Spire and the higher Thompson Ridge to the west - most people had come up on the SE side and there was no obvious way to get from where he was to the summit.

looking back from the summit - Clement is right of the spire

someone chilling and checking their phone on a lower tower - Ski Mountaineers Peak on the far right

Iris climbing the summit block

Unfortunately by the time people came up that wanted a rope assist, the ropes had already headed down, and there wasn't really any good way of securing a rope on the summit block. Chris was able to place some gear with slings to add a level of security to people scrambling up - and most agreed when they actually committed to the moves it wasn't that bad after all - especially if you were tall. I descended to a large block but then loaned my climbing shoes to someone who wasn't comfortable making the moves in his running shoes. With the shoes back I followed the string of people descended via an easier notch back to the SE face and down. The sandy gully was a lot easier and faster to descend back to the snow - which was also a lot easier and faster to descend. We dropped back to where we had come up but then took a higher line across the creek and over the ridge to drop down to the Treasure Lakes trail - this seemed to take a long time, but probably went fairly quickly. Back on the trail we were also back in mosquito territory and it was quite hot hiking back up to the Bishop Pass trail. From there it was pretty quick to get back to the trailhead where I quickly packed up and drove down to Bishop to turn on the swamp cooler, make a protein smoothie, shower, and prepare for people to come over.

the Cheba Spire summit block (ascent is on the opposite side)

Sean C and Iris heading down - Cloudripper in the center

view from the descent
on the horizon L-R are Cloudripper in the center, Picture Puzzle, and Agassiz
below them are Chocolate and Hurd

crossing and descending the snowfield

The last few years we have had a cookoff during the Sierra Challenge, but this year we didn't feel that there was enough of a break between the hard days to have the time and energy for a cookoff, so we had a potluck instead at the Church of Grundy. We had cleaned and prepared a bit and then Iris and Mason had done some cleaning and preparation the day before so I didn't have much to do to get ready, mostly I was trying to get my stuff packed for the last 4 days which included some long days plus the drive to Taboose Trailhead is never casual. people started to arrive around 4 and there was a lot of food, drink, and talk for the next few hours. Most people left around 6:30-7 and with a little help things were mostly cleaned up by 8:30 or so although Iris kept at it a while after I left - she planned a more reasonable day 7 than I did. I packed up and headed out towards the Taboose Pass trail - arriving and getting to sleep sometime around 10? It was nice to get together with everyone and I could have happily kept at it for a few hours more, but I also needed to get prepared and move to the trailhead and sleep before the next day.

hanging out at the Church of Grundy

Total for the day 6, 1 peak, 1 potluck. Strava said 7.5 mi (moto gpower) and 4556 ft of elevation gain in 7:45.

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