Monday, June 25, 2012

Mummy's Chin Re-routed for Safety

Mummy's Chin is the least climbed summit of the five peaks on Mummy Mtn. It's one of the toughest hikes and was dangerous because of rockfall. I redid the route making it much safer. This is especially true if hiking in a large group.




Scramble up to the circled tree
The new route starts when the drainage ends and the loose slope begins. Instead of heading up the slope, veer south (left) and ascend the slab to the tree circled in the photo to the left. This is a steep, but easy class 2 scramble.











Climb the class 4 wall
From the tree climb the steep, class 4 wall as seen in the next photo. You can go around to the right where the climbing is only class 2, but there's some loose rock and this alternative in NOT recommended for large groups.











Hike around to the far side of the ridge
Now head south around the ridge as seen in the next photo. This again keeps the danger of loose rock fall to a minimum. Once around to the south side of the ridge ascend 40 yards where an easy climb lands you on top of the ridge.











Hike past the boulder
Hike past the boulder on the ridge as seen in the photo. Cairns mark the next part of the route. At this point you will be under the summit and traversing along a path (well cairned) to the west ridge. At the west ridge this new route joins the normal route. From here simply climb the exposed, but easy climb to the summit.














Here's a video of the final climb to the summit.



This route features an amazing twisted bristlecone:
Twisted Bristlecone