Wheeler Mountain (13,690) by Brian Schultz Friday July 11, 2008
For the first time in five trips to the Montgomery Reservoir I actually took the correct turn to the parking area above instead of to the reservoir below. I guess there's hope for me yet. Skies were sunny and clear at 7:15 AM when I started from the parking area and hiked up the familiar road to Wheeler Lake. Despite having to bypass several flooded areas from snowmelt, I was moving quickly and arrived at the lake at 8:35. The lake was partly ice-free, but lots of snow and ice remained on the lake, on the slopes above, and also at the small lake higher up at 12,500 feet. I brought my crampons and ice axe with but surprisingly didn't need them as I weaved through the snowy slopes on good rock, at least on the lower areas, and reached the saddle at 13,400 feet without difficulty. After a ten minute break at the saddle, I started up the snow-free ridge to the summit.
The scrambling along the ridge was class 3 climbing with several class 4 spots. I stayed high on the ridge, which turned out to be harder than if I'd traversed lower, as I found out on the return, but it was fun and I wasn't in a hurry. The weather was near perfect when I arrived on top at 11:10. It's a neat summit with great views but my eyes were especially drawn to the connecting ridge to North Star Mountain, a gnarly ridge with the severe drop-offs on the north side. As I gazed over, I had no regrets that I wasn't with my pal Tim when he and a friend did the traverse from North Star to Wheeler last year.
At 11:40 I departed the summit and descended below the ridge crest to the saddle, much easier and only taking 30 minutes to get there. An hour later I was back at Wheeler Lake, took a short break before heading down the road, and arrived at my car at 2:30. Beautiful day and a fun peak.
Trailhead to summit- 3 hours 55 minutes
Summit to trailhead- 2 hours 50 minutes
Start to finish- 7 hours 15 minutes