Ebbetts - and Reynolds Peak - fun scrambling on a warm and sunny fall day

During my hike to Hawkins - and Pickett Peak, I saw a very interesting looking mountain somewhat south of me. At home I checked out udeuschle and found out that my newly declared goal was Reynolds Peak. After checking Bob Burds pages, I knew it would be an interesting scramble, in particular the last part all the way to the top.

I park right at the highest point on Ebbetts Pass and instead of heading to the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) Head I walk along the dirt road which takes me northwest towards Ebbetts Peak. Ebbetts Peak is my first "minor" goal today since it's kind of right on the way to the base of Reynolds Peak. In order to get to it's highest point I basically walk straight up to it in it's south flank (some path traces, T2-T3). The highest point (it's not the one with the huge US flag) offers a very nice view down to the different little lakes and of course my main goal Reynolds Peak, from this perspective it definitely doesn't look like a piece of cake.

After a short break I walk down to a little pass west of the summit and further down a sandy chute to Sherold Lake where I get on the PCT. I follow it all the way to the base of Reynolds Peak at Raymond Meadows. Bob's description is somewhat confusing (most likely because he didn't really know where they had to go and made several unwanted detours). I knew the final climb to the highest point was from north, but how to actually get there wasn't very clear to me beforehand. I choose the most distinct washout pretty much south of the summit. To my surprise the little river is actually not dry, but has some water. Most likely due to the extensive rain/snow which fell in the northern Sierra during the previous weekend.

Walking up the washout is pretty easy and straight forward, in it or slightly left or right (T3). At around 9200 ft it makes a slight right turn and gets steeper. At the end of this washout I reach a little plateau. This is where the interesting scramble part starts. First I climb up to the south ridge which is on my left, towards and past a big dead tree. For a short while I climb along the ridge (T4/I) but then bypass the big summit needles on the left hand side (west) to get to the northern end of the highpoint. The final scramble up to the top is shown in this picture, is rather exposed and requires some climbing in the second degree (T5/II).

There is a small 30 year old summit register inside two tin cans. This peak obviously doesn't get very many visitors, I'm only the third person this year, I guess it's most likely due to the fact that the final stretch all the way to the top isn't a piece of cake. I take quite a long break and enjoy the warm sunny day.

Since the day is yet young and I have plenty of time left for other adventures, I decide to head towards Raymonds Peak and climb back down from the top. I continue along the N-ridge for a while and all of a sudden get to an almost vertical drop (most likely this one). Unfortunately this drop faces north and probably doesn't get any sun any more this late in the season. The snow which fell on the previous weekend didn't melt yet and all the holds are covered with about 5 inches of snow. It seems too risky to climb this section down under these conditions and therefore I decide to turn around. For a while I try to find a way back to the PCT in the NE flank, but due to snow and scary drops can't find anything feasible. Therefore I decide to just retrace my step back to the PCT and take it back to Ebbetts Pass.