Loaf Mountain (Castle Wilderness, April 23/2012)

We parked at the barricade on the oil and gas road at Spionkop valley and proceeded to hike for over an hour up the road.

James "Fresh Legs" Y. starting down the road. There must have been 6+ sour gas flares in this valley, you can see 2 alone in this photo.

Heading up the road at 9:30, we soon ran into a group of 12 mule deer. A few minutes later we spooked a small herd of sheep, so although hiking on a gravel road can be tedious, the morning's trek was at least entertaining from a wildlife viewing perspective. You can see why this valley is a popular spot for hunting.

Eventually, we passed the gravelled portion of the road and continued onto the hiking path/cart trail. We eventually picked a spot to gain the ridge that was about 3 km short of the peak by the time we topped out.

Crux

There were 2-3 good scrambling pitches (class III/IV depending on how your tongue hangs out) on the way up.

peek a boo, now it's my turn

time for some lunch and how come my left calf is cramping

"There was about 3 inches of penetration (into that snow)".

THAT'S WHAT SHE SAID!

Panoramic shot on way up (lunch view), Spreadeagle accross the way

We gained the ridge near a false summit a few clicks short of Loaf Mountain.

My legs were feeling pretty tired and I would've happily called it a day at that point, but nooooo! From the false summit, we dropped back down to the rounded ridge and continued to the true, snowy summit to the west!

Footsteps in the snow. Not Jesus, twas another J... Jimmy got way ahead of me and hauled ass, as I was lolly gagging behind a ways he thought I had decided to bail (note to self: next time, get in shape and also bring radios!)

cornice feature close up

looking back down ridge to false summit

Panorama from summit looking south

yahoo!

summit register hasn't been signed since 2010 (probably from lack of pencil)

Going down

Snow near the summit was great (almost ideal) for walking on. If you look closely in this photo you can see a blue dot, that's J sleeping on the ridge below

J awakes from his extended nap while waiting for me

Castle peak from ridge

Back on ridge. We were on top o' that bad boy

Looking North from ridge

Going down scree escalator

Going down, hey snow is firm

I just noticed James's gaiters match his jacket

Icefalls (photo touched up in picasa)

back on the trail at 4:30ish,  photo doctored in picasa.

ice falls, looking very crumbly

cro magnon man or deer skull

Took us until 6:50 to hike back to cars (9h20 min car to car). Last hour on the road was a bit painful. Note to self: next time, bring a bike. I'm talking to you, Spionkop ridge (and Yarrow creek)!