After a couple of successful outings the past two days, I identified Red and White Mountain as my goal for today’s outing. I had attempted to climb this mountain a couple of weeks earlier, but was turned around near Little McGee Lake by an early round of afternoon thunderstorms. I hadn’t even gotten up to the tricky section either. See, this peak has some rather disparaging route descriptions in Secor and on SummitPost. Secor says that the Northeast Ridge route is the best on this mountain simply because it has less loose rock, and the <a href=”https://www.summitpost.org/northeast-ridge/162778”>SummitPost route description</a> is similarly uninspiring.
Nevertheless, I wanted to climb this peak nd I was somewhat determined to not be stormed off it again. So I set an earlier schedule than the previous attempt, arriving at the trailhead and setting off before 7 AM.
The view up McGee Canyon past all of the fragrant sagebrush. It was a quiet Thursday and I had the trail all to myself. I hiked up to the meadow below Big McGee Lake only stopping once or twice for water and a snack. I stopped and chatted with one solo backpacker heading out, but made good time up to the lake.
Red and White Mountain from the meadow below Big McGee Lake.
Red and White Mountain from Big McGee Lake.
Looking across the lake.
One more shot of the peak from the trail. I soon reached Little McGee Lake, had a snack, and set out across the lake’s outlet and straight up the east slope of Peak 12360. There was a bit of challenging climbing in the lower, steeper part of the peak, but for the most part it was easy to reach the crest here.
Looking north to Red Slate Mountain from the crest.
Looking southwest to Red and White Mountain. The white appeared to be more on the peak I was standing than on Red and White, but I guess “Red and White and Black and Grey and a little bit Orange Peak” didn’t have the same ring to it.
The wind was blowing pretty good on the crest, so I donned some warmer clothes and started traversing across the broken slate-like rocks along the ridge. It was loose and crumbly, but not at all steep or difficult to get over to the base of the peak.
The Northeast Ridge of Red and White Mountain. From this angle, it looks quite a bit more difficult than the class 3 rating. But I continued up figuring that I’ve only been misled by Secor a few times before.
Looking back from where I came (the little, white-topped mountain), with Red Slate Mountain behind.
After criss-crossing some small spires along the ridgeline and cutting climber’s left when the going got difficult, this broad chute appeared about 100’ left of the ridgeline. It was steep, but solidly class 3. And while there was loose rock littered everywhere, the rock underneath was solid for the most part. There was 300’ or so of this actually somewhat enjoyable climbing up to the summit.
Looking west over Red and White Lake, Fish Creek, and the Silver Divide. I reached the summit just before 11, after about four hours of climbing. It was a beautiful, cloudless day with great views in every direction.
Looking north towards Red Slate Mountain, with Bloody Mountain behind and to the left and Mount Baldwin and Mount Morrison behind and to the right.
Looking down the chute I climbed up. It really wasn’t that bad with some caution.
Looking south towards the Mono Recesses with Mount Abbot and Mount Gabb dominating the skyline.
Looking west over the Silver Divide.
North again towards Red Slate Mountain. You can see the McGee Pass Trail climbing up in the last photo. I signed into the summit register, which was only a couple of months old, and heade back down the gully just south of the ridgeline.
The Northeast Ridge of Red and White Mountain, again.
Looking out over Big McGee Lake and Mount Stanford and Mount Morgan. The traverse back across the ridge was a bit trickier than on the way up, sometimes it’s harder to go down things like that, especially if there’s loose rock. But I survived it and after reaching the summit of Peak
12360 it got much easier again.
Little McGee Lake just before rejoining the McGee Pass Trail. Once on the trail, I made good time back down to the trailhead, passing a few groups of backpackers heading up for the night. In total, it took just over 9 hours to get up and down. I was back in Mammoth by 5, happy to have successfully summited Red and White Mountain after this attempt.