Mount Morrison

17-Sep-94 (Triple List Finish)

By: Vic and Sue Henney

We met at approximately 6:30 at the trailhead parking lot at Convict Lake. Tom Sumner took one look at the peak, got in his truck and headed south (mumbling something about having left his boots somewhere, and besides, it wasn't a desert peak anyway). We proceeded to drive over to the day use parking lot at the southeast end of Convict Lake.

We began hiking at a few minutes after 7, anghng up the slope on the south side of Convict Lake toward the upper end of Tobacco Flat. Here we met a 4WD road that comes in from Highway 395. ~li: had driven this road a number of years previously. It's passable by 4WD but in light of the anticipated size of the group, we felt that it was just as easy to walk up the hill from Convict Lake.

From our point of intersection with the road, the road continues for only about another 100 yards. From the end of the road a fair use trail can be followed most of the rest of the way to the summit. We did encounter several hunters near the road, but none once we were a few minutes above the road. We reached the tarn (which was dry) located at the of the peak and began our ascent up a long slope, essentially following Bob Hartunian's 1991 write-up. The route went quite well and we were on the summit by 11:30. Of the 21 climbers that started, 19 reached the summit.

In addition to ourselves, there were 6 other SPS list finishers on the summit: Vi Grasso, Tina Stough, Gene Mauk, George Toby, Roy Magnuson and Ron Bartel. After appropriate celebration we began our descent to Convict Lake. Mike Lorr's watch, lost on the ascent, was discovered on a bush near where we took a break on the way up. There are a couple of areas of loose rock that require some care, but the group did well and the descent was relatively uneventful other than the complaints of a few knees.

Participants other than those noted above were: Igor and Suzanne Mamedalin, Christine Mitchell, Maris and Anna Valkass, J Holshuh, Sue Leverton, Kathy Price, Jim Adler, Ron Hudson, Mike Lorr, Tom Bowman and Ron Young. Thanks to all who assisted and gave advice on the route for a very successful climb! Also thanks to Dan Richter for his research indicating that we appear to be the first couple to have completed the SPS list having climbed all of the peaks on the list together.

We all convened at the South Crowley Lake Campground (BLM) for an outstanding party that included some 48 people and 2 dogs and some great live entertainment. (See write in the DPS Sage regarding other events of the weekend.)