Independence Mountain, North Face (Jonathan Kriegel, June 2004)
There are lots of good routes near Independence Pass and, following Lou Dawson's guidebook, Bob Portmann, Jonathan Kriegel, Chet Roe, and I decided to try the north face of Independence (May 31, 2004). We should have read the guidebook more closely, for then we might have brought a ladder. As it is we changed into sneakers to cross the creek; it wasn't too bad, as Jonathan's smile indicates. The ski run from the top of the peak was very nice. Warning: stare at the peak closely so that you remember the best way back to the car from the bottom of the ski run. We did way too much tree-bashing. Indeed, this is a nice way to use a digital camera: photograph the face and use the photo to help you plan the descent of the last few hundred feet, thus saving precious brain cells for more important things.
