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Winding through pines
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Ponderosa Pines and U. Peak
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Arriving at Matlock Lake
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Old Ponderosa Pine
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Meadow-y Matlock Lake shoreline
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After stopping for a quick snack break on the shores of Matlock Lake, we continued on in the general direction of the basin north-east of University Peak. There was a fairly steep headwall that we had to surmount to get to the next terrace; it required a bit of consideration in order to find the easiest way up. We picked a route running directly west from Matlock Lake, and we were fairly easily able to find a class 2 scramble with an occasional easy class 3 move. Soon, we were atop the headwall, looking down on yet another little alpine lake - this one tinged a pretty greenish color: Bench Lake.
courtesy AHyndman
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Scrambling to Bench Lake
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Scrambling to Bench Lake
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Terrain above Bench Lake
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The trees pretty much gave up attempting to grow beyond the surrounds of Bench Lake. We chose what appeared to be a solid-looking rounded ridgeline leading up to the southwest, rather than the more rubbly terrain on either side. The ridge was nice, clean sierra granite - easy to hike up.
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courtesy JInnes
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Climbing on solid ground
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Bench Lake
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Climbing towards University Peak
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As we climbed the broad ridge, we noticed that our sunny blue skies with puffy clouds had gone away, replaced with a more continuous overcast that graded darker to the west. Hopefully, we thought, this was a temporary situation. However, not being able to see over the high Sierra Crest looming above us (i.e. it was to the west of us, and that was the direction from which the weather was coming) meant that we really couldn't make any forecast about what was to come.
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courtesy JInnes
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Arn on Granite
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Jenn above Matlock Lake
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Andrew above lakes
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We arrived at a small un-named lake at about the 11,500-foot mark. All around us was barren alpine terrain - scree slopes, small snow fields, and above, the towering rock of University Peak. We could see the class-2 chute that I intended to climb on the far side of the lake. It looked steep from our angle, face-on, and there was a larger snow-patch in the upper part of it. I've learned from experience that the actual angle of terrain can be very different from what is perceived at certain angles. In any case, I hoped that it wasn't such that we needed ice axes for very steep snow.
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Arriving at un-named Lake
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Aussie Lake?
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Dark Clouds Approacheth
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We stopped at the lake for a rest, a snack, and to filter some water. Although we were at over 11,000 feet -- definitely a point where the difficulties of altitude are noticeable -- we were doing reasonably well. While we were stopped, another party of climbers doing University peak caught up to us.
The party of climbers wasn't the only thing that caught up to us at this unnamed lake (which we decided to call 'Aussie Lake', owing to the resemblance of its shape to Australia): We heard the unwelcome sound of a rumble of thunder. The sky to the west was even darker now; the first thoughts of doubt crept into our minds.
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(last message posted on Tue Nov 29, 13:38 EST 2011 by dad)
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