i’ve been dreaming about the evolution traverse for a while. for a climb measured in miles, not pitches, it would require more fitness, skill, and uninterrupted focus than anything else i’d previously done. with a recent flare up of a nagging hip injury, i was unsure whether my body would hold up, but with a promising weather forecast and a limited number of free weekends in the Sierra, i figured i’d give it an honest effort.
the run/hike up to Lamarck col had me feeling cautiously optimistic about my hip pain prospects. i made it to the col a little quicker than planned, and going down the other side i felt inspired by the lone headlamp i saw most of the way up one of the peaks i planned to climb. following Sean O’s precedent, i started up the north side of Peak 13,360’ from the far end of Lake 11,623’. the going was quick, and the technical sections on the ridge to Mendel flowed by as well. the way to Darwin involved lots of route finding decisions, but it went quite smoothly, and i soon found myself mantling up the summit block well ahead of schedule while a party of 3 climbers looked on.
the technical crux awaited me on the way from Darwin to Peak 13,332’, but i felt confident after having navigated it rope-less on a previous attempt with my friend Clement. i cruised down the chimneys and along the ridge until i found myself on a cliff before the iconic Golden Triangle, a bit farther west than i had been last time. i started down a squeeze chimney which, to my dismay, disappeared from under me, about 15 feet above a ledge. it took some shenanigans to gingerly work my hands onto the singular in-cut edge on the face to my right so i could swing my body to jump to a block several feet farther to the right. feeling fortunate that the edge and the block were there, i collected my things and myself and carried on. i had been moving well so far, but my hip issue made itself known in the form of muscle spasms while i was downclimbing a crack on one of the towers near the 13,332’ summit. i took a couple minutes to massage and stretch it on the summit before cautiously continuing on into new-to-me terrain.
the ridge to Haeckel was littered with loose rock, poor route-finding decisions, and hip pain. the next few peaks presented much of the same, but i felt grateful for the increase in rock quality as i approached Warlow. the technical difficulties increased as well, however, and from there to Huxley i wasted a considerable amount of time searching for the easiest ways up. after making it to the final summit, i looked back to reflect on what i had just done before picking my way down the loose gulley towards the JMT. the way back felt long but i was grateful for the stable footing and lack of exposure. arriving at Lamarck col on my way out, i saw that Sean’s time was in range, so i ran most of the way down. i tagged the sign, stopped my watch, and chuckled to myself about the surreal experience i had just gone through. what a day.
some notes on gear, food, and water:
- i wore a pair of light, cushy trail runners for the approach and eventual return back over Lamarck col. i switched into a pair of approach shoes for the ridge. i think sticky trail runners would have been fine, but my approach shoes jam better and are a bit more protective, so i felt the weight would be worth the increase in confidence.
- i opted to leave my rap cord in the car, since Clement and i hadn’t pulled the rope out for the crux downclimbs on our previous attempt. there was that one spot right before the Golden Triangle (that Clement and i had avoided previously) where i might have used it if i’d brought it, but the downclimb went okay, and it would have been reasonable to backtrack and go around if i’d felt like i needed to.
- i wore a pair of rubber-coated work gloves for nearly the entire ridge to save my skin, only taking them off for a couple cruxy climbing sequences — these worked really well.
- i started with 1 L of water, filled up with ~3.3 L at Lake 11,623’, and filled my soft flasks with snow at a couple points along the ridge. i finished the ridge with a little water to spare, and an additional liter from the lake below Huxley got me back.
- i subsisted solely on drink mix, gels, and lots of salt. while my stomach wasn’t particularly comfortable in the second half, this worked out about as well as i could have hoped. i carried a little bit of solid food that i didn’t need to break into.
- i consumed 200 mg of caffeine, split across two gels, and an aggressive quantity of ibuprofen.
looking to the future, there is still a lot of time to trim off, probably on the order of a few hours. the crux of the ridge is route finding, and i think with judicious scouting and/or stronger route finding skills (or luck), an hour or two could be saved with no metabolic cost. better fitness would also help, as would higher confidence moving fast on loose terrain. this is the best route i’ve done to date, i’m excited to see more people get after it!
splits:
Lamarck Col: 1:34:11 (1:34:11)
Peak 13,360’: 3:06:31 (1:32:20)
Mendel: 4:03:47 (0:57:16)
Darwin: 5:07:43 (1:03:56)
Peak 13,332’: 7:14:46 (2:07:03)
Haeckel: 8:39:26 (1:24:40)
Wallace: 9:16:09 (0:36:43)
Crumbling Spire: 9:38:43 (0:22:34)
Fiske: 10:51:40 (1:12:57)
Warlow: 11:59:03 (1:07:23)
Huxley: 13:16:16 (1:17:13)
Lamarck Col: 16:18:23 (3:02:07)
Piute Pass TH: 17:28:44 (1:10:21)