Mt. Brewer and Sphinx Lakes 2000

Very cold night—27F this morning.  Got started 8:30 or 9:00 for more uphill to “Sphinx Pass”.  Traversed across to Cinder Col trying to stay high.  Did fairly good job maintaining altitude.  Got to two lakes at Cinder Col around 1:30 and decided to climb Mt. Brewer today.  Left packs at campsite and headed up around 2.  Made summit around 4:15 or so—lots of rock scrambling and a bit of climbing near the top.  Awesome views of Palisades, Whitney and lots more.  Took pictures and headed down to camp.  First part was hard climbing, but then we slid down some scree for quite a ways.  Got to camp around 6, just enough time to have dinner and set up camp.  Tomorrow we should be back on schedule, making Lake Reflection.  Great weather so far—no clouds!

“Sphinx Pass”

Big Brewer Lake

Lake at Campsite

View from the approach to Mt. Brewer

View east from the summit, Mt. Whitney just right of center

View north from the summit, Palisades in center

Steve, Ron, and Derek on Mt. Brewer summit

Summit rocks