I'm a lucky guy.

Some very good people invited me along on a trip to Mount Ritter. Since the opportunity arose in late July, we had time to exchange notes and coordinate our trip. The five of us would meet in Mammoth for dinner the evening before the hike to Lake Catherine. Harry, Charles, Peter, Kathy and myself got to know one another over a fine meal and to discuss the few remaining details of our trip. Most of us slept that evening in our cars at the Minarets overlook which is a short drive to the Shadow Lake trail head. We arranged to meet promptly at six in the morning and we all arrived raring to go.

A hazy view of Ritter and Banner from the comfort of the car

The first six or seven miles of the hike was blissfully a tree lined trail. Blissful because it rapidly became apparent that my usual pace is about one half speed of everyone else. I did what I could to keep up. Apparently my enthusiasm to go on the trip allowed my mind to over look a few details, like the fact Harry has been climbing mountains for decades and can run a half marathon in less than two hours. Or that Peter was on Denali not that long ago, or that Charles is obviously extremely fit and has been to summits I could only dream about, or that Kathy has logged more trail miles and summits than I ever will. But you wouldn't know it unless you asked, because they all have such an admirable personalities and we all know the mountain always has the final word. So in a whoosh we were clearing the trees and getting some excellent views in no time.

Out of the trees, into the views (Kathy, Peter, Charles, and Harry)

 As we approached Thousand Island Lake the grandeur of seeing Banner Peak was like a dose of morphine to my weary legs. This is a classic case of a picture doesn't do any justice to seeing the view in person. We took a short standing break to snap some photo's. It occurs to me after the fact that Harry was so fast I rarely caught an image of him.

Banner Peak high above Thousand Island Lake

Charles	Kathy	Peter	Harry (L)

Within minutes we were off the trail to travel cross country en route to North Glacier Pass, the notch that'll put us into the bowl with Lake Catherine - our camp.

Yours truly on the last of the trail heading to the pass (just left of center)

As we got to the low part of the pass the exertion from our speedy hike in was catching up with me. I explained to the others that I would just have to catch up on the other side of the pass so that I don't slow them down. Everyone is very safety conscious, so after some assurances the group marched on ahead. But before they did , Kathy pointed out a grave site - a keen observation to say the least.

"Here rests Conrad-Anna Rettenbacher who lost their lives climbing Mount Banner July 1934"

While my heart rate slowed and and caught my breath I watched the others ascend the pass keeping an eye on the chosen route. The variety of grass, rock, snow, scree, talus kept me energized as I begin to push on up the hill.

Looking up at North Glacier Pass (right) with others up ahead

When I arrived at the snowfield I could not tell if the others had used crampons. It was late enough in the day such that the snow would be soft enough to kick steps, but just the same I didn't want to chance it so I stopped to dig them out of my pack and put them on.

Kathy at the top of the snowfield getting ready for some boulder hopping