Jepson Peak, California, USA (11,205 ft / 3415 m)
February 4, 2009 ascent via South Slope (class 1):
Mike Ostby and I started from the Vivian Creek T/H shortly after 7am and ascended Dobbs west ridge. Got to the summit by 11am or so. Tagged East Dobbs Peak first before heading off to Jepson Peak next. Finished off with San Gorgonio getting there by ~ 1:30pm. Left San G's summit around 2:30pm via Vivian Creek trail and were back at the car by ~ 6:30pm. A fun loop!
April 24, 2005 ascent via the left North Couloir (class 3):
A big group of us (Alex Gorokhov, Andrew Wagher, Mark Ingram, Steve Sauter, Justin Trosper, Nick Emis & Jon Emis and myself) climbed one of the north couloirs of Jepson Peak. We climbed the north couloir immediately to the right (west) of Jepson's North Ridge. Despite some weather (we had some trouble finding the base of the couloir because of partial whiteout conditions), we all summited and had a fun 1000ft glissade back down to Jepson bowl.
March 23, 2003 ascent via the North Ridge (class 2-3):
Climbed the North Ridge with Mike Ostby and Alex Gorokhov. We started from the Jenks Lake Road/South Fork trailhead parking lot (6900') Saturday morning. We camped Saturday night at the Jepson bowl (~ 10,000'). We started walking at 6:30am Sunday. The bottom part of the North Ridge is class 3. Then, it gets easier as the angle gentles off towards the summit. Got to the summit around 9:00am. Incredible view of the San Bernardino Ridge traverse---could see the 5 major peaks on the ridge (from west to east): San Bernardino Peak, San Bernardino East Peak, Anderson Peak, Shields Peak and Alto Diablo Peak. We descended the lowest point on the saddle very close to Little Charlton Peak. The hike out back to the trailhead parking lot took ~ 2.5 hours. This was a fun, local snow climb.
Additional info about climbing Jepson Peak can be found here.
Return to my mountaineering page.
Last update: February 5, 2009
By Miguel Forjan
Email: [email protected]