Nydiver Lakes, Ritter Range Backpacking Trip, July 2013
This set of 3 small lakes, and some nearby tarns, lies above and just to the north of Ediza. To get there I climbed up Ediza’s NW inlet stream, full of beautiful falls and cascades, to a desolate tarn nestled right at the base of Mt. Ritter & Banner Peak. I then continued up and explored the lakes & nearby tarns. I finally returned to Ediza via their outlet stream which flows down to Shadow Creek & its trail. We had hoped to later camp at the lakes, but this day hike proved the route too steep & rugged for us carrying heavy packs. I still would love to do this so that I could capture this area’s stunning vistas in early & late light.
I did have a “holy sh*t” moment while at the base of Mt. Ritter — remembering three nearby close calls in 1971. In that year we climbed Ritter from Thousand Island & Catherine Lakes, via the north glacier to the Ritter/Banner saddle, and up Ritter’s north face to the top. While climbing the north face, a large rock came loose as I used it to pull myself up. I warned David below me to watch out as I let it tumble down to the glacier below. Later, after reaching the summit, we realized that it would be too difficult to descend the way we came. So we came down Ritter’s south side, glissading down its SE glacier and taking the long route around the base of Banner back to Thousand Island during a severe thunderstorm.
The second “tight spot” was below the SE glacier when we decided to stay high, contouring along ledges at the base of Ritter and Ritter/Banner saddle. We did this so to avoid dropping down hundreds of feet toward Nydiver Lakes and having to then re-climb around Banner. However the chosen ledges at one point narrowed to only a few inches wide, with a huge vertical exposure. Somehow we mustered the courage to tightrope across. It was this section that I was looking up at during this trip and wondering how the hell we did it.
The last close call that 1971 day was a little later when I heard David exclaim and turned around to see him being showered in icy snow. A large rock had fallen off of Banner (displaced by a lightning strike?) and had hit the snowfield only feet away.
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Minarets, Mt. Ritter, & Banner Peak from Middle Nydiver Lake:
Mt. Ritter, Banner Peak & Volcanic Ridge from Lower Nydiver Lake:
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