Mears Peak

Route: East ridge from S7, south slopes slab descent
Posted On: 8/12/2023, By: SnowAlien
Info: This was my favorite peak of the loop, I was so glad to check it out. The entire ridge traverse from S10 to S7 I kept wondering where the infamous loose rock was, as it seemed pretty reasonable to me. Well, once past S7, the loose rock really starts. I didn't care that much for the traverse and found myself a bit below the ridge in one spot traversing a loose gully and had to check Bombay2Boulder GPX, and sure enough, he gained the ridge proper earlier, so I went up as well. Glad I didn't have to reverse the tedious ridge, as the descent off Mears was much quicker than the ridge. B2B nailed it - speedy scree ski in the top and bottom thirds and the slabs in the middle were sensational - solid and fun. Reminded me of El Diente Kilpacker slopes descent. I got down to a faint trail after dropping 2,500 feet in an hour and 20 min, right before dark. Had to trudge down the Iron mountain trail for 3+ hours, but it was very straightforward and easy navigation even in the dark - no deadfall or avy debris. The day was windy, and by the end of the day there was smoke coming from the west, which made for some interesting hazy sunset skies. 

Route: S-ridgeline
Posted On: 7/13/2021, By: tdawg012
Info: Descended Mears' west shoulder to iron mtn trail as described in Bombay2Boulder's report. https://14ers.com/php14ers/tripreport.php?trip=20551 Check your position frequently (gps, onyx, etc) in relation to his .gpx route.... small deviations from this route early on can have high consequences later. Not advisable if wet from previous or current day storms (moderate-heavy). Gloves were nice to have 

Route: West Ridge Out and Back from \"S 7\"
Posted On: 8/13/2020, By: supranihilest
Info: A somewhat enjoyable route on Mears! There are two constants on this entire ridge: exposure and loose rock, sometimes very loose. Test everything because absolutely everything on this ridge is guilty and cannot be proven innocent. From "S 7"'s summit go east on the ridge. On our way to Mears we dropped down below the ridge crest and traversed on crappy, gravel covered ledges and slabs. This worked but wasn't super wonderful. Once the ridge narrows and towers began blocking the path we again stayed below the ridge crest, usually on talus (sometimes with faint trail segments) and sometimes scrambling on loose rock. The scrambles were usually short lived. It wasn't until probably half way or farther that we returned to the ridge crest, staying there until a square-ish block appeared. There's a large, obvious gully leading up this block which we took at loose Class 3, then a second gully that was Class 3 dirt. On top of the block we continued along a short catwalk, dropping below a boulder we couldn't climb over and didn't want to scramble around, then back to the catwalk. The catwalk is exceptionally loose corn flake rock and leads to a short cliff at the end which we down climbed at a slightly overhanging but ledgy Class 4. This was the only Class 4 we encountered on the ridge. From there a few more small, rotten towers were in the way but it was all hiking terrain from there. Once at the saddle where the garbage red rock begins simply hike (tediously, I might add) and/or scramble to the summit of Mears. This is the worst rock on the ridge so take your time with it. We returned over the ridge back to "S 7", which went much faster on the return trip, and we stayed on the ridge crest for the final ascent to "S 7" instead of on the junky ledges below. If you're planning on descending Mears itself KNOW YOUR DESCENT ROUTE. Exceptionally dangerous, loose, and exposed scree, talus, hardpan, rotting slabs, and cliffs litter the south side of Mears that could get you in trouble. Photos after the summit photo(s) were taken on the return trip and give a different perspective of some of the same stuff. 

Route: South Face from Deep Creek
Posted On: 8/2/2020, By: supranihilest
Info: Awful. Terrible. Heinous. Loose beyond words. Dangerous. Doubtless the loosest, most infuriating, most expletive-inducing peak I have ever been on. We didn't even summit because there's thousands of feet of 50 degree scree, talus, and hardpan and every step would slide back 2-3 feet, sometimes two times, three times, five times until the rock stabilized enough that you could carefully scamper up. We were only doing between 200-400 vert an hour because most of it was lost sliding backwards. Anything "solid" would practically shatter at the touch. Save yourself the trouble and just do this route as a snow climb.