This summer I'm going to be doing a long distance hike that will bring me right by these peaks and I'm considering climbing them. If they were the primary objective, I'd bring an ax and crampons, but since they are merely a detour, I will not be carrying these items.

1) I'm wondering if ascending to the Ritter-Banner saddle up the West/Lake Catherine glacier (opposite the steeper, more common route from Lake Ediza) would be reasonable sans ax/crampons.

2) Once on the saddle, the romp up to Banner is supposedly no problem. However, I hear that, depending on conditions, there can be a sketchy snow section off the saddle before gaining Ritter's north face - I'm curious how gnarly it *typically* is.

3) Descent would then be down the SE glacier (route) of Ritter, which I understand to be pretty mellow excepting some route finding challenges.

The ascent would be mid-season (mid-August).

Josh,

I've only gone up it from the Lake Ediza side, and we had ax, crampon, rope and pickets. A more confident climber might be OK on the Ritter snow slope without any of those, if it is soft snow (which it was when we did it). There was an icy section at the very top of that snowfield, just before the transition to rock. You would have to navigate around that ice.

I think I would do it without a rope, but it is snow (and maybe ice) travel. It's been a long time, but it may have been up to 35-40 degrees on that snowfield.

You could always go up as far as you feel comfortable without an axe and crampons, then turn back if you felt it was getting too sketchy.

After scanning its face again and again,
I began to scale it, picking my holds
With intense caution. About half-way
To the top, I was suddenly brought to
A dead stop, with arms outspread
Clinging close to the face of the rock
Unable to move hand or foot
Either up or down. My doom
Appeared fixed. I MUST fall.
There would be a moment of
Bewilderment, and then,
A lifeless rumble down the cliff
To the glacier below.
My mind seemed to fill with a
Stifling smoke. This terrible eclipse
Lasted only a moment, when life blazed
Forth again with preternatural clearness.
I seemed suddenly to become possessed
Of a new sense. My trembling muscles
Became firm again, every rift and flaw in
The rock was seen as through a microscope,
My limbs moved with a positiveness and precision
With which I seemed to have
Nothing at all to do.

-J. Muir

The glacier to the saddle from Lake Catherine isn't steep but it can be icy, it doesn't get a lot of sun. You might want some traction. If you stick to the left and hug Banner you can follow some ramps above the snow.

Here's a crappy photo from last October nearing the saddle.

Glacier from Lake Catherine to Ritter/Banner saddle. October 2012 Submitted By: QITNL on Feb 23, 2013

This is from 20 yrs ago but when I climbed up to that saddle, it was from 10,000 Island and crampoms were defintely needed. I climbed Ritter's N. Face and then descended down to Lake Catherine. Ritter would have been sketch without the crampons but I remember heading down to Catherine as pretty mellow (lots of boot skiing). Never needed crampons for that part. I suspect it's pretty dependent on conditions.

It sounds like it's be no problem heading up from Lake Catherine and tagging Banner, and then if things looked epic accessing Ritter, I could always head back to Lake Catherine.

Should I make it up Ritter, any comments on descending the SE Glacier?

Thanks for the beta guys!

Did them both from a campsite at Lake Catherine. Been up there twice, in August both times. Sun cups were big enough that even when icy, it wasn't bad travelling in approach shoes with no crampons. The glacier isn't very steep there.

Ritter is pretty loose from that saddle. I don't remember any sketchy snow, but I do remember loose rock. Banner is super chill.

I did the SE descent and it was mellow. From the summit, the walk down the plateau, then head skier's left (IIRC)and you go down a steep, semi-loose rock chute/gully, then you hit the snow. The snow was low angle.

By the way, Rob, thanks for the John Muir quote - I haven't read that book but that makes me want to.

I soloed the SE face of Banner last summer, descended to the saddle and back down to Ediza. This was in July and it was icy at the top before it softened up a little lower, but I felt safe and comfortable armed with only a sharp rock.

@Rob Dillon: I immediately thought of Muir too. He is a good read for sure, but his beta makes eveything sound horrifying.