dog for a day

I was feeling indecisive and slightly unmotivated about what to do last Tuesday when Marsha came by to visit my housemate and said that I would be welcome to take her dog, Jasmine, along on one of my upcoming hikes/runs. That seemed like a sign that it was time to hit the dirt, so I told Marsha that I would be by to pick up Jasmine shortly. Peter Croft had put Agassiz as the only class 2 route in his guide The Good, the Great, and the Awesome, so I figured it would be a worthy goal for the day. The register entries on summitpost noted a number of other options also from Bishop Pass with better rock and harder grades. I had seen Jasmine before in the Tablelands, so I was confident that she could handle most class 3 we encountered.

Jasmine and I headed out from South Lake at a brisk pace, reaching Bishop Pass in under two hours. I selected a chute to the right of the main ascent route and up we went. As I had guessed Jasmine found her way up most of the route, requiring me to pick her up only a few times for surmounting taller boulder and when the grade steepened to class 4 for a small section. Once out of the chute we rejoined the regular route and headed up the talus heap to the summit. I was feeling a bit slow, but Jasmine didn't seem to mind, as she fell behind in a few spots. I was beginning to see why the route made it into Croft's book as I looked over the edge to the southeast. The Palisades from Winchell to Sill were laid out before me, and I thought back to our Thunderbolt to Sill traverse last August.

We headed down the screen laden regular route and back over to the Bishop Pass trail. By the time we made it back to my car it was dark and Jasmine promptly sacked out on top of my bouldering pad.