[ragman and rodman]

This seldom visited peak is located about equal distance between the south summit of Granite Mtn and Paddy-Go-Easy Pass… if you aren’t familiar with the Back Court 100 list, you may have never heard of it… it doesn’t have a point designation on the USGS map or the Green Trails map and it does require some off-trail hiking to reach the summit. Reading from page one of the current summit register, Gene Prater (a.k.a. Mr. Snowshoe) and his brother, Bill, placed the original summit register in 1947… over time it became very weathered and he placed the current summit register in 1992… on the day he and his second wife, Jeri, were celebrating their 6 month wedding anniversary… he and Bill named the peak Sherpani in honor of the female Sherpas. Denali Girl and I still use our Sherpa snowshoes (produced by Gene’s company) that we purchased in the 80’s and still refer to Gene’s “Snowshoe Hikes” book for snowshoeing ideas… Gene passed away in February, 1993 at age 64… too early for this snowshoeing pioneer. Charlie Hickenbottom suggested this hike/climb…and larman and I were more than willing to join him… rodman and I had tried for Sherpani last November, but called off the attempt on the east side of Point 6564 because we were short one ice ax and the snow was too consolidated to risk it. We started from the Paddy-Go-Easy Pass trailhead (3400’) and were able to use the snow-free trail to ~5800’… where we left the trail, heading northwest, staying beneath the cliffs of Paddy-Go-North (Point 6573) and working our way over to the saddle (6200’) between Paddy-Go-North and Point 6564… from here we traversed the east side of Point 6564 in excellent snow conditions… reaching the saddle (6300’) between Point 6564 and Sherpani… where we chose to remain on the east side snow, traveling underneath cliffs until reaching Sherpani’s east ridge… and then easy terrain up to within 35 feet of the summit… from here on there is some exposure (Class 3) as we wound our way up and around the summit boulders until finding the easiest step possible on the west side of the summit (6720’). Outstanding views in all directions… we were the first party to sign the summit register this year… the only parties signing the register last year were nwhikers.net forum members Mike Collins, Dan & Tom Sjolseth, Martin Shetter, Eric Johnson, and Stefan. 9 miles roundtrip, gaining ~3500 feet of elevation. Map and photos of our hike/climb of Sherpani Peak ..

[bobbi]

great history lesson! thanks and fantastic job getting to the summit!

[Type E]

Thank you for the good Beta, I haven't done Paddy Go North so it would make a good daily double. E

[newtrout]

My Dad tells me stories of winter climbs with the Praters. I swear people were tougher back then. Wool and leather.....

[Mike Collins]

[ragman and rodman]

sorry... fixed...

[Schroder]

Sorry to hear that about Gene. I went snowshoeing with him a few times. Many years ago I was in a Mountaineers party climbing the Cascadian Colouir on Stuart. Gene passed us & explained that he was going up the Emmons on Rainier that morning but the snow conditions weren't good so he came back down Inter-Glacier, drove over to the Teanaway, came over Longs Pass and beat us to the summit. He was an amazing guy.

[puzzlr]

Thanks for the interesting report. I have owned a set of Sherpa snowshoes since the late 70s. I enjoyed learning this background information. They're pretty beat up now, and I've repaired them several times, but I still pull them out when we need an extra set for short winter snowshoes.