19 May 2026 - Trip Report: The Ordovician Ogopogo (5.7 PG13)

Staff members Colin and Tess (of Norway big wall fame) got out to help him prepare for an upcoming AMGA course. Both having done a fair number of routes in the Sierra, they were looking for something fresh to do but also allowed them to have a comfortable car-to-car (C2C) day. After some debate, they settled on a slightly obscure feature/route known as the Ordovician Ogopogo out of the McGee Pass trailhead.

Lured by the novelty of a 450 million yer-old fin of sandstone in the middle of granite mountain range, it proved a worthwhile adventure - though maybe not twice lol. As described on Mountain Project: "The Ordovician Ogopogo is a charming little feature on the far northwest spur of Mount Morgan North, near the mouth of McGee Creek. This prominent fin of golden quartzite rises from a sea of psychedelic marble slabs, offering surprisingly solid rock quality compared to the junk found on White Fang and company. In terms of metamorphic effects, the rock looks and feels like a half-baked quartz sandstone - it was described this way by Rinehart and Ross in the original 1958 USGS survey (Rinehart and Ross, 1964). There's enough calcite to generate the characteristic weathering pattern known as rillenkarren - shallow vertical runnels which are super fun for rock climbing and happen to take nuts really well."

Trip Report: 

Current As Of: 19 May 2026*

Activity During Report: hiking, moderate snow travel requiring crampons and ice axe, 5th class alpine rock climbing.

Conditions: 

We left the McGee Pass trailhead at 0945 for a casual start to the day. Not looking to reinvent the wheel, we used the approach instructions on Mtn Project and they turned out to be bomber so we will share them here as well: "Park at McGee Pass trailhead. Walk the low trail alongside the creek. After ~0.7 miles, this low trail will take a turn to the right and start climbing uphill to join the main trail. Just before it does so, leave the low trail and go cross the creek. Search for a well-placed log which spans the creek and allows one to shimmy across. Once on the other side, follow talus ribs up and right into the main marble chute/couloir which becomes quite narrow and may have snow in spots. Keep your eyes peeled for a single, minor side-gully which leads directly to the base of the ridge. Scramble up and left on rotten blue marble (sketchy 3rd class) to the starting ledge, which is on the left side of the buttress (see photos for orientation)."

The trail out of the parking lot was chill with a gentle uphill. When the trail turned distinctly away from the creek, we left the trail and just handrailed the creek until we found the key log. The stream crossing proved straightforward, though the log does take a smidgen of looking for if you do not know exactly where it is. Once you find it though, there is no mistaking it - reference the pics below to know you are in the right place. Once we crossed the stream, we continued up canyon taking a path that slightly angled away from the creek until we came up to the mouth of the correct couloir on our left. We got to the toe of the snow field in the Wineglass Couloir and stopped to put on crampons and take our axes out. The couloir angle gets up to ~30 degrees and the snow was not soft enough to kick steps consistently so the sharps allowed to think less and just continue moving.

30 casual minutes later, we were up the couloir to the base of the rock fin. We dropped crampons and scrambled to the ledge where we decided to rope up slightly below the landmark corner of Pitch 1.

They estimated about 60-90 minutes for the time and we found ourselves at the upper end of that time estimate since we were taking a casual pace and also stopped threw on our crampons (Tess even brought sneakers and changed out of them into boots at that point as well since the descent goes back the same way).

The climbing proved classically alpine in nature with long sections of 3rd/4th class scrambling (particularly on Pitch 3 and 4) punctuated by short sections of 5th class climbing. As seen in reports, the sandstone was chossy on the whole, but not the worst - just likely not the best introduction to alpine climbing - and solid protection was indeed sparse. My guide recommendation for introductory alpine climb would be to go to Crystal Crag or another feature with cleaner rock, better and more straightforward protection, and more traffic so there is slighly less adventure. For those worried about the choss, Tess described it as "tiny choss, not 'death block that kills you' choss" and I would concur with that assessment, if that proves redeeeming for you. All tho bolts (protection and anchor) described on Mtn Project were indeed there and in good condition, but you should bring tat/cord to sling something (or be prepared to build a gear belay) at the wherever you choose to end Pitch 1 as there was no tat to be found as far as we could see.

The top of Pitch 4 deposits you about 50 meters away from the actual summit of the fin so you can make a chill walk over to stand on top of the block and claim victory. There was no summit register to be found. Taking a chill pace, climbing took just under 2 hours from the start of Pitch 1 to the top of Pitch 4.

For the descent, we continued following the ridge back as it descended into the upper part of the Wineglass Couloir angling down to the snow in the couloir as the ledges and terrain allowed. We would call it 3rd/4th class scrambling at most. Once into the snow, we put crampons back and pulled out our axes for a chill descent down the snow until we reached dry ground and hiked back to the parking lot. Some people take the rock slabs down on the other side of the couloir, but we stuck to the snow as the couloir was still filled quite well and we each have a ton of experience in snow travel. Once we started our descent after summit snacks and pics, it was just over an hour from the summit to the parking lot.

Overall, it was a delightful mini-alpine romp that gives the full experience of off-trail travel, snow travel, rock climbing, routefinding, and more! Definitely worth doing at least once for novelty, if not for just having another easier C2C objective in your pocket to do whenever you got the itch to get out and climb something. Stay safe and have fun out there!

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Tess was far more confident on the log crossing than Colin lol

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The mouth of the canyon that you are looking for with the sandstone fin circled!

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

At the toe of the snowfield

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A great shot of the rillenkarren as Tess scrambles up to the starting ledge!

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Colin pulling over to the anchors on Pitch 3

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

RE-racking at the summit with great views of the McGee Creek area

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Tess on the summit block! You can fit two people up there - we verified it!

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Descending the snow in the Wineglass Couloir

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------