Banner Peak is the second highest peak in the Ritter Range. It stands next to its more popular neighbor, Mount Ritter (200 feet taller). We completed our summit starting at Ediza Lake, where we also camped for the night. We had backpacked to Ediza Lake the previous summer and loved our campsite, but wanted to add on a little something this time around. We chose to only go for the “easier” Banner Peak, but many people choose to complete both Ritter and Banner in the same trip.
Banner Peak Trip Overview:
Dates: August 6, 2022
Time: 5:30 AM – 8:30 AM to Ediza Lake (southeast end), 4.5 hours from Ediza Lake to Banner Peak
Shadow Lake – 6:45 AM
Ediza Lake (east end) – 8:00 AM
Left camp (southeast end) – 8:45 AM
Top of talus – 11:00 AM
Saddle – 12:00 PM
Banner Peak – 1:15 PM
Miles: 14.6 miles RT to the southwest end of Ediza Lake; approximately 22 miles RT to the summit
Trailhead Elevation: 8,311 ft
Peak Elevation: 12,936 ft
Elevation Gain: 4,625 ft
Permit: A wilderness permit is required year round for overnight trips to the Shadow Creek area and is available through Recreation.gov up to 6 months in advance
Trailhead: Agnew Meadows
Parking: Available parking at Agnew Meadows if you arrive before 7 AM. If arriving after 7 AM, you must take a shuttle bus (see below).
Dogs: Not allowed
Getting to Agnew Meadows Trailhead:
The trailhead to start this hike begins at Agnew Meadows. You can drive directly to the Agnew Meadows Parking Lot if you arrive before 7 AM. If arriving after 7 AM you must take the Reds Meadow/Devils Postpile Shuttle. The shuttle bus leaves from the Mammoth Mountain Main Lodge and costs $15 for adults, $7 for children aged 3-15, and is free for children under age 2. See the website for shuttle times.
Banner Peak Trip Details:
We left the Los Angeles area on Friday night so that we could arrive at the Agnew Meadows Trailhead during the middle of the night when you’re still allowed to drive straight to the parking lot. On Saturday we started our hike out to Ediza Lakes around 5:30 AM. We did a backpacking trip to Ediza Lake two summers ago and felt somewhat familiar with the hike, starting out in the dark.
After arriving at Ediza Lakes, we dropped off our heavy items at the same campsite we stayed at last time, grabbed what we needed for our day hike up to Banner Peak, and headed out around 9 AM.
Start of the slow slog up to the saddle between Ritter and Banner. This part sucked.
Snowfield below the saddle.
We had come to the area just after a huge storm (people who had camped at Ediza the previous night said there was flash flooding and they couldn’t get out the day before). We think the previous day’s storm carved this deep chute.
Taking a pizza lunch break after hiking through a mixture of soft snow and some annoying scree.
The last portion of the hike past this couloir was a long slog of scree to the top.
Made it to the top!!
At the top we marveled at the 360 views, signed the summit register, and relaxed for a pretty long time taking in the 360 views. Even though we had made it to the highest point in our journey, little did we know how difficult and tedious it would be to make our way back down the scree… but after a long day we finally made it back to our cozy campsite!
Need to Know:
- No campfires are allowed at Shadow, Ediza, or Iceberg Lakes
- No camping is allowed at Shadow Lake, Shadow Creek, and the east side of Ediza Lake
- Bear containers are required
- May 1 through November 1 overnight visitors are limited to 30 people per day
- Water from creeks, lakes, and springs should be treated before drinking
- Vault toilet is available at the trailhead
- Bury human waste away from water sources
When to Hike Banner Peak:
You can climb Banner Peak anytime of the year, depending on whether you want to climb on snow, ice, or rock. For those who are not as experienced snow and ice climbing like us, I would go from late May to October to have good hiking conditions and comfortable camping conditions. We were lucky enough to get a last minute permit in August and thought that the weather was perfect. I was afraid there was going to be a ton of mosquitos, but there weren’t too many on the trail and there were almost none at our campsite!
What to Pack for Banner Peak:
- Hydration: We usually start with 2-3 liters of water, each, and pack a water filter and some iodine tablets. If you’re hiking where there’s snowpack, you can boil some snow to have drinkable water. Electrolyte packets are also very useful for hydration on the trail.
- Nutrition: We usually eat a bar or oatmeal and a piece of fruit before starting off on our backpacking trips. For this trip, we ate a bar in the morning and waited until we got to our campsite to eat lunch. For snacks, we bring bars, jerky, or trail mix. For dinners, we either eat dehydrated foods or even leftovers from a meal we ate on the road trip out to the hike (cold pizza makes a great dinner!).
- Stove: We love our Jetboil to boil water for drinking and to heat up our dehydrated dinners, oatmeals, coffee, etc.
- Navigation: For hikes with more difficult trails to follow, you may want to invest in a GPS tracker. For simpler hikes, we use the GPS system on our phones and a tracker such as Gaia GPS or AllTrails.
- Headlamp: We use Black Diamond, and I usually also pack our inflatable solar latern by MPOWERD and attach it to the outside of my pack.
- Sun protection: Sunscreen, sunglasses, and sun-protective clothes – always a must!
- First aid: Our first aid kit consists of band-aids, gauze, medical tape, Compede Bandages (love this more than Moleskin for blisters), antibiotic ointment, alcohol wipes, ibuprofen, tweezers, pocket knife
- Shelter: We use our Marmot Tungsten 2-Person Tent (3 season, 4 lbs, 13 oz).
Leave No Trace
Always remember to practice the principals of Leave No Trace! These 7 principals include:
- Plan Ahead & Prepare
- Travel & Camp on Durable Surfaces
- Dispose of Waste Properly
- Leave What You Find
- Minimize Campfire Impacts
- Respect Wildlife
- Be Considerate of Others
Check out the Leave No Trace program for more information.
