High Sierra Topix

Detailed report is upcoming, but wanted to share a teaser from the 2014 Memorial Day weekend trip into Humphreys Basin.


360° panorama from the summit of Mt. Goethe (13,264 ft) - highpoint of Glacier Divide

Basics:
Day 1 - North Lake TH to Piute Pass, down to Muriel Lake (base camp).
Day 2 - Muriel Lake to Goethe Lakes, over Alpine Col, traverse around Lake 11910 to south slopes of Mt. Goethe and scramble up a rib to summit. Reverse course.
Day 3 - Muriel Lake back to North Lake.

Hoping to get the full write-up done soon. It was an incredible trip.

Thanks for the teaser, looks like from the write up that it was a fun trip Orbitor, and
will benefit all those who wish to visit the area in the next couple of weeks.

omg,teaser is right!!that looks awesome...get those pics up...was there lots of snow on trail??

If i read this right, the lakes are still frozen up there at least at 11,500'. Was Muriel frozen?

Nice pic by the way. gives a great idea of what is happening now. Glad you had good weather to do what you did.

Snow on the trail doesn't really matter after Muriel. Cuz there really isn't one.

Conditions

Trail:
From east - Passable to Piute Pass. Almost entirely clear to above Loch Leven, from there to the pass snowfields get progressively bigger, longer and deeper. Copious postholing from Piute Lake, and the trail is soaked in melt runoff making it super muddy and boggy later in the day.
Over Piute Pass west - Buried. Piute Canyon looked clear at lower elevations, but can't be sure where the trail is distinguishable again since we didn't go down that way. For the use trail to Muriel Lake I saw about a 20-ft section that was clear, that's it.

Lakes:
Loch Leven - clear
Piute Lake - 1/3 thawed
Summit Lake - covered in ice, but beginning to show thawing on the edges
Muriel Lake - frozen solid, tiny signs of thawing at edges (we were debating walking straight across, in the end we played it safe and circled the shores)
Goethe Lakes - frozen solid
Lakes in Darwin Bench - frozen solid

Orbitor,

Thanks for the report. Your information is very helpful.

Thanks,

-Russ

Looking forward to the full trip report. Were you hiking or on skis?

Hi Cdt7000,

Welcome to HST! Hope to see your TR's, and read your contribution in the future.

orbitor wrote: Lakes:
Loch Leven - clear
Piute Lake - 1/3 thawed
Summit Lake - covered in ice, but beginning to show thawing on the edges
Muriel Lake - frozen solid, tiny signs of thawing at edges (we were debating walking straight across, in the end we played it safe and circled the shores)
Goethe Lakes - frozen solid
Lakes in Darwin Bench - frozen solid

Thank you for this information and your panorama. Helps tons for my planning.

Russ

Can't wait for the rest!