High Sierra Topix

I did a 3 night 4 day loop starting at Mammoth Pass following the SHR to Tuolumne Meadows then back along the JMT. Here is a brief report and some photos.

Summary:

Weather: Mostly clear, warm to hot. Last day thru Mammoth there were some T-storm clouds, typical late in day, and some light rain; along with HOT temps in places!

Snow: lots of it up high. It was very consolidated but in general had a soft layer on top (from 8am on!). I believe the high daytime and nighttime (40F) temps were the cause. I brought both crampons and ice axe, but only used my crampons 2x (Cecil and Iceberg lakes) and ice axe 1x (I think it was Whitebard Pass; I encounter a steep "Lip."). Most of the time I was just fine with hiking poles and trail runners, kicking steps when necessary.

Mosquitos: from a few to Defcon 1! In the meadows or anywhere there was standing water (duh), they were really really bad.

People: SHR saw 1 person, thought I heard voices one evening when camped. JMT was the usual traffic jam.

Please excuse my amateur photo skills.
One place that I wish I had photos of, that I somehow forgot to take any, is Glacier Pass. It was incredible with all the snow.

Hope your enjoy this mini TR.

Nice photos. I really like the one from Nancy Pass. That is an uncommon view of the Minarets, Ritter, and Banner that really brings out best in the alpine character of area.

Nice report. Thanks for posting.

You must have put in some really high mile days to do this in four days. Where were your campsites?

Thanks guys. Love the Minarets and how rugged/alpine that piece of the SHR is.

Wandering Daisy: Yes, fairly high mileage. Above Ediza Lake 1st night (I drove in that day), near Lyell "Creek," then below Donohue Pass. I think I averaged about 20mi-ish and highest was about 28mi. When I'm solo I tend to do bigger miles...

My Wife and I will make the SHR with starting date around 23 August at Sequoia NP. Around Beginning of September we will arrive at Iceberg Lake. How much snow do you had there - was it from the pass the whole way down or only some small patches. I'm a little worried about make this without crampons. I did it last year alone - when there was no snow.

Cecil was maybe 90%, Iceberg 85% coverage. The steep section down to Iceberg had some exposed rock and dirt, then snow at lake level. Hard to say if enough will melt during Aug where it will be patchy, but I tend to think it will still have snowfields. If the temps are lower (Sept) then likely traction devices will be good. I could have done without, but the temps were high.

Zettel wrote:My Wife and I will make the SHR with starting date around 23 August at Sequoia NP. Around Beginning of September we will arrive at Iceberg Lake. How much snow do you had there - was it from the pass the whole way down or only some small patches. I'm a little worried about make this without crampons. I did it last year alone - when there was no snow.

A bit of a guessing game this year. Should you carry crampons you don't need or go without and need them?

If you're planning on a resupply at Reds Mdw you could have your crampons there and then cache them again in Tuolumne. Is there no other place on the SHR where crampons might be needed?

Another possibility would be to go without them and have as a backup plan climbing over Volcanic Ridge. It would require some backtracking and extra effort but at least is an option.

Let us know what happened! :-)