High Sierra Topix

I’m planning a trip for the last week of June, starting off at Minaret Lakes, then spend a night at Cecile and Ediza Lake. Looking for advice on difficulty and options for getting around Cecile Lake.

Good luck on that idea Doug. Normally at the end of June, the route around Cecile and Iceberg would requiring negotiating the steep snowfields where a slider might take a freezing swim in the lake with bergs. Last year I did not at all enjoy the steepest snowfield where the route drops at the north end of Cecile towards iceberg. With the snowfield in the way, I had to negotiate about 20 feet vertical of class 3 rock with my huge pack. This year the only sure way to know is from someone's report. If not here then you might look and or post something over on summitpost. For more basics and pics, look at the Ritter 2006 story on my website. ...David

If I remember correctly, the 'best' route around Cecile is around the east side... it's a rough scramble in places, and no clear trail, but I think it's better than the west side.

The trail down from Cecile to Iceberg is also kind of rough - steep and loose.

I agree with Dave - in June you should expect to encounter snow/ice fields between Cecile and Iceberg - even this year. unless you've got definitive info that they have already melted, I would go prepared (crampons for instance).

I've done this trip twice: the first time, in early august, I found the semi-permanant field on the east side of iceberg to be real scary - especially in the AM when it's frozen hard as a rock and slick as snot. The second time, in mid-july, the snow fields were already melted.

Thanks David & SB, nice work on the Shadow & Minarets report.