High Sierra Topix

Does anybody have pictures of the north side of Harrison Pass you can post here? I'm trying to gauge how steep it is. I would be there in late August/early September, when (presumably) the snowfield will not be its usual treacherous self. I have not been able to find any decent photos on the web.

Thanks --

Mike

Looking down:

http://www.sonic.net/~words/Images/HarrisonPass-1.jpg

Looking up and looking down from Bll Finch's site:

http://sekihiker.home.comcast.net/~seki ... kb104.html

http://sekihiker.home.comcast.net/~seki ... kb105.html

Thank you -- I have not seen that first photo before, but have seen the Finch images. There are two other decent images on the web that can be found here:

http://www.turula.com/3/index.html

I'm looking for a shot from the perspective of about 1/2 up from the lake basin, about half way up the north side of the pass. Anyone have a photo in their private collection?

In terms of difficulty, Finch ranks the Kern Divide passes as follows, from easiest to hardest:

1. Milly's
2. Little Joe
3. Harrison
4. Thunder Col

I'm guessing he left out Lucy's Foot Pass because he has never been over that route -- he has commented several times on trip reports that the route down looked too steep for his blood. Little Joe Pass is a route he discovered many years back when he was out on a day hike; it lies between Milly's and Lucy's and involves climbing the shoulder of the mountain above Lake Reflection, I think. It would be great to learn more about this route.

Many other posters on the web have commented about the steep and cruddy conditions on Harrison, which is why I wanted to see a few good photos of it and judge whether I would be comfortable on it.

I've seen photos on the web of Milly's and it looks like a nice route too. How steep and exposed is the last 100 feet? Anybody have their own photos from up there, particularly from just below the crest?

Mike

That's interesting that he ranks Milly's as the easiest -- it's listed as Class 3. I've never done it for that reason, since Lucy's (which I have done) is generally listed as only Class 2. And Lucy has got one nasty foot! It's not so much the steepness as the fantastically loose rock.

As I mentioned elsewhere, I found Harrison to be a relative breeze. Maybe it had snow cover in just the right places that summer.