High Sierra Topix

I'm going to be doing a 5 day trip the last full weekend of Sept. starting at Shepherds Pass TH early on Friday Morning and ending at the Portal on Tuesday Morning. My partner and I are both comfortable going XC and handling exposed class 3. General plan is this:

Day 1 - Shepherds Pass trail. Camp at TH on Thursday night. Get up early and push our way to the top where we will crest over the pass and into Sequoia NP for the evening and Make camp below Mt Tyndall. Rest, recover and head to sleep for an early start for Day 2.

Day 2 - Mt Tyndall & Mt Williamson - The first two 14ers on the list. Early start and Pack up camp and leave packs near the base of Tyndall. Planning on heading up the class 3 north rib route. After tackling Tyndall we'll descend into the Williamson bowl and make the traverse across the Willi bowl to the start of the class 3 climb up the chute to the top of Willi. Top out Willi and head back down. Camp in the Willi bowl or near Lake Helen of Troy.

Day 3 - Trojan Peak & Mt Barnard Traverse. Rather than cross back across the Williamson Bowl we'll go up and over Trojan Peak which is a sandy slog then down the other side skirting around 13,000' on the east side of the ridge that separates Trojan and Barnard and then up and over Barnard. Down the south side of Barnard into the Wallace/Wales lake basin. Depending on how we feel at this point we'll either set up camp after getting to the lakes or push on up to near Lake Tulainyo to be close to the start of Day 4.

Day 4 - Russell, Whitney and Muir. Up early again and then up the Russell-Carillion col to the east ridge of Russell. Drop packs and head up the exposed 3rd class ridge to the summit. Back down the way we came and then pick up our packs and down via the path of least resistance to the Whitney Mountaineers Route. Leave packs as the base, and climb up the MR to the summit, sign the register and then down the main trail to Mt Muir. Tag Muir and then back the way we came back to the MR, down and collect our packs. Camp near Iceberg Lake.

Day 5 - Iceberg to Whitney Portal. Wake up and make the hike down to the portal, eat some pancakes and then hop in our truck that we dropped on on Thursday Night and pick up the other truck at Shepherds Pass TH and back home.

Here's a link on caltopo to a rough route I sketched out: http://caltopo.com/m/21R1

Any comments or input appreciated. Should be a pretty epic trip, good way to end the season and knock a bunch of the 14ers off my list in one whack. That leaves Split and the Palisades to concentrate on next year.

Bumping this back up. Anyone have any input on the proposed route?

No personal experience. But I'm planning a trip to the area to do Split and Tyndall as well. The videos I've been watching of shepherds pass look brutal. Just make sure you can handle that altitude gain as well as your fitness.

punchcard wrote:No personal experience. But I'm planning a trip to the area to do Split and Tyndall as well. The videos I've been watching of shepherds pass look brutal. Just make sure you can handle that altitude gain as well as your fitness.

Yes, Shepherds pass from all accounts is a slog. We're going to start super early on Friday in an attempt to beat the heat on the lower elevation part of the trail. As far as altitude gain, I think I'm OK there. I did a loop on San Gorgonio down here in Socal a couple of weeks ago and there was about 8K of elevation gain over 13.5 miles to the summit, with an additional 10.5 mile hike out back to the TH. The next day I felt great despite the long miles on trail the day before.

How did the trip go? I've climbed Tyndall a couple times- once in January, and again in July. The north ridge was trickier than I thought, with the chance of a long, skin-shedding fall- ten cuidado amigo, Harlen.

Yeah, things didn't quite go to plan.. My TR is here: viewtopic.php?f=14&t=15119

Long story short, my hiking buddy wasn't quite as prepared as he thought he was for this trip. We rolled with it and still had a good time.

North rib of Tyndall was pretty mellow. We stayed on the margin of the rib on the right side where it goes to slab and crossed over to the left side near the top to make the chute.

Going to head back up in Aug or Sept of this year and hit Williamson, Trojan and Barnard.

I did that exact climb a few years ago, coming out from a trip into Milestone Basin to climb a few peaks there. Luckily I guessed that there would be cliffs before I got too low so only had to traverse and not go back up. Yes, the talus is miserable. But the lake below is very beautiful. I did the loop earlier in the summer so had more daylight. I camped at exactly the same little tarn!

Your proposed plan was probably a bit too ambitions for that time of year, given less daylight than mid-summer. I did Williamson from George Creek years ago. - actually not as horrible as thought. I hope to get into Williamson Bowl this summer. Nice to hear that the Shapherd Pass tril is now fixed. Hopefully spring runoff will not ruin it again.

Fantastic photo doc. of your abbreviated trip. "The best laid plans of mice and men ...." Good luck. Harlen.