Feather Pass

Member descriptions, photos, and map locations of Cross Country Passes in the High Sierra. This forum is for information only - discussions should be kept in the appropriate categories.
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LMBSGV
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Feather Pass

Post by LMBSGV »

FEATHER PASS


GENERAL OVERVIEW
: Connects Merriam Lake and Bear Lakes Basin.


CLASS/DIFFICULTY: Class 2


LOCATION: John Muir Wilderness, Inyo National Forest. HST Map

ELEVATION:12,320


USGS TOPO MAP (7.5'): Mt. Hilgard


ROUTE DESCRIPTION: From Merriam Lake, follow the use trail to the right of the waterfall up to the unnamed lake below Lake LaSalle. It’s easy walking along the shoreline to the short climb to LaSalle. Climb up the ledges to the right of the LaSalle outlet creek to LaSalle. Go around the right side of La Salle — conditions at the time will determine whether it is better to follow the shoreline or the rocks above due to snow on the shoreline. At the far end of La Salle look for a chute ascending to the right of the headwall. Follow the use trail up the chute. At the top of the chute, ascend to the pass. Your exact route will depend on the time of year, but there are no difficult sections as you ascend up the final ledges to the pass. On the north side, follow the use trail down. A couple of the ledges are a long step down, but involve nothing technical.

Lake LaSalle chute

LaSalle-chute-16-1.jpg

Final climb to Feather Pass from above LaSalle chute:

FeatherPass-finalclimb-16-1.jpg

View southwest from Feather Pass:

FeatherPass-southfromLaSalle-16-1.jpg
View west from Feather Pass:

FeatherPass-viewwest.jpg
Looking up at Feather Pass from west side:

FeatherPass-fromwest-16-1.jpg
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Last edited by LMBSGV on Tue Jun 15, 2021 8:47 pm, edited 3 times in total.
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BrianF
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Re: Feather Pass

Post by BrianF »

View from the east from Royce peak. Feather Pass is the saddle in the center right, LaSalle lake in lower left
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RoguePhotonic
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Re: Feather Pass

Post by RoguePhotonic »

I know this area isn't for discussion so this all can be deleted when it has been sorted out but what I wanted to know is how you figured the lake shown as LaSalle is called that? I looked into Secor's book and it does make reference to LaSalle Lake but nothing specific on location.

I just want to know for sure if that is it so I can label my photos as so. I rarely put a name to a lake but for some reason "Last Stop Lake" came to mind since it's sort of the last stop before going over the pass so I labeled my photos as such.

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Jim F
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Re: Feather Pass

Post by Jim F »

In response to Rogue Photonic's inquiry about La Salle Lake:

Roper's Sierra High Route goes over Feather Pass which he desribes (p 124). Roper notes La Salle Lake is incorrectly marked as Lake 10925 in his Topographic Map 10 (p 216).In Harrison's Mono Divide High Country Trail Map, La Salle Lake is labelled and is marked with elevation 11562. A description and map showing Feather Pass and La Salle Lake is found in Trek 13 of Richin's Trekking California (The Mountaineer's Books, 2004).
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shtinkypuppie
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Re: Feather Pass

Post by shtinkypuppie »

I did Feather Pass on August 27. There's not much to add to the excellent description above, except for a brief comment on the northwest face:

- Start from the left (west) side of the pass. There is a tiny little cairn on a big flat rock marking the beginning of the descent, which "zigs" to the right (east) about 50 feet.
- At the bottom of this ledge you'll find yourself on another ledge which "zags" to the left (west) about another 50 feet.
- At the end of this ledge, you'll find a good use trail over talus that descends the slope in short switchbacks.

The whole descent is easy class 2 as long as you stay on this obvious route.
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