Ram Lakes/Purple Lake Pass?

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SSSdave
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Re: Ram Lakes/Purple Lake Pass?

Post by SSSdave »

I would immediately upon looking at a 7.5" topo reject both those routes A and B as places I would try carrying a backpack across while trying to keep away from class 3 dangers. The one known route, Pretty Pass requires careful route finding to stay away from class 3,
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Re: Ram Lakes/Purple Lake Pass?

Post by ceragold5150 »

I did take a good fall on the pass i speak of one year. No injury but it could of been serious. SSSdave made me think about our route and i guess it could be a challange picking the right lines but 20+ years roaming the sierra's you forget who you are speaking to and forget about skill levels. Pass B is forsure easier than climbing out of Larual Lakes. I guess it depends on how much experience you have off trail.

To answer your questions about goldens? How about an update after your trip. The best part about my trips to the sierra's are about the unknown - if you know what's there you naturally expect similar results. Good Luck :thumbsup:
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Re: Ram Lakes/Purple Lake Pass?

Post by giantbrookie »

I have been over the crest very close to pass B. The best class 2 route is actually just a bit south of what is labeled as pass B and if coming from the west you approach from the northernmost of the little cluster of unnamed lakes above Ram Lakes. The west side is easy class 2 talus the east side is steep class 2 ledges and some talus for the upper 200' or so. My wife and I went into the Ram Lakes Basin this way from Convict Canyon. Our route also featured the passage up the slot canyon outlet of Lake Genevieve. This was one of our favorite short cross country backpack trips. We improvised this trip when we were quota'd out on a trip further south along the east side.
Since my fishing (etc.) website is still down, you can be distracted by geology stuff at: http://www.fresnostate.edu/csm/ees/facu ... ayshi.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
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Re: Ram Lakes/Purple Lake Pass?

Post by jrad »

I took a pack down to Cloverleaf from Ram Lakes area. Here's my exact spot:

1 - link to http://mapper.acme.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
2 - enter "N 37.54226 W 118.91082" coordinate in search box for exact spot.

In future, I'd look at middle of that ridge. Here's coordinate: "N 37.54226 W 118.91082". I don't know. From the west, my route taken looked the easiest going up from West. From below and East looking back, I was thinking "Why did I not do the lowest part of the ridge - no chute, maybe all class 2! ?"

My actual route was down a 45 degree chute which made me a little nervous in spots. If with others, I'd have taken/used a rope (not belay but just for a backup in case of minor slip).

What I did was a bit of class 3, as it involved some careful hand and foot holds in several spots. No rope available. Exposure was not much but I could have slipped and broken something or loosed a boulder to fall on me. I was nervous for about 10 minutes since I was alone and nobody knew where I was.
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Re: Ram Lakes/Purple Lake Pass?

Post by maverick »

Hi Jrad,

Welcome to HST! Thanks for the beta. Hope you'll write up a TR about your adventure.
Professional Sierra Landscape Photographer

I don't give out specific route information, my belief is that it takes away from the whole adventure spirit of a trip, if you need every inch planned out, you'll have to get that from someone else.

Have a safer backcountry experience by using the HST ReConn Form 2.0, named after Larry Conn, a HST member: http://reconn.org
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Re: Ram Lakes/Purple Lake Pass?

Post by DoyleWDonehoo »

jrad wrote:I took a pack down to Cloverleaf from Ram Lakes area. Here's my exact spot:
1 - link to http://mapper.acme.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
2 - enter "N 37.54226 W 118.91082" coordinate in search box for exact spot.
In future, I'd look at middle of that ridge. Here's coordinate: "N 37.54226 W 118.91082". I don't know. From the west, my route taken looked the easiest going up from West. From below and East looking back, I was thinking "Why did I not do the lowest part of the ridge - no chute, maybe all class 2! ?"
My actual route was down a 45 degree chute ...What I did was a bit of class 3...
This last fall I did some lite hiking in the Convict and McGee canyons, and I have long wanted go way back there. This led me to the idea of a Convict-McGee loop, especially after seeing Roguephotonic's excellent pictures of the area. The pass in question above can plainly be seen from the west in Rogue's picture here:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/roguephot ... 781533126/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
There looks like a lightly wooded ridge to the top of the pass at center picture, but I don't know about the conditions on the other side. The map suggest several routes down, but you know how that may go. "Pretty Pass" looks like a typical Secor talus slog listed as Class 2 but may really be Class 3 in places. Other routes suggested here can be seen with careful examination of Rogue's pictures, at least from the west side. Remember that Rogue's pictures are really quite large, and can be downloaded for a better look at the details.

Addendum: If you look at the above map and point, then look south-east to the words "Franklin Lake", look at the last "e" of Franklin on the map and you will see a low point on the ridge. It does not look appetizing on the west side on the map, but after looking at Rogue's pictures, it looks like there is a doable zig right and then zig left mostly talus free mostly dirt/scree route to the top on the west side, and on Google Earth and the map it looks fairly mild from the top all the way beyond to Bunny Lake. If it was workable, I would call it "Bunny Pass".
Actually, the easiest way across the crest is probably the NW shoulder of Red Slate Mountain.
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Re: Ram Lakes/Purple Lake Pass?

Post by overheadx2 »

I hiked to ram lakes last summer to fish. Fishing was ok but not great for 8 - 10 inch fish. Nice lakes with solitude relatively close to the TH. We camped at the inlet of Purple and didn't see any one for two days and caught more and better fish. We day hiked to Virginia and Ram lakes. There were several groups camped at the outlet of Purple lake, but absolutely no one at the far end since the inlet area is relatively tough to get to.
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Re: Ram Lakes/Purple Lake Pass?

Post by SSSdave »

We are going to be up there on day 7 on a 9-day trip out of Mammoth Lakes. I really like the look of that basin in other images I've seen in the past. Last year 3 of us base camped a couple days at Genevieve Lake and explored one morning about Cloverleaf. Lots of tedious talus to go through climbing over that ridge.

Image

I downloaded Rogues's original image then cropped this section that shows where you are thinking of climbing over that ridge. His image is from the west shore of no-name lake 3380+ as it lines up perfectly with this Google Earth image from that spot. I recognized the perspective immediately because I had looked at the GE perspective from the ridge 180 feet higher behind to the west that puts Bloody Mountain further up above the ridgeline and allows better views of the little lakes below. Will climb up for that pic at maybe 5pm.

Image

The crucial topo lines are difficult to see on the topo because of the red overlay and black BOUNDARY text.

What it does show that at the top of the ramp (orange arrow on topo) with the rusty rocks amid granite, a loose steep section makes the final section suspect. The critical area is edge on so Rogue's image doesn't help much.

Image

Google Earth distorts the area of the obvious ramp where it passes the face at ridgeline making it look way easier than the photo. An excellent example of why interpretting steep areas with GE is unreliable though in any case has value.

Image

On Google Earth with images enabled is this person's pic looking down from what they call Chadu Pass (magenta arrow on topo).

Image

Looks steeper on the map than appears on GE probably at least steep class 2 talus.
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Re: Ram Lakes/Purple Lake Pass?

Post by jrad »

Doyle says: "Actually, the easiest way across the crest is probably the NW shoulder of Red Slate Mountain"

Having tried it, I'd say not.

I have crossed Mammoth Crest as noted above (2004 trip) - quick but unpleasant. I am planning to cross Pretty Pass East from Bunny Lake to Franklin Lakes and expect that to be by far the safest and easiest crossing.

I did cross last September West to East over Red Slate Mtn's NW shoulder down to Wit-so-nah-pah. I did not like it! It has one steep section where the old glacial remnants are and the talus is large and very loose. The alternative is to walk down ice (very steep and ... ice!) - no alternative at all. It took me 2 hours from the broad shoulder NW of Red Slate to get all the way to level ground near Wit-so-nah-pah. I had to be so careful and it was super tedious. I swore I'd never do it again (already forgetting how tedious it was) and would never do it East to West (1 step up and 1.5 steps down maybe).

It is a Class 2+ route but a very, very trying one when there is no snow to utilize.
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Re: Ram Lakes/Purple Lake Pass?

Post by tomba »

jrad wrote:I am planning to cross Pretty Pass East from Bunny Lake to Franklin Lakes
Pretty Pass crosses from Lake Dorothy to Franklin Lake, not from Bunny Lake to Franklin Lake. I guess you are planning to traverse to Pretty Pass after climbing from Bunny Lake.
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