High Sierra Topix

Heading out over Kearsarge for some time in the southern Sierra tomorrow. Was planning Onion Valley --> Kearsarge Lakes --> Center Basin (via JMT) --> Wright Lakes Basin --> Milestone Basin / LSA --> Vidette Meadow (via Forester) --> Onion Valley. Now I'm contemplating the route from Kearsarge to Center Basin and am considering University Pass. From reading around it seems like it's steep and loose, with a long slog of talus before that. I went over Harrison in 2016 and really hated the top 100 feet or so that are very steep, loose, and sandy. Seems like University Pass is similar. Is it? Will I hate it? Should I stick with the JMT route, down to Vidette and then up again?

University Pass gives misery a bad name. It would hate itself if it could.

I agree just went down it august 10th this year it is very loose and lots of rock hopping before that! Have not done Harrison though. I will tell you that most of the Sierra challenge people chose to NOT go back over it after having gone up it to get to East spur. I only went up University/Independance that day so went down it (would NOT want to take a full pack up it!) Kristine

When one totals the vertical across a full out and back trip, Onion Valley into the Kern however sliced up doesn't stack up against simply accepting the less complicated <corrected: Shepherd> drudgery of a couple days to reach the promised land.

^^or Shepherd?

I ended up going Kearsarge --> Junction --> Shepherd --> Rockwell --> down to JMT at Bighorn Plateau --> Forester --> Kearsarge. I hauled water up to the top of Junction Pass and camped up there. Trip report coming soon!

Hi Maia,

My mom and I ran into you just above the JMT on your way to Junction Pass. Glad to hear you made it back, and will look forward to reading your report!

Matt

Did both this summer, mid-July, with 9 other 40+ year old buddies (really big group!). Both still had snow near the top/north faces. We did Harrison north to south, and it required a class 3 scramble on the east side, where the "better" rock is, as snow blocked the typical north facing slope. Would have been much better with a smaller group, but there were plenty of places for us to duck out of line while those in front tested the rock. All in all, it was not a bad scramble, with some fun near the top.


We took University pass from Center Basin, starting at the base of the chute just west of the small lake. Now this one felt like a slog, with lots of loose material all the way up, and not much to hold on to. Despite lighter packs, this one felt longer, though I think our total time was about the same. The main route down on the north side was pretty choked with snow, so a few of us scrambled to see about other options. Decided that working around the snow and steep scree was better than other options. Descending was one at a time only, tedious, with plenty of scree surfing.


All in all, both passes were straight up class 2, but could be bumped to class 3 plus in early season with lots of snow. Next time:
-I'd go with a smaller group. It took almost 2 hours for 10 of us to get down University!

-Harrison is definitely more friendly south to north, particularly late season. University is not really friendly either way. Nor faster than speeding along the JMT over Kearsarge.

-Both are "next time" passes for me. The views from both are shockingly beautiful, vast, and well well worth it!!

Turtleggjp wrote: ↑Tue Aug 28, 2018 9:42 am Hi Maia,

My mom and I ran into you just above the JMT on your way to Junction Pass. Glad to hear you made it back, and will look forward to reading your report!

Matt

Cool to see you out there! Hopefully I'll get the TR up from this trip over the holidays this year.