High Sierra Topix

Hey all, with the dark times upon us I've been able to work through some of my photos from trips this summer. I wanted to share a trip report with you all from a hike of the Southern Sierra High Route that I undertook in mid August of this year (2020). You probably won't be surprised to hear that we were hit with some thunderstorms and had some wildfire impacts, but all things told we actually were very fortunate. I hope you enjoy reading about my hike!

The trip report can be found here: https://www.iain-macdonald.com/southern ... rip-report

This is my favorite TR of the year--or last year! Great report, fabulous photos-- I saw that big camera you were carrying -- and tons of great information. I had loads of fun following along on my topos maps, too. Thank you making this available to us. Five stars!

Beautiful photos. Those were some long days!

As for off-trail route descriptions, including the side-climbs, not mentioning tedious talus or "class 2" turning into "class 3", micro-route finding can make a big difference and much talus is covered with snow early season or in a high-snow year. More of the snow fields are gone late season in a dry year; unfortunately this seems to be what the future will look like given global warming and I think a lot of older route descriptions will fail to mention tedious talus.

Although I can see the aesthetics of a straight-line route from Whitney via Discover Pass to Sky Blue Lake, I would have dropped to the middle Crabtree Lake to camp, with a side trip to the lower Crabtree Lake. Crabtree Valley is one of the more spectacular in the Sierra. I also would have gone out via New Army Pass just to see Cottonwood Lakes. And from Wallace Lake I would have taken a side trip to Wales Lake because the view from the outlet is wonderful. In general, I think the time taken for some of the rather tedious "climbs" could be better spent on side-trips to other destinations for the purpose of stunning photos. But, easy for me to say because after many years climbing Sierra peaks, I have already done most of them.

It looks like you had light packs; did you go UL?

There seemed to be a lot of people out there; I would not have expected that this year.

So many photos of great quality that captured the essence of the subject. What an adventure. Thanks for posting this report of an epic trip.

Thanks for the comments everyone, glad you enjoyed the read.

@Wandering Daisy - yes I suspect that some routes are changing due to receding snowfields and glaciers. I observed this more distinctly climbing Middle Palisade earlier in the year, where the standard route has been modified because a snowfield has made the old route more difficult. Don't know if this is the case for the route on Mount Sill or not, but much of it probably would have been easier with some snow.

I will definitely have to return to Crabtree Lakes in a year or two, I'd like to climb some more of the peaks in the area there. I just wish it wasn't such a long drive from the Bay Area... I'll have to do it as a longer trip to make it worth the drive. And we did go over New Army Pass, the Cottonwood Lakes area was really nice with the light forest and high lakes.

Our packs were something like 25 and 30 lbs (or maybe a little bit less) when we started with 5 days of food. So I guess that's ultralight, though I did add my usual 5 pounds of camera gear for photos.

Thanks for sharing this. Excellent photos and routing commentary drew me right in. Let me put in a word for Center Basin / Junction Pass, well at least the traverse through Center Basin and up Junction Pass.

This is a great trip report!
Epic photography.
I especially enjoyed the rainbow shot over Pallisade Lakes.

A couple of comments..

I did the slog thru the boulders below Sill as well. It is truly slow..I agree but I still think this climb is worth it.

On Mount Russell, the comment was that from the south someone said it was class 4-5. I can tell you I did that climb from the south and I was able to do it with nothing more than class 3. But it was one of those climbs where you aren't sure where the next move is, and voila the relatively easy moves show themselves. When I was at the bottom of the headwall, I wasn't sure I was going to be able to do it. But it wasn't really very difficult.
And this is from a guy who turned around on Mount Muir. I couldn't find a way that I could do. I guess I need to try that again. Sounds like you had an easier time.

Onn Mount Mcadie..it is a really cool peak if you decide to do it. I did from Crabtree pass, which is a real slog up the chute that you took some good shots of. But then it turns in to some interesting but not too difficult class 3.

Congratulations on a real cool trip and report..great pictures!

I thought that i had already posted my thanks and congratulations on an awesome trip, but apparently not. So...
Wow! Awesome photos of an awesome adventure. Thank you for the trip report. I may be modifying a hike I was planning for late August in this area after seeing some of the places that you guys went.

Amazing trip and very impressive strength and stamina for you both.

How did you manage so many fine photos ehile travelling so fast?

I hope to make it to some of those areas this summer. fingers crossed!