TR: Vidette/Gardiner Aug-Sept 2021 [Part I]

[kpeter]

I enjoyed the report very much, and as a person who is now going into his 51st backpacking season, I especially enjoyed the "then and now" pairings. My trips 50 years ago were not in the Sierra, so I will not have such pairings to show, but it really is breathtaking and humbling to document how much more we change than the landscape. Puts everything else in perspective.

[thegib]

Killer route. I cross my fingers and hope I'll be in shape to do King col this coming year. 18 years hence?! Wow.

[sekihiker]

Class 2 (B/C2-2). Maybe/marginally it’s B/C3-1

Could someone please direct me to a description of this rating system.

[bulaklakan]

I'm looking at the "Alternative HST Cross-Country Pass/Route Rating System", posted under the CrossCountry Passes section of HST by Maverick in 2014.

Btw, Michael asked me via PM for more detail regarding my experience on King Col. Here's my reply to him - I put a little more thought into this response:
"Yes, I am aware of other HST folks' written opinions of King Col. And that I didn't experience it as being quite as harrowing as they described. I don't mean to downplay it - it is very steep and there's real potential for slipping and sliding. The main danger I think is stepping on a rock with scree on top of it, and thus having your foot slip out from under you.
I've been on a number of steep scree slopes lately as I mentioned, and because of that and because I had already seen the HST reports maybe I was mentally prepared for it. I had already decided on my strategy (one pole and one hand to hang on the rocks on the corridor sides) and I took it slow and made sure of my steps. There was one point where I decided to switch from one side of the corridor to the other, meaning that I had to cross the 30' wide channel of steep scree without having a consistent handhold - that was probably the iffy-est part for me.
Also for the other steep scree slopes that I've been on recently (University Pass and Haeckel-Wallace Col being the biggest ones): (1) I did those later in the day and was more tired, (2) Those others were much longer slopes and so more tedious overall, and (3) I was with my younger companions (daughter and her SO) for the others, and maybe was a little distracted trying to keep up with them and also not knocking rocks down on top of them. So being by myself I could go as slow as I wanted and focus just on my own steps and handholds.
All this said, would I "recommend" that you or anyone else go over King Col? Not really. If someone has read all of the posts, seen the photos and is nervous about doing it, then they probably shouldn't do it.
I've seen other posts make reference to bypassing King Col by going into and out of the basin immediately west of the 'Hallelujah Lakes' basin, although I haven't seen anyone officially describe it as a route or cross-country pass. I would certainly check out that route as an alternative if I’m in this region again. From the Hallelujah Lakes side it would be a much easier climb up... I just don't know what the slopes are like in the adjacent basin."

[giantbrookie]

What a stupendous trip to keep with an excellent family tradition! You set the bar high in both regards. I really hope I'll be able to still do fun off trail backpacking at that level that when I'm 70 (8 years from now). I also hope my daughter will still be doing the signature backpacking trip of the season with me 8 years from now too; one never knows how priorities will evolve when someone grows up and leaves the house. I have only one sibling, and he hasn't backpacked with me since 2001, plus it is a bit difficult to make this work since he lives in Portugal. Someday if my bro and wife are in Cali during the summer (which they intend to do), I'd love to do a backpacking trip with them, my wife, and our two kids, but it won't be anywhere near the level of the trip you just did.

This report really struck a chord with me on other details, too, including the fact that I haven't done any of the key off trail routes done of this trip; some of them had been on my priority list for a number of years (including the basins N of Clarence King). I also found the 1971 vintage photos super cool. As of 1971, my visits to the High Sierra were already the highlights of my year, but I wasn't strong enough to do the super crazy off trail backpacking stuff, yet. The old photos including Mt. Brewer also remind that 1971 was the year of one of my dad's storied High Sierra trips. This was a high speed fall trip to Mt Brewer and South Guard with a Loma Prieta Chapter peak bagging trip. Apparently there was some sort of informal "race" to the East Lake campsite from Road's End. I think the story is that my dad (then 43) got to the lake first, but perhaps my memory is hazy. A bit clearer, I think, in my memory of those days, was his reported time of 4 hours, which included a 30 min lunch break. Eight years later in spring conditions (lots of stream crossings, so quite a bit more difficult) I set out to try to beat my dad's time, but didn't come close. Anyway those old photos remind me of photos in my old family photo albums of various Sierran adventures.

[Wandering Daisy]

I am a bit confused about "Special K" Pass. Is Lake 3144 the lower lake northeast of this pass? Then did you just drop down the drainage to the PCT?

[rormisto]

This is an incredible trip report-- the side-by-side pictures from '71 are truly amazing to me. I was eagerly looking forward to your thoughts on descending from Gardiner Pass and climbing up to Gardiner Lakes-- I did the same in July, and looking back, I think most of the difficulty was with the bugs rather than the route. Pretty easy to get in the wrong headspace and waste all your energy swatting mosquitos. I'm also filing much of the rest of this route away for later, the Vidette Lakes and King Col sections, in particular. What a trip and what a report-- thank you!

[bulaklakan]

Daisy - Yes Lake 3144 is the lower lake to the NE of Special K. Special K is listed in the HST CrossCountry Pass section... actually called 'Special K Saddle' there. Posted by cgundersen on 7/8/2017.
From Lake 3144 I climbed up the ridge to the east (slightly SE) from Lake 3144 and over to get close to 60 Lakes. I think this crossing is also documented in the HST CrossCountry section - called King Col II or something similar - I can't find it right now.

Rormisto - For us the hike from Gardiner Pass, down to Gardiner Creek and up to the lakes was a pretty pleasant walk. I can see where it would be mosquito haven in wetter times... we walked across a number of dried-up marshes in the basin below the pass. Mosquitos of course were not a problem in late August this year.

[Wandering Daisy]

Special K and North King Col do not show up on the HST map. But thanks for the tip to look in the descriptions where I found them.

What are your thoughts of dropping down the drainage of Lake 3144 to the JMT? It looks feasible on Google Earth- not the drainage exactly, but traversing north and then down a secondary drainage. Did you look down the main drainage? That way looks difficult on Google Earth. I am thinking about this if doing a loop from Roads End if I could not get a permit from Kerasrge. At least a day hike up to Lake 3144 from the JMT.

[bulaklakan]

I didn't go out towards the outlet of Lake 3144 and look down the drainage - I stayed at the upper end of the lake on my way up to the crossing on the east rim. But I would absolutely think that one could come up from the JMT to the lake. It's a very attractive lake, looked like there would be good campspots near the outlet (flattish ground and sparsely forested). I hope to visit the lake again and stay over, probably via the outlet drainage. Sorry I didn't check the lake for fish - not my instinctive thought at a new lake, and I was only at the lake edge for a little while during my lunch stop. Seems like a promising lake for fish though.