High Sierra Topix

Sorry to leave you hanging on this, I just got back from ten days "outback".

Secor confused things quite a bit with the "Cox Col" thing. Both "passes" take you to the same place. The lower notch is used mostly by those wishing to climb Bear Creek Spire. We use it in the spring when it is a bit easier to kick steps up the snow, and ski down it in the winter (exciting!). But in summer (or even winter or spring on skis really), it's just the "wrong way" to go IMHO.

The higher northern route is the proper and historical "col".

John Dittli wrote:Secor confused things quite a bit with the "Cox Col" thing. ... The higher northern route is the proper and historical "col".

Our HST Map describes the route as Secor does, " the 1st notch south of the lowest is preferred". It would be nice if this were corrected, but since I've never been there I'm not the one to encourage it.

I know about the easier route but I could never be bothered to climb up the extra little bit.

What's the historical angle on this? Is "Cox Col" actually labled somewhere (USGS?) as being something other than the lowest point? Who was Cox?

Chris Cox, backcountry skier of the '70's and 80's. Skied with Bard atal. Still lives in Bishop, great guy! But no, I don't know of an other reference. The "historic" angle I was referring to is that the general pass area was referred to as "North Col" for many years prior to Peaks, Passes and Trails.

Unfortunately I don't have great pics, but here to the right you can see the two notches Secor talks about. This is looking across the terrain toward the low point from near North Col.

- Cox Pass was named in the honor of Chris Cox, one of the pioneers of the Redline ski
tour, but not sure whether this official or not.
- Mount Julius Caesar is named by Alfred H. and Myrtle Prater who in 1928 made the
first assent to its summit. Name came about by its proximity to Lake Italy.
- Mount Abbot named by the Whitney Survey in 1864 for Henry Larcom
Abbot (1831-1927) a solider and engineer.
- Mount Gabb also named by the Whitney Survey in 1862 for William More Gabb
(1839-1878) a paleontologist.
- Mount Hilgard was named after Eugene Woldemar Hilgard (1833-1916) a professor
of agriculture.

Thanks. That name rings a bell. I must have seen mention of him in one of Moynier's guidebooks, or somewhere.

So who is this "North" guy the other pass is named after?

longri wrote: So who is this "North" guy the other pass is named after?

Oliver

JD wrote:

Oliver

Chris a few years ago

Note that Secor, 2nd edition considers North Col and Cox Col synonymous rather than separate passes. Quote: "This pass is also known as North Col." I went over this in the summer of 1986 (6 yrs before Secor 1st ed) and I'm pretty sure I didn't go over the lowest point. I looked at the topo and looked at the terrain and aimed for the lowest gradient rather than the lowest point. It was strictly class 2 moderate angle firm talus on the E side (very easy class 1 stuff on W side), but the biggest problem when I did it was the steep snow just below the crest that made an ice axe handy (we had them). I have checked back through earlier guidebooks (Roper, Smatko, Voge) and they don't have a description of this route, so I may have heard about this indirectly through Loma Prieta PCS folks.

The key, as always, is reading the terrain on the map and on the ground, rather than being too dependent on blow-by-blow route descriptions. There are in fact a number of cross country ridge crossings where the easiest point of crossing is not a low point, and a few counterintuitive ones where the easiest crossing is a high point (two examples are Picket Guard Peak and Electra Peak).