GENERAL OVERVIEW: Connects Bear Lakes Basin and the Hilgard Branch of Bear Creek. More exposed and difficult than White Bear Pass, I'm not sure why you'd choose this honestly, it's not that terrible, but for the work involved you could just go up a peak or something.
CLASS/DIFFICULTY: Class 3, some exposure near the top on easy slab (2X) as we did it.
LOCATION: Sierra National Forest, south of Bear Trap Lake along Hilgard Fork of Bear Creek.
ELEVATION: 11,774 ft
USGS TOPO MAP (7.5'): Mt. Hilgard
HST Map: HST Map
BACKSTORY:
We met some fisherman at Apollo Lake that said going up past Bear Trap lake was the easiest way they knew of out of Hilgard Branch into Bear Lakes basin. I was more focused in route-planning the part of the trip I hadn't done before and was just going to head up the east fork into Bear Lakes basin. After looking at topo we were closer to Hilgard basin, I had never done it before, and I'd heard of some of the lakes in there. Decided to re-route. With only my Secor ebook as guidance (well Roper's HSR book covers White Bear Pass nicely enough) we decided to give it a shot as from below it looked fine. We figured it'd be a bit more technical than White Bear Pass, but perhaps more enjoyable (I'll take moderate class 3 over slogging up loose class 2 YMMV). Secor says Class 2. Looking at it below that was clearly not the case, but hey everything looks worse from afar right?
Haha.
ROUTE DESCRIPTION:
Going up to the tarn above Bear Trap Lake is trivial, keeping a bit to the west you have a mix of grassy ramps, short bits of stable talus, and some easy slabs. From there it goes in a few stages (at least as we did it):
1) Up some nice ledges (well some talus on them, but still, not bad).
2) Routefinding up some moderately challenging class 3 that begins to get a little consequential, but is super solid granite with nice holds.
3) Ending up some on fairly exposed but straightforward class 2 narrow ledges.
At the tarn it's easy to lull yourself into a false sense of security - "if we just zig up that ledge, then zag up that one, then zig again we're at the top!". Maybe you'll do better. The loose pile of garbage to the right is the lowest angle, but if you wanted to go up loose garbage, Brown Bear Pass is right nearby and won't potentially send refrigerator sized pieces of talus on you. Perhaps keeping far the north and gaining the ridge well above the pass would be better?
- easy peasy looking down at bear trap from the ridge below the tarn above
- well, here you are
So we picked some lines - the obvious main ledge up was even cairned by some other sucker.
- someone has been here before
The loose stuff on the ledge wasn't bad, it stayed in place and if you move slowly there's no consequence... it's not going anywhere and doesn't have a bunch of garbage above it. After a while it was keep heading to climbers right and get into progressively looser terrain, or cut left. We cut left and got into the final two phases of this. We only retraced terrain once, but there were a few stop and poke around to see which option looks the best.
- cutting away from the loose garbage onto more stable terrain
- there's a reasonable class 3 route up this here (the previous photo is of the drop and cut back up to this)
Some occasional nice wide ledges to follow up then it gets a bit exposed over the false summit.
- yes. please. more.
- well it's tightening up a bit isn't it?
- almost there
- simple class 2. just don't slip.
There's some nice views of bear trap and the tarn above it. I tried googling this after the trip and came up with two links. One says the following:
"The north shore of Beartrap Lake gives a view of Ursula Pass marker 12; it's easier than it looks from here. Head south and right (west) of another smaller lake, and traverse into the pass high right marker 13, where debris chutes indicate a less steep path through the ledges. Climb chutes and ledges to the pass marker 14; rock climbing and route finding skills (and a measure of patience) are useful on Class 3 terrain, which could prove more difficult with bad choices." via https://c3images.biz/routes/route08.html
They went up the garbagey looking talus to the right and lived, but at that point why not just do White Bear Pass??
The second was from a Sierra Club trip that dayhikes to the pass from the Bear Lakes side for the view. "An afternoon hike to Coronet Lake and the top of Ursula Pass would be ideal." Wimps.
I personally found it mentally and physically interesting - the class 3 was never scary, the routefinding was constantly engaging, and when it did get a bit more exposed it was very straightforward class 2. That said, why? Or, perhaps why not? At least you don't get your daily Roper route acronym chasing enthusiasts.
I decided to leave my waypoints out of this as I'm not really sure anyone should try and follow in our exact footsteps, but this should give you an idea of what it's like should you choose to choose your own adventure.
- bonus points: the obvious looking grassy band leading from brown bear lake to bear trap is great and will drop you to the little willowy meadow just below bear trap (we cut up from some slabs to bear trap near the end to make things simpler)
