Haeckel Col

[Bluewater]

TITLE: Haeckel Col

GENERAL OVERVIEW: This pass leads from Sabrina Basin to Evolution Basin.

CLASS/DIFFICULTY: Class 2 with short class 3 scramble at the top 25 feet on both sides.

LOCATION: Starting in Inyo National Forest ending in Kings Canyon National Park.

HST Map

ELEVATION: 12,770'.

USGS TOPO MAP (7.5'): Mt. Darwin.

ROUTE DESCRIPTION: Take the easy boulder scrambling route up the northwest side of the ridge between Midnight Lake and Sailor Lake starting from the northeast corner of Midnight Lake. Follow this ridge to the cirque that lies to the north of Mt. Haeckel. At the end of the cirque look for the white triangular shaped rock at the top of the ridge and to the west of Lake 12,345. There are some use paths to the final 25 feet of steep class III ledges that lead to the triangular rock. There is a short class III section on the west side of the col, but from there it is a class II scramble down to Lake 11,808. Descend directly down to Lake 11,808 while staying clear of the granite wall to the east and the rocky cliff to the west.

PHOTOS:

Overview map:

map

The route from Midnight Lake up to the ridge:

ridge

Looking back at the route along the ridge. Moonlight Lake in the background:

ridge 2

Looking up to the cirque:

ridge 3

Looking back at the route up into the cirque:

cirque

Haeckel Col from Lake 12,345:

lake

Cross at the light colored triangular shaped rock:

col

Looking back up at the west side of Haeckel Col:

col from west

The route down to Lake 11,808:

west side rocky cliff

The route from the col down to Lake 11,808. Some of the route is hidden by the rocky cliff section:

west side route

If you are interested I did a short video of the route:

http://youtu.be/w0aIy8WjHpc" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

And for more details of the route:

http://seatosummitultralight.blogspot.c ... etail.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[giantbrookie]

You know until you posted this I didn't realize I had clearly crossed at the wrong point I did this in 1977. No wonder I have such negative memories of the pass. This is a great example of the best crossing point NOT being at the low spot.

In 1977 there was no detailed description saying to cross north of the low spot and I was using a 15' topo where you can't see the difference in steepness between crossing at the low point and slightly north (obvious on 7.5' quad). Visually, when looking up the walls didn't seem any more vulnerable going for the low point than to the north, otherwise I would have aimed for the correct route. Crossing the low point where I did it had a number of negatives. First off the class 3 on the east side was super steep and the extender bar on my external frame pack kept banging against roofs over the ledges I was on. Second after crossing, this puts one too far south to traverse to the nice class 2 slopes to the west. One first deals with a low third class step coming off the crest, then gets shunted into a steep chute, then has to deal with a moderately difficult class 3 step in the chute itself.

Looking back, I made some really bad route choices on that 1977 trip including choosing the Wanda Pass route to Goddard instead of the much more sensible Starr route. Live and learn.