Dragon Pass

erutan · Post by **erutan** » Sun Mar 28, 2021 4:10 pm

TITLE: Dragon Pass

GENERAL OVERVIEW: This pass leads between Onion Valley and the Rae Lakes Basin.

CLASS/DIFFICULTY: Class 2, with a couple hundred feet Class 3 the top.

Alt: Mostly B/C2-1 with B/C3-1 at the top, B/C2-2 (R) or M/C4 (X) if you get creative.

LOCATION: Kings Canyon National Park south of Dragon Peak (north of Gould Pass) HST Map

ELEVATION: 12,560ft

COORDINATES: 36.78763, -118.37674

USGS TOPO MAP (7.5'): Mt Clarence King

: my waypoints

ROUTE DESCRIPTION: East to West.

Climb the broad talus gully that leads west from Lake 3460 m+ (11,360 ft+) toward the ridge crest. This gully eventually ends among cliffs below the crest. From the top of the gully head southwest and climb class 2 ledges and talus to the Sierra crest. Either continue south along the crest to Gould Pass or go north a couple of hundred feet to a class 2 chute that descends the west side of the crest to Lake 3640 m+ (12,000 ft+).

Excerpt From: R.J. Secor. “The High Sierra, Peaks, Passes, Trails.”

It starts out like the way to get to Dragon Peak, so there should be plenty of beta. Starting from Onion Valley take the trail up to Kearsarge, then shortly turn onto the Golden Lakes trail. Eventually it'll flatten out in a meadow, to the left is Golden Trout Lake & Gould Pass, to the right, two unnamed lakes. Head to the right and once you reach the upper lake (3460 m+ (11,360 ft+)) traverse the southern shore until you reach an area with a grassy patch and ton of cairns. Unsurprisingly head up from here and follow along a gully with stable talus as you see fit. This will transition into a sandy scree switchbacked social trail used for bagging Dragon Peak. Aim for the lowest white stripe on the rock headwall above the scree. For more information on this section, check out B Kruger's trip report at http://highsierratopix.com/community/vi ... 78#p137420.

: general line up, from kruger's trip report. not critical if you go behind areas or ahead etc on line. the dotted parts at the very top are optional class 4, not part of the standard route!

: the grassy / bushy patch that indicates where you head up

: the scree / sand switchbacks near the top

: the white stripe

Once at the rockwall there a very obvious chute upward and to the right leading toward the ridgeline. That's what you would take to climb Dragon Peak. Since we are (probably) not climbing the peak, we will instead head up a series of ledges over dark rock until we gain the pass, or something near it as it levels out. Someone share their experiences with it, or I will in a season or two.

If you're comfortable with class 4 you can make your own way for the peak, if you think you're clever like me you can traverse past the ledgey system to some consequentially unstable chutes with boulders that will chain reaction when sand is dislodged by stepping (I made it up without incident, my partner ended up with a bruised/scraped knee and was less than an inch away from getting some teeth knocked out).

: what not to do - the ideal way up is probably a green, I tried the red and ended up regretting it

: ledge system

: looks cute, may dislodge hundeds of pounds of rock later

It levels out once you've gained the ridge and it's easily traversable. Head north along it until you reach the jumbly spike pile of pink rocks. You'll take some ledges down to a sandy chute with some rocks - it's steep and loose but inconsequential, you might fall on your ass or scrape a shin at worst. Further down it shifts into surprisingly stable talus... which extends for quite a while around the easternmost unnamed lake above Dragon Lake. It's a little wobbly, but again surprisingly stable.

: aim for the pinkish spikey jumble of rocks at the top

: looking down the W side

: dropping - note the sandy patches

: looking up at the W side

Comparison to Gould Pass: I haven't done Gould, but it looks like a slog on the east side and an even larger steep scree/talus drop on the west. At least this has more stable terrain, if some class 3 ledges at the top. The western side seems a bit more pleasant - the beginning of the drop is through some nice self-braking scree and then it switches to fairly stable talus once you're down a bit.

I know this isn't ideal, but the pass deserves an entry and there is interest in it so it'll be 'complete' when myself or someone else reports back on the ledge system below the ridge on the east side.

erutan · Post by **erutan** » Sun Mar 28, 2021 4:11 pm

Bonus follow up - dropping to Dragon Lake the easy way. Alternatives to the chutes mentioned in Kruger's trip report above and elsewhere.

We took a more roundabout mellower way than the two direct chutes that drop into the northern end of Dragon Lake after being a bit spooked / skittish from the day before. I'd recommend it if there may be snow lingering in the gulleys (and maybe even if there's not!). I traversed the first lake to the west of the lake over an unnamed pass along the south shore as that looked better from above, but I'm not so certain that's best after dropping further. In either case it doesn't matter significantly.

Follow the waypoints - it's all talus until you get to the arm along the southern side of the lake, then it's mostly solid open rolling terrain. There's a little talus along the hill just west of the NW of the unnamed lakes, but nothing significant.

There's some decent slabs and little sandy spots scattered around if you don't have the steam to make it to Dragon Lake, if so fill up at the outlet between the western two lakes and drycamp wherever.

You end up dropping into the pond just below Dragon lake, it's a ~5min walk back up to the outlet of it where camps are, but the gully you drop down is incredibly simple. Secor would call it class 1.