Crabtree Pass Terrain

[treks]

Going to traverse Crabtree Pass this 8/(25-28) and was curious how loose the scree is. I saw a thread from 5 years ago saying it was loose in spots. I recently did Pyra Queen Col and the scree was super loose all the way. A lot of time small pieces of talus almost took out my legs.

Curious if anyone tried it recently and how it was. Don't mind if it slow going, just how loose it is. Also, are there many boulder fields and how long do they go out for? I know it is marked as an unmaintained trail, so hoping there won't be much rock hopping.

[thegib]

If you're coming up from Crabtree lakes you'll be tempted to stay on the right side of the highest lake and to angle your traverse towards the ridge. But that's a mistake. There is, or has been, a use trail on the left side of the lake that then takes a more direct line up to the ridge. Might be crumbly but it isn't in the same league as Pyra Q.

[Jim F]

Hi,

I have gone over Crabtree Pass many times, most recently three weeks ago on July 15 when I exited the Miter Basin.l I descended the pass on the farthest reasonable chute to my left. It is all loose scree with no risk of a bad outcome. No boulder fields. This descent route lands the hiker on a platform with a nice campsite 50' above the east end of the lake. On July 15 the seasonal trickle of water passing through this site was dry, so I dropped to the east shore directly below and camped at one of the sites there.

Pyra Queen Col is far more challenging. Also note that descending from Crabtree Pass into the Miter Basin is trivial. Beware that getting around the next couple of lakes below the pass in the Miter Basin can require some attention to route finding.

Enjoy your hike.

Jim

[treks]

Thanks both. Nice to hear about the rock conditions comparatively speaking. I'll be coming from the south so it sounds like, go east and then a bit west. I traced my path based on the unmaintained trail path on the CalTopo map.
https://caltopo.com/m/32FTF