Keyhole Pass

[dubik99]

TITLE: Keyhole Pass

GENERAL OVERVIEW: This pass leads between the Muriel Lake in Humphreys Basin and Darwin Bench

CLASS/DIFFICULTY: Class 2 with a short Class 3 section

LOCATION: SE of Muriel Peak. Bordering Kings Canyon National Park and the Mono Divide area. Sierra National Forest / John Muir Wilderness HST Map

ELEVATION: 12,526

USGS TOPO MAP (7.5'): Mt. Darwin

ROUTE DESCRIPTION: Head SSE from Muriel Lake up into the Lost Lakes area. Stay on the East side of the slope leaving the South end of Muriel lake.

Path from Muriel Lake to lower Lost Lake. Stay on the left side

This takes you to the lower of the Lost Lakes. Walk around its East side and head up the slope to the upper lakes. There is a use trail through the scree part on the South side of the lower lake.

Make your way through the flat small talus area around the upper lakes to the South end of Lake 11911. The talus is not bad

Small talus around Lost Lakes. It's not bad.

At the North end of Lake 11911 enjoy the view of the pass and pick your line. The ridge has multiple notches. Best I could tell several will work, but the proper Keyhole Pass with an actual hole is the rightmost (Northern) notch.

Keyhole Pass from the East side

The Keyhole is literally a hole:

The Keyhole itself

Below it is the short Class 3 section. It requires a short traverse on a small ledge with moderate handholds over a 10 ft drop

Short Class 3 section on the SW side of the Keyhole.

Once on the left side (looking down) the climb down is straightforward with decent handholds

The climb down. Decent handholds. The more "interesting" part is the short traverse to this part.

View of the Keyhole from Lake 11910 on the SW side of the pass.

[BradP]

Adding reference pictures to augment the original post which I found very helpful in assisting with route finding.

[saucefest]

My friend and I recently hiked the Keyhole going from south (Darwin Bench Area) to north (Lost Lakes). The posts and pictures here were very helpful but it seemed not too many people had hiked it from south to north. I advocate for this route as coming down through the Keyhole, down the class 3 section, and down the steep 600 foot slope would be very challenging. We found that going up the steep slope from the far end of Lake 11,910 (Why So Windy? Lake) and climbing the wall inside the little cave with the Keyhole was much more preferable for non-climbers like us. Here are some tips:

-Start your ascent at the far end of lake 11910 so that the Keyhole is on your right. Make an angled pitch up the slope and stay on big talus as much as possible. The small and sandy stuff feels slippery.

-Once you get up to the little cave that has the Keyhole, we used footholds at the outer (taller) part of the wall. We did NOT use the large crack on the right side to get up. My friend actually did climb up using the crack and had to climb back down as he was not comfortable or wasn't able to get across the ledge.

-My friend went as far inside the little cave as possible and actually used some tiny footholds to climb straight up the shortest (10 ft maybe?) section of the wall, but it was very hard and almost regrettable. We do not advise this.

-I was able to start my climb in about the middle of the wall, zig towards the big crack and then zag back towards the Keyhole and make it up very easily. Again, I'm not a climber and this was fairly easy. I would call it class 3 but it was a very easy climb. The challenging part was keeping your wits since the fall down would be very unpleasant, but I didn't even have to shimmy across the small ledge at all. My zig-zag route put me right on top of the wall, just below the Keyhole itself.
-Once on the other side, my friend and I found our own way down the large (and very welcome) talus and snow fields all the way down to Muriel Lake. A true accomplishment and victory for city slickers like us!

Feel free to email for pictures or additional tips.

[mottyx]

I'd love to see your pictures! Post here?

[ochideplus]

Super intriguing--I'm not sure how to email you because of the HST settings but could you email me pictures if you have any? My email is my user name at gmail.

My friend and I recently hiked the Keyhole going from south (Darwin Bench Area) to north (Lost Lakes). The posts and pictures here were very helpful but it seemed not too many people had hiked it from south to north. I advocate for this route as coming down through the Keyhole, down the class 3 section, and down the steep 600 foot slope would be very challenging. We found that going up the steep slope from the far end of Lake 11,910 (Why So Windy? Lake) and climbing the wall inside the little cave with the Keyhole was much more preferable for non-climbers like us. Here are some tips:

-Start your ascent at the far end of lake 11910 so that the Keyhole is on your right. Make an angled pitch up the slope and stay on big talus as much as possible. The small and sandy stuff feels slippery.

-Once you get up to the little cave that has the Keyhole, we used footholds at the outer (taller) part of the wall. We did NOT use the large crack on the right side to get up. My friend actually did climb up using the crack and had to climb back down as he was not comfortable or wasn't able to get across the ledge.

-My friend went as far inside the little cave as possible and actually used some tiny footholds to climb straight up the shortest (10 ft maybe?) section of the wall, but it was very hard and almost regrettable. We do not advise this.

-I was able to start my climb in about the middle of the wall, zig towards the big crack and then zag back towards the Keyhole and make it up very easily. Again, I'm not a climber and this was fairly easy. I would call it class 3 but it was a very easy climb. The challenging part was keeping your wits since the fall down would be very unpleasant, but I didn't even have to shimmy across the small ledge at all. My zig-zag route put me right on top of the wall, just below the Keyhole itself.
-Once on the other side, my friend and I found our own way down the large (and very welcome) talus and snow fields all the way down to Muriel Lake. A true accomplishment and victory for city slickers like us!

Feel free to email for pictures or additional tips.