Kings Canyon High Basin Route

[RoguePhotonic]

I would probably go down the outlet of Tunemah, down into Goddard Creek and across to climb up to Wheel Mountain and Devils Crags to drop over down to Rambaud Lakes.

Pure hell awaits you

If you do begin up Rambaud Pass from down there just begin up on the South side of the drainage that comes down. Trying to angle up before the brush gets too bad in Goddard Creek is a mistake. The hillside is horribly steep and covered in scrub oak.

Thank you for the additional information about the climb from Woods to Arrow.

Are you looking for info for the route going up Arrow Creek or the route noted here. I have done that route. The hump that is Arrow Descent 1 is an easy class 2 hop over. The terrain is also mostly grassy terrain from there to Descent 2. I dropped down the West side of that drainage all the way. It was plenty steep, over grown in sections having me climbing through White Thorn and Prickly Currants. Several sections narrow through slabs of granite that become very specific and steep at times. I eventually just before hitting the major section of burn zone was routed into a class 4-5 down climb on a single crack that was on the scary side. I could not see another option as the whole area around me was steep granite slabs with micro cliffs. I think perhaps I took the wrong way completely. I knew nothing more than people drop down there so I just went for it.

I do believe that following the creek is impossible and the nature of the terrain pretty much makes you choose one side and stick with it because your not crossing over!

[ndpanda]

King Col with any sort of cornice would be impassable without ropes. It's just too narrow and steep.

Crossing King Col at the beginning of August 2010 we carried and used ice axes and were forced into some step-cutting below the top of the chute in lieu of the belays we would have preferred. It's a treacherous angle up there and it really felt like we were pushing our luck. I don't have my copy of Secor handy but I'm pretty sure it's just described as garden variety Class 2. Technically true I suppose but exposure-wise I would question it—not so much for the airiness per se but for how far you'd likely fall if you slipped.

[RoguePhotonic]

Photos are notorious for making things look like they are not a problem at all. Even in photos Kings Col looks steep as hell:

[schmalz]

This thread has definitely brought up a number of ethical concerns regarding online trip reports.

"The only section of the route I have not done is Bubbs to Woods. Pre Edition explains such and alternate route given, though this appears to be a straightforward section -- Gardiner Pass and then King Col."

I find this comment to be particularly disturbing in light of the fact that you are charging money for the guide to this route.

[Bluewater]

Thanks Rogue for your detailed description and map of the route from Woods to Arrow Basin. I was hoping for more details of the route and I appreciate that you are so open to sharing your experience.

From everything else that I've read your route seems to be the preferred way. I was surprised to see the route in Skurkas pre-edition follow a different line up from Woods (to the west apparently climbing the steep chutes) then contouring at about 3,000 meters to the west side of the ridge and leading up from there to the main section of the basin. In my back and forth emails with Tom K over the past month about this area he seems to favor a route more like yours.


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[Bluewater]

". . though this appears to be a straightforward section -- Gardiner Pass and then King Col".

"Although Gardiner is easy enough there is nothing straight forward about King Col other than getting to the top from the West. It's the sort of pass that after I did it I wont ever do it again and as I noted in my write up of it I don't recommend anyone else do so either.

From a guide stand point this certainly can be a blocking point. King Col with any sort of cornice would be impassable without ropes. It's just too narrow and steep".

Thanks for sharing your first hand experience and photo of Kings Col. Based on this I don't think I will be following the KCHBR through Gardiner Basin!


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[alpinemike]

Coming from someone who has personally hiked extensively with Rogue... When he says he will never do it again that should be an extreme warming not to be taken lightly. I for one will never do them since I know just how bad they really are.


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[Wandering Daisy]

schmaltz- I agree. I have not done about 5% of miles on the routes in my guidebook and I state that in the book. I would never then say that it "looks straightforward"! How can you say that if you have not done it? If the miles are somewhat standard routes, well known and written about by others, it may be OK to include those sections in a guide that you write. This route may be a great idea but it has not been fully verified. Releasing a guide now is premature. I have the feeling that several people are trying to put new "high routes" out there and there is a bit of a race to be first. There was another recent post of another JMT alternative that did not get response on the forum and now is just back there unread.

The CDT goes through the Wind Rivers and I always see new "high route" alternatives described on the internet. One person does one trip and think it is the greatest on earth and they have found the hidden thru-route to the Winds. Few are actually dangerous, but none are what I would consider researched, based on safety or scenic criteria, or verified under many conditions. It does get backpackers out of the rut of the CDT and at least thinking about alternatives, which is good. It appears that this kind of route reporting is the way of the future, like it or not. Most authors are "unknowns" and really not trying to make money from it so I think their "routes" are taken with a grain of salt. The more well-known an author, the more the general public will not question the route. I do not fear for those with extensive experience, particularly mountaineering experience; these folks have the judgment to back off anything that gets too dangerous. But, these experienced people do not need a guidebook! Some who buy a guidebook are likely to be either less experienced or new to an area and assume that the route is solidly researched and verified; these folks I worry about.

The "Kings Canyon High Basin Route" appears to be a part of a surge in "adventure backpacking" that is now quite popular - emphasis on gnarly, challenging, "bragging rights" characteristics - a bit more like mountaineering than backpacking. As more people pursue this kind of backpacking, only time will tell if this will result in more rescues, injury or death. So far it does not seem to. Having lived through transition of mountaineering from the "old school" military style to the new small group to solo light and fast risky style, I try to keep an open mind about all this.

[ndpanda]

This thread has definitely brought up a number of ethical concerns regarding online trip reports.

"The only section of the route I have not done is Bubbs to Woods. Pre Edition explains such and alternate route given, though this appears to be a straightforward section -- Gardiner Pass and then King Col."

I find this comment to be particularly disturbing in light of the fact that you are charging money for the guide to this route.

Steve Roper set a pretty high bar with his process for the Sierra High Route. He had around 25 years of Sierra experience when he started putting the route together in the late 1970s. He hiked every segment at least once over the course of several summers so he got a sense of varying snow levels. Then, according to his introduction to the original edition, he "agonized" for more than a year about whether or not to go public. For the 1997 edition of the book he solicited input from seasoned hikers of the route and asked backcountry rangers — George Durkee, for one — to review sections of the manuscript.

When Ropers's guide to the SHR came out in the early 1980s I had already hiked quite a few of the segments he identified, and over the years I've gone over the rest of them, most more than once. I've always found his take on the terrain and his routefinding advice to be pretty solid, with the odd quibble here and there. (His description of how to get down to Twin Island Lakes from Glacier Lake Pass seemed overly complicated to me the first time I read it, but the next time I hiked that stretch I realized that putting the route into words was more challenging than the actual routefinding.)

On the one hand, I think that the deliberative approach Roper took to defining a mountain route is unlikely to be emulated by others now that we have the internet to share our experiences in close to real time. On the other, I think it's largely responsible for the SHR's longevity and credibility in the outdoor community.

[RoguePhotonic]

Coming from someone who has personally hiked extensively with Rogue... When he says he will never do it again that should be an extreme warming not to be taken lightly. I for one will never do them since I know just how bad they really are.

Haha Yeah sometimes I tell people that I rarely get scared while doing anything in the Sierra but when I do you know it's pretty bad. I still find it funny that I was going to turn back in the Enchanted Gorge on those grass slopes but you made me push forward with almost disastrous results.