High Sierra Topix

TITLE: Pyra Queen Col

GENERAL OVERVIEW: This pass leads between 9 Lakes Basin and Lake 11,682 and Kaweah Basin

CLASS/DIFFICULTY: Class 2 - very loose scree

LOCATION: Sequoia National Park | on the HST Map

ELEVATION: 12,850

USGS TOPO MAP (7.5'): Triple Divide Peak

ROUTE DESCRIPTION: If traveling West to East a couple initial options are available. The route I took was to leave lake 11,680 on it's SE shore moving up a gentle slope. Angle along the hillside moving towards the center of the valley below the pass. The problem with this was I encountered several class 3 sections and had to deal with a great deal of miserable scree. Due to this I think the best bet would be to tackle the large talus between Lake 11,680 and Lake 11,682 and maintain lake level until you are forced up the loose scree. Head directly up the scree until you reach some large outcrops of granite slabs. Zig zag up this until you have to angle to your right for the Col itself which is an obvious notch. The last fight to the top is steep yet no more difficult than anything you have already done at this point.

Once on the East side you will continue down the slope moving South until you can begin directly down the hill and begin angling back to the North. Continue far enough to avoid some steeper cliffs on your right and then you will be able to make your way directly into Kaweah Basin below. The trip from below the Col on the East side involves talus hoping most of the way down into the basin.

Unfortunately I only took a single photo of the West side of the pass.








This is where you can begin to angle into the basin.

Some more photos, also I seem to have crossed the ridge further north than Rogue did; when I researched the pass prior to crossing, I found accounts which, in hindsight describe the 2 ways.
^^^ Long shots of the east side- I crossed at the Dark/light notch to the south of the low point.
^ Gaining the base of the slab
^ The slab, solid Granite but I would say harder than Class 2 and a bit of exposure
^ west side descent, a nice gently angled ledge, talus was very stable along here.
^ A view south from the bottom of the previous ledge - I guess the southern route goes via the left of these two loose chutes ?
^ the easy ledge goes between the 2 red arrows - the photo of the 2 chutes was taken from the bottom arrow.


^ View of west side from Lake 11682 (both options marked) - from the pass to the lake is loose gravel and talus, not technically difficult, but hard work, there is a rocky band at the level of the obvious dark area with a couple of class 2 moves without exposure. That's my wife giving her opinion

As regards my opinion of the relative difficulties of the two routes, I think the North option would be easier on the west side and more difficult on the eastern side especially if you don't like exposure. Coming from Kaweah basin, the notch is easy to locate and if you get there and don't like the look of it, you would be able to head round to the southern route without difficulty.

Dave

Approaching the Col from the West, the hiking is fairly civilized if one follows the entire north shore of Lake 11682, staying as close to the water as reasonable. From the NE shore of the lake, it is a fairly straight shot up to the Col. To me both sides of the Col seem class 2. As noted, descending into the Kaweah Basin from the Col, one can get into lower angled terrain (a massive scree field) by heading to the north (left). Alternatively, I have found a direct route down the dark rock bands/"cliffs" (sometimes waterfalls) not as difficult as one might presume.

Looking back up from the Kaweah Basin, my recollection is that the Col is perhaps 100 yards to the south (left) of the obvious dark notch (Dave's class 3 variant). The dark notch is so prominent, as I recall it is easily seen from the summit of Mt Whitney on the other side of the Kern Trench.

I encountered a solid ice band coming down the west side. It was short so I just lowered my pack on my bear cord and then cut steps with a rock. In a high snow year you may need an ice axe or even crampons. I did it in September, so by that time the snow was all very compact and icy. I also avoided most talus on the east side by going north to zig-zag down grassy benches. The upper bowl was solid snow. When I did it there was a cairn that marked the easier south notch. Not sure it is still there.

UPDATE: 2022-07-05

Wanted to share my latest experience traversing this pass.

TERMS

Forgive the liberal assignment of rock classifications but I think it is useful for describing the traverse and challenges encountered by myself.

• Scree - loose, pebble to golf ball sized
• Talus - loose or not, larger than scree
• Boulder - can be loose but usually not, larger than a large ice chest

PATH: West to East (very rough path on Caltopo)
CONDITIONS: Early summer, no clouds and temperature lows in the high 30’s. Lots of snowfields encountered.

Travel to the bottom of the pass

By the first lake 11,680, boulder skipping was the main mode of transport. As mentioned before, I have found that the north shores to be the easiest to traverse. Especially the last lake, where the south shore had a sharper slope and was trimmed with snow banks.
Picture of the south and north shores. Note how much easier the north shore traverse is.

Traversal

Like most passes, the initial frontal view can seem quite steep and intimidating. The reality though is that it is typically between 45 to 60 degrees. This combined with irregularly sized rocks in the soil make any potential fall arrestable. Exert a lot of caution though because it is still possible to get a serious injury, even fatal. The hardest part for me was how loose all the rocks were. There were several times that talus dislodged individually or as part of a smaller rockslide and I had to quickly strafe to avoid it taking out my legs. The rockslides themselves could be very surprising with it ranging anywhere from a foot to several feet wide. During the time of this trip (early July), every movement involved loose scree constantly sliding, making the process very slow and frustrating. The lodged boulders were accessible but not very practical for traversing, due to size, as opposed to doing it over the scree.
Wide picture of west face

Steps to ascend

1. Start from the lake level dead center and ascend, just right of the granite outcropping at 11,800.
2. Ascend the northern chute from 11,800 to 12,000.
3. Go parallel to the granite face outcropping at 12,000 until you get to the southern chute (photo perspective).
4. Ascend the chute towards the notch (slightly right of).
5. Sidle the large granite outcropping leftward and then up to the notch.

Passing at the notch vs the crevice

Note the green path on the given image. This shows an alternate way to traverse the pass. It is a small crevice that has a drastic climb to the top. I highly recommend against it. While it initially looks like a shorter path, there will be less and less areas to hold on to as you climb. Since the time of the last trip report, this area has become much more barren. The final step to get to the top had a single boulder to the left and required finger and small foot holds to get to it. This required several class 3 moves, with the potential for a long distance fall against sharp rocks. The right side was completely inaccessible, as there were no grips on the side wall and the lip was just slightly dried and slick mud. On top of that, the rocks were very loose. As part of my last move to get to the top, I tested a roughly 4x3 boulder lodged into the wall to see if I could leverage it. It dislodged itself, causing me to swing out of its way and create a large rockslide below. It may be possible that after another season of snow this barren area may have movement again and equalize some but that is just a guess.
View on top of the crevice. Unfortunately the last move areas can’t be seen. I was honestly too afraid to step forward any further due to how loose all the rock was.

At the top you will end up in an enclosed space with your only exit to the left (north). The exit leads to an exposed outlook on the top ridgeline (note the green dot in the ascent picture). You must move forward and around the small tooth / spire in front of you. This will then drop you down to a large space as seen below.
Note that you can still get to this higher point from the notch by ascending the ramp that runs parallel to the wall in this picture. To descend just turn right and go down a ramp to start the east side descent and meet up with the notch’s descent path.

Steps to descend

1. Descend southward, which will be obvious, forming a natural downward ramp.
2. Traverse from south to north until you arrive at the northern chute. Note that snow conditions will yield a shallow lake covered by snow bridges. Make sure to avoid this area entirely.
3. During the descent you will encounter snow, talus and boulders. I have chosen frequently to walk or slide over the snow fields. Be careful to not let a rock make your bottom slides unpleasant.
4. The constant rock spread will start to yield more grass and dirt going from 11,800 to 11,600.

Viewpoint at the top of the pass. Notice the start of the northern chute in the far corner.
Viewpoint of the pass’s east side before approaching the northern chute.
Viewpoint of the pass ridgeline from the east side.
Viewpoint descending the northern chute. Did I mention there was snow?
Some reprieve from all the rock hopping. Still managed to punish us as we were leaving the basin though.
Rocks: lol, you thought you were done with me.