Member descriptions, photos, and map locations of Cross Country Passes in the High Sierra. This forum is for information only - discussions should be kept in the appropriate categories. This forum is a component of the HST Map. We need your help to complete the database, so please contribute!
Route description: I finally tracked down old photos that I'd posted in a TR from 2007 and they give an idea of the ascent that we faced from the Hutchings Creek side of the pass, as we headed over to the Lyell Fork of the Merced. Frankly, the elevation looked higher than I was expecting, but there are several options for ascending to the ridge, and aside from the rock being precariously loose in spots (as it tends to be throughout this region), there was nothing treacherous about the climb. The descent on the Lyell fork side is very mellow, and I'll attach shots looking up from the Hutchings side and then from the ridge looking into the Lyell fork basin. I'm hoping to go back to this area this Summer, so I may be able to embellish the photo collection.
Sluggo Pass from Hutchings Creek basin
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Lyell Fork basin from Sluggo Pass ridge
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Cameron
Last edited by cgundersen on Tue Jul 18, 2023 3:29 pm, edited 2 times in total.
Some additional photos from my trip in July 2018. Dreary couple days weatherwise, so I will skip the views -- must return On the Hutchings Creek side I followed the wall on the left/north up and then crossed over to the gulley to take advantage of the snow until it became too steep and icy. Climbed back out and continued to the top. Straightforward Class 2 all the way.
Sluggo-Ingraham Pass -- I followed wall on left to slabs halfway up, then crossed right to snow chute, followed gap between snow and rock, and climbed back out
Sluggo-Ingraham Pass -- the top bit on the Hutchings Creek side
The descent to the Lyell Fork basin is less steep for the most part. There are a couple nice flat spots with meadows on the way down. Straightforward Class 2 all the way.
Sluggo-Ingraham Pass -- the top bit on the Lyell Fork side
I did this for the first time from the Lyell side going west. The SE side is easy class 1-2, CYOA, we stayed a bit to the east as it seemd a bit more stable there, but nothing really worth commenting on.
On the NW side we decided to stay high and head over to WL11139. This wasn't bad either, but the routefinding was unnerving. After dropping from the pass (we kept to skiiers right on some class 3 to keep things more stable) there's a nice broken/messy grassy ramp that gently drops. After following this for a while to some granite fins you get the choice to go high and continually have to wiggle over them, or drop. With the advice to stick ~11200 we dropped - the lines above are a bit more forgiving but it's undulating terrain covered in large talus so meh. WL11139 makes a nice northward ending point in the basin, so I'd do it this way again vs just dropping down a bunch of loose talus to gain the elevation again.
Nothing here was spicy, but the ramps gradually tighten and you get fairly close to a steep cliff (a few times I was checking what was below me before traversing a slabby bit etc I normally wouldn't think about) - due to the angle of the fins you can see about a third of the route ahead of you at times and we began to wonder if we'd cliff out and/or get into some class 4.
We didn't and sticking near the bottom of the fins before eventually dropping into a loose chute which leads to a grassy corridor then an easy climb out worked out great. From the Hutchins (NW) side of the pass it's very easy to see this, and what's out of sight is the more straightforward route. I'm spelling this out for anyone else that does it the first time heading west.
waypoints, some of them were a bit delayed hence the past tense on them sadly (was more focused on terrain than mapping)
where you hit fins and drop below them
this was a relief to find!
looking back on the way to WL11139 it all looked really obvious! our rough route was orange, it looks like you could do red and save a little elevation, but I'm unsure about the crack/ledge across the slab.
On the Hutchings Creek side I followed the wall on the left/north up and then crossed over to the gulley to take advantage of the snow until it became too steep and icy. Climbed back out and continued to the top. Straightforward Class 2 all the way.
