High Sierra Topix

Name: Feather-light pass (unofficial)

Overview: This pass connects La Salle Lake to the mini-canyon holding Den Lake. It parallels Feather pass but is appreciably easier (and lower).

Class: 2

Location: Inyo National Forest

Elevation: !2,200 (and change)

USGSTopo map: Mt. Hilgard

HST Map: HST Map

Among the many access conduits into Bear Lake basin from the East, this is the easiest I've encountered. You can reach it from about midway around La Salle Lake and then work your way up the hillside to the ridge. No surprises. No loose rock. Clear signs that other folk have availed themselves of this shortcut (think cairns). But, for some reason it has not entered the common vernacular, ergo this post. If the East side is a straightforward class 2 climb, the West side is a snooze. Well, that's because we had snow to glissade on almost down to Den. In later season, you might actually have to walk in sand/gravel. All in all, a very nice way to meet (or depart) the Bears. Now for the photos:

Hey Cameron, looking at your photos, I realized that this is the very pass my Argentine buddy, Bearzy and I took in early July of the heavy snow year of 2019. Same pass eh?


This is a similar view as in your first photo above, titled:

View of Feather-light from below La Salle. Feather Pass is the next saddle to the Right.

We picked a nice path between the rocks, cramponing along in the early morning made the sun-cups easy. It is a very nice route in the snow too.


Looking back toward Merriam Lake where we began.

Hi Ian,
Exactly. By all accounts, this is the easier ridge, and from the extensive number of cairns, it's been used quite frequently even when it's not completely snow-covered as it was for you guys. Cheers, Cameron

Since Ian's photos show this route with abundant snow and my shots still had considerable snow coverage, I'll now add a few images with virtually no white stuff:

This first shot is what the climb/descent looks like from roughly 50 feet above the inlet end of Den Lake (west side): This shot shows the initial descent or final climb on the Den side. The gravel to the left is attractive and easy, but it leads up higher. In practice, it's pretty easy to veer to the right about 2/3rds of the way up the gravel and aim for the low point on the ridge (which leads into the easiest way down to, or up from, La Salle Lake). Here's a closeup of the top of Feather-light from the Den side. This is the view up at Feather-light from La Salle Lake. There's plenty of greenery and gravel to aim for, but it's hard to run into trouble on this climb/descent. Cameron

i just did feather lite this weekend and thought i might add a bit.

we traveled from vee to merriam, so northwest to southeast.
from the base of the pass, it was supremely easy to ascend the steep gravel/sand to climbers left, then cross over a bit toward the right to the pass. it's an uncomplicated climb, and the views from the top are fantastic on both sides of the pass.

for us, the southeast side of the pass seemed neatly divided into two chutes.

first, a long, steep sand and small boulder-filled chute seems to extend directly off the pass, and leads more or less uninterrupted all the way down to the flat area mentioned by cgundersen.

this chute is painfully obvious from above, almost impossible to miss, but much harder to read from below. here is a shot looking up from the aforementioned flat area.

we crossed to the far (southern most) side of the flat area and turned left, where an even steeper grass and boulder-filled chute presented itself, with a solid rock wall to a descender's right. this chute was surprisingly slippery in a few spots where the later season grass had grown tall and flattened out on top of boulders. otherwise it's smooth sailing.

this green chute bottoms out near lake level, where a bit of boulder hopping leads to flat ground, and off you go.

if this feels too prescriptive or specific for anyone's taste, feel free to edit or delete. just wanted to help!