A guy going by Adventure Alan made a website about it in 2015, but obv the stretches involved has been traveled for decades prior. Whether Adventure A's compilation of segments warrants a route name is debatable, but to truly evaluate the merits we stuck to the description plus included the optional portions, such as Colosseum Col, the Baxter traverse, 60 lakes from Basin Notch to Rae Col, etc.
This stretch of the Sierra Crest is the highest and most inaccessibly rugged of the range. 13 of California’s 15 unofficial peaks over 14k’ lies along this route, however there are also cruiser miles involved: The JMT is used from before Mather to after Pinchot; and over Glen to the Center Basin turn off. Also from the summit of Whitney down to Trail Crest.
The SoSHR as we did it is 99 miles long with 35k’ gain and took my son and I ten days including climbing Whitney, Langley and attempting Russell, three of the 14ers. I’m in my sixties and felt this to be a reasonable time frame without getting too beat up.
There's plenty of talus and some steep loose descents. Baxter especially took slow, deliberate travel to stay upright on two feet. For those into such, the Mountaineer's Route was probably the most enjoyable scrambling en route. We had it to ourselves after a camp at Iceberg and took about two hours to the summit with backpacking gear.
We skipped resupplying, but to keep our starting pack weight around thirty pounds with 10 days of food we carefully evaluated all the gear. The nights in the Sierra in August are warm and the days downright hot, even at 13000’, plus summer storms are rare. Snow travel was not an issue this season, yet water is abundant from hundreds of alpine lakes. All this helped trimming the gear to a bare minimum
Being entirely in Kings-Sequoia National Parks sadly meant leaving trusty Skotti dog behind. But I knew the difficulty of this route would not be dog friendly at all, plus it saved me from carrying an additional 5-6 lbs of dog food
We started on the Bishop Pass trail, an important Sierra Crest crossing, well known to all. It’s a quota permit entry that took me impeccable timing and swift keyboard strokes to secure
Battling appetite loss and nausea at the 12000’ altitude of camp one just after Bishop Pass. A buck deer with an impressive rack snoozed in a hollow next to us all night
Classic Sierra off trail travel very uncharacteristic of the rugged terrain around the three passes of early day two: Thunderbolt, Potluck and Cirque. It seemed like we were going perpendicular to the grain, up and down gullies and cracks etc most of the way.
After lunch we merged with the JMT for an afternoon cruise over Mather Pass.
Still not fully adjusted to the altitude; evening day two. Our average camp altitude for nine nights was 11500'. Lows ranged from 45°F to 35°F. Very pleasant conditions, juxtaposed against the harsh sun and high temps of the afternoons. Split Mtn looking rather low and flat behind us
Morning in exquisite Upper Basin. This Yama Swiftline tent predates the Xmid by several years, so maybe Durston took some inspiration from this design
The only snow impractical to try to circumvent was the north side of Colosseum Col. We hit it in the afternoon and no traction devices were needed
Topping out on Baxter summit plateau. The talus began near the north end of Stocking lake, culminating in the first gully. Finally the surface transitioned to somewhat solid, almost enjoyable scrambling here at the end of the final gully.
When we exited this gully we spooked 20-25 California Bighorn Sheep peacefully chilling in the rocky starkness of the summit, shown here. A little later we watched them descend towards Owens Valley along a gendarmed ridge. Pretty cool, but also an unnecessary expenditure of energy for them. Nothing we could see to browse on up here
The Baxter Traverse was on day 4 and the mental crux of the entire route. From Sawmill Pass (never noticed crossing that trail) to finally arriving at the massive lake near the extinct Baxter Pass trail were 5 hours of steep, shifting microwave sized talus mixed with a few very exposed blocky climbs, all demanding constant focus. Here looking with uncertain thoughts down the endless descent gully
At the shore of Baxter lake we fixed a blown out heel cup, likely caused by that darned descent
The stunning Clarence King from our camp in Sixty Lakes Basin, which we traversed in full as an alternate to neighboring Rae Lakes: in by Basin Notch - out over Rae Col. Rae Lakes is arguably the busiest destination in this part of the Sierra, while intimate 60 Lakes was deserted and allowed a complete bypass of the chaos
After hitting Glen Pass near the top exit from Sixty Lakes it was JMT hiking until lonely Center Basin, here seen as the left forested arm with the rain shower branching off upper Bubbs Creek. The peak on the right, East Vidette, is a striking display of granite slabs and aretes soaring up thousands of feet
For hauling a big bear can in excess of 15 lbs I designed a pack specifically for the task. Worked out well. It is framed with effective load lifters and weigh only 35 ounces. Perfectly balanced for the rugged nature of the SoSHR, yet still fine for JMT smoothness
The JMT used to go thru Center Basin before the Forester Pass trail was finished in 1932. Now it’s a remote valley with only a faint path. We heard coyotes and watched mallards in the lake and sandpipers along the marshes. Probably the finest location on the whole tour, and we had it to ourselves
Williamson and beautiful Tyndall from Junction
Before Forester the JMT used Junction Pass, which today is a totally forgotten and barely visible path from Center Basin over the actual Sierra Crest to below Shepherd Pass on the east side. This was another significant challenge of the SoSHR, and in fact quite enjoyable. Something about finding and barely following historic abandoned trails that always fascinates me
Junction Pass merges with the Shepherd Pass trail a ways down the east side, so there was a big climb needed there.
This view is from near the Shepherd Pass and shows a portion of the Great W Divide. Can anyone ID this string of peaks for me?
After many simple miles we got near the last of the major difficult sections by entering the Whitney region via the remote back door of upper Wallace and finally the Russell Carillon Col
Before climbing the RC col one walks the shore of Tulainyo, at 12800' the highest lake of its size in the US. It was incredibly clear and untouched. Two coyotes hung out nearby while we filled our bottles
RC Col is not too hard , with un-shifting talus and solid climbing.
We attempted Russell's east ridge, but almost to the lower east summit we backed off. The constant exposure combined with lots of still difficult backpacking ahead deflated our motivation
The obligatory Iceberg lake panorama shot
The first third of the Mountaineer's Route gully is best bypassed by a rocky buttress on the left. It's solid and pleasant scrambling instead of the scree chute, and perfectly safe (with some care)
Transitioning from the buttress to the simple lower angle upper gully
Slogging up the gully
Two images of the more serious climbing we found after the Notch. This is the last couple hundred feet of vert before suddenly stepping out among the crowds on the summit
The morning of our Whitney climb was followed by a pretty challenging afternoon of steep scree around Crabtree Pass, so when we arrived a Skyblue Lake at 4pm we collapsed at the shore and napped for several hours. After coming to at 7pm we cooked and then slept another 11 hrs!
Skyblue, on day 8, marks the end of the real difficulties. The remaining 2 days dealt with beautiful Miter Basin, the Langley slog to fantastic views, the wild and rugged Old Army Pass, plus a surprisingly smooth 80 mile hitchhike back to Bishop Pass trailhead.
Overall a very good route with lots of cruiser miles in some of the best Sierra terrain. The spicy bits were more interesting than loathsome. We had a good time, and didn’t beat up ourselves as much as we sometimes do.
