Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board crabtree pass - how tough?

The answer[for me is] --too tough! Due to lack of high physical shape and poor navigation skills, I gave up between Sky Blue Lake and the two lakes before the pass. Age[65] and traveling alone also hurt. Never found the trail[or cairns] and my gps app on my phone[if i could read it in bright light] had problems[should have brought my old pn-40 stand-alone gps!]

I tried to increase my fitness level[I'm in pretty good shape - I did 1000 Island Lake trip in june taking 4 hours to go up the River Trail, 6 hour day hike the second day, 4 hours to go back via the High Trail]but ended up causing plantar fasciitis[in both feet!] to flare up which made me back off.

Traveling solo hurt because i didn't have a second opinion on directions. I never had a good feel on where the trail was going. Probably would have eventually found my way, but thought about it and decided it wasn't worth the effort.

I thought I did well. Army pass was a bi***, going up and down to Upper Soldier Lake and the return from the west side. Going up and down the rock wall before Sky blue Lake was a bit tough and a little scary going down.

Anyway, maybe next year. Get a little more aggressive with treatment of injuries[steroids shots?] and possibly going with others, but been traveling alone for 15 years, so that would be a transition.

I looked at my waypoint I made and found out I wasn't that far from the Western of the two lakes. Easy to see at sea level at home than at 11000 feet! Noticed in the past don't think that clearly at elevation!

So you did finally take a shot at it? I went through there 20 years ago and found it rather daunting. You are usually totally alone and it gets kind of spooky once you get on the high bench above Sky Blue Lake and look across that last nameless high lake over the jumble of rocks, no footpath around the lakeshore...nobody to talk to or offer succor in case of trouble. Not very many people go up the Rock Creek drainage especially in late September when I was there. But that canyon is beautiful and when there you are truly in the gut of the High Sierra.
Maybe next year..

Adrian

I am hiking from Onion Valley to Horseshoe Meadows starting this Sunday, taking in Mt. Whitney en route.

I'm considering going to Horseshoe Mdws from Whitney via Discovery Pinnacle - Dreaded Sand Hill - Uppermost Crab Tree Lake (probable camp) - Crabtree Pass - Sky Blue Lake - Upper Soldier Lake - the original Army Pass - Horseshoe Meadows.

If anyone would care to comment on the following, I would be most appreciative:
1. On the Dreaded Sand Hill, I know there are cliff bands, but I can't tell where they are just by looking at the topo map. Will they be visually obvious from above? Or is there some visual reference I can guide on as I descend, say the east end of the uppermost Crabtree Lake or the like?
2. Our party of 8 will probably camp at upper Crabtree Lake. I don't think our group is strong enough to summit Whitney, cross over Crabtree Pass, and descend far enough to get into an area in the Rock Creek drainage that has good campsites. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I understand that camp sites at Sky Blue Lake or higher are marginal. So: How's the camping at upper Crabtree Lake? I hear that they're aren't too many decent sites. Is that correct? How far would I have to descend toward the lower Crabtree Lakes until I found decent sites for eight with mostly single person shelters?
3. I understand that the north side of Crabtree Pass is very steep. Is it class 2 or class 3 (I can't find my Secor book)? Most of the guys I'll be with are good hikers but don't have a lot of XC experience.
4. The south side of Crabtree is far less steep if I recall correctly, but it's a lot of boulder hopping, some if it on very loose stuff. Is my memory correct here?
5. I understand that from Rock Creek one can travel across the base of The Miter to upper Soldier Lake (instead of descending all the way to the trail coming from the New Army Pass area). Any tips on how to pick up this route? It looks like on a map that one would start contouring over/traversing from just south of the outflow stream of Primrose Lake. I've sketched it on a topo map here:
Onion Valley to Horseshoe Meaadows Topo Map as "Soldier Lake Cutoff"
6. We'd possibly camp at Upper Soldier Lake. Are there decent camp sites here?
7. And from upper Soldier Lake it looks pretty doable to gain the south ridge of Langley and from there proceed to (original) Army Pass which we intend to use to get to Cottonwood Lakes and our exit trailhead.

Yes, lots of questions, I realize. Any help appreciated. The planner of the trip isn't particularly familiar with XC route planning and has turned to me for help at more or less the 11th hour. He didn't seem to be all that interested in the Crabtree Pass route heretofore, but he now seems to be seriously considering it.

My thanks,

HJ

Hi HJ,

(1) I usually stay high between Discovery Pinnacle and Crabtree Pass going under Mt McAdie (staying hundreds of feet above Upper Crabtree Lake) and just dealing with the rock bands. There are many areas of weakness that are found in the rock bands which permit passage. I have never done this, but if I wanted to just stay on the "safer" sand slopes from Discovery Pinnacle down to Upper Crabtree Lake, I think I would head directly towards the west end of the Lake.

(2) I have enjoyed great camping (going solo, as usual) near the outlet of Upper Crabtree Lake. But, as I recall you will find many superb sites scattered around there. Your group members will have it all to themselves!

(3) My experience with Crabtree Pass on the north is to angle up your chute of choice starting from the east end (near McAdie) and to aim to a higher point to the left of the notch. Watch out for loose rock! Possibly your group could benefit from a piece of cord to haul a pack for a couple of moves.

(4) Traversing along the top of Crabtree Pass is easy. Easily descend from the west end of the Pass heading for the two nearby tarns located just above Lake 12129.

(5) As you descend the Miter Basin and approach the Major General, head up to the 11200' contour. You will cross a tight slot (with a carn on top) on some slabs which will drop you into the basin (heading southwest) holding Upper Soldier Lake. Stay away from the canyon initially on your right which holds the creek draining into Lower Boy Soldier Lake.

(6) At the east end of Upper Soldier Lake there is a meadow and sandy ground by the water. However, you might not be alone there, as I recently saw many Bighorn Sheep cross the meadow and disappear into nearby steep rocky terrain.

(7) From the meadow/sandy area on the east end of Upper Soldier Lake, take the sandy trail (not on maps for the last several decades) that heads directly up to the Mt Langley Trail.

Enjoy this exciting and adventuresome outing!

Jim

Hi, Jim F, thanks.

We'll have to see how the timing goes. If we can make it all the way to Sky Blue Lake, we may try the rock bands route. If we're running late, we'll descend to Upper Crabtree and spend the night there. Sky Blue is only a couple of miles away from Upper Crabtree Lake, but there's some slow terrain in there.

OK, great! Thanks.

OK, that's consistent with what I've heard. Keep to the east (left as you ascend from Upper Crabtree) side of Crabtree Pass. Got it.

OK, got it. Ascend to the east side of the pass, transit to the west side, and descend to the south from the west side. Thanks!

Got it. That's very consistent with my read of the map. I figure it will cut out a mile or so en route to Army Pass.

Ah. Now that's company I wouldn't mind a bit. Any decent camp sites there (where I won't be damaging a meadow)? We should be able to make it into the Cottonwood Lakes basin, but just in case...

OK, great. That was essentially my understanding.

Well, this is all dependent on my convincing my travel companions, many of whom are more trail hikers than XC'ers, but all of this should be mostly class 2 unless we try to go through the cliff bands in the Upper Crabtree cirque. I think it can be entirely class 1 - 2 if we avoid the cliff bands. I've done short bits of class 3 with some of these guys, so class 2 shouldn't be a problem.

HJ

Clarification, please. When you and others talk about Upper Soldier Lake do you mean the tiny, highest lake NNE of the lowest Soldier Lake or the larger lake almost due east of the lower lake?

HJ,

I have never camped at the east end of Upper Soldier Lake. However, there is so much soft level ground there that I do not think your team will have any problem finding a place to make camp without harming the Wilderness. Do not hesitate to give us a short TR on how your trip plays out. In my opinion, the Miter Basin is awesome and well worth the effort.

Burt,

By Upper Soldier Lake I mean the larger Lake due east of the lower lake. By the way, I enjoy reading you TRs. Hope you have many more to offer this season.

Jim

We camped on the north side of USL a few years ago after doing the traverse from Miter Basin. Lovely place to camp, good sandy spots among the trees near/above the lake. We day hiked the next day from our campsite across the meadow and up the sandy chute to Langley summit, then back down, and moved our camp to LSL.

Here is my trip report from that trip. You can see a picture of the approach across the sandy area/meadow to the sandy chute you climb up to Langley. The use trail is on the extreme right of the chute.

Karin, great TR and photos. Your posts are always helpful and interesting. I'm headed up to Langley Saturday with a friend. It will be a straight forward overnighter via Long Lake and NAP but I have plans for solos back to the Soldier Lakes / Rock Creek area later this year. (My first, test backpack last summer was to Chicken Springs and Soldier Lakes.)

Last summer when I was thinking about getting back into backpacking after a lapse of several decades you gave me great answers to my queries about gear choices. I bit the bullet and bought a Bearikade this spring which really increases my range. But I still can't get my total pack weight down below 40 lbs for a 6-7 day trip. I guess I haven't spent enough $.
Burt

Burt,

As Jim F has indicated, Upper Soldier Lake is the lake due east of Lower Soldier Lake. The little tarn way off to the NE doesn't have a name that I know of.

I've marked Upper Soldier Lake on a topo.

HJ

Excellent. I definitely don't want to camp someplace that damages things, particularly in a fairly well traveled area like the area near Cottonwood Lakes/Horseshoe Meadows.

Well, we may "chicken out" and go by way of Guyot Pass, but I'll definitely post some type of TR.

HJ

Very cool info. Thank you.

HJ

Climbing Langley 1.9 times! Yipes.

Nice trip report and thanks for the link to the thread where you got a lot of advice.

HJ