Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board Mallory - LeConte Pass?

I've seen some references to a Mallory - LeConte Pass that connects Miter Basin with the Meysan Lake area. It's not in my Secor book, so I'm assuming that it's pretty gnarly. Just looking at the topo map would give one that impression.

Anyone got any beta on this route? Is it class 4? class 3? I doubt I'll take it, but I'm curious since I just noticed it when researching Crabtree Pass. The trickiest stuff appears to be on the NE side of the pass between 3700 and 3900 meters in elevation. That could be a tricky descent.

HJ

Al Green Pass connects Meysan with Miter. It definitely rates as harder than Crabtree Pass, but I'd still call it Class 2 unless you're way off-route.

Plenty of photos on my website...

I saw a scanned copy of a map from a book; I think it was the Ritchens (Richens?) book. The book called it "Mallory-Le Conte Pass", presumably since it is between Mts. Mallory and Le Conte.

Interesting that it's Class 2. That would be a really interesting descent while still allowing me to see the Crabtree Pass - Miter Basin - Sky Blue Lake area.

Is there a written description (or maps/photos) of the route available anywhere? I presume, just based on the topo map, that one heads more or less due east until about 3900 m elevation and that one then heads NE/NNE to about 3800 m and then nearly due north at about 3700m. Below 3700 m, it looks like the route would open up considerably. I've marked my guesses on this topo map.

I'll see if I can find anything on your SmugMug. Sometimes, unless a photo is captioned, I can't figure out what I'm looking at, possibly due to my poor eyesight (or poor brain).

HJ

OK, I think I found the proper album:
https://piotrowski.smugmug.com/Californi.../9385269_kz3KZ8

I'll take a look when I get home tonight. Thanks for posting it.

HJ

https://piotrowski.smugmug.com/California-Mountains/Mount-Whitney/Mt-Whitney-From-Meysan-Lakes/9217993_dCqwCB#!i=615423461&k=2PXGfXg

This one has some more captions... there's also another one with Shin somewhere in there...where Doug convinced us to climb over the top of Irvine!!!!!

Thank you, Richard. Great looking photos. I'm pretty excited to see Miter Basin/Crabtree Meadows (presuming that I can talk the rest of the guys into it).

Crabtree Pass doesn't look that bad from the north. Steep, but nothing too tricky.

The ascent from Meysan Lake on the other hand, looks a bit tricky with all the loose crap all over (from what I could see in your photos).

And presumably, one does not need a Whitney exit stamp to transit the Meysan Lakes route down to Whitney Portal, yes?

HJ