Mt Whitney Zone Forums General Discussion Miter Basin, Discovery Pinnacle to Mt Whitney

I'm thinking of taking the x-country route through Miter Basin and up over Discovery Pinnacle...does anyone have some specific info on the "slog" up over that ridge that leads to pinnacle?? I am researching this route to see if I really want to do it, but have found that the hikers that have gone that route, have indicated how slow going it is on that ridge...just north of upper Crabtree Lake. I'm going the last week of July this year...any and all info would be helpful. We will have a group of 10, with full packs.....I would think we can just go over Crabtree Pass and stay to the right ..and then create our own switchbacks..up and over....right??

First off, here's an online map, courtesy of CalTopo.
https://caltopo.com/map.html#ll=36.53806,-118.26731&z=14&b=t&o=t&n=1

Here is a report with pictures authored by the late Kent Ashcraft, originally posted here:   The dreaded sand hill route

The following are Kent's words and pictures. Click on the pictures to see the full size.

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Hi: I thought it might be nice to summarize the trip up the Dreaded Sand Hill, which one climbs between Crabtree Pass and Discovery Pinnacle.



A great way to access Mt. Whitney is from the Horseshoe Meadows area. If one is interested in a trail, one can hike through lower Rock Creek, Guyot Pass, Crabtree Meadows and up the west side of Mt. Whitney. Although I have not gone that way, I hear it is a very nice route.

An alternative is to start at Horseshoe Meadows (using either New Army Pass or Cottonwood pass) and hike to Soldier Lake. From there hike cross country through the scenic Miter Basin, past Sky Blue Lake to Crabtree pass. At Crabtree pass one can either climb the Dreaded Sand Hill to Discover Pinnacle,



or follow the Crabtree basin down to Crabtree Meadows to merge with the trail coming up the west side of Mt. Whitney....as was done in this trip report.

Trail Journals -- Mt Whitney from Horseshoe Meadow

Route up the Dreaded Sand Hill:

1) Standard route is to drop all the way down to the upper Crabtree Lake and then climb straight up the sand hill....one step up and 1/2 step back etc. Written reports have placed it as a miserable 4 hours up to Discovery Pinnacle plateau.




2) Or preferred alternative....stay at the same elevation as Crabtree Pass and work through the cliff band...some climbing but avoids much of the loose sand areas. Bob R. told me you could not stay on the top of the ridge from McAdie to Discovery Pinnacle, but it was also unnecessary to drop all the way to the lake.


I will summarize this route.

Start at the right side of Crabtree pass (if you are coming up from Sky Blue Lake). This is on the east side. Work your way around the Cirque beginning with the large boulders that make up the western/ Northwestern base of Mt. McAdie.





You can not stay exactly level with Crabtree pass, due to the makeup of the large boulders. You either need to climb up about 100-200 feet toward Mt. McAdie as you work your way around or you need to drop down about 50 feet. If you take one of these two options the climbing is not difficult. The traverse over or under or through these large boulders doesn't last long...maybe 500 hundred feet or so.

This is a picture of the route, looking back from the edge of the Discovery Pinnacle Plateau



Next you skirt around the eastern edge of the cirque....drawing a line across the cirque which skirts under the rock bands that extend down.



As you approach to northeast corner of the cirque, you reach the eastern edge of the cliff bands. Head for this point.



This is where your climb begins.

Follow this route up through the cliff band



Enter the cliff band and walk mostly level about 50-75 feet. Then climb up to the right here....the climb up is only about 20 feet. It is class three on good rock. If you have a backpack you might with to climb without it and lift the backpack up with a short rope. We did not not but it would be safer to climb without a large bulky backpack.



Once to the top of the climb through the lower cliff band walk mostly level to the west (left) again for 50 - 100 feet or so. From there you can climb up through the upper cliff band....which climb doesn't last long before it opens up. This is also class three with good hand holds. Same rule applies to heavy backpacks, which would be difficult to climb with.



Once through the more difficult climbing of the upper cliff band, continue to head upward through scattered rocks until you get to this point.



This is where you head diagonalB to the plateau that extends out from Discovery Pinnacle. We used an arch to head up to the large snowfield below the rock wall area, following the base of the snowfield until it connects with the ridge coming up from the left. It is to your advantage to come out on the ridge as high as possible.



Once you reach the plateau, head toward the highest point, Discovery Pinnacle.



That is where you drop down to the Mt. Whitney trail...on the right side (east) of Discovery Pinnacle.



Best wishes and good climbing.

Wow Steve, i really appreciate all of that information and pictures! This is exactly the kind of info i was looking for. I will have to discuss this with my group but it really helps give me the kind of info to make a good decision on the route we take. I am very glad i joined the whitney zone message board website....have a good one!!!

Kent Ashcraft provided more pictures, not shown above. In fact, the pictures above are from two albums
(edit: the online pictures are no longer available)

• Meysan Lake to Mt. Whitney Loop
• Miter Basin, Crabtree Pass to Whitney

Some of the pictures show his group hiking the route. Seeing people in the pictures helps to get a perspective on the difficulty.

the pics are awesome. Well whether i end up taking the main trail or the x-country route, i was curious if anyone knows what the average snowpack is like the last week of july on army, vs new army pass? I have already seen that if old army is clear of snow, it is usually the route of choice, but with the level of snowpack in the sierra's already this winter...maybe i should just plan on new army..??? Any advice on this, this early??

There is usually snow holding on Army Pass in early-mid July, on an average snow year. It is usually not clear until August.
It may be navigable without technical gear, or it may not.

I'd plan tenatively on NAP.

Thanks for that info Ken, I was leaning towards planning on going the nap route, and in case the snow has cleared then maybe go old army. Any info on good campsites between nap and Guyot pass?? I was studying the map and was curious on some areas close to Guyot pass, in case i take the main trail instead of miter basin x-country route.

I'm thinking of descending to upper Crabtree Lake from Discovery Pinnacle via the Dreaded Sand Hill route. Anyone have any tips on how not to "cliff out" on the way down? I've seen photos with cliff bands in them. Is there any prominent land mark I can guide on to give me a good line down to upper Crabtree Lake?

HJ

Jim, that should be a sweet descent. I climbed up from the second Crabtree lake last summer, but got way too high way too soon. I had to descend and traverse quite a ways before I could get over the Discovery Pinnacle.

If you head straight downslope toward the middle of the upper Crabtree lake, I see the topography steepens in the lower area. If you just trend more westward (to the right as you descend) if the terrain gets too steep, you will find the bench just west of and above your lake. From there it is easy to get down.

Click on the picture of the lake (above) for a full-size view, and you can see the easier slope and the bench.

I definitely see that bench. That might work to just calculate a bearing and walk to the bench. I've seen cliffs between the bench and the far end of the Crabtree Lakes cirque. Hmm. Better not drop down too far too fast!

HJ

Thanks very much for posting the possible route from Crabtree Pass to Discovery Pinnacle without the significant elevation descent and ascent. We are doing this round trip Crabtree Pass to Whitney summit in one day. Last time I think was a 15 mile day.

We have hiked down to the lake and up the sand hill two times. This August we really want to give this route following the topo elevation line as close as possible from Crabtree Pass. The photos and description look super useful.

I'm planning to take a Garmin Edge to track the shortcut route if it goes for us. Since we are coming back to Crabtree Pass after the Whitney summit I"m hoping the GPS will help us find the return route without dropping to the lake.

Any chance someone out there has recorded the GPS track for this higher elevation route?

Thanks

Take a look at this video around the 3:00 mark. It's not me but perhaps you can post on that video to see if they have a gpx track.

https://youtu.be/UBO64ZtOu5I

MikeH, thanks for posting the youtube video link. Watching that, it sounds like the Sierra High Route offers this route, or descending to the first lake and then climbing.

Looking at this thread and the video brings back good memories!