Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board Williamson via Shepherd's Pass

Four of us are going up to Mt. Williamson via Shepherd's Pass this weekend (6/21-6/24). If anyone has been up that way this month we would appreciate any recent beta on the pass and the peak.

There used to be a good supply of water from a stream crossing the trail, about a mile below Mahogany Flats, is that still running?
--GaryM

GaryM:
We were up there over Memorial Day, and the TR is here

My pics are at: www.flickr.com/photos/moosepics621 under the Williamson album on the right of the page.

Good luck, and have fun!!!

-Laura

My son and I went to Williamson via Shepards pass on Friday. The stream you mentioned is running. I thought the hike was beautiful. In and out of woods, aromatic plants, great views, etc. Many climbers complain about the long hike(because their mission is the climb), but if you are a backpacker/climber I think you will enjoy it. There is a snow crossing just before the pass, but it did not present problems. Just take it easy.
We got a late start and camped at Mahogany flats night 1. Next day went to Williamson Bowl lake #1, dropped our night gear, did Williamson, then returned to lake #1 to sleep. Day 3 did Tyndall and back to the car.
Have you done Williamson before, or would like some tips?

Hi MT and ClimbSTRONG, thanks for your updates. Based on your reports it sounds like crampons/axe aren't necessary to get over the pass.

Three of our foursome have been up Mt. Tyndall before but none of us have tried Williamson yet.

We plan to camp the 2nd night at the SE side of Williamson bowl to be near the chute for summit day. Any tips on finding or getting up the chute and chimney would be appreciated.
--GaryM

Once you cross the Bowl (we basically stayed almost right up the middle, except a short jaunt to the right about 1/2 way thru, but you basically pick your own way thru!), and are at the base of Williamson, head for the black stains, then the chute will be up and to your left. You can't really see it until you get up to the stains, but from there it's bretty obvious. Stay to the left in the chute (direction-wise, you can clamber all you want inside of there!), until you get to the top of that, and the chimney is just off to the right-hand side at the top.

I would think that the remaining snow we saw in the chute would be melted out by now. It's pretty much a scree slog.

Have fun!!
-L

I agree with everything from MT, and will add some.
I had read alot about the climb, but was surprised at my confusion/uncertainty about the directions.
First, Williamson Bowl. Number one, it is not a bowl. It is 1/2 of a funnel! You MUST cross around the right perimeter. If you try to cross across the middle, you will encounter deep ravines. The best way to describe what I think is the best route: when you come over the ridge and look into the bowl, you will see lake #1 to the right. Drop down to the left side of the lake and follow it's left perimeter to the drainage that leads to lake #2. Follow the drainage south, eventually moving from the left (east) side of the drainage to the ledges on the right (west) side. When you see lake #2, head towards the outlet until you can follow the left (northeast) side of the lake. Once you get to the east end of the lake, closest to Williamson, head for the "black water marks". Translated, this means "the waterfalls causing dark black stains on the face of the mountain". Again, there will be some ravines between the lake and the mountian. They can be avoided by looping right (my recommendation) or left. Go up the boulders and right of the water marks. Once higher than the watermarks, move left above them and up the chute left. You will see two rock "Sentinals" to each side of the correct chute. They are large rocks that look like granite spatulas on each side of the chute. When ever you come to what looks like a fork in the chute, always go left...until the very last fork - then go right. The final climbing out of the chute is a little more difficult than the rest, but there is not much exposure. Once out of the chute it is still a boulder climb to the right up to the summit. The log book cannister on Williamson is the wimpiest we encountered on our 7 14'er trip. It is a little cookie tin or something that is not appropriate for such a peak. I hope someone will carry a proper container to the top sometime this summer. An ammo cannister or something similar. Tyndall has the best we've seen. The original Sierra Club one from 1935 with the mountain name, etc. Very classy!
Regarding a camping spot, we stayed at Lake #1 because we were climbing Tyndall the next AM. It is the best place to approach both Mts. From lake #1 it was about a 6 hr. round trip. When going up the chute on any of these mts, I recommend staying off of the scree "trails" and on the rock to either side whenever possible. Ride the scree coming down. It will be the most efficient.
Have a great climb!

Based on your description, it sounds like you're suggesting a route across the bowl something like this. Assuming I understood it correctly. The first lake on your right as you descend into the bowl is WL 3713 and I'm assuming WL 3733 is the second lake. It looks like a 300' descent into the bowl and 2 miles from the top of the pass to the base.

Thanks for the detailed description, I'm sure it'll make more sense up there rather than just looking at the topo.
--GaryM

Wow!! Will you teach me how to do this write on topo thing. Just amazing!
You got the route exactly right!
Be careful not to cut too close to that little lake (second after the pass with no name or designation). If you go too close you end up going higher than you have to on the ridge between the two lakes. Your route in the bowl is perfect.

We got back from our trip last night. Our entire group of four made it to the summit of Williamson! And Dan also did Tyndall on the way up. Thanks for all the advice and information, it really helped us find the right chute. We have photos but they're not online yet.
--GaryM

Congrats to all 4 of you. My hiking partner and I crossed paths with your group several times. He got real dehydrated on our hike to Anvil the first day and his knee really started to bother him after we crossed the bowl. By the time we made it to the water marks he was in no condition to continue and I didn't feel like leaving him, or doing the chimney solo for that matter. I will be back next year though. Looking forward to seeing your pictures.

I forgot to add. The highlighted route in the topo is not the route you took out of the bowl is it? After your advice we returned through the bowl on the high ridge through the middle. There were a couple spots with a little "climbing" but for the most part it's very doable and staying on that ridge all the way to the end of the bowl and exiting up and to the right we saved almost an hour. There's even some switchbacks and a faint trail exiting the bowl on the right (west?) side.

Gary and Team,
Congratulations!!
Please tell me more about the TOPO! program you used for the route illustration. Is it an on-line service, etc. I am very interested to learn more. The detail and clarity of the topo map are incredible.

The map above was not the actual route that we ended up using although it is close. Looking at the topo map below, we went into the bowl approximately along the red route and returned somewhere along the blue route. The place we dropped down into the bowl was not fun, too steep and slow boulder hopping. But we got there and following along the lakes worked out fine (as well as can be in that twisted pile of rocks down there, ugh).

Climb out of the smog: I remember seeing you near the black stain. Sorry you didn't make it this time. We camped two nights to maximize our chances, once at Pothole and then again at the lake by the black stain. We didn't want to have to hike all the way up there again (this was my third trip up).

The program is National Geographic's Topo! program. I have the California version. You can plot your routes on it, it's very handy. They have it at REI of course. The California version is on 10 CD's but I loaded them all onto my hard drive so I don't have to insert a CD everytime. Routes that you draw on the map can be saved in small files and shared. You can download a route to a GPS and then follow the route using the GPS, or do the reverse, upload a track log from your GPS and see where you went on the topo.

They also have a map exchange site, where you can upload route files and download other routes that people have shared. Lots of great trips there!

Here are a few photos from climbing the West Face route of Mt. Williamson. Just some highlights from the trip.
--GaryM