Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board Shepherds Pass Trail Conditions

Sounds like you're doing just fine! How are your feet/knees doing with all that weight? Say hello to Pyramid for me (and you may as well consider the traverse over to Agassiz and Price while you're up there, mostly Cl1-2 across the ridge, lovely walk, really).



And as for your first night, I'd strongly recommend continuing up to Anvil instead of trying to camp at Mahogany. MUCH easier access to water and better camping in the pines vs. manzanita. It's a dry push between the two, but you won't regret it.

-L

thanks for that additional information, definitely i will consider going to anvil instead of mahagony. I failed to mention we are doing a little warm up backpack trip up in Desolation, we are going from wrights lake over rockbound pass and over to lake aloha and out to echo lake. Still quite a bit of snow over there, but melting fast. There are some interesting possibilities , (jacks peak, dicks peak, etc)....should be fun. We are hitting desolation on may 19/20

regarding how my feet, knees, legs are doing....knees are fine, i'm feeling it in my calves only a little, but mainly in my upper legs, i will keep on continuing my consistent training and of course it will get easier....right?

Now, why would you want it to get easier???

More like train harder so on game day, it IS easy!

I've done Shepherd at least once a year for the past 12 years. My biased opinions:

The trail up to the pass is in great shape until Anvil Camp, increasingly rocky to the pass, then mostly slippery scree up and over the pass. A lot depends on the snowpack which covers both ends of the switchbacks in heavy snow years. Didn't see stock last year, but did so in previous years - so it ain't that bad if you go slow. Coming down is always hard on the knees. Treking poles highly recommended.

There are continuous switchbacks from the base over the pass. Sometimes they're covered.

No water after the 4th stream crossing until the stream below Mahogany Flat. I've never seen it dry.

At Mahogany Flat the easiest stream access is via a short trail off the prominent campsite to the left of the trail below the second (?) group of trees.

Water was never a problem at Anvil Camp.

Acclamation is - especially for us old farts who started from the trailhead and pushed hard. Second day lethergy and noticible lack of energy.

It's usually very windy and cold at the lakes above the pass.

First exposure to the open expanse down to Tyndal Creek and the Great Western Divide makes you forget how tiring the climb was.

I went up the Taboose Pass Trail this week, and the creek crossings were easy - I didn't even have to take my boots off. I can't imagine you'll have any problems on the Shepherd Pass Trail this year. The bulk of the snow that's up there is on the west side of the crest; so there's not a lot of snow to melt off and fill the creeks on the east side of the crest.

Here you go (05.19.12):


Good boot buckets on the first portion of the crossing.
Still soft after 5:00pm.



But two additional really steep sections still.
I climbed down the gully at the edge of first section.



Shepherd Pass from down canyon a ways.

Thanks Richard! Great Pictures.

I did a warm up climb of Mt Shasta this weekend. This would be my fourth trip to Shasta. My first one was up Casaval Ridge on a one day trip. I had to come down from 12,800 ft via Avalanche Gulche because my stomach was a disaster. The second trip I made it to the summit via Avalanche Gulche after spending a night at Helen Lake. The third trip was a one day attempt up Avalanche Gulche and we only made it to Helen Lake. I kept falling asleep every time I sat down.

We camped at about 6,000 feet Friday night after a 7 hour drive from the Bay Area. We got up at 8am on Saturday, went into town and got our summit passes and breakfast. We were on the trail by 11. I was walking and my buddy was on skis with climbing skins. We made it to at Helen Lake at 10,400 feet around 3pm.

On my previous successful summit of Shasta we left Helen Lake at 3:30am, reach the summit at 7:30 and were back at the car at about Noon. The only downside was it was so icy on the decent we couldn't glissade at all. This time I decided to get up at 5am and leave by 6.

We left camp at about 6am. You could see everyone else who had camped at Helen Lake above us. We were some of the last to ascend.

I made reached the summit at 11am and my buddy made it 2 hours later. We split up because I can climb faster and he could descend much faster on skis. Also, he wanted to wait for the snow to soften for better skiing.

The conditions were great for climbing, the snow was firm and it wasn't too cold. I used crampons all the way up and down until the top of the red banks where I glissaded 2400 feet all the way down to Helen Lake and camp. Above the Red Banks to the top of Misery Hill was very windy. The summit was calm but clouded over, the view was very limited. The mountain was crowded with skiers but everyone seemed to be having a good time.

I got back to the car around 3pm after packing up camp.

I had zero AMS symptoms and felt really good the whole time. Today I have no muscle soreness except my shoulders from using my ice ax.

Richard, you are the go to man for info and pictures.

Thanks

paul

Hi Richard -- beautiful photos! Thanks for taking the time to post them. Question about the "The tarn at Shepherd Pass"? Acceptable place to camp? Looks like good water!

Thanks,
-John

There is a lot of flat, sandy terrain above the pass. I think there may even be some rock shelters close to that tarn.

Last year we camped down in the Bowl, which made the start of the climb up Willy close. (We had come from Barnard and Trojan.) In '04, we camped at another tarn on the way towards the Bowl.

There are plenty of water sources up there.

Thanks for the great information and great pics. i am going in a little over a month, how much of that snow near the pass might be there..? I also wanted to know, just how far is it between mahogany and anvil? I wont be getting a very early start(driving down from n calif). i hope to get on the trail by mid morning, depending on how early i can pick up my permit.

I don't know what the distance is without looking at a map...

I think most of the snowfields up top will be gone in a month. If not, the traffic up the trail will pick up (probably this weeknd) and there should be a boot track across all of it.

It can be done without gear now, it just involves a hellish scree chute beyond the first snowfield. (A guess would be about 250'.)

Call the Ranger station in the morning and see if they'll leave it for you in the overnight box. That way you can just pick it up anytime. I'm hoping the ranger station in lone pine will do this. I've done it in other places in the Sierra.

On a warm day, it'll be really hot on the lower part of the Shepherd Pass trail; so keep that in mind.

If you're not entering the National Park they will leave the permit in the night box. If you are entering the National Park, it's unrealistic for the Forest Service to expect you to wait for them to open in the morning to pick up your permit; so make sure you tell them you're not going into the National Park.

I made it to the top of Williamson on Sunday. I brought trail running shoes for the bulk of the hiking and carried my mountaineering boots and crampons just in case. I believe I could have gotten away with micro spikes, but have never used them and didn't want a somewhat steep snow field to be my first time. I used the boots and crampons to cross the snow field in the morning because the boot tracks were mostly gone and in the evening because it was dark and the track was very icy. In hind site micro spikes probably would have worked fine.

As for the rest of the route there's very little snow. There's some in the bowl and a tiny bit that is easily avoided high up in the chute below the chimney.

As for water - Saturday morning was cool and breezy at the trail head. I started off with 72 oz of water and didn't need to refill until I got to camp above the Pot Hole at 11,200 feet. I also started out well hydrated and chugged a large Gatorade before leaving the car.

I've heard a bit of complaining about the abundance of switchbacks on the approach. Some of them can be a bit frustrating. I'm convinced there are some that are a 1/4 mile long and have an elevation difference from end to end of less than 10 feet (at least that's how it felt). On the bright side I cruised back down to the car at a rapid pace and have very little soreness to show for it. The gentle grade, while being long, is nice on the joints. Just don't forget that 500 ft climb back to the saddle.

Congrats!! Sounds like you had a great time. We are heading out on the 26th.

PS I liked your camp site near Mt Keith!

I really appreciate all of the great pics and updates on this trail. I am going from shepherd pass to the summit and on to the portal. I will head up shepherd pass TH june 27, and expect to hit the portal on july 1, can i verify what the conditions are on shepherd pass trailhead>>>to shepherd pass? It seems to look like the trail is mostly clear of snow and ice, until you hit the pass, correct?

Anybody know the current snow conditions of Shephard pass? Ice axe and/or crampons needed/recommended?

Thanks!

Just hiked from the Shepherd pass trailhead through Anvil camp and over the Shepherd pass to Mt Williamson.

Only snow is a small portion located at the very top of Shepherd pass. Easy to cross (~ 3min), especially after the sunlight has softened it. No ice axe or crampons needed.

Cheers,