Glosses over the difficult- and sometimes dangerous- north face of Crabtree Pass. Easier going up than down. Steep, slippery scree- snow makes it even more dicey, and snow can hang on till mid-August or later. And coming backup Crabtree Pass after the long climb up the sand hill and Whitney trail is exhausting, leading to shaky legs. Finally, a slip into Upper Crabtree Lake would not be fun, especially under a heavy pack, and if it's surrounded by snow. Deep water, no shallows. By no means a walk in the park.
Very interesting thanks! I wonder if you really need a Whitney Zone permit for this. When summiting from Guitar Lake you don’t need one if you’re going back out that way too. I don’t know where exactly you pop onto the main trail from Discovery Pinnacle, but I wonder if it’s possible to never touch the main trail east of the “Whitney Zone Begins Now” sign when looking eastward from trail crest? Or if the rangers would let it slide even if it pops onto the main trail within a few hundred feet of that sign.
Glosses over the difficult- and sometimes dangerous- north face of Crabtree Pass. Easier going up than down. Steep, slippery scree- snow makes it even more dicey, and snow can hang on till mid-August or later. And coming backup Crabtree Pass after the long climb up the sand hill and Whitney trail is exhausting, leading to shaky legs. Finally, a slip into Upper Crabtree Lake would not be fun, especially under a heavy pack, and if it's surrounded by snow. Deep water, no shallows. By no means a walk in the park.
Glosses over? Seems he’s honing in on Sandhill. He mentioned the numerous other routes.
Excellent video.
Thank you for showing this. Didn't know about this route.
Very interesting thanks! I wonder if you really need a Whitney Zone permit for this. When summiting from Guitar Lake you don’t need one if you’re going back out that way too. I don’t know where exactly you pop onto the main trail from Discovery Pinnacle, but I wonder if it’s possible to never touch the main trail east of the “Whitney Zone Begins Now” sign when looking eastward from trail crest? Or if the rangers would let it slide even if it pops onto the main trail within a few hundred feet of that sign.
You could stay out same as guitar lake. It's cross country. You can hit the trail wherever you plan to
Good video. I wanted to go up Mt Whitney that way when I lived out there years ago, but never got around to it. 😞