Now you've totally scared me off of Split Mountain. Glad you came out of this okay.

But I am wondering now about the approach from the West (via the JMT). Looks like after you drop over Mather Pass (heading south), you work your way to Lake 11598, and then to the saddle between Mt. Prater and Split (the same saddle to which the OP was heading from the East).

Stephen Porcella's book, Climbing California's Fourteeners, classifies it as class 2, and the topo seems to support that classification.

Thoughts, anyone? Experiences?