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Cottonwood-Miter-Whitney Loop
#39648 08/13/14 05:05 PM
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vuori Offline OP
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I was with smart1 on the Whitney-Langley trip with the boy scouts. As I never found a comprehensive description of the route, I thought to add one here. By the way, any reasonably in shape and prepared individual can do this route. It won't be a cake walk, but we safely navigated it with 6 boy scouts and 4 adults who are mostly desk junkies.

Day 1: We started from the North campground at Horseshoe Meadows and traversed ~1.75 miles along contour through the forest until reaching the main Cottonwood Pass trail. Then over Cottonwood Pass and down to Lower Soldier Lake (make sure you know where to turn and where not to as there are a few options). Once the traverse ended, the trails were good the whole rest of the way.

Day 2: We did NOT descend South and down around to Rock creek. Instead we went around Lower Soldier Lk to the green notch at the NE corner of the valley (I'm referring to the west notch, NOT the east one coming down from Upper Soldier Lk). This notch is a bit rough and steep (don't lean back!) but there is somewhat of a trail at times and it's a short climb. Once at the lake on top we held contour for ~0.5 mile until reaching the Miter Basin use trail at 11,100'. The trail through Miter Basin is a regular use trail meaning it appears and disappears frequently. Ultimately you want to be just west (left) of the waterfall below Sky Blue Lk. Above the falls the trail around the east side of Sky Blue is easy to follow. We took a side trip up to Arc Pass - great view of Whitney! and found an intermittent use trail up that valley too. Incidentally the trail up there makes for a wonderful descent as it has long portions with firm sand and few rocks. Amazing views all around. After retrieving our packs we went up the creek NW of Sky Blue Lk. Do NOT try to go straight at the headwall. There are a few campsites up in this area, or you can stay down at Sky Blue Lake.

Day 3: We wound our way North - North East so that we ended up on the ridge east of Lake 12,266 and West of Lake 12,149. It was fairly easy going but a bit tricky route finding. Stop and look around frequently because you have to get back through this area to return to your camp! There is a good use trail up the South side of Crabtree Pass on the West side against the cliffs. Proceed down the North side of Crabtree Pass (the use trail is steep but decent) and around the North side of Upper Crabtree Lake (good use trail).

Near the outlet of Upper Crabtree proceed due west (not south west) up the ramp. Find the use trail at the base of the short cliffs on your left. Follow this West North-West until the trail swings back and directs you North-East. Here is the critical part: Follow the trail to elevation 12,850' and leave the trail continuing East holding contour. After about 0.2 miles you'll pass through a vertical cliff band and find a good sandy ledge to follow for another 0.3 miles. Then turn uphill (left) and work up toward the east shoulder of Discovery Pinnacle. Doing the route this way avoids the deep sand and boulder crawling. This path is NOT nearly as bad as everyone makes it out to be.

Subsequently the descent to the Whitney trail from the upper shoulder of Discovery Pinnacle is the most difficult and dangerous of the entire trip. Proceed with caution. After the summit, just retrace your steps.

Day 4: Retrace your steps back to the small lake at the top of the green notch above Lower Soldier Lk. From the 3 old dead pine trees simply traverse around the nose of the Major General. This is a short and easy (relatively) traverse but there is no trail at all. We did not descend to Upper Soldier Lake but held just below treeline to the springs at the East end of the Valley - still no trail through this section. A really good use trail exits the basin and proceeds up to the shoulder of Langley. Near the top the trail disappears and you just continue uphill due east until ~12,500' when you'll intersect the trail coming down from Langley. The views from the top of Langley are, in my opinion, superior to Whitney and worth the hike up there. Please follow the very large cairns that have been built to keep people from making hundreds of sheep trails up the mountain!!! The cairn trail is generally easy to follow and in decent shape (although rocky and sandy at times). We descended down through Old Army Pass. If it is a big snow year, read up on this pass. Even without snow it will cause you to pucker a bit. With snow it would be stupid to attempt. In places the trail is not in very good shape although we saw it get quite a bit of traffic. It is however, easy to follow.

Day 5: From the Cottonwood Lakes the trail is in great shape and is heavily traveled all the way back to your car at Horseshoe Meadows (~6 miles). Having set the cars up the way I described will mean that as soon as you get off the trail you're at your car. You could park down at the South campground, but it would add approx 0.5 miles to the end of your walk.

Note: There is no water between Chicken Spring Lake and Rock Creek, no water from Upper Crabtree Lake to Whitney Summit and back, and no water between Upper Soldier Lake and Cottonwood Lakes. Plan accordingly for these areas.

Re: Cottonwood-Miter-Whitney Loop
vuori #39654 08/13/14 11:32 PM
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Smart1's report is here.

That is quite an ambitious trip! Had anyone in your group been through the Miter Basin before?

And thanks for posting a description.

Re: Cottonwood-Miter-Whitney Loop
Steve C #39662 08/14/14 08:09 AM
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Wow! Something we planned in 1992 when we did not get Cottonwood pass - Whitney permits but did not do, as the Crab tree Ranger at that time (Dario) gave us permission to go down on the east side of Whitney.

Very interesting options here! Is it possible for you to draw it on a map so that I can follow your full route?

Thanks!

Re: Cottonwood-Miter-Whitney Loop
Krishna #39666 08/14/14 09:38 AM
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vuori Offline OP
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I was unable to figure out how to upload a photo to this thread, so no, sorry, I can't show you a map. However if you have an aerial photo, or Google Earth, follow along with the description I posted previously and you'll likely be able to figure it out.
Also, no, none of us had ever been in the Miter Basin before. I had climbed Whitney once previously. A winter ascent of the Mountaineer's Route - it was awful! Totally different route though.

Re: Cottonwood-Miter-Whitney Loop
vuori #39668 08/14/14 10:29 AM
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> I was unable to figure out how to upload a photo to this thread

Well, you can upload pics.  It takes a few steps to upload and then include in a thread, but after you do it once, it isn't so difficult:
      Uploading Pictures to the Picture Gallery



Edit: Vuori's pictures are now here: http://www.whitneyzone.com/wz/ubbthreads.php/galleries/39671/Cottonwood_Miter_Whitney_Loop

Last edited by Steve C; 08/14/14 02:50 PM.
Re: Cottonwood-Miter-Whitney Loop
Steve C #39672 08/14/14 11:46 AM
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vuori Offline OP
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Thanks for the link - photos and explanations have now been added


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