Mt Whitney Zone Forums General Discussion Crabtree pass NOBO vs SOBO

Outstanding, Hobbes. Thanks! I'll tag Langley IF I feel strong enough. How far up I carry my full pack is part of the equation. I certainly don't mind descending scree like that. (Note to self: take lightweight scree gaiters.) ...now ascending is another story -- you should see the west side of Pants Pass.

If I am really onto it, in my mind the optimum route to put me farthest ahead would be descending to Rock Creek (and on to Sky Blue) via the slope north of Major General.

...or I could drop down to upper Soldier, but that ridge is only slightly lower than the Major General plateau.

not what I would call a big plateau. Picture from the Sky Blue side near to Crabtree pass looking SOBO. (That is not Sky Blue lake . It is lower.) I may be wrong and this is not be all the way up to the pass.


or
perhaps camp right on the "trail" literally at the top of the pass.This view looking NOBO to Crabtree lakes drainage


or at the feet of some guy resting at top of Crabtree Pass

Here's the back-end of Langley taken from the outlet of Sky Blue:





The Major General is to the far right in the second photo. The "standard" route coming down west from Langley is to drop down to upper Soldier and contour around the Major by ascending this boulder wash:



Yes, ascending, because you can't really make it around at the level of upper Soldier due to huge boulders & trees. So you end up descending a bit down the drainage (still very bouldery) to catch this gap between upper & lower Soldier lakes.

(This gap is the standard x-country route for entering Miter basin for those coming from either NAP or Cottonwood pass via PCT & lower Soldier. You can also follow the trail down to Rock creek from lower Soldier, then follow up into Miter, but it's too much loss IMO. I've done the gap twice and the trail once.)

It's maybe a couple of hundred feet loss/gain, so no real big deal. But, as you mentioned, you sort of end up coming down to the same level to walk through Miter basin regardless of the route you take. Since you get to the same general spot, the no-risk way is to simply do what everyone else does. If you decide to come down north of the Major, I'm not sure you save much (if any) time, but you might end up with some surprises that could waste time/energy.

As for Crabtree pass, the plateau is around 100+ yards from the top next to the 3 tarns. You can also camp in the 10-15' wide sand wash right before the pass. It's sandwiched between two shelves on either side that provide a nice protected spot. You can't see the detail on the topo map, but it's clear on the sat photo:

Crabtree pass camping spots

thanks

that second picture looks to be from lower down than the first picture taken from the outlet of Sky Blue,

the three tarns near the pass on Google Earth are between 12,322-12,401 ft and would be higher up than either of those two pictures.

I do not have one of my own that looks down and shows the tarns.