Mt Whitney Zone Forums Trip Reports Trailmaster and Cirque Peaks (12/5/2020)

Awesome surprise day out in early December. My last time up high was in August so it was a struggle on what would normally be an easy day. Parked outside the locked gate on Horseshoe Meadow Road at around 9,900' and walked to the Cottonwood Pass trail. Left the trail and headed up to Trailmaster Peak where last summit entry was from early August. Traversed toward Cirque Peak where the last summit entry was also from early August. Retraced a little and headed east down the class 2 section just south of Cirque Peak and made my way back.

It was really weird being in the Sierra in December with virtually no snow and all the water sources frozen solid. Didn't see any wildlife or human life.

Looking down on Horseshoe Meadow


Chicken Spring Lake (frozen over)


Trailmaster summit register


Langley (virtually snow free)


Cirque Peak (from midway on traverse from trailmaster)


Whitney, Russell and Langley (among others)


Looking up at Cirque (came down from the saddle)


Snack time


I think this rock came down recently (maybe from the earthquake)


Frozen stream


Driving back down to 395