This morning we left Marion Lake and climbed through the fabled Lake Basin on our way to Frozen Lake Pass. It was amazing to imagine the largest ever Sierra Club Outing making there way to and through Lake Basin. What an in credible event that must have been.

The climb up to Frozen Lake Pass, one of the hardest passes on the High Route, was tough. It’s a huge jumble of talus blocks many of which are car sized. The whole thing is pitched at a 30+ degree angle leaving you to scramble through the massive unstable pile. Dishearteningly, this side, the North, is said to be the easier side. The whole way up we kept imagining Helen Marion LeConte and her husband making the first crossing of this formidable pass on their way to the first assent of Split Mountain in 1908. She was truly a woman before her time!

As we reached the top of the pass the weather was taking a turn for the worse. Thunder banged just as we found the old historic pass register buried beneath a pile of rocks. We of had time to read a few of the entries before rain and electricity drove us off the pass.

The opposite side is STEEP and very loose. Fortunately there was a decent use trail down the steepest part. Soon we reached the frozen Lake which was not frozen and thought the worst we behind us. Unfortunately just below the lie is the moraine of the ancient Glacier that carved this cirque that proved to be the hardest part of the descent. It was huge steep talus that made going very slow.

Soon we spilled out onto massive grassy Upper Basin and our first encounter with the Kit while on the high route.

What an amazing, awesome awe inspiring crossing!