Mount Agassiz 13,899′
Sierra Nevada
Total Time: 5:30 to summit from the trailhead, part of an overnight
Distance: 6.2 miles one way
Elevation Gain: 4100′
Crux: Class 2
Trailhead: South Lake trailhead, trash, pit toilets
In the central Sierra Nevada is the Palisade group, a series of extremely rugged peaks spanning 6 miles of the Sierra Crest. Nearly half (7/15) of the California 14ers are in the Palisade group, with five of those clustered in about a mile and centered around North Palisade, the highest mountain in Kings Canyon National Park. Climbing all 5, from Thunderbolt Peak through Starlight Peak, North Palisade, Polemonium Peak to Mount Sill, can be done in a long day, and I had been dreaming about the traverse since I started peakbagging in the Sierra. In fact if I had to point to a single route as to why I got into technical rock climbing, this was it. And after nearly 10 years of scrambling in the California High Country, I felt like I was finally ready to tackle it. Just to the north of Thunderbolt Peak is Agassiz Peak. Although just under 14,000′, it’s position above Bishop Pass make it one of the easier 13ers in the Sierra with possibly the greatest view in the range, looking south across the Palisade Basin, West across Kings Canyon National Park and North across the Evolution subrange and Mount Humphrey Basin. It would make a good warm up and opportunity for acclimatization prior to the main event the following day, with plans to camp in Dusy Basin with an early pre-dawn start. After breakfast in Bishop I drove up to the South Lake Trailhead and started out. It was one of the few trailheads in the Bishop area I hadn’t been to yet, and it was absolutely gorgeous, with a series of 12-13,000′ forming the skyline across South Lake.
The trail was graded for stock and not overly steep, and I worked up the trail quickly, passing the junction for Treasure Lakes and Ruwau Lakes quickly. I took a short break at Saddlerock Lake before the steeper switchbacks leading up to the pass.
As the switchbacks started, I began to pass more and more bones scattered off the trail. I had assumed there might be one deer carcass nearby, but was shocked when I came upon the remains of an entire herd taken out by a rockslide or avalanche right off the trail. I had read about this prior to the trip but it was still startling to come upon, with reports saying over 70 deer perished in the fall.
It did feel a bit ominous as I continued past and up the switchbacks to Bishop Pass, leaving Inyo National Forest for Kings Canyon National Park. Agassiz Peak was directly over the pass to the east, and from below, it looked like an absolute scree slog.
I started cross country towards the western slopes of Agassiz, leaving my pack at an unnamed lake near the start of the slopes. There were a number of steep gullies splitting the face, all of them seeming to go from below. So kept to the right as it seemed to have the most solid rock, avoiding some of the looser scree in the wider gully on the northwest slopes. I was both surprised and pleased as to how solid the rock actually was as I climbed, very little shifting beneath me as long as I stuck to the larger talus.
I followed this gully nearly up to the southern ridgeline of Agassiz, where it became less clear if I would be able to follow the jagged ridgeline to the summit. So I traversed north across a smaller intermediate gully on some very easy class 3, crossing a rib and winding up on the scree field just below the summit.
Another 10 minutes of rock hopping put me at the highpoint, the Palisade Glacier sweeping to the southeast. I had to agree it was one of the finest views in the Sierra. To the north was the Mount Humphrey Basin, with the Evolution Group and flat top of Mount Darwin to the northwest. To the west was Mount Goddard, Leconte Canyon and Devils Crag, one of the most dangerous summits on the SPS list. The entirety of the Palisades was laid out directly south, giving me a view from Thunderbolt to Sill Peak and my entire objective for the following day.
The register did not go back very far, with almost daily entries since the beginning of summer. In fact, there were two hikers on the slopes not far below, and I started down as they neared the summit to give them a chance to have it to themselves. I stuck with the wider gully on the northwest slopes for the descent, findings small pockets of scree to plunge step by mostly fairly solid rock similar to my ascent line.
I returned to my pack, thankfully unharassed by marmots, and continued south into Dusy Basin. My goal was to camp near the inlet of the unnamed lake just above 11,400′, putting me just below Thunderbolt Pass with easy access to water for the night. Cross country travel through the basin was about as easy as I could ask for, gently contouring around Point 12,118′ to the west and slowly dropping down grassy benches and slabs to the lake shore. There were a few nice sites near the lake but all were unoccupied. I eventually settled on one tucked among some boulders near the eastern shore, some nice cracks on the back of the camp that I could hang me climbing gear on for the night.
After an early dinner and some gear organization, I went to bed early for the 3 AM start time the following day.