Day 2 – 6/30/17
10.4 miles
High Lake to unnamed lake north of Crab Tree Pass

Ohh, so this is the High Route we’ve gotten ourselves into! 

It was a very warm night, well above freezing. Combined with my terrible sleep due to altitude adjustment, getting going this morning was pretty easy. First up, New Army Pass. Although there’s a switchbacked trail over the top, a top bit of it was covered in snow. Steep snow. Good thing we brought real crampons and ice axes. I don’t think I’d have had the nerve to do it in microspikes. 

 

After the pass, we followed nice trail down, losing lots of elevation. Eventually we turned off the trail and followed The Rock Creek up to Sky Blue Lake, which was largely still frozen, up towards Crab Tree Pass. Much of this was walking over sun cupped snow fields, making it rather slow going. Just over 12,000′, Dan really started to feel the altitude…and the heat! It’s been sooo warm, even at these high elevations, and the sun just beats. Rockin’ prescribed and dispensed peppermint and tea tree oil, and after a short rest we were all feeling well enough to continue. 

Looking down the pass to the frozen lake below, we realized our camping options would be very limited. We did manage to find enough ground for one tent and a cozy double cowboy with a fantastic view. 

 

Examining the maps for tomorrow and then comparing to the terrain, we realized the route out of this basin as shown (just by sparse dots, not a continuous line) is quite simply batshit crazy. We have no descriptive beta, and I just can’t imagine connecting the dots that are laid out on the map. So, we’ve come up with another route that looks much more doable. Hopefully it goes!