Four days in the Minarets in winter
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Andy D, Chris S, Adan L and myself spent 4 days in the Ansel Adams Wilderness this past weekend, exploring the Minarets corridor. We visited 1000 Island Lake, Garnet Lake and Ediza Lake and didn't see a soul until we ran into some day hikers 1/2 mile from the trailhead on the way out. The severe drought means that many places which are ordinarily very difficult to get to in winter are pretty reasonable goals for short trips.
For those looking for current conditions, we did not encounter any snow below 8500'. Agnew Pass at 9800 ft was bone dry on its south-facing side. The snow that does exist out there is well consolidated and we did not need to put our snowshoes on before about noon, instead walking over miles and miles of Sierra cement. After about 3PM you'll be suffering through patchy, softening snow that requires snowshoes (or a tolerance to post-holing) but has incomplete coverage.
Map and elevation profile
Silver Lake Trailhead
Agnew Lake
Turns out a shovel handle works well for self-belay. Bad runout into rocks not pictured.
Mount Lyell, Mount Maclure, Donohue Pass.
We had some okay campsites.
Hopefully Andy or Adan will chime in with some photos that include Chris.
Thousand Island Lake was completely frozen.
Ediza Lake. In my opinion the nicest lake in the Minarets.
Contemplating the fast way down the tramway from Agnew…
Thanks to Andy, Adan and Chris for a great trip. I'm looking forward to the next one. (Maybe on skis next time.)
This was such a blast! Thanks for letting me tag along with you guys!! I must have looked like quite a sight showing up at the trailhead with a ragged old rucksack and wearing slacks and losing all my clothes on the first day.
Dude! I'm still laughing at some of the ridiculous stuff that happened and some of the excellent shortcuts we took! Count me in on any future shortcuts fellas!
Many thanks to Andrew, Chris and Adan for making it a fun trip. It was good to catch up with Andrew and Chris and Adan was a great addition to the group this year. Some highlights were Andrew's creative short cuts, Chris's shelter setup supervision and Adan swimming in 1,000 Island Lake. . .
Adan side-hilling:
Chris, Andrew & Adan crossing (mostly) frozen Lake Ediza:
Ediza was in the process of melting out:
Taking a break at the 1,000 Island Lake bridge:
The crew:
Sunrise:
Garnet Lake Bridge:
Adan standing on frozen Ruby Lake:
Somewhere along Shadow Creek:
Chris at the top of another 'short cut':
Andrew and Adan near the bottom:
We couldn't see the snow covered switchbacks on the way to Agnew Pass, so we ended up taking the route straight up this steep snow chute the first day in. It was about 400+ feet of what felt like almost vertical climb at the top:
Nothing like a hot meal after a long hard day:
Good time and great company! Seems like we got a little bit of each season all in one trip. Can't wait for the next one!
A few more pics….
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