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[Andy Duncan]

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[Andy Duncan]

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[Andy Duncan]

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[Andy Duncan]

This year the mountain gods provided a tremendous opportunity. . . a three week window during the prime summer season to explore the High Sierra. Through a series of unplanned circumstances my usual one week trip morphed into a three week epic adventure.

I stitched together portions of the Sierra High Route, South Sierra High Route, Kings Canyon High Basin Route along with some of my favorite cross country alternatives to create a cross country traverse of the High Sierra.

In the end I climbed 25 High Sierra Passes over 257 miles in 22 days. I started preparing for the trip in January and followed Alan Dixon’s training program up to the start in July. Some of the climbs and long days were more challenging than I anticipated and the fields of wild flowers at the beginning almost derailed the whole trip. Although I planned on climbing 31 passes over 295 miles I had to skip the sections from the Lyell Fork to Mammoth and Ionian Basin due to allergies. Fortunately I was able to re-energize during a zero day and get back into the wilderness to finish the route.

For the whole story including route details, map, photos and gear list check out:

XST 2016 ~ Cross Country Sierra Traverse

An overview of the route:

Sunset after a storm on Mt. Ansel Adams near camp in the Lyell Fork:

Alpenglow from camp on Lower Mills Creek Lake:

Storms passing during a climb up Puppet Pass:

Humphrey’s Basin:

Mysterious emerald pools:

Old school Hexamid below Feather Pass:

A final sunset on Wales Lake:

Dreaming of a cheeseburger from Russell-Carillon Col, the final pass:

[Andy Duncan]

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