Harrison vs. Pants Pass

[Ska-T]

What do you think of Thunder Pass going south to north? ¿No problema?

(Not to divert the thread because I plan on doing Harrison and Pants or Pyra-Queen this year.)

[cgundersen]

Ska-T,
Yes, not to push this thread off course, but my preference is to be going up something that's a bit dicey. Just as Harrison has given folks a bit of a scare going down, I can imagine that Thunder Pass (yes, I checked the convention, and it's Thunder Pass) would be a bit more challenging S to N, versus N to S. My recollection is that it's the last ~100 ft to the ridge that is pretty darn steep and will require care. However, since we just went for the most direct route on our way up, it would not hurt to patrol around a bit to see if there are easier ways down.
cg

[sekihiker]

I remember N-S Harrison as being much easier than W_E Pants. Little Joe has been interesting the three times I've been down it and the once I've gone up. I have never had the courage to tackle Lucy's but have only looked at it from the top several times. Thunder Pass was exhausting N-S but not technically difficult. Milly's has a technically difficult upper hundred feet on its west side because it is steep and slick due to the faulting of the rock in the pass. It is a challenge W-E and could be an intimidating slide down E_W for some hikers. I lowered my pack down with a cord over the Milly's E-W slide. Otherwise, Milly's is the easiest of the bunch in my experience; just easy cross country from either side with the short nasty part at the top on the west side. If your group is carrying a climbing rope, an E-W rapel of Milly's would be a piece of cake.