East Pinnacles Creek to Merriam Lake

[ExploreABitMore]

Hello!

I was just wondering if there was a reasonable crossing between these two? I don't mind some climbing/exposure, just Google Earth makes some of the slopes look awfully loose and treacherous. By reasonable, I mean something not terribly unpleasant in regards to that.

Thanks

[alpinemike]

I don't know of any particular crossing between East Pinnacles Creek to Merriam Lake exactly. What I have done is gone over La Salle Col which is in the valley above Merriam Lake and then crossed over Gemini Lake Pass to get to East Pinnacles Creek. La Salle Col is further North than what you'd like so I suggest going over Merriam Pass, which is listed as Class 3 or Ruskie Pass which is listed as Class 2. Either of these option will drop you out much closer to Merriam Lake. To get to either of these from East Pinnacles Creek you'll have to take Stough Pass or Gemini Lake Pass. Both are reasonable. Gemini Lake has a little Class 3 just to navigate around the lake below the Pass on the South side. I hear Gemini Lake is preferable on the North Side compared to Stough.

Capture.PNG

[maverick]

I was just wondering if there was a reasonable crossing between these two?

Nope.
You will have to string together a couple of passes, Stough and Merriam Pass will be the most direct, both are moderate class 2's and depending on the time of the year you do Merriam, its northern side will hold snow and ice, so prepare accordingly.

[ExploreABitMore]

Thanks guys, sounds like the easiest way is probably over the N side of the peak between Stough Pass and Merriam Pass (Class 3+), which the Sierra Challenge group used on their way to Gemini.

The other "pass" I was looking at on Google Earth can be seen on the topo above. Goes up from Aweetasal (sp?) Lake to the saddle south of Peak 12,441. Looks really messy.

The West Pinnacles Creek area will likely get my priority, as I would really like to visit that magical looking area. But, I'll be coming from Vee Lake and if I get lazy after 7Gables/Gemini, maybe I will just traverse over to Merriam Lake and visit there instead. Probably can't go wrong whatever I do

Anyways, really appreciate the feedback, thanks again!

[maverick]

My bad, for some reason I thought you wanted to cross "The Pinnacles" ridge-line. The route from Merriam Lake to Aweetasal Lake looks doable.
Found this TR were the author climbed up from Merriam and used the ridge-line to access Gemini and Seven Gables and tagged both:

Finally reaching Merriam Lake, with its splendid beach, at the northwest corner of the bench, I again left the official High Route. Consulting my map the night before, I noticed that Gemini and Seven Gables — “west side peaks” — were only a bit out of the way, and I have long wanted to tag the latter. I headed up some slabs to the ridge between Merriam Lake and the “Indian Word Named Lakes” (and “Lake Awee-ma-wep,” where the lion sleeps while away from the mighty jungle). Mostly because it would involve clockwise climbing, I headed south of the last pinnacle on the ridge, then made a descending class 2-3 traverse to the edge of the Seven Gable Lakes basin. I got lucky here — the other side of the pinnacle is impassable.

Noting a nice slab route down to the Seven Gable Lakes from the col between Gemini and Seven Gables, I made my way up the class 2-3 ridge northeast of Gemini to gain the connecting north-south ridge. I dropped my pack to tag Gemini, carried it down to the descent col, and dropped it again to tag Seven Gables.

https://drdirtbag.wordpress.com/2013/09 ... en-gables/

[tomba]

A view of that ridge from near the east end of the small lake near Gemini Lake Pass. The saddle (middle of the photo) on the ridge is east of Aweetasal Lake (bottom-right).

aweetasal-merriam-ridge-from-pass.jpg

A view of that ridge from south of Negit Lake (bottom). The lowest point is Stough Pass. Click on photos to enlarge, then zoom in.

aweetasal-merriam-ridge-from-lakes.jpg

[SSSdave]

I only needed to look at the 7.5m topo for a second to see why it is obvious no one does what you are wondering about. The vertical topo lines are simply too close together at several key locations. A little topo vertical analysis shows anything but going down into the canyon and then climbing out would be way more vertical climbing up and with lots of steeps, tedious especially for backpackers carrying loads. A fine route for those who don't care about unnecessary extra uphill effort for the climbing fun of it. Heck one might throw a few rocks in a pack for even more fun.(:

The pass saddle south of 12441 looks by topo line closeness alone minimally class 3. There are enough close lines that the chance for some higher class cliffs is significant. In any case one could eyeball it from either side and then gamble the other side might also go. But then may have to back out. Another way to look at this is if it was less than class 3, one could be certain it would already be listed as a route because Merriam Lake has been popular for decades and any basin like East Pinnacles with several offtrail lakes is like intense magnet to fishermen like giantbrookie. But it ain't.

http://mapper.acme.com/?ll=37.29289,-118.79670&z=15&t=T

Big Moccasin Lake is at 11100
Gemini Lake Pass 12050 +950
Seven Gables Lakes 11200 -850
La Salle Col 12050 +850
Merriam Lake 10950 -1100
--------------------------
total -1950 +1800

Big Moccasin Lake is at 11100
Traverse east of East Pinnacles Creek to 9600 in French Canyon, -1500 feet.
Take trail up to Merriam Lake at 10932. +1350 feet
-----------------------------------------

David

[BrianF]

These might help, views from the Merriam side