Cecile Lake to Iceberg Lake condition

[Zhong]

Two of us scrambled from Minaret Lake to Ediza Lake on 9/9/2023. The only difficult part is coming down from Cecile to Iceberg. We saw a bear canister (the common blue one) and a light grey poncho in a snow moat. Reported to the Reds Meadow entrance gate when we left on 9/11.

The "trail" according to the map has a very steep snow slope below the pass (north). Without ice axe, we didn't attempt it. We took to the right side (east) followed some track, going up on rocks and then over the ridgeline. So far so good. However once over the ridge, coming down is very steep. Didn't see any track. Also it hailed on us. This made me think whoever lost the bear can and poncho was probably trying to cross on the same day. We picked our way down slowly. Some rocks were slippery due to the rain/hail. Twice we had to lower down our backpacks separately. Below the steep rocks is snow. We used microspikes. Fairly steep first. Once near the shore, it was straightforward. Picked up the trail on the north side.

Just file a report so hikers are aware of the risk.

Sorry for the late photo process. Here's a photo looking back towards Cecile from the shore of Iceberg Lake. The big red dot is where we popped out of Cecile Lake. The red line is roughly where we scrambled down on rocks. We didn't bring ice-axe, so didn't want to go down on the steep snow.

[Carne_DelMuerto]

I believe a hiker perished on that stretch a few weeks ago. Disconcerting if that's gear from another hiker...