thin snow below Helen Lake
We started at the Mono Pass TH and headed up to Kuna Pass ("Helen Lake Pass", "Kuna Crest Saddle" ). The little snow that we had to cross on the way up to Helen Lake was solid, only a couple postholes, snow baskets or microspikes weren't needed. The top of the pass was the crux for the trip, supposedly class 2 but one of our party worked into class 3 terrain. We kept to the right of the snowfield as Secor suggests, and the easiest route seems to be staying off to the right instead of moving left above the snowfield. The easy routes ended by traversing left to exit on the right side of the pass, which is about 100m wide.
Helen Lake, with Kuna Pass in the background
climber's left side of the Kuna Pass snowfield
One of our party who climbed the center of the pass, above the snowfield, and got into class 3 moves got his leg trapped by a talus block that slid sideways. Fortunately, another of our party was already at the top, near enough to scramble down and release him.
talus near the top of Kuna Pass
We didn't make our intended campsites, due to that injury, and me and another in our party moving slowly. (The trip was a bit ambitious for my "pandemic 15" body. The other didn't know how to load her pack for scrambling; now she does.) So we camped about a mile below the pass, where there was ample water coursing through small streams.
south side of Kuna Pass
campsite below Kuna Pass
The next day we followed the route out to the JMT, in order to head out down Lyell Canyon. We decided along the way that we weren't going to be able to accomplish anything interesting along our route in the remaining time and with an injured hiker.
Lyell Canyon, from an overlook
I don't have a GPS device that incorporates maps and the slope angle shading from Caltopo, so I relied on others who had more. But their apps also didn't indicate the steep terrain, so they led us into some a couple times. One led us too far down the Kuna Creek drainage, so we hit the cliffs at 10160 as we traversed out. The other followed my route literally and took us towards cliffs at 10200 on the way down. The slope angle layer is definitely helpful.
Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 06/24/2021 06:13PM by Sierra Miguel.
