Mt. Wilson South Ridge or Southwest Slopes

[cbauer10]

We are looking at climbing El Diente and Mt. Wilson from the Kilpacker trailhead and were wondering if anyone had any information about a possible down climb route down the south ridge or the southwest slopes? We were just hoping to avoid having to do the traverse back over to El Diente, or the standard route down to Navajo Basin and out. If anyone has any information about the south ridge or southwest slopes off of Wilson, it would be much appreciated.

[cbauer10]

Found a good TR from Wesley, but if people have ideas still kick them my way.

http://www.14ers.com/php14ers/triprepor ... ki=Include

[highplaces]

I did a bit of research on this for a trip to the Wilsons, but ended up heading to Wlson Peak after Mt. Wilson and out via Navajo Lake, so I never used it.

Here is the beta I found.

-From Kilpacker, I did the El Diente to Wilson traverse.To return, we descended a gully off the Wilson summit into upper Kilpacker and then talus-hopped several miles back to the Kilpacker / El Diente trail. The gully from the top of Wilson into upper Kilpacker is steep and loose ala the Lindsey standard route, but not particularly difficult, especially because you are likely to be the only party in it, which greatly reduces the rockfall danger.

-We summited Mount Wilson, and descended what we believe to be the Roach south slopes route for Mt. Wilson. The talus is loose, but the low angle in the gully mitigates the danger. This is not the steep gully that takes off below the Mt. Wilson crux. It starts at a low saddle further along the ridge back toward El Diente. The relatively easier angle from the saddle is obviously a safer descent. Any rock knocked loose does not travel far. We were the only climbers descending that route probably the entire day. We crossed several large snowfields, mostly by "skiing" on our boots, staying to skier's right (north) of the valley floor until we joined up with the cairned trail that continues up Kilpacker basin from where the El Diente ascent route begins to climb up toward the ridge.

[cbauer10]

Thanks. After talking with Carl I think your first comment there is the one to go with. That is also the gully that they descended in his TR. I agree that we would hopefully be the only ones in the gully on the descent and he said that after the steep part towards the top it becomes quite manageable.

Thank you for the beta!!!

[IHikeLikeAGirl]

Take lots of pictures please. I and many others are very interested in this option.

Good luck and may you have pleasant weather for your journey!

[cbauer10]

Take lots of pictures please. I and many others are very interested in this option.

Good luck and may you have pleasant weather for your journey!

I plan on it. I will let you know how it goes.

We are looking at a perfect forecast right now for Wednesday. We are hitting the weather window just right. I can't believe it is working out this way having planned it two weeks ago. Good luck I guess.

[ROO]

Definitely looking forward to seeing your TR after your hike on Wednesday. Three friends and I were attempting to tag all three peaks by starting from the Kilpacker TH, completing the ElD-to-Wilson traverse, descending to Navajo basin and then finishing with W. Peak. Weather prevented reaching our goal on Wilson Peak, so we ended up hiking out the Navajo trail to the crossover trail back to Kilpacker. Had we known at the outset what we know now about the north side of Mt. Wilson (very steep and loose), we would have been quite tempted to backtrack along the traverse to the point where we ascended from Kilpacker basin. It is good to know that there is yet another option. (Below is a link to the trip report about our ElD-Wilson traverse.)

http://www.14ers.com/php14ers/triprepor ... ki=Include" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Gahugafuga]

I'd be interested in seeing whether there's any snow/ice in the gully still. Would like to do the traverse this weekend via Kilpacker but I would be nervous that any lingering snow is really bulletproof ice by now. Thanks for any help!

[cbauer10]

I'd be interested in seeing whether there's any snow/ice in the gully still. Would like to do the traverse this weekend via Kilpacker but I would be nervous that any lingering snow is really bulletproof ice by now. Thanks for any help!

Nope, not a spec in the gully. It is really exposed to the south sun. There was a little on the north facing walls of the gully, but that is because it snowed up there on Monday night. It will be gone by this weekend and it was not in a place that you would travel anyways. There were a few patches the size of your foot on the north side of the traverse, but again I think they will be gone by the weekend and they were mostly avoidable.

[cbauer10]

I also wanted to mention that I don't see any reason why anyone would ever go into the Navajo Basin once the Silver Pick trailhead is open. Mount Wilson and El Diente are perfectly doable in a day from the Kilpacker trailhead and then Wilson Peak would be a good hike from Silver Pick. The route up ED from Kilpacker was extremely solid. I couldn't believe how good it was after all I had heard about that mountain. There is no reason to do it on the terribly loose rocks on the north side. That is just my opinion though. It was a pleasurable climb yesterday.

We even had a guy that had just finished the 14ers on Mount Wilson that decided to descend with us down to Kilpacker and back up to Navajo because he did not want to descend the route off of Wilson, that he had just come up, down into Navajo. The gully down to Kilpacker was very straight forward and easy. There was loose rock in the gully, but nothing too dicey. That gully would be a great snow climb in the spring for sure.

Just my 2 cents.

[Average Joe]

The gully down to Kilpacker was very straight forward and easy. There was loose rock in the gully, but nothing too dicey. That gully would be a great snow climb in the spring for sure.

Any chance you have pictures of the gully you descended / line you took down? Doing the Kilpacker to El-Diente + traverse next week. Based on what I've read / seen, the best option is to start back down the traverse a bit until you find the obvious gully that is shown in some pictures and angles SW down Mt Wilson, but it would be great to get any details on the route you took down / photos of the entrance to the gully.

Thanks!

[Ned-man]

This was taken very near the Kilpacker / Navajo Basin intersection, hope it helps.....