Shoshoni-West Side

[gonefishing05]

I am heading to CO in August to climb Lone Eagle - North Face and was thinking we would attempt the Kasparov Traverse (from Shoshoni to Apache, climbing the chessmen) if ambition, time and weather permit. Since we will be camping at crater lake, we will need to approach Shoshoni from the west.

My question is, has anyone ever done a route up the west side? Has anyone taken a close enough look to see if there is a fairly quick ascent route that would still allow us to make the traverse and hike back to camp? we would be willing to make a bivvy if needed.

Also, we are attempting to avoid glacier/snow travel so we dont need to carry axes/spikes. If we really need to, we are competent in that environment and will bring the gear.

Thanks.

[Dave B]

Starting from Pawnee Pass is likely to be your best bet. I'm not familiar with any routes on the west side of Shoshoni - but that certainly doesn't mean they don't exist. Google earth makes it look like there is a possible scramble up on the west ridge of Shosh. Could go or could be terrible.

Returning to a Crater Lake campsite after the Kasparov will require a descent of Fair Glacier or a reverse of the Mohling Traverse route down to Lone Eagle and then descending Solo Flight. Fair glacier is likely easier in early season until it turns to ice (late August-ish) - crampons and axe will be an obvious requirement for that.

Cool trip, I think I watched this come together on MP. Good luck, awesome area!

[Monster5]

Echoing above, fastest route to Shoshoni would be to backtrack from Mirror to the Pawnee Pass Junction and hike up that. Pretty good trail. Some of the coulies up that Shoshoni and Apache face have been done, but wouldn't be good in August.

There is a prominent gully I think would go that time of year (center left), but it would be neither fast or fun.


Best descent would be via Fair Glacier (axe and pons). Prob won't have time to descend Mohling unless you bypass all of the Kasparov towers. There aren't really any good descent options without snow gear, unless you drop east of Apache and hike all the way back to Pawnee Pass or traverse on 2/3 terrain almost all the way to Achonee. Actually, you could out and back Kasparov from Shoshoni, bypassing all of the towers on the way back.

Fair Glacier in background.


Consider the Mohling Traverse or Achonee too.

[gonefishing05]

Hopefully the file I uploaded works, as I wasnt able to paste a picture I made of what I am thinking of a route.

There appears to be some rock formations that lead to the west ridge of Shoshoni. Im thinking I can maybe find a line, then traverse the ridge to shoshoni, then do the kasparov traverse and descend solo flight like you mentioned. no clue if any of this will even work. If any of you guys have seen the rock formations ive circled, let me know if you think they have some climbing potential. Thanks!

Jake

[pbakwin]

Well now you are talking about the Mohling Traverse, so you'd want to be sure you know what that entails. Descending Fair Glacier would be way faster & easier.

[gonefishing05]

hey guys thanks for the info. I like the idea of just reversing the traverse, we might go with that. We will have to see if there is a good ascent/descent in that area I circled. Who knows maybe a FA? Thanks again.