Pros and Cons of doing Wilson to El Diente traverse vs. Standard El Diente to Wilson

[Jorts]

Are you planning to descend ED via the North Butt? Double back? Descend south?

I thought this traverse went pretty easy with limited exposure. I found myself on somewhat exposed steeper slabs at the uppermost reaches of the North Butt and would imagine the initial downclimbing of that route would require smart routefinding.

-Brent

[Vacas Valley]

Are you planning to descend ED via the North Butt? Double back? Descend south?

I thought this traverse went pretty easy with limited exposure. I found myself on somewhat exposed steeper slabs at the uppermost reaches of the North Butt and would imagine the initial downclimbing of that route would require smart routefinding.

-Brent

Plan was to ascend Wilson North slopes Traverse over to ED and descend ED standard route. But that has since changed as the consensus is “I would not want to down climb the crux on Wilson”. New plan, Ascend North buttress on ED, and then traverse to Wilson.

[yaktoleft13]

Are you planning to descend ED via the North Butt? Double back? Descend south?

I thought this traverse went pretty easy with limited exposure. I found myself on somewhat exposed steeper slabs at the uppermost reaches of the North Butt and would imagine the initial downclimbing of that route would require smart routefinding.

-Brent

Plan was to ascend Wilson North slopes Traverse over to ED and descend ED standard route. But that has since changed as the consensus is “I would not want to down climb the crux on Wilson”. New plan, Ascend North buttress on ED, and then traverse to Wilson.

You have to downclimb the crux on mt Wilson no matter what if you do the traverse from Navajo. The thing you'd want to avoid is downclimbing the north slope couloir on eld. That's why it's better to ascend the buttress and then descend Wilson's n slopes

[Wentzl]

Wait, what?

The crux on Mt. Wilson is an up and down affair unless you down climb from the Wilson/El D saddle and use what has become the new standard from the Kilpatrick side. The decision on how to finish Mt. Wilson is really not related to which way you attack the traverse between the two peaks.

Am I missing something?

[Flyingfish]

Wait, what?

The crux on Mt. Wilson is an up and down affair unless you down climb from the Wilson/El D saddle and use what has become the new standard from the Kilpatrick side. The decision on how to finish Mt. Wilson is really not related to which way you attack the traverse between the two peaks.

Am I missing something?

If you descend/ climb from the south in Kilpacker you can keep the whole climb of Mt. Wilson 2+ since that route descends directly south from the summit vs. the class 4 crux is on the west ridge/ north slope. So if climbing from the south and starting at El D you can climb up the class 4 on Mt. Wilson and descend via 2+ into kilpacker.

[CaptainSuburbia]

Wait, what?

The crux on Mt. Wilson is an up and down affair unless you down climb from the Wilson/El D saddle and use what has become the new standard from the Kilpatrick side. The decision on how to finish Mt. Wilson is really not related to which way you attack the traverse between the two peaks.

Am I missing something?

[Monte Meals]

I did the traverse from Wilson to El Diente and don't remember it as particularly difficult
(we stayed on the ridge crest almost the entire way.)

Maybe because the only part I do remember was the lightning storm that blew up half way across
the traverse and the SNAP SNAP SNAP discharge from my ice axe on my back pack to my head.

Not really a problem though. The pee in my shorts dried quickly.

[Jorts]

Plan was to ascend Wilson North slopes Traverse over to ED and descend ED standard route. But that has since changed as the consensus is “I would not want to down climb the crux on Wilson”. New plan, Ascend North buttress on ED, and then traverse to Wilson.

I'm with Wentzl. From what I recall you traverse out to Mt Wilson irrespective of which direction you traverse. It's def. 4th class and exposed but to my knowledge there has never been an accident there. Seemed headier than any portion of the traverse to my recollection.