Purgatory->CB->Twin Thumbs Pass->Ruby Basin->Purgatory
Route up to Twin Thumbs Pass is straightforward. There are two “low†spots of the pass on the side of two towers. I took the climbers right most one which went fine. Maybe 50 feet of Class 3 descending on the north side, all dry. I just crab walked down it, as it's steep dirt with rocks and awkward with a big pack. Route over to the Ruby Basin Pass from there is easy enough. There's a goat path from from the Ruby Pass down to the meadow at 11.6k.
I didn't find a trail up the steep grassy section, but once in the rock glacier on the way to Pigeon-Turret saddle it's well marked. Be ready for the mental hit of descending all the way to like 12.2k. On the upper reaches of Pigeon there seem to be two dueling set of cairns. I took the left most ones and had one or two Class 4 moves, so not sure if I was off route or not. Reversing back to Turret is straightforward and Class 2.
The trail down to Needleton is rough, easy to lose, but it is there. Took me nearly an equal amount of time to descend from Ruby Lake to Needleton (3 miles), as it did from Needleton to Purg (10 miles). Highly recommend HikerGuys TR.
|
