Correction to Secor
Copper Mine Pass
by Phil Martz
My brother and I backpacked from Sequoia to the Kaweah Basin
last year. We took the old Copper Mine Pass between Deadman
and Cloud Canyons. Secor identifies a pass, Copper Mine
Pass, as on the ridge north of Peak 12,345 and notes that
the crossing may be easy to difficult depending on ice.
Having observed this pass from the west (it looks
difficult), we decided to take the old Copper Mine pass
which begins at the ridge just south of the old copper mine,
follows the ridge east on a use trail to Peak 12,345, then
continues east on the ridge a short distance before dropping
into Cloud Canyon. This turns out to be an easy pass.
However, coming from the east this very same route/pass is
difficult to find. On our return from Kaweah Basin, much to
our chagrin, we could not find the trail, and spent a couple
of hours traversing steeply sloping talus.
See the
Copper Mine Pass Map.
If first crossing the pass from west to east take
careful note of where and how you will find the use trail
when you return from east to west.
I have produced a table of most of the off-trail High Sierra
Passes. The table can be accessed from
http://.sierrabackpacker.com/database.htm . Also I am
continuing to work on a waypoint file (*.tpg) for use with
TOPO! maps. This can be downloaded and opened in TOPO! for
locations of passes. Any questions or comments please send
email to me at info@sierrabackpacker.com.
The information provided in these pages is provided by
interested volunteers and has not been field checked.
R.J. Secor, The Mountaineers, the Sierra Club and climber.org
are in no way responsible for the accuracy of any route
advice on this web site.
Safe climbers must be able to understand the terrain
and topography of the area they travel in, and they
must make wise route finding choices based their own
knowledge, experience and observations.
