Trip Report
Winter Scramble - Panorama Point
Gorgeous blue sky morning, good snow conditions, and great companions made our visit to Sugarloaf and McClure Rock very enjoyable!
Nancy Lloyd
- Sat, Mar 30, 2019
- Winter Scramble - Panorama Point
- Panorama Point
- Scrambling
- Successful
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- Road suitable for all vehicles
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No traction devices needed until our ascent to Pan Pt. We used crampons and kept them on until about 7,000' feet when we switched to snowshoes. We ascended Sugarloaf from the north, switched back to crampons, and traversed south along the top to drop down to McClure Rock. The traverse was a bit spicy in places but this made our trek that much more fun. It was warmer on McClure, so we had lunch there and headed down around 1:00 with thick high clouds quickly moving up from the south and building above us. Some spits of snow on the way back to Paradise, but no problems with visibility.
Lots of people going up to Muir today, including skiers and snowboarders! Not another soul seen on Sugarloaf or McClure - a nice place to get away from crowds.
Crampons were used for extra security, especially along the Sugarloaf traverse which involved some steep side-hilling and descent. Ice axes were also used. A cold breeze up there, but it warmed up considerably on the way back to Paradise. Round trip mileage recorded as 5.2 (varied a little with different Gaia readings), elevation gain 2,400'. Time out was 6.5 hours including lunch and breaks.
A very nice day in our favorite park!