Follow the
Kilpacker Approach to reach 12,600' and junction for El Diente Peak's south slopes route -
1. The rocky Kilpacker "trail" pretty much ends here and this junction
is no more than a couple of cairns so don't expect anything super obvious.
For Mt. Wilson's southwest slopes route, look for small cairns and continue east along the north side of the basin -
2. Near the end of the basin, angle northeast into a drainage which leads to Mt. Wilson -
3. Continue up the drainage (
4) to 13,200', where you get a better look at the remaining route -
5. Hike to a large talus pile and a turn left before continuing up to 13,700' -
6. The remaining route is straight ahead but avoid ugly terrain by climbing left onto some rocks, just below the El Diente-Mt. Wilson connecting ridge -
7.
Taken from the El Diente-Mt. Wilson traverse,
8 shows the remaining route. In short, you want to ascend partway up a gully, cross over a rock rib and ascend another gully to a notch and then up to the summit. After ascending the rocks in
7, turn right to see the remaining route -
9. Now near 13,800', traverse under the cliffs on some loose rock and enter the gully -
10. Ascend it for a short distance and locate the rib crossover location seen in
11. Turn right, make a few Class 3 moves to gain the rib (
12 and
13) and step over to see the southern gully. Drop a few feet into this gully and begin climbing along its side -
14 and
15. Before you get too much higher, be sure to make a mental note of the crossover if you plan to descend via this route -
16 and
17. Climb the gully to reach a notch in Mt. Wilson's south ridge and turn left to climb the final, 150-foot pitch -
18,
19,
20 and
21. This is the crux of the route but it's easy to keep the difficult at Class 3.
22 shows the beautiful view of Wilson Peak and Gladstone Peak (13,913').
GPX Track
