Day 22. Three Passes to a Camp ON the Pass. July 12, 2016.
6am to 6pm. Cascade Lake to Horse Creek Pass. 9.8 miles.
4161 ft up and 3850 ft down. Wired calculated this from the difference between the low points and passes. All the ups and downs in between aren’t counted. It was quite the day.
Another amazing view from my tent this morning.
Sky Pilot Col was first. We used our microspikes up and down this one.
Follow the icy, snowy way up.
View south from Sky Pilot Col
View north from Sky Pilot Col
Blue Sky Pilot flower on Sky Pilot Col
Avoiding talus
Stanton Pass was next. The way down has class 2 and 3 sections. Rockin did a superb job of choosing a path up and down that felt safe and very doable. She instructed us on hand holds, foot placement and body position. Many of the boulders on the way down were loose and that was a bit unnerving but we got thru it.
Virginia Peak is the red cone on one side of Statton Pass.
Starting down Statton Pas
Looking back up at Statton Pass. It looks so tame from here. It wasn't.
And then it was on to Horse Creek Pass. We were hoping for camping around the tarn just short of the pass. But there was snow everywhere. The only option was a grassy area right ON the pass. It was perfect except that it got very cold as soon as the sun slipped behind the mountains. And that was about 5 minutes after we got there.
The pass is just below Matterhorn Peak. I climbed this in 1986 with some dear friends.
nancyhikes 
I was wondering if it got extra cold as you were up directly on the pass. Hope you were warm.
So many times it was cold at the end of the day. But I was always warm or hot throughout the nights.