Take It Or Leavitt Traverse

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May 30-31, 2015
Just south of Sonora Pass is a large horseshoe-shaped ridge which wraps around the enormous Kennedy Creek drainage. Aside from the tallest point on this ridge (Leavitt Peak), which can easily be approached via the PCT starting from Sonora Pass, the various remaining peaks, points, and pinnacles along the remainder of the ridge are seldom visited. One of them has in fact never been climbed until May 30, 2015. As with all aesthetic-looking ridges, I plotted a traverse of this one, originally designing it as a 3-day climb, but with improving snow conditions and only two days available to us, we decided to convert it to a 2-day climb. With almost 17,000 ft gain in just over 30 miles on almost all cross country terrain, this traverse is a topographic monster, likely to be one of the most difficult Northern Sierra ridge traverses in existence. At the time of writing, the Take It Or Leavitt Traverse remains the most strenuous 2-day ridge traverse I have completed.

Mason and I planned to go for the Take It Or Leavitt Traverse as a last training climb for our upcoming attempt on the notorious J-Trav the following month (which we ended up failing, but plan on re-attempting in 2016). We planned to start Take It Or Leavitt from the overnight trailhead just across the road (east) of Deadman Campground in Kennedy Meadow. From there, we would take a trail a few miles south to the start of Sharon Peak's northwest ridge, where the traverse began. After completing the large U of the traverse, we would hop back on the same trail and follow it back to Kennedy Meadow. Simple enough.

The biggest concern for the successfulness of the traverse was Molo Pinnacle: an imposing 120 ft volcanic gendarme located 0.5 mi southwest of Molo Mountain. According to all sources, it had never been successfully climbed. Bob Burd had failed to climb it on his solo attempt in 2011, recalling "It must surely be class 4-5 by the route I had first tried, but would not be scaled by me solo. I'm not sure that having a partner and rope would make me feel any more secure on the crumbling rock." A summitpost article had also mentioned that "the unstable volcanic rock makes for very dangerous climbing conditions. It will not hold protection." Despite the warnings, we still had to climb Molo Pinnacle in order to complete the traverse as it lay smack on the main traverse ridge, and that's how we found ourselves at the start of day 1 with 37 lb+ packs laden with climbing gear and 60m/9.5mm rope for a traverse that was already barely thought possible in 2 days under the late spring conditions with light backpacks.

The table below includes every peak (traversing counterclockwise) on the Take It Or Leavitt Traverse. For unnamed peaks, I have dubbed names for them which are derived from the names of nearby lakes, passes, or terrain features. These dubbed names are in quotes. Peaks without quotes are either officially named by the USGS or were found named by previous parties who had written them in summit registers.

Order	Peak	Elevation	Topographic Prominence	Summit Coordinates (lat/lon)
1	"Mt. Sharon"	10,530 ft	430 ft	38.267398, -119.706173
2	"Sharon's Foot"	10,502 ft	80 ft	38.264737, -119.704156
3	"Bloody Pinnacle"	10,409 ft	80 ft	38.262395, -119.702611
4	"Midpoint Peak"	10,354 ft	170 ft	38.257778, -119.702311
5	"The Not Yet Relieved"	10,275 ft	130 ft	38.249353, -119.693792
6	Relief Peak	10,808 ft	508 ft	38.237439, -119.697118
7	"Saucer Pinnacle"	10,619 ft	160 ft	38.232399, -119.672656
8	Molo Pinnacle	10,817 ft	240 ft	38.231033, -119.665661
9	Molo Mountain	10,875 ft	1,215 ft	38.234506, -119.656992
10	Kennedy Peak	10,718 ft	418 ft	38.245765, -119.654632
11	"Soda Peak"	10,612 ft	512 ft	38.22446, -119.636521
12	Big Sam	10,825 ft	325 ft	38.228950, -119.624960
13	"First Chain Peak"	10,833 ft	1,086 ft	38.233191, -119.614978
14	"Second Chain Peak"	10,827 ft	165 ft	38.232854, -119.610107
15	"Third Chain Peak"	10,713 ft	130 ft	38.23427, -119.605601
16	"Fourth Chain Peak"	10,423 ft	120 ft	38.238753, -119.605365
17	"Ski Peak"	10,850 ft	350 ft	38.263894, -119.607275
18	"Up And Over Peak"	10,786 ft	135 ft	38.261367, -119.612875
19	"Koenig Southeast"	10,836 ft	250 ft	38.267921, -119.626136
20	"Koenig Peak"	10,940 ft	420 ft	38.273548, -119.632487
21	"Shoulder Peak"	10,870 ft	270 ft	38.27845, -119.637444
22	Leavitt Peak	11,569 ft	2,069 ft	38.286182, -119.651249
23	Leavitt West	11,470 ft	80 ft	38.287781, -119.657636
24	"Starvation Pinnacle"	11,212 ft	140 ft	38.29125, -119.663236
25	"Sleek Pinnacle"	11,219 ft	100 ft	38.296303, -119.672227
26	"Sleek Peak"	11,220 ft	300 ft	38.297296, -119.674523
27	"The Wart"	11,151 ft	115 ft	38.297363, -119.677227
28	"West Cap"	10,591 ft	95 ft	38.30649, -119.694672
29	"Night Cap Rock"	9,868 ft	160 ft	38.301152, -119.707997

Trip report (click on day 1 to begin)

Day 1: Kennedy Trailhead to Molo Saddle

Day 2: Molo Saddle to Kennedy Trailhead

Total Stats
33.7 miles    16,870 ft gain/loss

Map (Since Blogger does not let me upload this file at full size, email me at eric.jsc@gmail.com for a full sized version of this map)

Weather Forecasts

Trailhead & approach
All traverse peaks
Leavitt Peak (specific)

Peakbagger Pages
Mt. Sharon
Sharon's Foot
Bloody Pinnacle
Midpoint Peak
The Not Yet Relieved
Relief Peak
Saucer Pinnacle
Molo Pinnacle
Molo Mountain
Kennedy Peak
Soda Mountain
Big Sam
First Chain Peak
Second Chain Peak
Third Chain Peak
Fourth Chain Peak
Ski Peak
Up And Over Peak
Koenig Southeast
Koenig Peak
Shoulder Peak
Leavitt Peak
Leavitt West
Starvation Pinnacle
Sleek Pinnacle
Sleek Peak
The Wart
West Cap
Night Cap Rock

Summitpost Pages
Relief Peak
Molo Mountain
Kennedy Peak
Big Sam
Leavitt Peak

Other
The Backcountry message board
High Sierra Topix message board
Emigrant Wilderness