Black and Tan Wall Pass (South)

South Black and Tan Wall Pass

A photo at the top of the South Black and Tan Wall Pass before I commenced my descent.



A view down the top section of the South Black and Tan Wall Pass. Very similar to the North Pass, but perhaps a bit steeper.



A view up the top section of the South Pass, showing the typical grass slope with boulders.



Lower down the awesome views of the spires were again visible, and I came to a chockstone, which from above looked like a very significant obstacle, and I wonderd if my descent of the South Pass had ended. In the photo below, taken from the top of the chockstone in the pass, the lower slopes of the South Pass can be seen, and this gave me confidence that if I down climbed the chockstone, I would be able to complete the descent, as no other obstacles were visible. In the morning I had also been able to see up the lower section of the South Pass, the bit obscured where the pass turns to the left in the photo below, and I had not seen any obstacles then.



I had no climbing gear with me, but did have a nylon rope, which I used to lower my pack down the obstacle, which was about 4 m high. I took care to secure the top of the rope on some small stones in case I couldn’t get down the obstacle, and would need to pull my pack back up (although I was backing myself to get down. I then down climbed the chockstone, directly above my pack, and after hanging on my handholds for a few seconds I was able to feel a foothold and complete getting down the obstacle.



A view back to the chockstone from below. I had down climbed the crack between the two boulders, but from below it looked like it would have also been possible to down climb the right (true left) of the higher boulder, although from above this did not look possible.



A view down the South Pass, with typical boulder bed terrain.



A view back up the South Pass, as for the North Pass there was flowing water below about 2800 m.