In 1996, Peter Croft completed an awesome eight-mile traverse along the crest of the peaks surrounding the Evolution Lakes basin, defining the classic Evolution Traverse. Some ten miles to the south, the jagged Palisades span from Bishop Pass in the north to Taboose Pass in the south and feature seven peaks above 14,000’ as well as a number of classic linkups and traverses. 

After flying around on Google Earth one night, I realized how well-defined and rugged the Sierra Crest was between these two well-traveled ridgelines and thought it’d be a super-cool adventure to try and connect them. 

In 2016, I tried to solo the route but got stormed off two days in. Austin Siadak and Andy Wyatt tried it a couple of years later, but were too late in the season, and after encountering early-winter conditions, they completed the full Evolution Traverse instead of bearing south at the Clyde Spires. 

In the summer of 2020, looking for a cool adventure close to home, I decided another attempt was in order.  

At midday on July 7, Andy Wyatt, Bernd Zeugswetter, and I hiked over Lamarck Col and to the beginning of the Evolution Traverse. By evening we reached a bivy on top of Gould. On July 8, we climbed the first half of the Evolution Traverse and bivied at the col between Wallace and the Clyde Spires. 

The middle section of the traverse—between the Evolutions and the Palisades—includes seven prominent peaks and many smaller summits along nine miles of the Sierra crest. 

On July 9 we left the Evolution Traverse, climbed over the Clyde Spires and continued south, climbing the various sub-peaks of Powell and Thompson, and reached a bivy on the summit of Gilbert.

The next day we climbed over Johnson, Goode, and several smaller peaks and ended the day at Bishop Pass, where we had cached some food, fuel and whiskey. Bernd hiked out that evening. On July 11, Andy and I continued into the Palisades, climbing over Agassiz, Winchell and on to the Thunderbolt-to-Sill Traverse. We ended the day with a bivy below the east face of Sill, and the next day we hiked out to Glacier Lodge.  

The options and variations for ridge traverses in this area of the High Sierra are seemingly endless, with myriad natural start and stop points. It’s worth noting that this traverse could extend through the entirety of the Full Palisades Traverse or even farther south along the Sierra crest. This particular climb links up a high concentration of the Sierra’s most classic technical traversing, adding a long, magnificent, and seldom-climbed section of the crest between the Evolution and Palisades traverses. 

— Dylan Johnson