• via North Lake and Lamarck Col (northern routes that usually involve snow/ice climbing)
• via Lake Sabrina to the northeastern ridge (above Blue Heaven Lake) to the East Face
• via North Lake and Lamarck Col to the northeastern ridge to the East Face
• via Lake Sabrina to the Haeckel-Darwin Pass to Evolution Lake to the southwestern face (probably the easiest route, but very long as a day hike)

North Face

When you reach the top of Lamarck Col (almost 4000m) you are welcomed by the sign of the Kings Canyon national park and you have a great view of the lakes of Darwin Canyon,

not to mention Mt Mendel and Mt Darwin in front of you.

You want to head for the ridge to your left (east) so you don't lost elevation, coasting the moraine that comes down from Darwin. If you stay right on the ridge, you'll have good views of the lakes on the other side, including Lake Sabrina in the distance. Eventually you'll be forced to lose elevation and head for the glacier. When you enter the glacier, the northeast ridge is on your left, the prominent rib of the north face is on your right. In the middle is a very steep glacier. If you have crampons, you can try and climb the glacier, although it is truly scary. If not, the rib is class 3 and 4, sometimes with exposure.

My 2009 time:

• North Lake trailhead (2,800m)
• Lower Lamarck Lake: 1h
• Lamarck Col (3945m): 4h
• Notch of the eastern ridge: 5h
• Entering the glacier: 6h
• Bottom of the north rib: 7h

Coming down you have the option of using one of the many "passes" on the eastern ridge to descend to Blue Haven Lake or (easier) the lakes above Lake Sabrina. Or just return to Lamarck Col.

Western Face

From North Lake (see Evolution loop for more details from North Lake to Evolution Lake):

• Lower Lamarck Lake: 1h
• Lamarck Col (3945m): 4h
• Last Darwin Canyon lake: 5.5h
• John Muir trail at Evolution Lake (3300m): 6.5h
• Leaving the trail for the Western chute of Darwin: 7h
• Summit: 9h

Lake Sabrina is located at the end of 168, west of Bishop, about 1.5 hours driving time south of Mono Lake, i.e. 6/7 hours from the Bay Area. >From Bishop, take 168 west, aka West Line St, all the way to the end.

After coasting Lake Sabrina (2780m) for about 1.5 km, the trail climbs steeeply to Blue Lake. Logs help you cross the creek that drains Blue Lake. Take the right turn towards Dingleberry Lake. It is very easy to make a mistake here, as the trail disappears and only cairns mark the route: you should be turning 90 degrees west away from the lake if you are on the right trail. This devastatingly stupid trail goes up and down. It drops elevation to Dingleberry Lake. After this lake, one has a choice. One can go left to Hungry Packer Lake, or right to Midnight Lake (3300m). There is an easy way to gain the ridge between to two thus saving quite a bit of time. Ideally do not reach Midnight Lake, but head for the ridge to your left as soon as you can. You can easily find the chute that leads you to the top.

In 2010 i left lots of cairns along my favorite route, which is all class 1-2. At the top of that broad chute (that splits the ridge in two) climb the crest to your right and stay on the crest all the way. When you reach a pinnacle, bypass it to the left. On the other side of the pinnacle you will notice the very steep chute that descends straight to Midnight Lake. (When coming back down, head for the pinnacle.

At the pinnacle you could take the very steep chute down to Midnight Lake. Just keep in mind that there is always snow in this chute and you reach Midnight Lake's western tip, which implies a long traverse over talus rock to reach the trail. Better bypass the pinnacle and stay on the crest. Stay right in the middle of the crest and you should find my cairns. Ignore any small chute. The chute you want splits the crest in two causing a 100-meter chasm.

Drop into that chasm and it should be obvious how to descend the chute to your left. Again, look for my cairns that avoid all the snow patches and take you past Midnight Lake. If you continue straight down, you will hit the lake northeast of Midnight Lake and don't forget that the trail is on the other side of this lake).

At this point you are entering a plateau (actually up and down) with several small lakes with Mt Haeckel towering on the left.

From this point (whether you came from Midnight Lake or Hungry Packer Lake) it is just a matter of climbing one ridge after the other of the "plateau" (while proceeding west) and coasting a series of small lakes. Eventually the wall connecting Haeckel and Darwin becomes very visible. There is one last lake (3762m). Coast the lake to the right and head for the easily climbable part of the wall, near the Darwin side of the crest. At the top of this wall you have a view of the other side: Mt Spencer, the lake southwest of Mt Spencer, Sapphire Lake in the distance, and, to your right, the southern ridge of Mt Darwin.

Once on the other side of this pass, follow the ridge in front (west) of you until you reach a saddle (if you continued straight, you would climb Mt Spencer). To the right this is a chute that descends to a lake (3533m). Stay as high as possible and coast the lake to the right aiming from the ridge to the north (straight ahead basically). On the other side of that ridge is the southwestern chute to Mt Darwin that comes up from Evolution Lake.

My 2007 time:

• Lake Sabrina (2780m):
• Northern tip of Sabrina and beginning of the switchbacks: 30'
• Creek crossing and Blue Lake: 1h 30'
• Dingleberry lake and long creek crossing (3200m): 2h
• Fork to Midnight Lake and Hungry Packer lake: 2h 30'
• Hungry Packer lake (3370m): 3h
• Last lake (3762m): 5h 20'
• Haeckel-Darwin Pass (3962m): 6h
• Mt Spencer Chute: 6.5 h
• Spencer-Darwin ridge: 7.5 h
• Darwin's southwestern chute: 8h

East Face

The other way to get to this ridge is to take the Lamarck Col route from North Lake. See above.

Whichever way you came, you now need to climb the northeastern ridge until it becomes possible to move left/south towards a prominent rib. Climb to the other side of the rib and head for the next rib. Climb this one too and you should see the central chute that goes towards the summit. The main difficulty of this route is the northeastern ridge, which has a class-4 section.