"In front of us, to the west, the faintest thread of a trail led upwards, across the face of a tremendous scree, to a high col. It was no more than a white line, picked out in snow across the broken rock of this dangerous slope." This is how Raymond M. Patterson describes the scene as he approached what he named Pass in the Clouds in his book "The Buffalo Head." He was travelling with his friends George Pocaterra and Paul Amos looking for a way from the Cadorna Creek valley to the White River valley. They werent able to reach the pass on this trip.

Patterson returned to the area but not until 1943 as part of an amazing 240 mile solo trip with two horses. He approached the pass from the west, leaving his horses for two days and hiking over Sylvan Pass into the White River. The following day he travelled through the Pass in the Clounds and descended into Abruzzi Creek. He returned to his horses by the same route.

Patterson's description of Walter Wilcox's visit to the Pass in the Clouds may be read in "The Buffalo Head" beginning on page 118.