WASTACH PASS

Wastach Pass is one of two passes that connect Paradise Valley with the Valley of the Ten Peaks, the second being Sentinel Pass.

Samuel Allen made the first crossing of this pass in 1894. He was accompanied by Yandell Henderson who wrote the following, "It was very steep in places, but we got up through the gulley that was almost a chimney. We had barely reached the summit and started down toward camp when a fierce rain storm broke upon us. Luckily the slope on that side was fairly easy with many nice snow patches. . .As I was going through there on the run my feet shot from under me and away I slid." (CAJ 1933)

The name was first used when it was applied to what is now Paradise Valley by Samuel Allen in 1894. Together with Walter Wilcox, Yandell Henderson, and George Warrington, Allen had reached the ridge just east of The Mitre to become the first to look down into the valley.