Tempest & Tranquility

“EXCELLENT!!”

“Way cool dude!

8)”

“As usual tekapo, that was fantastic. I tip my hat to you.”

“Can these possibly get any better?
I'm thinking no.”

“That was great.”

“Excellent again! Looks like you had more snow than I did on my trip. I did notice one thing that was missing from this snowshoe trip that you had on the Stanford Point trip...ME

”

“Was this recently tekapo? Snowpack looked a little slim.

Great pics!”

“Fantastic shots, Tekapo. I have forwarded them to a friend and colleague as motivation. He is supposed to go to Mt. Washington, NH for three days at Easter for some backcountry teleski-ing, but separated some ribs while lift ski-ing. Not being into contact sports, he is unused to that sort of pain. I am equipping him with all the gear he needs.

Could you tell me what filters you used? Cheers.”

“rosey- The trip was just a couple days ago. We were only out for a few days. I was told the snow level was considerably lower than usual.”

“gremlin- I've heard that Mt. Washington can have some ferocious winds to contend with. It seems we had some of that this last weekend. Hope your friend goes.

I use just a simple UV filter. The camera lens uses a hood though. That helps. If you really want to see some good outdoor photography, check out www.artwolfe.com. I've got a friend in Alaska that's supposed to travel with the guy this month. Coulda meet him this month on a Mt. St. Elias trip I was scheduled for. Gonna miss out because since the mrs has two in the oven. She needs me closer to home. Next time...”

“hey phil-

I tried to get to humanpackmule's bio at your web site. The file name appears to be 'humanpackmule.com' and not 'humanpackmule.htm.'

The workaround may not be obvious for others.”

“Thanks Mike- eh, okay. But your trip to Wawona looked pleasing too.

Cheers! \o/”

“Very nice pictures, and website design also! Looked like much fun.”

“Snow looked pretty packed - were snowshoes neccessary, or could y'all have gone w/o them?


Belle and I did some shoeing in the Dacks and Whites o'er the Winter holidays - how fun! It was simply too cold for us Southerners to camp there, tho, so it was motel rooms and dayhikes...

Nice setup ya have, there - thanks for the link.”

“Beautimus. My heart rate has slowed and my blood pressure is probably way down. I feel peaceful after just looking at the pictures and reading the lovely descriptions.

Almost makes me want to go winter backpacking.... almost.”

“bringing this to the top.....no one should miss this...
magnificent scenes.......beautiful descriptions....i am out of breath...
now i want to take a stab at "glissading" heh...

thanks so much....gotcha bookmarked as a "take a moment" site....lovely work sir....”

“arclite- Just a little more of a nudge, eh?”

“Yes, snowshoes were necessary especially when we broke trail. Sometimes they weren't and we would go without 'em.

Belle has snowshoes? 8)”

“om-

Glissading is most fun when you set your hair on fire and descend at the fastest speed possible. It's an adrenaline thing.”

“That does look fun.

8)”

“yikes...if i set MY hair on fire , it might burn down all the Sierra forests”

“Tekapo,
Awesome! Did you start at Aspendell? How far in did you go? Did you go past North Lake? or Loch Leven?

Looking for possible trips next month.”

“Once again, a great addition to an already outstanding site. Thanks so much, tekapo”

“Those are kind words, pekka.

Thanks Snow Nymph. Yes, we started from there. The gate was locked.

We only went a little ways past North Lake. Didn't go all the way to Loch Leven given the weather and our objectives.

Not sure about the route going in given its steep just before Loch Leven. One of the two Lamarck Lakes looks dramatic from the same area. In April, more of the snow should be melted away to make the route more manageable.

When are you thinking of going?”

“Maybe around spring break. The slopes will be packed, so I would rather avoid it.

My first backpack/snowshoe was to Loch Leven, October of '80 or '81. Altitude hit me hard so we stashed most of our stuff and headed back to the trailhead. The next day we hiked back up, picked up my pack, set up camp at Loch Leven, and dayhiked to Piute Lake. That was my intro to the wilderness.

I'll never forget the Loch Leven trip. On the way to Piute Lake we found a partial carcass of a deer. I had never seen anything like that. Loch Leven was frozen with a layer of snow. The next morning that layer was covered with animal tracks. I had no idea there was so much wildlife out there. I had never snowshoed, and we were postholing thigh deep.

Before heading home we went to San Jacinto via the tram. I blacked out (altitude) and remember seeing people looking down at me. I still kept going back to the mountains.

After seeing your photos, I think I would like to do that trip again.”

“Makes sense about the timing.

A winter backpack to get started? Dove right in huh? It's one thing to go back out and get your stuff, but another to keep going to Piute Lake. That says a lot about character.

Were you on the tram when you passed out? Musta been embarrassing. I did that once in front of a group of class mates.

BTW, I thought you live North of Jack.

Anywho- Going to bed. Not getting enough sleep.”

“Passed out on the way back up to the tram. About 1/2 way up the walkway. Heard people saying "it happens all the time". It was pretty embarrassing.....laying on my back....everything turning dark gray, then seeing peoples faces, back to gray .... faces ... gray...

I live east of LA, just south of LAX. Near the beach (Hermosa, Redondo, Manhattan)

You think you're not getting sleep now....wait for the twins! j/k!

Good night!”

“Nice, very NICE....makes me want to go out NOW..although I might bring along a sled.”

“I mean west of LA.”