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Cloudripper (13,525'), and this time we MADE IT!!!

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“

Wed/Thurs:
No plans for the weekend, but I would get a permit for whatever was available. Got e-mail from Naviguesser to backpack, made suggestions for the east side. Then Asandygal emailed about wanting to get out for her birthday weekend . . . what better way to spend it? Between the two, Navi liked the short and sweet backpack to Green Lake, and Asandygal was up for Cloudripper! Now we had a plan! Btw, they didn�t know each other and this would be their first meeting.

Friday:
Calhiker wanted to hike so I told him about Cloudripper. He and his brother Steve have done a lot of peaks in the area, but not this one yet. So now we had a group, but I could only get 5 reservable permits for that trail and we had 6 people. Calhiker said they would get permits Saturday morning, so I told him we�d wait. It would be nice to sleep a little longer. I left Torrance at 9:30pm, after searching for the perfect cake to carry up. I got to the South Lake trailhead at 2:20am, then packed the cake in the Bearikade so Asandygal wouldn�t see it. It was about 3am by the time I got to sleep.

Saturday:
Up at 7am, with knocking and Navi�s happy smiling face at the window. He was ready to go, and wanted to go at his own pace, so he gave me a 2-way radio and left. I enjoyed that last hour of sleep.

Asandygal and Skier slept in their truck too. We got up around the same time and started getting our stuff together. Calhiker and Steve showed up at 8:20 am. This was our first time meeting.

Last October after climbing Mt Abbot I got a email from Calhiker, who had been hiking in the area too. He always sends nice emails replying to my trips, and even made panoramas of some of the photos that had �part XX of XX� . Calhiker and his brother Steve have a pretty impressive webshots account so I�ve been checking it out too. This is where Windwalker found the pics for the Sierrapalooza trip description.

Five of us were on the trail by 9:45am. We hiked up the siphon tube about a mile to the trail intersection and up some steep switchbacks before the trail flattened out before Brown Lake (10,700�). We passed a meadow, then hiked on a lateral moraine before arriving at Green Lake (11,054�) at 11:15am. Naviguesser arrived about 10 minutes before us and was scoping out the campsites. Everyone introduced themselves, then we set up camp and relaxed. Around 1:30pm I brought out the birthday cake! Asandygal was surprised! The mini cake was small, but really good! Shortly after we started feeling sprinkles on and off.

Steve wandered around the area with his camera and tripod looking for photo ops. Around 5pm, Skier and Asandygal hiked up to a meadow behind camp. Calhiker and I followed, but stopped at the meadow because it was squishy and we didn�t want to get the boots wet. We stood in the meadow and talked, while the other two hiked over the large boulders and up a chute and disappeared. It started sprinkling so we headed back to camp. It started pouring and the hikers weren�t back yet, so I hiked back to the meadow. I was a little worried because they didn�t have raingear, but then saw them with plastic bags on as they approached the meadow and disappeared around a boulder. They took a different way back and from above, I saw they were back at camp, so I walked around the campsites and knocked down the (illegal at 11,200�) firepits, took pictures of trees and flowers (none of them came out), and built a trench around my tent, which drained into a wading pool. At one point, I couldn�t resist and snuck over to Asandygal and Skier�s tent, scratching and pawing and stomping around their tent. I heard Asandygal in a panicky whisper �Mark, there�s something out there! Did you hear that! Listen!�. I lost it and started laughing. I had to let them know it was me.

The rain stopped and we all ate dinner and hung out. Skier and Asandygal were wet, so they stayed in their tent the rest of the night. Steve had his camera and tripod set up, looking at the crescent moon. You could see the craters with the lens he had. He put my camera on the tripod and I got a good digital shot of the moon too. The original shows the craters, but I couldn�t zoom in enough on webshots. Steve gave me a few tips that helped with some of my pictures. The night sky was clear.

Sunday morning we were up and on the trail by 7:45am, not a cloud in the sky! It was a steep � mile to Grunion Plateau, another � mile to where we turned up a gully to a ridge, down 70�, up to the 13,300� false summit, where we could see Cloudripper (13,525�). We dropped 300� , crossed another plateau and climbed 500� climb to the summit ridge. Skier led the way up the class 3 summit block, followed by Asandygal. Steve went a different way and I followed with Calhiker trying to decide if he could climb up with only 9 fingers. (bike accident a month ago tore fingertip/nail off, and had it sewn back on). Near the summit, I had a good handgrip with my left hand (bad shoulder), a long stretch with the right hand, and when I pulled up I lost the right grip and hung on with the left side and strained/pulled something in the left hip and left shoulder. It took a few minutes for the pain to go away, and a few more minutes before I could lift my arm again. We enjoyed 360 deg views, I counted 28 lakes, but heard others going in the 30s. We got our group shot, signed the registers, had a quick lunch, and headed back. It took about 2 hrs to get back to camp, packed up, got to the trailhead by 4:30. We cleaned up a little, and by 5pm we were on our way for pizza in Bishop.

Another fun weekend in the Sierra!!!!”

Snow Nymph
1:45:25 AM
8/06/03

Sorry about that!

“Click on ANY part of the story to get the link.

Calhiker's pics are at:
http://community.webshots.com/album/84355697EPfHyC”

Snow Nymph
1:47:37 AM
8/06/03

“Very nice!! Thanks for the report and photos. Wonderful.

Hmmm...maybe one day.”

tekdude
1:57:54 AM
8/06/03

“Awesome pics and trip report. Some of those sunset pics are the best ever!

Thanks.”

Phil
2:37:06 AM
8/06/03

“ Calhiker's pics

Asandygal's pics ”

Snow Nymph
2:57:25 AM
8/06/03

“Great trip report Snow Nymph..I love the birthday cake in the bearikade part.
Beautiful pictures guys...Happy Birthday Asandygal!! :~ )”

trekkngirl
5:34:56 AM
8/06/03

“Where is the spot that you started this trip? How far into camp? How far from camp to the summit?

Did anyone do a map o the route they can post?

Sorry about all the questions, but I'm trying to compile information for futre reference.”

wingding1
8:14:10 AM
8/06/03

“Another great trip report and photos (even though they weren't yours!). Does this mean that if I hear pawing, scratching, snorting, etc. outside my tent in Yoho that it's NOT a grizzly, and it's OK to come out???”

Martyb
11:50:27 AM
8/06/03

“Great report Snownymph. While you were looking south at the Palasades and Mount Sil, I was looking north from Split Mountain at the same mountains. If I had known you were out there I would have waved to you. We got hit by the same rain storm on Sat. afternoon too. Luckily we had a megamid with us so everone piled in and we were able to wait out the rain together.”

reptiles
12:26:24 PM
8/06/03

“I really screwed that link up. The whole trip report is the link to my pictures. Or go to
Snow Nymph's pics of Cloudripper trip

Martyb, I only did it because I knew them well. In the past, my friends thought I was up late making noise, and twice now it was a bear!

Reptiles, we were waving that way. Or at least we were pointing/identifying Split. Calhiker and Steve had done that one too. Sunday was a great day to hike, wasn't it?

WingDing,
I don't have the route on the GPS, I just marked a few waypoints and printed a map. I only turned the GPS on to point to the direction I wanted to go or to get the elevation. SnowDude would have to put the map on webshots. Probably won't get to it til after we get back from Canada.”

Snow Nymph
2:26:59 PM
8/06/03

“Snow Nymph you have the life I wish I could backpack in all the places that you do.

Great pictures and report!

8)”

Crazy Mike Backpacks
6:00:37 PM
8/06/03

“I'm sad!! Well, maybe one day! I wish I could just pack my #&%!$ and go!

Snownymph, great pics and report. :)”

Gemini
7:11:14 PM
8/06/03

“Very nice.”

KyleReese
7:13:14 PM
8/06/03

“great pics and report Snow Nymph! I keep waiting for the mtns. to grow like that her in Indiana. Oh well, I'll be out west to join in some of the fun next year . . . probably the JMT.”

gforce
10:17:05 PM
8/06/03

“Great trip report and pictures Snow Nymph. How did you ever get that cake to stay in such could condition?”

must hike
10:32:30 PM
8/06/03

This is really cool!!!

“Check out the last picture on Calhiker's webshots album!

musthike, I put ice cubes in my camelback and laid it on top of the cake, inside the canister. I had to make sure I didn't lay the pack sideways, and it stayed in pretty good shape.

If you guys come out to CA, be sure to let me know!”

Snow Nymph
2:19:18 PM
8/07/03

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