Sierra Rendezvous 2005

“52 days, if Navi counted right yesterday. And the snow has got to be melting big time with this heat wave.”

“Day 1 is Friday, July 15th, because we're on the trail Saturday. Wooohooo”

“Nice photos WD0. I'm glad we have a scouting party checking out our trip turf. Can't wait to hear of your early July trip up to Shepherds.”

“Woo Hoo! Rat Packer and I have organized our cool road trip and I just made my Dow Villa reservations for the 23rd. It's too bad we won't be able to hike with you all, but at least we can meet up for some fun. (We'll be coming from Vegas that morning! LOL! Yup, somehow our tour of national parks in Cal have turned into a night in Vegas!....Well we are driving through Death Valley.)
For the curious: We are coming down from Seattle with a stop in Crater Lake, then Yosemite and Sequoia, Vegas via Death Valley, party with you guys, then home.”

“Did you tell the Dow Villa folks you were there for the Wheezers and Geezers Reunion?”

“so I get to meet pixie...wooohooo”

“I hear the Shepherd Pass Trail is already clear to near Anvil Camp (about 9,200 feet), so it's melting fast.”

“Pixie, your trip sounds like fun.

Wingding, thanks for the updates. It is a relief, especially since we'll be on the HST the first week in July.”

“I did mention "Weezers and Geezers" and the gal on the phone didn't seem to know what I was talking about.
Oh they'll know us when we tear up their hotel. LOL! (kidding)”

“wingding - any mention of avalanche damage to the Shepherd's pass trail?”

“That hotel woman must not have wanted to give you the 50 percent discount on the room rate we got? What's up with that? :)”

“I hear the damage isn't too bad to get through. It might add an extra hour to the hike picking your way through it. I'll find out first-hand the first weekend in July.”

“Wingding do you know what the site is that has the Sierra snowpack info?

We have a trip the second week in July and I'd like to have at least some idea of what the condition for Black Rock Pass is going to be (I know they probably don't monitor that pass, but maybe there's something in the area that I can keep an eye on to give me an idea about it?)
last edited: 5/26/05 8:16:05 AM”

“Thought you all might like to see this..it is an update of the snow depth survey...I posted it on another thread earlier. It is as of today and they give you the snow in inches. Bison you may find the area where you are going to be or close to it on this chart and see what the snow depth is there.

Phil & Wingding...you may have seen these pictures already...The link is on the Whitney Portal store message board under Williamson/Tyndall...poster Bullet added a link to his trip there..and he does have a picture of the avalanche debris on part of the Shepherds Pass trail

here is the link to the snow depth..I hope I get it on here okay
http://cdec.water.ca.gov/cgi-progs/reports/DLYSNOWDP.html”

“Navi...did you see that Farewell Gap In Mineral King (9,500') has seven feet of snow!”

“Yeah, that must've been it, solitary.”

“7 feet of snow. But in the last 4 days it dropped 9.6"!
Charlotte Lk. looks like it's the closest to where we're going to be, at 10,400' and 4.4' of snow. Dropped 10.9" in the last 4 days.
At this rate I don't think snow is going to be a problem.

Ps. thanks Madein.”

“sigh..pixie ignores my comment about getting to met her :(”

“I got some links from Mel and others and created a page we can use to watch the snow melt.

If the snowmelt continues like it has the last week or so, we could be OK. If not.....

Snow Pack and Weather Links

Mel had posted a thread about the Shepherds Pass avalanche on the Whitney Portal Message Board...am watching that also.”

“Thanks, Madein. Could you tell us which thread has Bullet's photo link?”

“50 more days.”

“The melt off is very encouraging right now. It looks like snowpack is melting at a rate of over 2 inches per day most places. At that rate most of the trail will be clear except for the highest passes and some east/north facing stuff.

Not sure if this rate will continue, but we'll take it for now.”

“Good news for sure Phil. We're even having a bit of a heat wave up here right now. Temps pushing 90 and nothing but sun this week :-)”

“Hodge, did you hike the West Coast Trail this year?”

“I copied this from the Whitney Portal message board. This is the part of the trail I will be watching very closely! Phil
-----------------------------------------------

posted by dxtreme

I am happy to report that we sucessfully climbed and summited mt Whitney last weekend without any incident. We camped the night at trail camp on 20th, summited on 21 and stayed at trail camp and decended down the mountain on 22.

I would like to extend my graditute and thanks to many on this board that helped, answered and tolerated me all this time before the climb. I hope my little trip report can contribute to others that wish to climb Whitney this specially *snowy* season.

1)Bear Cannister is a MUST. Save some money and rent it from the park office. The sporting good store DO NOT HAVE THE SMALLER LIGHTER cannister.

2) THERE ARE STILL A LOT OF SNOW EVERYWHERE ! You NEED Ice Ax and Crampon above Trail Camp and trekking poles and Crampon/Snowshoes everywhere else. Unless you travel at night or early in the morning, YOU WILL BE POST-HOLING as early as 8:00 am ! This will tired one out in very little time especially on the ascent and can sprain an ankle on the descent.

*We had our own Ice Ax and Crampon but didint rent the snowshoes ($11 per pair/day) from the sporting good store. Looking back, I will highly recommend snowshoes.

3) Route Finding: This was our first time up Mount Whitney, armed with only an online route report from the internet and a brochure from the park office. I had my GPS and Compass, but all the maps that the park office are not to appropriate UTM scale. The Lone Pine Sporting Good Store ran out of the good ol' 7 minute map 1:24,000 UTM scale of the area.

* You will be following the main chute up the mountain to trail camp along the stream. Keep the other big guy (mtn Thor) to your right during the ascent. Let the Park ranger show you the route on their miniature scale of the mountain at the Park office. The trail is not that difficult to follow and the margin of error is quite big.

4) It is still Winter up There. We posthole/sunk into anywhere between 4" to 28" of snow all throughout the trip. May 20, the wind was up 30 mph at between Mirror Lake - Trail Camp. We were fighting the wind, occasional blowing snow and post-holing on the way to Trail camp.

* Know how to prep tent site on snow, set up your tent in cold windy condition and how to properly anchor, stake (deadman) and guy out your tent in snow and strong wind (30mph May 20). On May 21, 22 wind speed is pleasant at 10 mph.

5) Trail Camp --> Summit, knowledge of Ice Ax and Crampon WALKING Usage & Techniques are REQUIRED. Leave the trekking poles and just bring the Ice Ax and crampon.

Trail camp --> Trail Crest ; torturous extremly steep 2.3 mile climb ! (I think, i rather have the 99 switchbacks over this guy) You might also need to later, do controllable glissade on the left side of this section.

Trail Crest --> JMT Junction , this trail following the back of Mount Muir and the needles are the most exposed and most dangerous during the climb. There are A LOT OF SNOW covering the trail hiding loose rocks and sometimes ledges. In the afternoon where the snow became all slushy and with post-holing, if one is not careful, one could fall directly down to the rocky snowfield below (crabtree meadow).

Tip: We used the ice ax in both stake and horizontal positions in couple of tricky places, knowing even self-arrest might not be able to help to hold you fast enough. Self Belay and ALWAYS maintain 3 point of contact at all times ! Make sure you have solid footing before transferring your weights.

If needed, A 30 ft rope and boot belay from the stronger climber might provide additional safety to the weary. rock anchor, Ice screw, deadman anchor or ice fluke WILL NOT work well (especially when the temp is only going to get warmer).

There shouldnt be a problem after you crossed this exposed and rocky section.

Again, pay extra attention on the way back from JMT Junction --> Trail Crest as the snow will definitely be more slushy and be very soft.

Get as earlir start as possible for the summit attempt. The firmer the snow, the safer and easier the trails will be.

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Add'l Notes

* All toilets are still Closed
* Marmots are at full patrol at Trail Camp, Neighbour reported food stolen
* Portal Store were not open yet as of May 22
* Road to portal is snow free
* Careful crossing streams, as snow melts the water can be quite powerful and swift.
* It is advisable that you start early on summit day. This will be less work and more gentle to the body.
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SO, SHOULD YOU CLIMB WHITNEY THIS SNOWY SEASON ??

Yes ONLY if you KNOW proper ICE AX and CRAMPON techniques. It is not hard at all and most of them are common sense once you put some thoughts on it.

For starter, read: http://www.petzl.fr/ProduitsServices/notice_alpinAxes.pdf

By The Way, this was our first Winter Mountaineering Trip. However we do have a lot of background and knowledge from technical rock climbing, Summer Mountaineering and backbacking. We also read a lot of snow and winter mountaineering specific topics from few books before the trip.

Overall, We enjoyed the trip very much and once again thank you for all that helped. IT IS DO-ABLE. I will post pictures and maybe even videos from the trip if needed.

Feel free to email me if you need any questions at all. dxmetal@yahoo.com

Thank You for all that made our summit dream a reality.

May 27, 2005, 05:27 PM: Message edited by: dxtreme”

“Hey Rockman - We just did the WCT a couple of weeks ago. Navi, JVZ & LadyHiker came up to join me. Not quite the summer-like weather we're having right now, but it could have been a lot worse.

The report & photos are ready to go
www.hodgeman.ca
I figure there will be a thread on TT before long
;-)”

“Wow Hodgeman, I really enjoyed the photos. Wish I could of been there. Looking forward to packing with ya.
Hey, What kind of tent did you carry? Never seen that one.
Navi, How was that trip in Tevas? I want a full report. Did Mrs Navi spend the whole time there while you packed?”

“songbyrd - That's the Hilleberg Akto that I was using on that trip

..... I guess maybe we should wait for the WCT thread
;-)”

“The Tevas were great, except for the times that mud got between my foot and the sandal. Then it was very slippery. Roots, boardwalk, ladders, trail, beach, boulders, creek crossings, great.

Mrs. Navi visited friends and went shopping while we were on the trail and joined us for pre and post hike festivities.
Then there was the road trip! Ladyhiker, JVZ, me & Mrs.! Don't ever do that unless you have VERY strong laugh muscle! OMG!!!!”

“I am soooooooooooo jealous. Can Jerry and I come next year? The WCT is tops on Jerry's wish list. I looked at all the photos, and they're fantastic.”

“Hodgeman, you and everyone else's photos are really making me want to do a trip up there.
next yr Jasper NP or Mt Robson will be hiked”

“Glad you all enjoyed the photos etc. I see we have an actual WCT thread going now. Now I'm counting the days 'til I see you all in California
WCT Thread”

“46 more days.”

“Hey, Navi, are you getting some new shoes? I couldn't believe you bailed on part of the WCT over a small matter like no shoes after seeing you hike over umpteen passes in Tevas last summer.”

“Karen..Im so sorry it took me so long to post that one picture that shows the avalanche debris on the Shepherds Pass trail. I added the link below that shows his one picture he has of it..mentions the 4th stream crossing.Wingding should be able to give you all a great report of how the trail is when she goes on her trip! I hope the link gets on this okay

http://community.webshots.com/photo/351356432/351359817KmdIIj”

“Navi - Have you been checking your email?”

“Wanna, the Tevas weren't the problem, they were great as usual. It was mental. As it turns out I was hiking with the effects of a dislocated shoulder and that was weighing heavy on my head.
The Dr. says I need physical therapy and that I should be back on the trail soon.

Phil, no I haven't been checking my e-mail. But I should have my computer back and running tonight.”

“Anita - thanks for the link to those Shepherd Pass/Tyndall/Williamson Pics at webshots. Those were taken on the 21st, so we should see a lot more melt off by July 1st when we head up to do Williamson. Maybe we will be able to fit a second peak in while up there.

Those in the group heading out on this trip in mid-July should really think about giving Mount Tyndall a try if you'd like a xcountry excursion while you're in the Shepherd Pass area - it's not too bad a trip up the north rib to the top. Just watch for the loose boulders.”

“Who's Karen? That you wingding? That's my name too. : )”

“I'm curious. Do you folks normally take bp trips as long as this one? If not, are you training at all?
...just wondering... : )”

“Several years ago the trips were as long as ten days but we were using llamas at the time.”

“Pixie - Karen is wannabp.”

“TRAINING?!
What's training?”

“Navi,
Now relax....don't cancel on us. This talk of training is just idle gossip, a rumor, and definitely not required on any of the Sierra trips. Drink another brew and try some of this Rocky Road ice cream. Pile some whipped cream on top of it. Need to carb up for the big trip.
last edited: 6/01/05 6:19:42 PM”

“The picture of the avi debris doesn't look too bad. I wonder how big the debris field is? And no snow. That is encouraging. Looks like the picture was shot back towards the valley and about 1000 feet below Anvil Camp.”

“Hi, Pixie/Karen. Bison's right; it's me. And I think I am training for this and my other upcoming trips this summer. I walk most days, mainly up and down the hills where I live (3.9 miles before work) with 15 lbs of weight, but also hike 10 or so miles most weekends. Life interferes, so I miss blocks of time.

Bummer about the shoulder, Navi. Jerry had a problem last year. He even had a surgery consult and saw a physical therapist. I agree that it's mental. At some point, he just came to grips with it, and he hasn't mentioned it for a long time. Both bping trips last year were post shoulder problem.

Wingding, post a trip report. Jerry and I both definitely want to use the layover time to climb something. I'll also study Secor before I go.”

“Pixie, you're in WA, right? I'll be in Seattle June 12-18.”

“Are you coming through Eugene on your way to Seattle? You're welcome to stay with me if that works in your schedule. I won't even make you put in light bulbs or put together lawn furniture! Would be great to see you again!”

“I remember a discussion that we had last year on the Sierra (NO! not that one! :-)
You mentioned a protien powder that you use that would maybe work for my breakfasts on the trail. I'm just not a carbs in the morning person, but I hate packing in those heavy protein bars. Does the powder taste icky? Maybe could mix it with some Gatorade? When are you hitting the trail? Are you doing to make the pre and post parties? Did you get a hog yet?”

“Kris, I'm actually flying in. It's a 'help out with a sick friend' visit so there's almost no time for anything but that. Otherwise, I would love to come see you and could put together lawn furniture backward without any problem.

That protein powder sounds like a good idea, something to shake up in a Nalgene.”