Sierra Rendezvous 2005

“I'm going on the ASSUMPTION that the snow will melt enough to be a nice change to the dirt and rocks of the trail.
We had snow on Sawtooth Pass 2 years ago.
We had snow on Bishop Pass and Muir Pass last year.
2 years ago we were super worried about dangerous creek crossings.
And we had NO problems.
This year I'll push my luck and again not bring crampons.

As I see it, the worst case is we'll have to go slow and all be geezers.”

“sigh...first its the bear cannister , now its the crampons.....gotta get all decked out for these california trips....high maintenance and $$
anybody answered whether or not you can rent crampons? sol...i like the golf cleats idea, i have some old baseball cleats too..
lol

so, are the snow/ice covered areas like real slopey? Would the pointed ends on hiking poles not be sufficient to hold you up while you shoe-"ski" through the snow...heh....just a florida girl askin......i have a lot of snow skiing skills but not much backpacking or hiking in snow and ice skills (or gear).”

“WhatsamattaU? Both items of apparel are totally functional. And as far as the net misquito pants? I'm what they call "man pretty" so they would look great on me.

But really all we need is one person and two pairs of crampons. That person would just ferry the extra pair back and forth across the treacherous section each time another TTer came up the trail. Problem solved.”

“Me neither Sir Naviguesser..I'll follow you..if you fall I'll stop...k..lol J/K
Can't wait!!!!!!!”

“Navi - I don't think you'll need crampons by July 16th either. I'm just worried about my July 1st trip.”

“ok case closed..no crampons or insteps needed..thank God now I don't have to see SH in that outfit”

“wingding agrees with me!
It's settled!

Sol, I'm not going to wear your golf shoes. They'd make me look like a clown.
I sure not need THAT extra push.

T-girl, how can you follow me from WAY up there?”

“Could you use styrofoam blocks on the crampons to take in your luggage for the flight?”

“Navi - Nope the brakes on the Jeep were last year. This was front diff pinion and side bearings, as well as a cracked axle boot, to go along with the usual service.

I'm gonna hold off 'til the last minute on the crampon thing. Are those of you that aren't going to bother with them also not doing Whitney?
last edited: 6/30/05 1:09:08 PM”

“"As I see it, the worst case is we'll have to go slow and all be geezers.” navi

whew...thank goodness,......... i dont have to change a thing about how i hike then. jai~~

i am soooooo ready for a backpacking experience...been working way to much
.....at home today...starting to make lists...california dreamin every night~~”

“Dang 4WD's are always a problem.

Phil's report says the westside and the top are clear. So you won't need crampons to go up.
The eastside (going down) still has snow (ice) but is expected to clear off a bunch in the next 2 weeks. That will be the worst condition. Not enough snow to slide down but too much on the trail for an easy walk.”

“So we have collectively decided that we will not bring crampons? Yes? No? I won't mind if we don't take them but I will feel realy sick if I show up and everyone has them but me. Just tell me this. If I decide I want the buy them in California is there a place between Ontario and Lone Pine that I can buy some? Will they cost three times what I can buy them on-line for?”

“SH, I am not bringing them since I don't have any. I do have insteps but I am not bringing them either.

We all can go slip sliding away”

“Hodge - I noticed that you said the Stubai Ultralights are 30% heavier than the BD's, but I think you have it backwards. The Stubai Ultralight Strap-on 10 pointers are definately lighter. If I had to buy just one pair it would be the Stubai Ultralights. I have had them for 3 years and they've been pretty good. This year I started to hit terrain that I needed crampons more often on and I was having to sharpen them more often. I decided to get the Black Diamond Contact Strap crampons to use when I wasn't so worried about the weight or if I thought I'd have crampons on a lot during the hike.

The screw in the Stubais doesn't stay in real well, but they work fine without it, so don't worry too much if it falls out.”

“Here's a great TR from this past weekend. I don't know, it sounds a bit tricky on the trail.

http://www.whitneyportalstore.com/cgi-bin/ubb/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=1;t=003241

Still.....I can't wait!!!!!”

“T-girl, how can you follow me from WAY up there?”
the-naviguesser

I'll slooooooooooow down...Ha!
You know I don't let too much space get between us...You da man..Sir Naviguesser. :)


Besides Phil of course..eh!”

“Right you are Wingding. I meant to say that the Stubais are lighter at 600g as opposed to the BDs at 800g. I've seen the BDs up here for $100 Cdn but can't seem to locate the Stubais hanging on a rack anywhere”

“I'm with you navi. Ban sol hiker if he's wearing that "get up".

oh om, it's all worth the extra effort. You've been out here enough to know that, girl! You could meet a cowboy on the trail!I know how much you love those cowboys.

hodge, I was wondering that same exact thing. Hey, if I slide you catch me and visa versa. Wait,I never hike with you. You're too fast. Oh yeah, we did hike around Precipice Lake together two years ago!

wow Rocky! Hiking poles, eh?

navi, you know I'll be back there with you since I take even more photos now that I ever have.

Hey everyone, I'll be hitting REI probably next week. Does anyone who's flying in need anything?

wingding, be safe out there!”

“Solitary Hiker - don't read this message!!!!

Let's all bring crampons but tell SH that we aren't! It will be almost as much fun as inviting someone to a costume party when no one else is wearing a costume.....”

“I think the crampons will still be useful at Forester Pass and Shepherds Pass. Snowy's report above talked about sun cups...they could still be an issue is stretches after Forester Pass and near Guitar Lake.

I am going to buy some since I do not handle slippery very well. I fell more times going over Sawtooth than the previous 6 years combined (of course I was top heavy then with my external frame pack).

My son and I drove to REI tonight to check out the Stubai crampons...but of course they were sold out of that model for the season. The sales person said the Stubais were popular and he highly recommended them for the kind of hiking we were doing.

We will get a pretty good idea on the Whitney switchbacks from wannabp if they get that far. I am worried about their trip because fo the passability of the HST past Hamilton Lake...still covered with snow according to the SEKI rangers that wannabp talked to yesterday.

Sounds like the switchbacks going down from Whitney will be in much better shape by July 22...that is 3 more weeks of snowmelt and usage.”

“*sigh*
Wish I hadn't canceled out on this trip.
Y'all have fun!!!!”

“Phil,
What's happening with Trail Angel? Did she drop off the face of the planet?”

“Rockman - She is a working at a summer camp and loving it:
http://www.norwester.org/

She is the camp "Naturalist"!!

Sounds pretty good!”

“"Naturalist"!! Isn't that a nudeist?”

“Whoa ho ho ho.... and Roche Harbor's only a skip and a jump from here

;-))”

“Hodgeman - You ought to pay her a visit!!! Also, please check your email.

navi - naturalist can mean lots of things...but I'm not going there.
last edited: 7/01/05 1:24:46 PM”

“Personae non-grata eh? SR'05 banishment for Sol you say? Hmmmmmph!! ...... Packing my net pants and golf shoes right now. You guys ain't getting rid of this ole ice axe murderer. Snow or no snow, I'm hiking!

BTW anyone heard from WLD lately?
last edited: 7/01/05 1:38:51 PM”

“Just ordered two pairs of Stubai Ultralight Universal Crampons.”

“WLD is looking for a new house.
He says he'll be there for the shuttle service but maybe not the hike.”

“Phil - got your mail

I got an email from Kelli and sugested she pop up for a little look around my neighbourhood, but it sounds like she's going to be quite busy with the program there at camp”

“Oh, and let me know what you think of those Stubais once you get a look at them eh Phil”

“Hodgeman - OK. I talked to the people at EverestGear. They had plenty of the Stubai's in stock. They ship UPS. If I get crampons by Friday I may be able to try them out on the weekend while I am on patrol.”

“OMG!!! Two weeks to go!!!”

“navi - I need more than 2 weeks!!!

Note to participants, please check your email. I sent a long message about snow, crampons, and radios. If you didn't get the message, perhaps I don't have your current email address. Let me know at: rosenkrantz@csupomona.edu”

“Hey Phil - Although we don't appear to have the cross-country factor that we had last year, I agree that the more people carrying radios the better, with a group of this size.

I'd also suggest that we have a channel selected in advance. So unless there's a good reason not to that I don't know about, let's use channel '7', which is available on both FRS and GMRS radios. If your radio has sub-channels for filtering (that's the small number displayed beside the channel number), set it to '0' so that all radios will receive

Spare batteries would be a good idea for a trip of this length.

JVZ and I will have my pair
last edited: 7/02/05 3:44:24 PM”

“Doh !! I may have spoken a bit too soon. It appears that one of my radios is currently lying somewhere on the trail to Needle Peak in the Cascades.

So I guess I may only have one with me, depending upon whether or not I get time to buy a couple more.

I think that's the first time I've ever lost a piece of gear.”

“So what is is good brand for a reasonable cost?”

“solitary - There are many brands and good prices. Whatever Wal-Mart has is probably sufficient.

I agree with Hodgeman's advice. Set it to Channel 7 with no side frequency. Bring one set of spare batteries.

Hodge - Actually, we do have a cross country factor if we go to Wright Lakes Basin. We leave the Shepherds Pass trail and go over Rockwell Pass into Wright Lakes Basin.

If we decide to stay near the JMT at or around Tyndall instead of venturing into Wright Lakes Basin, then we have very little cross country.”

“This was posted today on the Whitney Portal Forum about the trail conditions at the switchbacks:

"I day hiked the Main trail with my son-in-law on 06/29/05. We used the switchbacks both going up and coming down. A little care was needed passing the cable section but once past them the going was fairly easy. There was more snow to cross just before trail crest but the path through was well beaten and presented no problem. I would say more than half the people who summited that day used the switchbacks."”

“I got the e-mail.
If Ladyhiker remembers to bring my other radio I'll have 2. If she forgets I'll whoop her with the hiking poles she left in my car.

That Whitney report makes it sound like the snow is melting fast. I'm optimistic that we're going to have a GREAT trip!”

“Yup, especially now that people have started using the switchbacks, we should have no problem with 3 weeks still to go before Whitney”

“Whitney is sounding better.

The passes and some of the sun-cupped snow fields will slow us down at times.

Still anxious to get some new reports on the JMT from thru hikers and others.”

“That's good news! It is sounding a lot better Phil. 2 weeks of sun can melt a lot of snow.

solitary hiker, I finally bought a radio. It's already on ch 7. Used once already and it works great and was only $20...about 30% off from Longs Drug Store and is an Audiovox.”

“Phil..you may have seen this already on the Whitney board...but just in case..a report with pictures of Forester Pass from a PCT thru hiker. He has some really good pictures of the conditions there. I hope I get the links on here okay..one shows his pictures & the other is his report on Forester
http://www.pct2005.com/photos/forester/
http://www.trailjournals.com/entry.cfm?id=106069”

“You bought one radio or a set? And if you bought a set of does that mean I can borrow one? I'll bring some nice wine ... hehehehehe....Luring young nubile girl with candy!!
last edited: 7/03/05 4:24:33 PM”

“Looks fantastic!! Can't wait to do that pass!!!”

“MIT - Thanks! Had not seen those yet. Everyone should look at those pics. Lots of trail is still covered with snow. But the pass actually does not look too bad at the moment because people are just going up the shute.

Notice that for miles before and after the pass there is snow. I think much of that will still be there in 16 days. Some of it will be gones and some trail broken...but still expect time in snow fields.

BTW. My Stubai crampons are scheduled for delivery on July 6. That is 5 days from order to delivery.

The hike will be great, but expect those trails through the snow to be a bit more strenuous and slow.”

“I ordered my Stubais on Friday. Probably be in by next weekend. Of course I won't be able to test them unless I buy a bunch of bags of ice at 7 Eleven and spread it out over the lawn. Guess I'll learn up there. Trial by Fire!!! I like it.”

“I'm heading to REI today to get my crampons and a bunch of other shi++ I probably don't really need. I hope they have the right ones.

I have 2 pair of radios. One with a two mile radious and one set with a five mile. The 2 mile is much smaller and lighter. Which ones should I bring? Also, I will share with someone that doesn't have any.

Madintahoe, Thanks for that link. It was awesome looking at what might be.

I had a dream last night that we were all gathering at the trailhead for our trip. There were heavy, dark thunderstorms and everyone was trying to figure out who each other was. I remember meeting Gem. Then everyone disappeared and I was trying to reorganize the geezers. What a mess. It was scary. Everyone should have there name on when we meet. LOL

Happy 4th all.”

“and "..I was trying to reorganize the geezers"....songbyrd601

o dear,,,first mistake was to organize the geezers...much less re-organize....heh

those photos are awesome...wonder if they make crampons for hands and knees...as i see that is how one fellow went up the chute...if i am to have crampons, i have to order now and spend almost a hunderd bucks then for them to be delivered before i leave ...so....from the looks of those photos...that white stuff is not going away right???...and it will be closer to the 21st and 22nd when we go over that pass right..??? somebody has to tell me today...to spend or not to spend...
other than crampons...i am so ready!!
yippee and yahoo!”