In an effort to epitomize the name of this website, Melissa and I took off last Friday for a 7 hour drive down to Chris and Amy’s place in Susanville. There, after collecting two people and two dogs, we’d embark on an additional 7 hour drive down the Eastern Sierra to Whitney Portal for a couple nights of backcountry camping.
Side Story:
Along the way we stopped for what we thought would be a quick and painless breakfast, but what ensued ended up providing us with the running joke for the remainder of the trip. Shortly after our food arrived, Amy unsuspectingly loosened the cap on a jar of ketchup that had somehow developed massive internal pressure (either from heat or fermentation?) prompting the jar to literally explode like a grenade! I’ve never seen anything like it! Ketchup from the “bomb” literally covered everything within a 20 foot radius. The waiter, the people sitting at the adjacent table, the window behind us, the underside of the umbrella (luckily we were sitting outside and there was only one other table filled... had the bomb gone off inside, without exagerrating, I think dozens of people would have been hit!!!) and especially us. Literally, from the waist up, Mel, Amy, and I were completely covered in ketchup (Chris, by some strange mystery of science, had only a drop or two on his arm). For a moment we all paused digesting what had just happened… “Is this my blood all over my shirt, or is it ketchup? Hmmm… Tastes like ketchup…” As we began to realize what had happened, things began moving quickly. The waiter (who was wearing a white shirt now plastered w/ Ketchup) immediately began to stammer apologies, other waiters brought wet towels, Amy tried to explain what happen, Mel began to run her fingers through her now-ketchup-soaked-hair, and I just laughed and laughed. Long story short, we got a couple of meals for free, a good story, and ketchup stains that would last all weekend (I still had ketchup on my legs when I got home Monday night).
Anyway, okay, back to the real story and why we went to the Sierras… We had secured a backcountry permit for the Meysan Lakes area and had planned a weekend of backcountry camping (with a “little” climbing thrown in for Chirs and I). We didn't get to the trailhead until late, which put us in camp just as it was getting dark. We appeared to have this awesome area to ourselves, despite the busy weekend and absurd popularity of the nearby Whitney Portal area. Anyway, we got a great night of sleep but woke up early (w/ a headache... 11K feet elevation does that to me) so that Chris and I could take a shot at the North Ridge climbing route on Lone Pine Peak. The route itself is a granite spine gaurded by a number of towers that we'd either skirt around or climb directly over. After a bit of confusion over how to actually get onto the ridge, Chris and I made our way up scrambling terrain to the first tower on the ridge, after which most of our climbing was roped. We climbed all day long on the route, often along the ridge's knife-edge crest. Many times we'd climb up a few rope lengths, only to find a deep notch in the ridge that would require a ropelength of downclimbing. There wasn't much of a route description in the various guidebooks, which meant that most of our day was a "choose your own adventure". When the climbing appeared to become too difficult, we'd generally just find a way around on easier ground. Pretty neat. We brought small radios so we could keep in touch with the girls and wolf pack, who were spending the day hiking around the various lakes in the alpine basin a couple thousand feet below us.
Finally, just as it was getting dark, we finished the last pitch of climbing and stood on the summit. We played flashlight signal games with the girls thousands of feet below, and talked to them on the radio letting them know we were safely on top. Much to our dismay we realized that Chris had lost his hiking shoes far below us on the climbing route somewhere (while rummaging through his pack at one of the belay stations) leaving him with only his climbing shoes (think tight and uncomfortable). But, like a warrior going to battle, he re-laced his climbing shoes for the long descent back to camp. When we arrived 2 hours later, Mel and Amy had filtered water and made tea. Shortly after came a warm meal and cheesecake. It was more than I could have dreamed of after a long day of climbing, followed by a nightmarishly loose, dusty, and seemingly endless descent gully.
The next morning we packed up and hiked out the 4 miles (and 3000K elevation) without hearing a single complaint from Chris (who was still wearing his climbing shoes, but now with a heavy backpack). Beer, pizza, a bunch of caffene, and 14 hours of driving rounded out the 3 day weekend. Thanks again Chris and Amy for the good time, can't wait to see you guys soon!
Now for the pics:
The Crew!
Earlish start on Sunday, with setting moon and early morning sun on Mt. Irvine.
Nice reflection by our camp.
Holy granite batman! Do you like my granite camo shirt??
Chris on the scrambling approach
More scrambling, but getting closer now
Finally the ridge and climbing route unfolds before us!
Chris downclimbing into the first notch, where the roped climbing begins
Chris on the first roped pitch
Me following after the first pitch
My turn for a lead... The climbing here was spectacular, but unfortunatly the route dead-ended, and I was forced to downclimb about 100' and go a different way.
Chris following my roundabout traverse along the S. face of the ridge.
After rounding a corner we rappeled off of the first ridge tower into a notch at the base of the massive second ridge tower.
The description said go left, but we wen't right instead cause it looked better and were punished/rewarded with a hard pitch of climbing, for us, the crux of the day. Notice the camera leash in the frame, indicating that the pic was taken straight down! :)
Peekaboo! You can see the lakes basin behind me where Amy and Mel were playing.
Chris traversing along the knife-edge ridge crest. Quite exposed here!!!
Looking back at Chris' ridge crest belay.
My turn to lead along the sidewalk in the sky.
Finally we gained the base of the summit headwall. We traversed this catwalk and then unroped, hoping for an easy scramble to the summit. Instead we found 4 more pitches of easy 5th class climbing (still required a rope for safety) to the summit. No pictures of the last pitches as we were moving quickly to avoid nightfall on the route.
Chris traversing the easy but very exposed catwalk. In the background you can see our route, and right around the 16 second mark you get a view of Mt. Whitney, highest peak in the lower 48.
Parting reflection shot of Mt. Irvine.
No comments:
Post a Comment