High Sierra Topix

meetup.com - put in a zipcode, wham.

i belong to seven, and know a lot of hikers who are also in many groups. i have four single night, one two night, and two 5-6 night outings i am organizing - and plenty more to come.

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@Almost There, DavePolessel, Maverick, Thank you for mentioning the meet up site I will check it out and put it to use to gain more experience as you mentioned. Also Manzana Schoolhouse looks like a beautiful trail, will definitely look into it.

Rely on yourself and yourself alone. Solo is great as long as you're careful and know your limits.think of driving a sports car vs. a truck. slow and steady.

The hermit wrote:Rely on yourself and yourself alone. Solo is great as long as you're careful and know your limits.think of driving a sports car vs. a truck. slow and steady.

You think someone who had an idea to do the entire HST in WINTER as a beginner with no clue about the risks he was taking and the gear he needed needs this advice?

What has he ever done to you?

lol AT be trippin'!

Jes: go buy the book freedom of the hills. You can do whatever you want in time. If you die it is your fault though, and with the knowledge and common sense displayed thus far it is going to be an uphill battle for you!

Seriously....you might die from about a million things you have no clue about, but with luck you will live long enough to gain the experience you will need to keep yourself alive.

You are obviously hungry for some time in the mountains though, I will give you that!

I always say, if you aren't learning anything new, you aren't paying attention.

actually not trippin - SAR goes looking for people over their heads and without a clue all the time.

Saving your taxpayer dollars trying to divert newbies elsewhere should be a common goal - the park helicopter is not cheap to operate!

a lot of folks are assuming the low snow means summer gear works out there - boy, does that turn out to be a short trip!

So Jes just wants to learn. I think he knows now that March isn't a good time to solo w/o experience. He just wants good input on proper equipment for a reasonable time of year. I've already PM'd him on various threads or searches to look at.

Let's try and support a new guy now that we considerably thrashed him on what is not ok.

AlmostThere is absolutely right. Jes is a young person who's enthusiastic about our sport, but has no experience. He and I have exchanged over a dozen PMs and I am helping him decide what gear he wants to buy. Currently he has a pack, and a sleeping bag (which he says he now realizes is not adequate for backpacking) and that's it.

For someone to say rely on yourself and yourself alone is highly irresponsible. I will give that writer credit for also saying as long as you know your limits. The thing here is that the young man, while enthusiastic, doesn't have enough background knowledge to know his limits. AlmostThere is not trippin', and is absolutely right to call out irresponsible advice.

Russ, I am glad to see you are changing your point of view a little too. In another thread where some other inexperienced person asked about going in mid-winter, after I said one needs specialized training, you replied to that person saying he did not need specialized training. I also remember when someone asked about curriculum for a high school class. WD recommended the NOLS textbooks. You quite angrily jumped all over her saying she was wrong and that the teacher should just take the kids and go have fun. Your point of view was not only incorrect, you were really rude to WD.

Eight people dead in 18 months is enough. Those of us with experience have a responsibility to give sound advice. This macho rugged individualism attitude is fine if you know what you are doing, but when a neophyte comes along and one of us tells him to just get out there and do it, that person is simply acting like a teenage smart-aleck. Grown-ups have a responsibility to act like grown-ups.

Oh brave new world with such creatures in it!