Orland Bartholomew's 1929 High Odyssey

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ERIC
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Re: Orland Bartholomew's 1929 High Odyssey

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Re: Orland Bartholomew's 1929 High Odyssey

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Damn, this book is currently nearly $50.00 from the Sierra Historical Society. Inflation? Oh well.

Thanks to Karl for putting us onto it. We'll check the libraries.
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Re: Orland Bartholomew's 1929 High Odyssey

Post by gregodorizzi »

I read this book last year when I first saw chatter about it on HST. I was fortunate that my university library is part of a wider sharing network throughout Colorado (where I live). Two municipal libraries had a copy of the book, so I was able to borrow it like I would if it were at my home institution.

What a great story! It made me wish I was a backcountry skier like you, Harlen.
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Re: Orland Bartholomew's 1929 High Odyssey

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Harlen wrote: Tue Jun 04, 2019 10:18 am Damn, this book is currently nearly $50.00 from the Sierra Historical Society. Inflation? Oh well.

Thanks to Karl for putting us onto it. We'll check the libraries.
Odd, I just bought one for $20 (+ $8.15 tax and shipping). I know that oil companies and Amazon have variable pricing, but the Central Sierra Historical Society?
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Re: Orland Bartholomew's 1929 High Odyssey

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Druid, thanks for the heads up- I had mistakenly ordered two copies instead of one. I've ordered it correctly now.
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Re: Orland Bartholomew's 1929 High Odyssey

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Harlen wrote: Tue Jun 04, 2019 10:25 pm Druid, thanks for the heads up- I had mistakenly ordered two copies instead of one. I've ordered it correctly now.
Thank you for resurrecting this interesting thread.
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Re: Orland Bartholomew's 1929 High Odyssey

Post by fishmonger »

Harlen wrote: Tue Jun 04, 2019 10:18 am Damn, this book is currently nearly $50.00 from the Sierra Historical Society. Inflation? Oh well.
wow. I got my copy for $3 about 5 or 6 years ago on eBay \:D/
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Re: Orland Bartholomew's 1929 High Odyssey

Post by gdurkee »

I'll check with Gene and see if he has any more copies. He's doing a new book on the history of the snow survey in California. Slow going but we're ever hopeful. Publishers for such specialized books are almost impossible to find anymore.

About 10 years ago, friends skied the same route (well, except for the brutal slog out of Lone Pine -- before the road to Horseshoe was built. They were going to do a book w/photos but, alas, moved on... .
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Re: Orland Bartholomew's 1929 High Odyssey

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Hobbes wrote: Mon Mar 16, 2015 9:46 am
What was your reaction when the book opened with his hike up Cottonwood creek on Xmas day 1928 & his desire to get above 10k with a major winter storm moving in? * It's so counter-intuitive, yet makes complete sense. If it was me, I would of course high-tail it out of there. But, if you're going to stay, then you need to get above the point where snow collects.

* Bart's experience from many years of trekking, trapping and exploring in the dead of winter led to him to conclude that 8-10k were the danger zones. Below 8k, you'd have relative warmth and a way out. Above 10k, while it was colder & windier, the snow tended to blow off and not accumulate. The gullies, ravines and valleys between 8-10k was where the major snow accumulations occurred. Not only could you possibly not move, but then there were ice falls and avalanches to contend with as the weather warmed back up above freezing. His 'hike' (he's actually skiing) down Mather and into the Palisades lake area is completely nuts.
It is a truism that the heaviest snow loading occurs between 8-10k, but too many exceptions exist to assume this the case on any extended trek. K2 is known to be unclimbable at times, due to deep snow at elevation. Need to know what the weather is doing! Recent weather events can significantly increase/decrease high elevation snow loads. Regardless, In Bartholomew's case the danger was not deep snow, it was warm weather softening the pack - even the north facing slopes were releasing when he passed through the Palisades Creek gorge. He would have the same problem with avalanches sliding off the 12k+ west slopes of Palisades, had he kept high and traveled through the high basins below the Palisades, via Pot Luck Pass. Been there, done that!
Last edited by Gogd on Fri Feb 11, 2022 12:27 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Orland Bartholomew's 1929 High Odyssey

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Orland Bartholomew was a beast of the ages!

I recently found out that a winter trip I did decades ago was inspired by Orland's Sierra Crest winter traverse. I was in a group doing Dave Beck's Sierra High Route ski trek. We actually crossed paths with Dave at the Pear Lake Ski Hut, near the end our trip. One of my companions wanted to do a Sierra Crest traverse. Dave suggested we contact Doug Robinson, P-Nut McCoy, Allan Bard or Tom Carter, as they all completed Sierra Crest traverses using modern telemark gear. Our route approximately emulated the Robinson/McCoy trek. Only recently did I learn, however, that Orland's trip was the original inspiration for these later day ski trekkers. Armed with this information I sought out and purchased Rose's book. Our trip was tough despite availing to modern, light gear. I have no idea how Orland prevailed, regardless of how long he took to complete his journey.

Our trip followed much of Orland's journey, with some exceptions. For example:
  1. Our start was at the gate in Owens Valley, blocking winter access to the Horseshoe Meadow Road. We walked/skied the road into Horseshoe Meadow, then followed Orland over Cottonwood Pass.
  2. We availed to different passes at various points, en route, resulting in minnor deviations of the route.
  3. Like Orland, we summited Langley; however, it was a wasted effort as there was near zero visibility at the top. Weather precluded any notion of summiting Whitney. We had intended to also summit other peaks but decided the plan was too ambitious.
  4. A significant deviation was we stayed high along the Palisades, taking the high basins, via Pot Luck Pass to Dusy Basin, then joining the JMT just below Helen Lake.
  5. From Silver Pass, we chose to travel along the high bench, above the west side of Cascade Valley, then closely contoured along the Ritter Range above the San Joaquin River to Garnet Lake.
  6. Another parting from Orland's route was we cut west at the end of the trip, sooner than Orland did, heading west from Garnet Lake over Banner Pass, eventually entering Yosemite Valley at Happy Isles.
  7. We did not exit the High Sierra, once under way. This, and bypassing Whitney, taking the more direct route along the Palisade/Dusy Basin section, and shorter route at the end into Yosemite Valley cut our trip to ~220 miles.
SIx were on our team. Four of us used modern telemark skis; two wore plastic boots, two wore stiff, double leather boots. The other two people used Randonee alpine set ups. Add in helmets, crampons, axes, ropes, pickets, screws and some other technical gear - the packs were not very light. My 70L pack was about 3/4 full.

Our Sierra Crest traverse was during the winter 1983-84. We left December 27, arrived at Curry Camp sometime the last week of January. The old fossils out there may recall that 1983-84 was the El Nino season that wrecked all of the piers along the Cali coast, south of Santa Cruz. It was equally brutal in the High Sierra! If I had known then what I now know, I would never have signed up for this early season trip. Cold, early winters present very dangerous, unstable snow conditions in the backcountry, and the year we did this trip was plenty cold. Only the first day and last two days did the temperature rise above 15˚F. It was a very memorable, albeit not enjoyable trip. We endured almost nonstop bad weather, crossed many avalanche debris fields and were scared shitless by the frequent roaring sound of avalanche activity, out there, somewhere in the blowing snow and cloud cover. In Bartholomew's case the avalanches were mostly caused by warm weather melting the snow; in our case it was cold weather preventing the snowpack from stabilizing after being deposited. The snow was either too deep, too icy, or sculpted by the wind into un-skiable sastrugi. And of course there were the expected barren, wind scoured passes and high approaches. Did I mention the monster, sometimes double sided, cornices? Thus ours was a brutal slog. It is amazing I did not hang up my skis after that trip. Henceforth my subsequent snow trips in the High Sierra were conducted later, in the spring season, when the snowpack is more stable, the corn snow heavenly, and the weather generally sunny and warm in the daytime.

Someone mentioned Bartholomew had not traveled south of Muir Pass, prior to this trip. But the book alludes he was familiar with the Palisades Basin area, including the presumably easier passage that Cartridge Pass afforded, over his choice to cross Mather Pass. IDNK.

I recall someone wondered on a prior post why bears did not get at Orland's food caches. The book notes he hoisted his caches into trees. He probably also wired the lids to the cans - that is what we did. In our case we placed six caches, most were above tree line, by suspending the cans over the edge of precipices, beyond the reach of larger critters. One of our group did not feel like hauling a metal trash can to deposit his cache, so he used a plastic can. The birds and varmints managed to chew through the can, and trash our food. We were not amused! Not only does this type of trip require a large time commitment to do the journey; it also requires two trips per cache - one to position it before the trip, and one following the trip to retrieve the metal cache storage cans and garbage. BTW: Current regulations do not permit food caching - just saying...

Ed
Last edited by Gogd on Thu Oct 13, 2022 5:43 am, edited 1 time in total.
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