SHR/SoSHR/KCHBR Advice/Safety

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Bluewater
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Re: SHR/SoSHR/KCHBR Advice/Safety

Post by Bluewater »

For some perspective, this is the view from the top of Snow Tongue Pass, looking down the almost vertical north side. Nothing like a dose of morning exposure to wake you up :)
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Lumbergh21
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Re: SHR/SoSHR/KCHBR Advice/Safety

Post by Lumbergh21 »

Wandering Daisy wrote:Yes, the triple crown hiker was "Wired". One of her hiking partners for the trip, "Why Not" bought my Wind River guide, because they were also doing the Skurka Wind River High Route. Why Not, who amazingly lives less than a mile from me, came to my house and we went over the route in detail. Then I told her I had done the SHR so we discussed that too. I met the group at Bishop Pass while I was going in on a fishing trip to Dusy Basin and they were going out to resupply. It was great to meet the other two. The third of the trio lives near SEKI west side and has a lot of off-trail mountaineering experience. Wired was the one with nearly no off-trail experience. All three are amazing women and work together well as a team. Wired is a natural, and caught on quickly to off-trail travel, but she was pretty amazed at the difference from trail travel. Going from 25-30 miles a day on trails to brutal 7-8 mile days off-trail was a real eye opener. The micro-route finding of off-trail travel, especially on the passes, is critical, and a skill that you need to learn by experience. No amount of electronic gadgets, Google Earth views or thru-hiking can make up for boots-on-the-ground experience. One problem is that much of what is written about off-trail routes is by the more experienced, and they tend to play down the difficulties that can be a real issue for first-time off-trail hikers. I thought Wired's blog did a good job of describing what it was like for a person's first big off-trail route. Her writing is very honest.

It's been awhile since I read that blog, but I think she mentioned you in her blog. I don't do much off-trail hiking, but the "micro-route finding" certainly does slow you down. For me big tallus has been the absolute worst as I pick my way across it, and nice granite faces that offer loads of traction are so much fun. I was tentative at first then found I had so much traction I started hopping and running across. I see Wired's hiking in the Himalayas this year. That ought to be one heck of an adventure.
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AlmostThere
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Re: SHR/SoSHR/KCHBR Advice/Safety

Post by AlmostThere »

I won't encourage or discourage. I will say that doing such a trip solo is a bad idea even for experienced folks who routinely do high cross country routes, if only because of the ease at which a person can become moderately dehydrated without realizing it, which impacts decision making, which is absolutely critical when navigating those steep slopes with loose crud and so forth.... I know that people do it and beat the odds. But consider that solo hikers with PLBs have been searched for and never found, even when the PLB left "breadcrumbs", and that no SAR person with any real experience will tell you to rely on them. Consider that you cannot predict when the rock that was solid a minute ago gives way and sends you end over end down the slope. And when you hit your head at the end of the fall, or break the femur, or have a boulder land on you and your pack is over there somewhere or somehow inaccessible because you're stuck and can't get it off your back, the PLB will be worthless unless it was on your person at the time.

There are a lot of trips that I insist on knowing the experience levels of the folks who want to go with me, because like everyone else, I accept the risks and go anyway, but unlike too many people I also know what actually happens sometimes -- too often, really -- because a lot of my friends are SAR and I used to be. People get in trouble in groups too, sometimes because their friends have no clue what to do when the **** hits the fan and panic.

So my recommendation, take it or leave it, is to find an experienced cross country Sierra hiker to go with. It will significantly decrease the chances of avoiding class 3/4 routes on the trip if someone who can eyeball the slope and make better choices is there to help. It also significantly decreases the risk of death for either of you, if something unexpected happens, which it will do regardless of the experience level of the victim.
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PostJMT
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Re: SHR/SoSHR/KCHBR Advice/Safety

Post by PostJMT »

Does anyone have any tips on finding an experienced cross country sierra hiker to go with? Unfortunately most of the people I know are trail hikers.
Thanks
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Re: SHR/SoSHR/KCHBR Advice/Safety

Post by maverick »

Does anyone have any tips on finding an experienced cross country sierra hiker to go with?
Post in the "Find a partner forum", maybe someone is planning to do it this summer, but you will have to flexible with your time, the person may be doing it in shorter or longer time then you would like, or in a different month then your had planned.
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I don't give out specific route information, my belief is that it takes away from the whole adventure spirit of a trip, if you need every inch planned out, you'll have to get that from someone else.

Have a safer backcountry experience by using the HST ReConn Form 2.0, named after Larry Conn, a HST member: http://reconn.org
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Re: SHR/SoSHR/KCHBR Advice/Safety

Post by limpingcrab »

I don't know enough about you to make a suggestion, but will add one side note.

The class ratings for passes and peaks do not take into account exposure, it's just the difficulty of the movement. You could be on class 3 where a fall will be annoying or class 3 with 500ft of air under your butt. Mt. Stanford from Gregory's monument, anyone?

Anyway, get to the mountains and walk around a lot, it'll be cool.

Edit: not sure about the best way to find a hiking partner.
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Re: SHR/SoSHR/KCHBR Advice/Safety

Post by alpinemike »

I highly advise like most have to find a partner before attempting something so grand as this. And if you can't, just do a short cross country trip with a class 2 pass. There's countless areas in which you can do this.

One idea that comes to mind is a trip out of North Lake and over Lamarck Col into Darwin Bench. The terrain to get to Lamarck Col features a trail a good part of the ways but the final ascent to Lamarck Col is talus and a snowfield. Now, the snowfield may be too much for me but it's excellent practice and a very good idea to know how to navigate snow on Sierra Cross Country Passes because it hangs around many summers and will be a navigational and technical challenge. This pass would potentially force you to carry an ice ax and microspikes so it would be good if you had experience with an ice ax before taking this on. Just a thought on Sierra Passes and some of the things you might encounter out there.


Limpingcrab... yep that Class 3 between Gregory's and Stanford was quite something! The downclimb was Class 4 and very serious consequences Class 4!
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Re: SHR/SoSHR/KCHBR Advice/Safety

Post by nunatak »

I would attempt this solo. It would be somewhat risky, with a slim margin for errors, and definitely pose a physical/mental challenge.

It depends on where you come from. Moving from trail hiking, even long distance, to advanced cross country travel is no small step; while on the other hand a retired life long mountaineer would quietly consume any of these newfangled 'high routes', with aging joints the biggest worry.
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