TR: Olancha Peak - May 16-18 - Register missing!
Posted: Tue Jul 01, 2014 5:48 pm
I'm posting this a bit late, as I just now realized and feel obligated to report - the Olancha Peak register might have been stolen, and not just the register itself, but the classic Sierra Club aluminum box is missing too.
I took a friend who is a beginner backpacker for a short trip up to the South Sierra Wilderness. We've entered from the Sage Flat trailhead over Olancha Pass and spent 2 nights near Summit Meadow. I've never been in this area myself and couldn't believe how dry it is in comparison to the High Sierra further north. Every creek bed we came across in the vicinity of Summit Meadow was bone dry. We've almost had to cut our trip short before we’ve found several snow patches near the northern end of meadow. We were also lucky to find a big metal bucket at the packer site that we’ve camped near of and used it to melt snow in a big fire pit with a convenient metal grill/pot holder.
On day 2 of the trip we wanted to climb Olancha. Because of the water situation we’ve spent a lot of time melting the snow so we have enough to last all day and be able to cook dinner in the evening, as we were not sure if we would want to mess with it when we get back from the climb.
We left camp around 10:30 am and it took us about 3 hours to reach the small saddle south west of the peak where you leave PCT and start ascending the western slope of Olancha.
We ate lunch, took a 30 min break and started the ascent shortly before 3 pm. I’ve made it to the peak in about an hour, but my friend fell behind and decided not to push anymore and wait for me. When I reached the summit, realizing my friend is not coming; I briefly looked around for the register, couldn’t find it, took a few pictures, shot a video and began my descent. I’ve caught up with my friend about half way down the slope and we’ve got back to camp by 7 pm.
Now that I’ve come across an earlier trip report (2009) of the Olancha climb where the register is shown as a classic Sierra Club aluminum box with the Sierra Club logo on it – I’ve realized there’s no way I would miss it. I looked under all the big summit blocks near the USGS benchmark and did not see it. Now I see other posters reporting registers missing from other summits – I assume the Olancha register box was taken as well.
Sad…
I took a friend who is a beginner backpacker for a short trip up to the South Sierra Wilderness. We've entered from the Sage Flat trailhead over Olancha Pass and spent 2 nights near Summit Meadow. I've never been in this area myself and couldn't believe how dry it is in comparison to the High Sierra further north. Every creek bed we came across in the vicinity of Summit Meadow was bone dry. We've almost had to cut our trip short before we’ve found several snow patches near the northern end of meadow. We were also lucky to find a big metal bucket at the packer site that we’ve camped near of and used it to melt snow in a big fire pit with a convenient metal grill/pot holder.
On day 2 of the trip we wanted to climb Olancha. Because of the water situation we’ve spent a lot of time melting the snow so we have enough to last all day and be able to cook dinner in the evening, as we were not sure if we would want to mess with it when we get back from the climb.
We left camp around 10:30 am and it took us about 3 hours to reach the small saddle south west of the peak where you leave PCT and start ascending the western slope of Olancha.
We ate lunch, took a 30 min break and started the ascent shortly before 3 pm. I’ve made it to the peak in about an hour, but my friend fell behind and decided not to push anymore and wait for me. When I reached the summit, realizing my friend is not coming; I briefly looked around for the register, couldn’t find it, took a few pictures, shot a video and began my descent. I’ve caught up with my friend about half way down the slope and we’ve got back to camp by 7 pm.
Now that I’ve come across an earlier trip report (2009) of the Olancha climb where the register is shown as a classic Sierra Club aluminum box with the Sierra Club logo on it – I’ve realized there’s no way I would miss it. I looked under all the big summit blocks near the USGS benchmark and did not see it. Now I see other posters reporting registers missing from other summits – I assume the Olancha register box was taken as well.
Sad…