High Sierra Topix

I finally had some time to compile some thoughts on this trip.

http://calitrails.com/2015/06/26/climbi ... ers-route/

Brian, sweet write-up and great photos.

Perhaps your TR deserves its own thread. Maybe Mav can move it to a stand-alone post if he thinks it's appropriate.

Done.

Can I officially nominate the trail name "Real Deal" for Brian? It's wonderfully semi-ironic, because even though Brian is actually the real deal, that instant when he exclaimed "whoa, this is the real deal!" was a moment of honesty that shouldn't go unrewarded.

As for myself, my instincts were more visceral along the lines of "fvck", whereas Alex, our 3rd partner in crime, was determined not to let the team down. (And get this, he's a commercial helicopter pilot who's done airshows; you know, loopy-loops and stuff like that.) That's how rad that last section of the Final 400 was: crystal clear blue skies, a brisk alpine elevation, and pure white snow leading up to the summit plateau above while dropping straight off below.

Ryan called the conditions "Mountaineers Plus+". I guess we might have been a little dopey, because Brian, Ryan and myself were riffing on the "it goes to 11" from Spinaltap. Eventually, Ryan conceded the day/conditions were a "13": 11 as a base (ie perfect), 12 for the twin sun dogs radiating across the back of the mountain as we lunched at the Notch, and 13 for the glider which came silently whooshing by mere feet from the east buttress during our descent down to Iceberg.

PS And let it be recorded that I didn't say a thing about his momentary weakness in the Gully - that was the compact. But, I must correct his impression that going back down was an option. Nope, never was. We were going to stand there and rest until (a) you were ready to continue; or (b) haul (you &) your stuff up the Notch were you could stay behind. As it turned out, we only hung out for 2-3 minutes, then it was back to the task at hand. And as we know, after that very brief episode, he was fired up like nothing had ever happened. Which it didn't.

Amazing how a little shot of adrenaline can override everything else.

Nice trip report and lots of great photos in there. Cool blog too

wow....incredible photos...great story! Thanks for the read

Thanks everyone.

Regarding "The Real Deal", I'm not one to deny a nickname, but I'm not so sure that I'm as imposing as Evander Holyfield.

Marvelous TR, and of course pictures, all except for that massive duck.

Awesome trip report and I love the photos, good to get a sense of the upper part of the hike. Thanks for posting!!