Tomcat and Slow Nymph bag Gambler's Special Peak
Posted: Mon May 14, 2007 8:29 pm
No, that's not a typo in the title. This was my first trip to the Sierra this year, and as I expected, I got sick. Tomcat wouldn't go on, and encouraged me to continue. Thanks! It was a 15 hr day, and 8 hrs of it I suffered from altitude and lack of sleep.
The plan was to start at 4:30am. I arrived Whitney Portal just before midnight. Tomcat came over and decided to chat about the bear, so I didn't get to bed til almost 1:30am. So when my alarm went off at 3:30am, I couldn't get up. I didn't get up til 4:30, when he knocked on my window! So much for an early start!
We were on the trail by 5:35am. Just below Lower Boy Scout Lake, I dropped way behind. I started getting dizzy, and had to sit down before blacking out. After 5 min, Sierragator walked by! You never know who you'll run into on the trail! I told him to tell Tomcat to go on without me. I was only going to LBSL and would hang out to get acclimatized. When I got there the guys were still talking, so I sat down and we hung out for about 45 min. Tomcat said I could make it up to the tarn, about 12,000'. I tried, but couldn't breathe without my chest hurting (just the upper part, kinda wierd). I kept asking, are we at 12K yet? We took another long break up higher, around 10,900'. We continued up, and by now I was dropping way behind, taking more breathing breaks. I couldn't call him because we didn't have radios. By now it was 12:30pm, so I took a quick break to look thru my first aid kit, and took 1/2 Diamox. A few minutes later I caught up, where he was taking a break. We ate lunch, and he proposed a different route than planned. Instead of going to the tarn and up, we would follow the scree chute 1/4 mile, and 1000'. I agreed. An hour later we got started, and I felt a LOT better! No more chest pain! Now it was fun.
We were in a class 3 chute, and climbed a lot of large almost vertical rock. I took my wedding ring off, because I didn't want to ruin it. Tomcat was able to reach where my short arms and lets would not. A few places had big exposure, and I was hoping I wouldn't have to go down it (because there was no way I could have done it). Near the top we got off the big boulder. They were getting bigger and more vertical with less handholds. We dropped down, and by 4pm, 2-1/2 hrs later, we were at the summit! The views were awesome! I think we counted 8 Fourteeners around us. We left the summit around 5pm, and headed down the SE chute (so we thought). Tomcat was ahead of me and looked "stuck" at a "V" in the rock chute. So I stopped. He couldn't find a way down a dry fall, and we didn't have rope. So we had to climb back up! By 5:50pm we were back where we could drop into the next chute. From there we scree skiid down. FUN! We were at LBSL around 7pm, and back at Whitney Portal by 8:35 (did not use headlamps). By the time I changed boots, and packed up it was a little after 9pm. I had to rush to Lone Pine to get take out dinner from Pizza Factory, and a shower at Boulder Creek before they closed at 10pm.
This was my 2nd try at Gamblers. I'm so glad I was encouraged to continue! Another new peak!
Working on photos!
The plan was to start at 4:30am. I arrived Whitney Portal just before midnight. Tomcat came over and decided to chat about the bear, so I didn't get to bed til almost 1:30am. So when my alarm went off at 3:30am, I couldn't get up. I didn't get up til 4:30, when he knocked on my window! So much for an early start!
We were on the trail by 5:35am. Just below Lower Boy Scout Lake, I dropped way behind. I started getting dizzy, and had to sit down before blacking out. After 5 min, Sierragator walked by! You never know who you'll run into on the trail! I told him to tell Tomcat to go on without me. I was only going to LBSL and would hang out to get acclimatized. When I got there the guys were still talking, so I sat down and we hung out for about 45 min. Tomcat said I could make it up to the tarn, about 12,000'. I tried, but couldn't breathe without my chest hurting (just the upper part, kinda wierd). I kept asking, are we at 12K yet? We took another long break up higher, around 10,900'. We continued up, and by now I was dropping way behind, taking more breathing breaks. I couldn't call him because we didn't have radios. By now it was 12:30pm, so I took a quick break to look thru my first aid kit, and took 1/2 Diamox. A few minutes later I caught up, where he was taking a break. We ate lunch, and he proposed a different route than planned. Instead of going to the tarn and up, we would follow the scree chute 1/4 mile, and 1000'. I agreed. An hour later we got started, and I felt a LOT better! No more chest pain! Now it was fun.
We were in a class 3 chute, and climbed a lot of large almost vertical rock. I took my wedding ring off, because I didn't want to ruin it. Tomcat was able to reach where my short arms and lets would not. A few places had big exposure, and I was hoping I wouldn't have to go down it (because there was no way I could have done it). Near the top we got off the big boulder. They were getting bigger and more vertical with less handholds. We dropped down, and by 4pm, 2-1/2 hrs later, we were at the summit! The views were awesome! I think we counted 8 Fourteeners around us. We left the summit around 5pm, and headed down the SE chute (so we thought). Tomcat was ahead of me and looked "stuck" at a "V" in the rock chute. So I stopped. He couldn't find a way down a dry fall, and we didn't have rope. So we had to climb back up! By 5:50pm we were back where we could drop into the next chute. From there we scree skiid down. FUN! We were at LBSL around 7pm, and back at Whitney Portal by 8:35 (did not use headlamps). By the time I changed boots, and packed up it was a little after 9pm. I had to rush to Lone Pine to get take out dinner from Pizza Factory, and a shower at Boulder Creek before they closed at 10pm.
This was my 2nd try at Gamblers. I'm so glad I was encouraged to continue! Another new peak!
Working on photos!
