High Sierra Topix

Thursday, 2 August 2007: Before leaving for 10 days, I packed a few boxes for SnowDude to take to our new home. The finish date was moved to Aug 1st, and the keys handed over Aug 3rd. So I got a really late start. As I drove thru Mojave, I saw something in the dirt by the highway. I turned around to double check since I kept thinking I saw a face. I reported a body by the highway to the Sheriff, and by 1am I was on my way to Mammoth. I was also pulled over/questioned just before that for weaving (no ticket, just checking), so I drove the speed limit, getting me to Mammoth by 5am. What a way to start a vacation!


Friday, 3 August 2007
Laurel Mountain (11,812')
PHOTOS: http://snownymph.smugmug.com/gallery/32 ... #181917852


I was up at 7:15 for a dayhike, but couldn't get it together and was really late meeting Trailtrekker and Rachel. It was a short hike, so it was ok. We stayed at the Mammoth Condo for the weekend.

Saturday, 4 August 2007
Bloody Mountain (12,552')
PHOTOS:http://snownymph.smugmug.com/gallery/3280113#183739492

Tomcat drove up to hike Bloody Mtn with us. New peak for all 3 of them. Great views, great weather, and fun time! Dinner and drinks at Whoa Nellie Deli after, then showers and rest at the condo.

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Sunday, 5 August 2007
Hurd Peak (12,237')
PHOTOS: http://snownymph.smugmug.com/gallery/32 ... 4#18220218

Three of us dayclimbed Hurd Peak (12,219'). I dayclimbed this a month ago (scree slog), so this time we went up a different route, which had some class 3-4, and made it fun. It was a beautiful day out, and everyone had a great time! (Summit pix from this trip didn't upload, and its on the laptop. Will add them tomorrow night)

Tuesday, 7 August 2007
Sierra Challenge - Day 5 - South Lake to Gendarme Peak

PHOTOS: http://snownymph.smugmug.com/gallery/3283788#182201769


My watch was 2 hrs ahead (???), my alarm went off at 1:30am instead of 3:30am (???), so I started at 3am instead of 5am! :retard: I finally figured it out around 6:30am when it was pitch black out. I checked the time on my watch (6:30am) then checked the time on my GPS (4:30am). DOH! :retard: Now I was feeling the 3 hrs of sleep. I was hoping the others would pass me up before the xctry part so I could follow. No such luck. It was still dark out and I never found the Jigsaw Pass trail, but spent 2 hours in a boulder field. I was able to find the right pass, so I was happy about that. About half way up Jigsaw Pass, I heard voices, and EricG, MichaelG and MikeS flew by me. I followed and was at the pass 15 min later. It took almost 6 hrs for me to get to the pass, 7.5 to the summit. Those 3 were on the summit in 3.5 hrs. Total time was 12:55 for me. I'm slow, but I made it! WhooHooo!!! Photos are low res, my setting was off on the new camera. DOH! :retard:

The climbing on Hurd looks like a lot of fun!

Yikes... a body alongside the road? Did you ever find out what happened? Scarry stuff.

I guess I should correct that paragraph. As I drove north again, I slowed down to see what was going on. They had the man sitting up, so he might have been drunk and passed out when I saw him. Being alone, I wasn't about to get out to check if he was dead or alive. There's a photo in the first album with the story in the caption. You can see how far off the road he was.

Ridgeline, that was a fun route that we took. I wouldn't have tried it alone. It was the route that Snwburd took when he climbed it.




Friday, 10 Aug 2007
Sierra Challenge - Day 8 - Onion Valley to University Peak (alt to Bradley)

PHOTOS: http://snownymph.smugmug.com/gallery/3305631#184084380


Day 8 of the Sierra Challenge was Mt Bradley. Up to University Pass, drop over 1000' to Center Basin and up to Mt Bradley and back the same way. By the time we got to University Pass, DaveG was suffering from altitude or some kind of flu virus. He's normally pretty fast and waits on me. We decided to go for University Peak (13, 632') since it was a new peak for both of us. We descended the North Face with a total time of 13 hr 50 min.

Snowy, great, informative pics as always! A little hairy finding a pass in the dark!!!

Might have to contact the rangers to have them enforce a "No Snowy" day in the mountains to ensure you get enough rest between peaks!!!

Great photos, Cori! Thank you!

Great pictures, Cory! I really enjoyed reading the daily reports.... sounds like a lot of fun!

Now, I have a really basic question.... What IS the Sierra Challange? I've heard it mentioned a lot. Is it an actual "organzied" event, or an event that has evolved over the years, hiking with friends?

Link to the Sierra Challenge: http://snwburd.com/bob/challenge/2007/


Its a fun event that Bob Burd puts together every year. 10 peaks in 10 days, with bonus and alternate peaks. Most of these peaks are usually climbed as multi-day trips but as dayhikes they're pretty strenuous.

I'm nowhere close to the top guys, but its a challenge for me to just make the summit. I may be slow, but I can say I did it!

I made the first challenge peak (Gendarme) I signed up for solo. My partner had an injury and had to bail. The second one (Bradley) was pretty gnarly once we got to University Pass, so we went for University instead. The day after, we decided to do an easier alternate peak (Thor) since the challenge peak for the day was Mt Hale, 15 mi and 7300' gain/loss.

It was fun to be part of it.