High Sierra Topix

Sparky wrote:
One thing I thought of.....IF we end up getting a good turnout, is there any way
Inyo will let us slide on the daily quota?

One of the things being worked on Sparky, but things move slowly.

sparky wrote:One thing I thought of.....IF we end up getting a good turnout, is there any way Inyo will let us slide on the daily quota?

I was just going to raise that very question. According to the FS website, the current daily quota for Taboose is 10:

Quota of 10 people permitted to start overnight trips each day from May 1 to November 1.

http://www.fs.usda.gov/recarea/inyo/rec ... 6&actid=51" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Mav, as for receiving no input so far, lack of available information can be inferred as information in and of itself, as in, not many people go there. Secor talks a good game about the western approach to Split, but who knows if he's actually even been there? Page 217: "After Mt Whitney, (Split) is the easiest 14k peak in the Sierra."

I know you mentioned Larry didn't sign the register, but my inner Quentin looks at a map & sees a logical, 4 day loop. Secor says the western approach is easy, so all I'd have to do is get over Cardinal pass, contour around Split, summit, and then get down to Red lake and back to the car. Plenty of people have summited Split from Red, so descending via that approach doesn't appear to be a problem either.

If I went south, how do I get out? Sawmill or retrace down Taboose? I didn't know Larry, but how often did he walk back out on a trail vs maybe finding an x-c way back to create a (semi) loop? What's there to do other than x-c over to Striped and maybe some lakes around Marjorie and Bench? It doesn't look like enough distance to fill 4 days.

I believe his last post expressed some excitement about getting one last trip in before the season was over, and even mentioned the hope that the oncoming storm wouldn't be so severe as to interfere with his plans.

Would he march up Taboose, hang around, and then walk right out down the same path given this perspective and his proclivity for x-c?

Why do we all need to be out there at the same time? If each group is assigned an area to search, would it not make more sense to let those folks pick a time at their convience, give or take a week from the set date? With a wider time frame more people may be able to participate and there would be less permit problems.

Hobbes and Wandering Daisy,

Thank you both for your inputs. Would prefer that we not speculate on this thread but allow it to serve its primary purpose which is to gather whatever info members/non-members can contribute and in the recruiting of volunteers.
Having teams out in the field with spots, walkie talkies, and possibly sat phones in constant radio contact with a centralized operation command will add an important level of redundancy when it comes to safety which separate groups going out at different times would not have and would be unacceptable.
My primary concern of this mission, beyond finding Larry or some clues, is to keep everyone involved as safe as possible by what means we have available.
This I will not compromise in by asking folks to go out solo or in separate groups as a part of this search effort.

Hi Maverick. PMs sent.

Got it thanks.

QS 15 wrote (11/01/12):

"Hi all, I'm completely new to this site but I've been following this story closely, hoping that Mr. Conn will be found.. I was further south at Matlock Lakes the same
weekend and it began snowing intermittently after 1am on Monday, Oct 22nd.
By 8am, snowfall was steady and there was ~4" of fresh snow on the ground with
trails obscured."

QS 15, or if anyone else who may have been in the SEKI area on the above listed dates (backpacking, day camping, or fishing) and would have any photo's of the
skies at different times of the day would be greatly appreciated if you could send them to me via PM.
Would like to be able to establish what Larry was seeing Sat and Sun leading up to the storm, this could have influenced his decisions on where to go. Thank you
for any help you may have to offer.

We have some NPS and NFS folks here and I would like to ask if there is any way we can get a snap shot of this feed for the dates above? Hume Lake, Mineral King
(only the faculty lounge area is available in the archives) Sequoia-Kings Canyon feeds of the sky at 12pm, 2pm, 4pm and 6pm times would be of interest.
Please contact me via PM. Will try to contact SEKI and White Mountain Station tomorrow and see if they will work with us to get this information. Thanks for any help
you have to offer.

Saw this announcement at WhitneyZone, but haven't seen it at the Portal Store site .
Lots of attention and concern there at the time, could be some help

Thanks Salty, have registered there, but for some reason it won't allow me to create a new topic on the Whitney Portal forum.