TR Modified Roper's Route Aug. 4-10, 2014

[cgundersen]

shhsgirl,
In 40+ years of backpacking in the Sierra, my first 30 years led to one instance where lightning destroyed a tree close enough to smell the aftermath. Very memorable! However, the last decade has been another story, and even though I avoid camping as high as you did below the Palisades (in fact, I'm impressed you found enough flat ground on Thunderbolt even for a tiny tent; good job!), there have been a couple storms where the lightning flash and thunder coincided. Definitely, not fun! Even though the electrical engineers I've asked assure me that 10 ft from a strike puts you in a safe zone, I really don't want to test that notion. And, although the idea of the lightning stance sounds very sensible to me (giving the current a path to return to ground), I wonder how well it really works? I certainly would not want to be the guinea pig. So, like you, I do my best to avoid going too high when it gets dicey, and I'm increasingly willing to quit at noon or earlier if the weather is threatening. And, threatening seems to have become the theme of recent years. Muir's gentle Sierra is turning into a monsoon-driven electrical generator. I'm guessing the only reason there have not been more incidents of folks getting struck in the Sierra is that ~10 ft radius, because I doubt even half the backpackers know the stance. Anyway, glad you guys survived to tell the harrowing story!
cameron

[Shhsgirl]

My husband recalls that we camped high in a drainage that came down from Thunderbolt. That is why we were able to find a small, flat sandy area--where water collects during storms!--to pitch the tent. It is also why he was able to find the tent without a flashlight. Since he had hiked from the tent to the start of his climb, he knew how many drainages were between the start of the climb and the tent. After he ran all the way down to Barrett in the storm, he went west just above the lake and counted the number of drainages he crossed, picked the right one, and headed up.

[deadeyes]

Nice trip report, shhsgirl. While I haven't had any lightning experiences I would call harrowing, I can imagine the heightened senses. I've definitely seen my share of intense, out-of-the-blue hailstorms and have been among the "counting seconds between flash and boom" crowd.

As for the reliability of eyewitness testimony, I totally concur, especially when the question concerns distance from A to B. :-D