Grab your bear can or camp chair, kick your feet up and chew the fat about anything Sierra Nevada related that doesn't quite fit in any of the other forums. Within reason, (and the HST rules and guidelines) this is also an anything goes forum. Tell stories, discuss wilderness issues, music, or whatever else the High Sierra stirs up in your mind.
First ever backpacking trip: my buddy and I decided to hike to the Little Kern bridge and over to Gray's meadow area for one night.
Gear:
Hi-top Vans--After 5 miles, my feet felt like pancakes due to no arch support.....hey, I was a skater.
6lb Kelty tent
Green propane tank with steel 12oz stove
Way too much food
After the trip, I bought my first Backpacker Magazine Issue and have been chasing the right gear rabbit down the hole ever since.
First ever backpacking trip: my buddy and I decided to hike to the Little Kern bridge and over to Gray's meadow area for one night.
Gear:
Hi-top Vans--After 5 miles, my feet felt like pancakes due to no arch support.....hey, I was a skater.
6lb Kelty tent
Green propane tank with steel 12oz stove
Way too much food
After the trip, I bought my first Backpacker Magazine Issue and have been chasing the right gear rabbit down the hole ever since.
The "Way too much food" reminds me of poor food packing of such epic proportions that a partner began throwing his way too much food into the campfire-- including whole blocks of cheese!
That guy has been referred to as "Cheese-in-the-Fire" ever since.
If this counts as a "first descent" I think that's stupid. Limpingcrab, your into "first descents" aren't you? Is this what they look like?
Well if we time the drop, it seems less than 20' to contact with the slope below, which is about typical of big Sierra cornices. At least he had a safe run out zone, and the impact zone was inclined, lessening any impact forces.
Heck Harlen, we are wondering when you are going to ski off that chossy face of Virginia Peak, you free climbed on a previous TR.
Probably the two best examples of my stupidity both occurred on Mt Shasta. I'll go with the most recent act of stupidity. In 2014 I decided to climb Mt Shasta again. To cut a long story short, I decided to take the express elevator down to "Lake Helen". I decided to glissade even though the sun had just hit the Avalanch Gulch route where I was. I started down and quickly picked up speed on the icy surface. Leaning back and putting a little pressure on my ice axe wasn't slowing me down, as it just skipped along the ice. So, I leaned back a bit more to put some more pressure on it, and then it bit in. The ice axe stopped but I didn't. It was ripped from my hand, and with a loud pop, the rubber tether snapped. I dug my boot heels in as best I could, and I guess that combined with the ice axe was enough to stop me. I put my crampons back on, walked back up to grab my ice axe, and walked the rest of the way back down to bunny flat, uninjured. I could have easily died if I had arrived at Lake Helen going full speed.
Lumbergh21 wrote: ↑Sun Apr 02, 2023 8:20 pm
..I leaned back a bit more to put some more pressure on it, and then it bit in. The ice axe stopped but I didn't. It was ripped from my hand, and with a loud pop, the rubber tether snapped...
Had an untethering incident, back in the day of hickory shafted pioletes. The tether was attached to a metal ring that slid up and down the shaft, retained by a wood screw set in the shaft that precluded the tether from sliding off the shaft end. In my case the force tore the screw out of the shaft. I was also lucky, only got real banged up, but no broken bones or teeth. Thereafter I always used a nylon strap tether, tied my leash directly to the axe head. If the axe grabs the ice it may dislocate my arm, but I'll still have my axe. I figure I have better odds with that, than surviving an uncontrolled glissade/toboggan ride to my demise. Also, I attach the leash to my wrist, so it is easier to retrieve if I lose my grip, than trying to catch it while it is wildly flailing on a tether attached to my waist or pack.
