High Sierra Topix

Get well soon.


Having been forced to deal with health issues the last couple of years, I wish you all the best for recovery.

MM, heal fast. Keep that dream alive.

Here are my trip reports for Summer 2019 - http://www.sierrahiker.com/Hikes2019/index.html

I also had a 50th highschool reunion and my daughter's wedding this summer that limited the Sierra trips, not to mention the lingering snowpack but still managed a good solid week in the SEKI alpine zone. In addition to that, earlier in the spring I did two trips into the Silver Peak wilderness area and got acquainted with the Big Sur fishing opportunities and also managed to avoid the hoards of folks by going Tuesday to Friday... loving the retirement hours of operation! Next up was my annual trip in the West Yellowstone area to fish the Madison river and the Hebgen lake gulpers but that was strictly an Air B&B for almost two weeks.

The big revelation this year? Only do half of my intended route and be happy with that, I always bite off way more than I can comfortably enjoy on a given trip.

MountainMinstrel, if you go in August or September next year, that's nine months to build up your strength. Plenty of time. Glad to hear you're doing better. -R

Thanks everyone. Just waiting now for the results of yesterday's MRI...

Great to see and learn about some HST community highlights, and very sorry to hear about the health challenges- best of luck to you Peter, and Mountainminstrel.

davidsheridan, kudos for your "Climbing with Kids" work/play.

wildhiker, pretty good year after all: your new son-in-law likes to backpack; you explored two new mountain ranges in Utah; and all those days at your cabin- Congratulations Phil!

balzacom, 200 nights spent in the sleeping bag sounds like a fine year... and you seem to be traveling around an awful lot too, that's great! (unless all this means is that you're now a homeless guy?  *shoot me a PM and I'll let you know all about road-kill cuisine)
Tie, because of your mountain climbing exploits, and whatever it is that gazelle's up to¹ - I no longer feel comfortable saying a thing about my year's Sierra peaks.   My wooly cap is off to you both for all of your great climbs.

 ¹  Some Guiness book record making?

________________________________________

My High points were:

*Pulling off at least one backpacking trip each month except Feb.

January, upper Truckee Basin.


*Crossing 8 new passes, cols, and notches.  

including "South Notch."



and LaSalle Col.



*Crossing 10 passes for the first time in snow:


For example, Muir Pass


and Bishop Pass.


 *7 out of 12 trips with Bearzy: 


*Attending my first HST Meetup:

Matthew Greene Search and Recovery effort.


*Finally climbing Shasta's beautiful Casaval Ridge:  


Now the Low points were:


*Just 1 short trip with my wife Lizzie, and both dogs:

March, Rock Creek.


*First time in many years with no ski trip into Tuolumne Meadows.


*Another year without a trip with the boys.

Good old days- annual ski in Rock Creek.



Best of luck to us all in coming year.

C9h13no3 wrote:

Unless you're ice climbing, ice skating, or doing an icy day hike, most of us have exited the back country for the year. At least until the snow starts falling again.

and later:

Here comes the dump!

So soon, very soon, the year will continue:

Bishop Pass


Tuolumne Meadows and Lembert Dome.

Things didn't go as planned this year. The late snow caused me to shelve my SEKI hiking plans. I got out for two weekend trips to places in the Trinity Alps that I hadn't seen before: Grizzly Lake then Alpine, Smith,and Morris Lakes (totally beautiful).
But, my Sierra trip at the end of August and early September did not go as planned. I wasn't comfortable crossing the snow field along Iceberg Lake without crampons or an ice axe, so didn't do the Minaret Loop at the beginning. Then when I wasn't able to call my wife from Edison Dam because no Verizon service there anymore, I skipped all of my remaining side trips and just pushed as fast as I could down the JMT to get out as fast as possible to limit worrying my wife. While I loved the area from Evolution to Muir Pass again, I pulled my Achilles going down into LeConte Canyon and limped the last 16 miles out over Bishop Pass. The bulge in my Achilles between my heel and muscle was disconcerting. Next year will be better! (I hope) I did meet some nice people I wouldn't have if I had kept to my plans.

I mistakenly wrote:

...balzacom, 200 nights spent in the sleeping bag sounds like a fine year... and you seem to be traveling around an awful lot too, that's great! (unless all this means is that you're now a homeless guy?

I had misread your statement:

we've still managed to hike about 200 miles, spend almost two months in our sleeping bags, and see a whole lot of places that we hadn't seen before.

and that led to our concern that you had become a homeless person.... that, and the fact that you drink so much cheap wine.