Attempt on Middle Pal thwarted by snow
Posted: Mon Oct 01, 2007 6:04 am
On Sept. 19th Kim and I hiked up to Finger Lake on a beautiful, sunny day, but with a forecast of snow. The hike up the South Fork of Big Pine Creek was uneventful, but difficult for us since it was our first day at altitude, having flown in from Indiana on the 18th.
After a bit of bushwhacking behind the stagnant pond below Finger, we found the gulley leading to the Finger Lake drainage and hiked up. The water was low enough that it was possible to pretty much walk right up the middle of the creek, on the staircase of boulders.
As soon as I took my pack off at the top, I immediately became ill with a fever and spent the next two hours drinking cup-o-soup prepared by Kim and burning/shivering in the tent. Amazingly, I recovered completely in a few hours, but then Kim didn't feel well the rest of the night.
After the sun dipped behind the mountains the temp dropped quickly, but we were treated to an amazing sunset, including a view of a bizarre cloud formation. Is this the Sierra Wave? Very strange.
The next morning the peaks all around were covered with fog and clouds and it was obviously snowing up higher. Brief glimpses of Middle Pal already showed a dusting of snow. Climbing Middle Pal was out of the question.
Then the snow started falling on us. We decided to pack out then, given that the gulley below Finger was already becoming a bit hazardous and we had full packs to carry down. So we quickly packed up and headed down the gulley. The ice and snow made this descent interesting. (The decision to come out turned out to be an excellent one. We camped that night at Onion Valley in some horrendous weather and I'm sure the Palisades area got it good that night too.)
After reaching the main trail near the pond again the rest of the hike out was uneventful, but definitely a beautiful hike in the falling snow. Middle Pal will be there next time. : )
See pics here:
http://picasaweb.google.com/ph.spanos/F ... Sept192007
Pre-Whitney warm-up hike on Meysan Lakes trail, TR and pics here:
http://www.whitneyportalstore.com/forum ... #Post42081
Subsequent hike on Whitney main trail TR and pics are here:
http://www.whitneyportalstore.com/forum ... #Post42082
After a bit of bushwhacking behind the stagnant pond below Finger, we found the gulley leading to the Finger Lake drainage and hiked up. The water was low enough that it was possible to pretty much walk right up the middle of the creek, on the staircase of boulders.
As soon as I took my pack off at the top, I immediately became ill with a fever and spent the next two hours drinking cup-o-soup prepared by Kim and burning/shivering in the tent. Amazingly, I recovered completely in a few hours, but then Kim didn't feel well the rest of the night.
After the sun dipped behind the mountains the temp dropped quickly, but we were treated to an amazing sunset, including a view of a bizarre cloud formation. Is this the Sierra Wave? Very strange.
The next morning the peaks all around were covered with fog and clouds and it was obviously snowing up higher. Brief glimpses of Middle Pal already showed a dusting of snow. Climbing Middle Pal was out of the question.
Then the snow started falling on us. We decided to pack out then, given that the gulley below Finger was already becoming a bit hazardous and we had full packs to carry down. So we quickly packed up and headed down the gulley. The ice and snow made this descent interesting. (The decision to come out turned out to be an excellent one. We camped that night at Onion Valley in some horrendous weather and I'm sure the Palisades area got it good that night too.)
After reaching the main trail near the pond again the rest of the hike out was uneventful, but definitely a beautiful hike in the falling snow. Middle Pal will be there next time. : )
See pics here:
http://picasaweb.google.com/ph.spanos/F ... Sept192007
Pre-Whitney warm-up hike on Meysan Lakes trail, TR and pics here:
http://www.whitneyportalstore.com/forum ... #Post42081
Subsequent hike on Whitney main trail TR and pics are here:
http://www.whitneyportalstore.com/forum ... #Post42082