Maverick's 2017 Annual HST Meet-up

[Jimr]

Mike, it was good to meet you and Jeanine.

[Jimr]

Some fishing action.

[Gazelle]

I am alive and well! What a great meet up!!! I left the meet up on Saturday morning heading to the lake below striped mtn, left my pack and had the intention of doing Ruskin went cc to the raging river and decided Ruskin was not in the cards so headed back up and did the west side of peak 3977 and the ridge line to cardinal peak, back to the pack and up to striped lake. Jimr let me tell you I don't think you could have caught my 1/2 fish there, they were HUGE never seen anything like it!. Great camp spot with beautiful views.

next day took pack to tarn below Goodale hiked Goodale and Striped the headed down Taboose I too looked at the 2nd crossing and the North trail? I crossed the river figuring if need be I would camp at the lower crossing. Got to the lower at 4:30pm and decided full shoes on to cross and yes VERY exciting! On the other side were 3 folks going to camp for the evening looking at them I said it was a good decision. I will tell you that trail goes on FOREVER! slept at trailhead then next morning walked to 395 and hitched to Bishop where I picked up my permit for mono pass for wed/thurs. Stayed with my friend at Toms place mon/tues night .
Got dropped off wed morning at the pack station to go over half moon pass to pioneer basin, set up tent for impending thunder storms and headed for Huntington got back before it started to rain. next day Stanford and Crocker peaks, before picking up pack to head back to pack station over half moon pass.
Then yep friday morning the fun began, I meet up with the Sierra challenge folks for a 6am start to 3rd recess peak (not secors) so yes back up half moon pass, down mono creek to the 3rd recess past the lake to the peak, long story short myself and the friend I did dinner plate special with were the 1st to finish that day at 2:50. personally I didn't think I was that fast compared to these people (but I guess I am!). 2nd day i did not do the challenge peak I did Royce, Merriam, and Treasure BM, and got rained on in the process. 3rd day I did the challenge peak the higher peak by four gables and four gables (was 1 st to the summits) and shared the fast time with Bob burd and his friend Micheal. Yesterday did Humphreys with 1 of the participants great peak but from what I can tell much looser in the chokestone chute then past years. Sierra challenge is on facebook this year just look it up.

Anyway had a great adventure! thanks to Hobbes for the use of his inreach mine did come back to life (will be talking to garmin about my problem). trip reports coming as always will take awhile.

Thanks for the fish Jim!

[Jimr]

You are entirely welcome!

[Hobbes]

they were HUGE never seen anything like it!.

Now I must really go back. Maybe up Taboose, over Mather, then the SHR to Bishop & out.

the 1st to finish that day at 2:50

Congrats. It's comforting to know you're not just fast compared to we civilians, but also your fellow xtreme athletes.

my inreach did come back to life (will be talking to garmin about my problem).

Interesting. Maybe they'll comp you with a new one for providing field data on the sporadic failure. PS Did you get my address? No hurry, I might go back up the 1st week of Sept.

[maverick]

Hobbes wrote:

V lake. You should try to make it.

On the list, but not till 2020 Hobbes, though, you could use the SHR to come the 2018 location, which will be announced.

[Ashery]

On the list, but not till 2020 Hobbes...

In which case, you've just given me an excuse to visit that area later this season,

[oleander]

So glad to see Gazelle out and alive and well!

Saw on Facebook that JMTBluewater is back too, looking forward to his report.

[Bluewater]

I made it back just in time to leave again in two days! But before taking off again I wanted to post a few from the HST Meetup. It was a great time this year and it was good to see many familiar faces and even some new ones.

I will post a trip report later but the very condensed version of my 18 day trip is that I ended up hiking the JMT all the way to Happy Isles plus a bunch of side trips and even some cross country through Palisades Basin in the snow.

Jim taking a brief fishing break from fishing with Oleander:



Alpine Mike and Jeanine:



Hobbes keeping with the UL style:



Victor getting ready to hit the runway/trail:



The golden hour on Bench Lake:



Sunset clouds were lurking behind us:



Some of the HST crew chilling lakeside:



An excellent place for a meetup:



Some beautiful waterfront camps:



Custom (homemade) gear from Victor:



Hobbes says you're not really UL until you make your own gear:



Old school Zpacks Hexamid (circa 2010, 8 ozs of luxury away from bugs and storms):



Alpine Mike said there was room for all of this:



. . . inside his new Tarptent:



Gazelles SMD Skyscape X:



Luxe Freestanding:



Vickis home away from home:



When I first arrived Gazelle and Victor were climbing Arrow Peak and I took a trip to one of my favorite backcountry destinations, the Emerald Pools:







And a final look back on the way out:



Thank you to everyone for making it a fun meetup. I'm already looking forward to next year.

[Jimr]

Great shots Andy! Please send me a high res of myself and Lisa. Oh yeah, of Karl too (I'm sure he won't mind)? What can I say Victor, confident men can pose any damn way they choose :-)

That cloud shot is very dramatic, as well as Emerald Pools.