Mt Hale 13,494ft

[tomcat_rc]

Saturday August 11, 2007,

Rachel and I were supposed to join Snow Nymph and Dave G. for a hike
to Mt. Hale - the chosen peak for day 9 of the 2007 Sierra
Challenge. we were supposed to start at 4am. Snowy and Dave were
both exhausted from climbing University the day before told us they
not going to make it - that they would just do Mt. Thor instead with
a late start(after sleeping in).

we made good time - arriving at East Face Lake in under 4 hours.
after a brief break for snacks it was on to the Arctic Lakes
drainage via the Whitney- Russell pass. at the pass we drop appr
1000 feet or so to Arctic Lake then pick a chute to climb up to the
plateau for Hale. arrived at the summit at 1pm(Mt. Hale 13,494ft.)
with stunning views in all directions.

we arrived back at portals at 7:45 making a 15.25 hour day. Doug
still had the grille open so we ordered burgers and fries to put
some calories back in us. found a few friends at the portals to
enjoy some good after hike company incl Snow Nymph and Dave G. all in all another good hike in the high country.

pictures:
http://tomcat-rc.smugmug.com/gallery/3296395#183084778

[KathyW]

Tom: Congrats on getting Hale - that's one long tough day. You got some really beautiful pictures. I especially liked the morning sun on the mountains and the flower pictures you took.

Kathy

[madeintahoe]

Tom..those are beautiful! Thats awesome the shooting star was in bloom still..and the reast of the pretty flowers..nice to see that