Topics related to peak bagging, rock climbing and bouldering in the foothills and high country of the Sierra Nevada. Be sure to also check out the Information Booth forum category to learn from / see if you can contribute to a profile for High Sierra 13'ers, 14'ers and cross country passes.
A few wrong moves getting to the Ridge, Trailbuds rotator is done rotatin, Justin slipped, slid and stopped inches from being thrown from the mountain, dark clouds came over us. Time to get down.
It just wasn't our day.
Besides all the bad juju, there was plenty of water all the way to the base of Abbot, no need for crampons, I would take ice axe , may not really need it but just for insurance, a few good size rocks on the couloir so take a helmet.
Afew shots here http://outdoors.webshots.com/album/564192791DNeEcg
I had instep 4 pointers, didn't need em, boots would work fine here
Had a bad feeling about the weather
Went too high off the couloir, moving down to access the trail to the class 3 stuff
Seldom does it seem that an Abbot trip goes off without a hitch. I don't know how things are nowadays, but in '77 when climbed the thing, the summit register had the most consistently gloomiest tone I've ever read. To this day I've never seen a register with entries like that. The sunny jubilation that radiates out of most summit register books was replaced by emotions such as "why are we here?" and, most prominently "how are we getting down from here?" The only exception I recall reading was from some fellow who climbed the doggone thing in his basketball shoes! His jaunty concluding remark was something to the effect "Converse All-Star canvas high tops are the best". My own experience had moments that would have done justice to Clarence King's most hair raising accounts.
When I climbed Abbott (from the west, and that was harrowing enough for me, especially solo), there was an entry in the register by some guy claiming to be up there with his 7 year old son. I was tempted to write "LIAR!" next to his entry.
