California Odyssey Page 3...

LBSL is stunning. We stop for a lunch break and heat up some canned Beef Stew (Dinty Moore!) which fuels us for the rest of the day:

The lake is so beautiful and serene it almost seems like a hidden paradise. Trout occasionally break the surface of the lake and the crystal clear water allows us to watch them glide around underwater. Our path will take us further up the drainage to the left of and then eventually onto the large slabs in the center of this picture:

Again, this picture is a lesson in scale, since it looks like it would only take 15 minutes to jaunt around the lake and up the slabs to the next lake (Upper Boy Scout Lake). In fact, it is a pretty long hike and the slabs just get bigger and bigger as you approach them. Hiking out west is always an incredible experience just for the sheer scale of everything!

We eventually top out and step onto the large slabs following rock cairns built by prior hikers (a great route finding aid!) leading uphill to Upper Boy Scout Lake (UBSL). About half-way up the slabs the sky darkens, turns grey and soon a light snow is falling as we finish up on the slabs:

I immediately start thinking about the possibility that maybe it won’t STOP snowing and the slabs will become entirely covered in snow (remembering how it snowed on Longs Peak!). The forecast at the ranger station didn’t call for any snow, but mountain weather can be fickle. It continues to snow all the way up to our stopping point at UBSL but it remains light and eventually tapers off to just a few flakes.

Here we are, arrived at UBSL in the snow!

We find a cozy little site that already has a rock windbreak built, although this mountain is totally unlike Longs Peak. There is barely a ripple of wind here and the silence is almost complete. We sort out our gear, set up the tent and start adding layers of clothing as the afternoon temperature starts dropping.

We are no longer able to see the summit of Whitney since intermediate peaks block our view. There is another couple camping at UBSL and we walk over and introduce ourselves and briefly compare notes. They seem well prepared for the conditions and look like they are very experienced.

As the sun sets and the temperature drops I heat up some dehydrated food for dinner and we eventually turn in early just to get out of the cold. I had brought a small little candle lantern that I hung from the center of the tent. It burns 8-hour candles that both provide a bit of illumination and more importantly, add a bit of heat to the tent. With the candle lantern burning most of the night and us comfortable dressed in our fleece clothing inside our sleeping bags the temperature in the tent only dipped down to about 38 degrees at the coldest, while outside it was probably closer to 18 or so. Compared to Longs Peak the night was positively balmy and not a drop of wind!

The morning broke crisp and clear and I immediately dressed and packed a day-pack for the summit attempt. I heated up some water and made our instant oatmeal for breakfast. Marisa is generally not a morning person per-se, and definitely not on the side of a 14-thousand + mountain with the temperature below freezing. She ate some of her oatmeal, but after brushing her teeth her stomach turned and she ended up vomiting all of her breakfast and most of yesterday’s water. I knew she was suffering from altitude sickness already and that was a huge concern for me. She didn’t want to let me down, but I already knew that the likelihood that we would make the summit together was pretty slim.

Daybreak at camp:

The only cure for altitude sickness is descending to a lower altitude. While altitude sickness around 10 to 12-thousand feet generally isn’t life threatening, it is a miserable feeling, and being miserable both slows you down and may make one apt to make mistakes. After throwing up Marisa said she felt a fair bit better and that we should try to go up.

We started heading up the trail toward Iceberg Lake. Again I was impressed by the fact that it wasn’t just a hop-skip-and a jump to Iceberg Lake, it was a serious hike up a rather deceptive route. Though it looked as though the plateau holding the lake was always very near (vertically) it took a lot of time and energy to eventually reach it.

Upon reaching Iceberg Lake you really get a sense of how close you really are to making the summit. Your mind fools you into believing that the remaining gully up to the Notch doesn’t look so bad and that in fact you might be standing on the summit in just an hour or so. A group of Asian men was breaking camp at Iceberg and I went over to speak with them. They had summitted the previous day and were heading down today. When I asked them how long they estimated it would take to get from where we were standing to the Notch they conferred and agreed about 2 hours. I was a bit shocked since I knew I had to probably at least multiply that by half for our slow progress. 3 hours to the Notch then maybe an hour or more to either traverse or go up one of the chutes and we’d be looking at mid-afternoon (best case) for us to reach the summit. I knew right then that we would not make the summit. The guys were very friendly and encouraging and after a few moments for me to grab some water from the lake for our final push we headed up the rock and scree slope toward the gully.

A vertical panoramic photo of Iceberg Lake and the gully leading up to the Notch:

Marisa and I started up the gully and made it as far as where it constricted at probably one of the tightest points. We had ditched our poles and were climbing using our hands and legs. The footing was pretty bad although the snow in the gully was minimal and we had finally worked our way over to the right side and were starting to get good traction on some of the large slabs. Noting our pace I made the decision to stop the ascent. I knew we could make it to the top. We would have made it to the top. And I wanted to go to the top. But, I knew that at our pace and more importantly our descending pace, we would likely not be back to our camp-site before dark. I had packed our head-lamps for that eventuality, and we had plenty of cold weather clothes in the pack, but I just didn’t want to risk route-finding in the dark. So at about 1/3 of the way up to the Notch we turned around and headed down.

Marisa working her way back down the gulley toward Iceberg Lake:

On the way down the other couple that was camping near us at UBSL was heading up the extreme left edge of the gully, preferring to do more Class 3 type climbing on the slabs to slogging up the scree in the center of the gully. I wonder if they made it?

Looking back down at Iceberg Lake on the way back down:

After the grade mellowed a bit I turned around to take this picture of the sheer face of Whitney, the clouds were almost like a halo around the summit. This is a panoramic comprised of 2 pictures, one of Whitney and the other of Keelers Needles:

We descended all the way back down to our camp at UBSL, looked at our watches and determined that if we hustled we could break camp and be off the E-Ledges by dark. With Marisa recovering, but still sick, and both of use tired from our previous weeks hikes, we packed up like banshees and headed down the trail in a dust cloud!

On the descent back into UBSL our tent is just visible as a yellow blob in the right quarter of the picture:

Marisa working her way down the slabs between UBSL and LBSL:

Crossing the outlet of LBSL with the streamers of green algae waving in the current:

Marisa coming down the North Fork drainage, approaching the Ledges:

Off the Ledges and home-free, now we just have to make it to the Portal Store to get our hamburger before the grill closes!

At the bottom of the trail, sunburned and chapped, but healthy and alive to hike another day!

The hike was spectacular, everything I thought it could be and more. I was surprised that Marisa got altitude sickness again since we tried to improve over everything we did wrong in Colorado. We acclimated more gradually with several days each at 5000 and 9000. She drank plenty of water and ate well. I was pretty much unaffected by the altitude, so it must be a quirk of physiology that prevents her from acclimating as quickly.

Even so, she did a great job getting as high as she did and I have no doubt that we could have made the summit. It was an easy decision to turn around with her though, even though I might have been able to race up and tag the summit. When I did that at Longs Peak, and left her alone on the side of the Narrows it was one of the most miserable times in my life, so I had decided that morning that I wouldn’t break out the two-way radios that I had brought for just that eventuality. If one of us didn’t make it, neither of us was going for the summit. We were very close, but I figure the mountain will be there forever and to put it in the words of General Douglas MacArthur..”I shall return…”

After getting off of Whitney we checked into the Dow Villa motel there at the base of the mountain in Lone Pine and reveled in clean sheets and a warm shower.

The next day we headed for Las Vegas, which was probably the most idiotic place for two mountain wanders to go. Never having been to Las Vegas the lights and noise and ornate casinos were cool, for about the first couple hours. Then I noticed that nobody was smiling, and everything was fake. We did see the Blue Man Show, which was absolutely incredible (high recommend it!) and enjoyed walking around people watching. We were definitely ready to leave by the time our flight pulled off the gate for Charlotte via Los Angeles.

Marisa at one of the EuroDisney casinos (Caesars? Bellagio? Who knows?)

Chris inside one of the casino mall areas with the fake blue sky:



Marisa in front of the Stratosphere:



The view out our window on the top floor of the Westin:

We had a great trip. Yosemite was the highlight since reaching the summit of Half Dome and getting engaged was just incredible. An awesome location for an awesome girl. I’m still reeling that she said yes! (She may have changed her mind after that episode on the Ledges though!). The Rock Creek area was equally impressive and Whitney just blew me away with both the size and difficulty. Hiking Whitney is no easy feat and my hat goes off to those that have done it (some people do it in a day!!).

Thanks to everyone who has helped prepare us for this trip and offered suggestions and advice. You know who you are!

If you are interested in any of the hikes we did during our "California Odyssey" drop us an e-mail and we'll send you a free DVD that we made of our hikes.  It is pretty entertaining with great still shots, music and video.

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