i can see for miles and miles

'party leader'? 'party leader'!

they want MY signature on THAT line? my heart skipped a beat as i realized what i was getting myself and my friends into. i was leading a climb on mt. whitney, in the fall, when conditions can run from sunny days of 70deg to complete white-outs with blizzard conditions.

the whole thing started as a whim after finishing the backpacking trip that wade and i led back in june. we were both pretty fit, found that we click really well in the outdoors and enjoy pushing that envelope a little. well, actually, the whole thing started back in 2001 when i made my first attempt at whitney and was only able to make it to the notch. so, for a few years now, she's been in the back of my mind, and when the idea sparked about asking wade if he'd be interested in trying again, i knew it'd be a fun trip.

jump forward to september of this year and out of the blue, i ask wade at one of our bible studies if he'd like to give it a go this fall. of course he was in. jeremy, another avid outdoorsman happened to be present and expressed an interest in going too. so we had three. a day or two later, rick, jeremy's father in law, was the fourth.

i did some research, and found out that permits were still required for the north fork trail (mountaineers route) until november, and that there was a quota of only 10 a day on that route. oh, and all the reservations were full for the weekends that we'd hoped to go. no worries, i figured, i'll just head up early and get the 4 permits they reserve a day for walk in's. we planned the trip for oct 1-3 and the guys quickly prepared for the climb.

last thursday, i took the day off from work, woke at 4am and hit the road at zero dark thirty, headed for lone pine. i showed up at 10am on the dot, just in time to see if there were any cancelations for entry on the trail for thursday. there were seven available. the ranger asked how many i needed, i responded with 'four' and she dropped the bombshell, 'i can only give you three'.

and all the rangers in the station erupted with laughter. my face must have gone pale. oh, she got me good with the joke. i don't blame her for dishing it out though, as i figure they all get beat up by hikers the entire season. she printed up the permit for four, slid it across the counter and asked me to sign it.

...on the 'party leader' line.

i scribbled my john hancock and the deal was done. we now had our permit, on a walk-in basis, and we were ready to tackle the climb. i headed up to horseshoe meadow for a bit to get acclimatized and played for a while in the snow that was falling up there. it was so serene, that i ended up taking a bit of a nap too. i eventually headed back to the whitney portal to get a campsite for the night before the hike and get the tents set up for the guys late arrival. wade, jeremy and rick showed up around midnight and immediately crashed.

we woke at 6am on friday and started getting ready for the trip. we had breakfast, broke camp and prepped for the hike. at just before 9am we hit the trail and started the approach to our base camp at iceberg. the trail is about a short 4 miles, but with 4000' of elevation gain and several technical sections. we cruised along at a pretty good pace and hit the ebersbacher ledges without too much exertion. the ledges were our first 3rd class section, with a quick scramble up to the base of the ledges, a tight-rope walk out onto them and then another couple 3rd class sections to gain the upper ledges. easy, unweighted, but with a full pack it can be a little un-nerving. all the guys handled it quite well and didn't have any issue with the height or the exposure.

we continued up to lower boyscout lake where we took a lunch break. two hours into the approach and everyone was feeling pretty good. we noticed a substantial amount of ice on the lake, which had us thinking that iceberg lake would be completely frozen over and wondering what the water situation would be like. we fueled up on chicken tacos and headed off for the steepest section of the approach. the boulder field and slabs below upper boyscout.

we made quick work of the steep boulder field and hit the granite slabs below upper boyscout with renewed energy. i think it was at this point that we found out that this was ricks first backpacking adventure. sure, he was in good shape from running and his work as a firefighter, but he'd never done anything at altitude, let alone try to bag a peak. i think wade and i both were pretty amazed. rick was hanging right with us and chatting along as if he was an old hand at it. no pun intended, rick!

after the slabs, we climbed up over the saddle below iceberg lake and began the long valley hike to the base of the iceberg lake cliff. at this point we'd left all vegetation far behind and the area began to take on the shape of the surface of the moon. huge piles of glacial deposit and exfoliation of granite filled the valley and spread out like fans from the bases of huge granite monoliths. spooky, desolate and serene. life at altitude is a bizarre and beautiful treat.

we hit the base of the iceberg cliff and failed to go far enough past the waterfall to find the true route up. we ended up doing some 3rd class climbing up some wet ledges to gain the iceberg bowl. with full packs, it again was un-nerving. everyone made it up, but not without feeling a little uneasy about it. for those not knowing what the summit would hold, i'm sure it placed doubts in their minds.

we set up camp in one of the rock wind shelters that scatter the iceberg bowl. we had a great view of the east buttress and the route we'd be climbing the following day. we were fortunate that iceberg lake was completely ice free. i couldn't figure out why lower boyscout, which is actually moving water was partially frozen over, while iceberg, 2000' higher and 10 degrees colder, was ice free. that was until i looked at the photos after getting home. the lake is pure snow melt and rain. no filtering through the rocks, just whatever had dumped from the sky. no doubt full of acid or other forms of pollution. from above, it looked like a huge bowl of anti-freeze. i'm sure glad we didn't try to drink straight from it!

the temperature started to drop, so we made a quick dinner and decided to get in the bags to keep warm. i was really feeling the effects of the altitude and was so nauseous that i could barely keep down the couple bites of spaghetti that i had. about 15 minutes after eating though my stomach settled down and i was able to doze off. 11 hours of tossing and turning later, the alarm went off at 6am and we slowly began rise from the restless slumber. when i crawled out of the bag, we were treated with a beautiful site of the moon sitting right above the peak. the light was too low for me to get a good, steady shot, so the only thing i took away from the scene was the memory.

fortunately, shortly after getting up and starting breakfast, the sun crested the ridge and began to light up the east buttress. God couldn't have planned a better wake-up call. the light on the rock face began to take the grey/blue granite from orange, to pink, to white. i broke out the camera, awestruck, and began shooting pictures. as soon as i'd put it away, a new shade of colour would present itself, just as majestic as the last. the guys were treated to alpenglow at it's finest.

after a quick breakfast and gearing up, we were off on our attempt at the summit. the route required heading up the talus field at the base of the east buttress chute, then moving into the chute and up to the notch just below the summit. after the notch was a steep, 3rd class gully, and then the summit. we began picking our way up the talus toward the chute. i was feeling quite well, considering the nausea from the night before. wade and jeremy were feeling great and handling the altitude well. i let them motor on to the notch while i kept it slow and easy with rick. rick and i took a couple breaks on the way up. there was quite a bit of snow in the chute, and as we neared the notch, the shade and wind really caused the temperature to drop. we both ended up putting on shells to cut down on the chill.

two hours after starting up, rick and i were at the notch. i was beginning to feel some of the altitude, but it wasn't too bad. rick looked great, and though he said he was feeling the altitude, he sure didn't show it. wade and jeremy were no where to be seen. i scouted around a bit and didn't find any tracks in the snow leading into the gully that we needed to climb. i found a trail in the snow leading to the walk around, a longer trail that climbs the back side of the summit plateau, but with no 3rd class climbing. doubling back, i checked out the gully and realized why there were no tracks in it. every hold and ledge was covered with snow. obviously not something you'd want to climb without being roped up, and not icy enough to use crampons and ice gear on. a fall in that gully would mean a drop to the canyon below.

rick and i assumed that wade and jeremy had taken the walk around, so we pushed on, following the cairns and footprints in the snow. shortly before hitting the summit plateau, we came across a group of climbers coming down. they explained how close we were to the summit and where to head once we gained the plateau. excited at how close we were, rick and i powered on.

an odd weather pattern had moved in over the summit. clouds swirled around the peak, obscuring everything to the east, but leaving the western view of the muir wilderness completely un-obstructed. as we made our way toward the summit, the clouds broke overhead and gave us great sun and wonderful views to the west. shortly, rick and i came within view of the summit hut. we looked through the bodies on the summit and picked out wade and jeremy. success at last. all four of us had made it.

the altitude was beginning to turn my stomach again, so after a brief 'hello' to wade and jeremy, and finding out that they'd come up one of the lesser gullies to gain the summit (what madmen!), we headed back down the walk around route. jeremy and i moved out ahead of wade and rick and i dropped into 'altitude zombie' mode. pounding head, churning stomach, lightheaded. we skied down the top part of the chute through the talus and scree and then transitioned over to the blocks to finish out the decent back to iceberg lake.

down at the camp, it began to spit snow. not wanting to have to deal with packing wet tents down the mountain in the morning and laying in a bag for another 11 hour night, jeremy and i began to break camp. rick and wade showed up a little bit later. wade was feeling a bit of nausea at this point too, and made the wise choice of forcing himself to eat. packed up, we were ready to begin the decent by 4pm.

the trip back down the mountain was uneventful until we hit lower boyscout lake. we thought we'd have no problem hitting the ebersbacher ledges before dark, but we were treated with a pitch black sky and no moon by the time we were there. donning head lamps, we began the careful trek across the ledges, gingerly navigating the down climbing of several 3rd class sections. each of the guys, despite feeling fatigue from the climb and altitude, breezed right through what was probably the hardest section of the entire trip. once past the ledges, it was just a long steep, downhill slog back to the portal.

at 9pm, we arrived at the vehicles. legs dead, minds numb. the epic trip was over, finally a success. as i think back on the two days with these guys, i'm amazed at how well we all clicked. everyone willing to pull their weight and more, everyone encouraging of each other, everyone supportive of each other. what a great bunch of guys it was to take up to the summit, and what a great success it was for all four of us to be able to summit. thanks guys, for an amazing trip.

Posted by boingo at October 4, 2004 11:29 AM