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Still just one to go.... White Mountain proves a little tougher than we bargained for.
On Friday January 27th 2012 we did start up White Mountain from the West. This, the last of our 14ers, was to be a challenge in winter with the approach roads closed. It could be very cold and windy on top. Deborah, Adrian, Carey Gregg and Derek Castle made up the group. After a rough dirt road from Hwy 6 near Bishop to a trail head, we followed a narrow foot trail into the canyon and soon reached the remains of the lower mining camp of the abandoned Champion Spark Plug mine. After a quick look at the interesting remains and the slightly renovated cabins we continued up a poor but fun trail to the upper camp perched in a high side valley. This camp was next to the diggings and many tunnels and shafts riddled the hillside and cliffs. A couple of cabins were still barely standing and we lunched in one of them. Our route up the western ridges seemed to be rarely travelled and so we had found no trip notes or trail maps. Thus we followed the only existing routes which led through the abandoned mine camps. We hoped that there might be a trail heading on upward from the upper mine camp but we found only traces for a few hundred yards beore everything evaported into the dry scrub and snow on the top of the ridge. At least we were on the ridge top though and surely it must be plain sailing up these ridges as they coalesced and eventually connected with the summit ridge 5000 ft above. We struggled up the ridge through sparse stunted juniper with full packs for a couple of hours and then made our camp at a convienient clearing on one of the few flat spots on the ridge. Ahead, the ridge looked broken and rocky as it rose to the first knoll that we could see but it probably improved beyond, we thought. A 50/50 chance of success agreed Derek and Adrian as we lay in the tent that evening.
We got a good start at 5:30 am on Saturday mroning and followed the crest but it immediately became a full contact scramble with large boulders, thin treacherous snow cover and thick brush. After 2 and a half hours we had made a half mile progress and Derek and Ados agreed that the 'summit likelehood meter' was now done to 10%. Two hours later with no imporvement in the state of teh ridge line and only more ahead, our spirits were as low as our 'summit likelehood meter'. We realized that there was no way we could make it to the top and back before dark and any time on this terrain during the return journey in the dark would be terribly slow. The weather was great but we knew we also had to allow for the chance of poor weather coming in and it was not prudent to committ ourselves to the kind of return journey that the day might end with. So we turned around and retraced our steps. The silver lining was that we packed up camp and moved down to the cabins at the lower mining camp where we had a delightful second night on the mountain in relative comfort.
So White Mountain, the last 14er to summit for the Climb for a Cure team, and an easy walk-up, IF you do it in summer, proved to be a fun if tough challenge and got the better of us. We will re-group!
Regardless of the outcome of this
attempt, we will be climbing White Mountain this summer which is a high altitude
hike that many can achieve.
Email us if you are interested in joining us on the White Mountain hike
this August or September..
Russell and Split summitted in a great trip.
August 3rd thru 7th we climbed Russell and Split.
Deborah and Adrian along with Ray Kablanow, Carey Gregg, Christopher Crane,
Jonathan Crane, Adrian Bennett, and Josh Boek. The climb of Russell began at
Whitney Portal along the mountaineering route and up the infamous ledges to our
camp at Upper Boy Scout Lake. Early the next morning we headed up to the east
arete (ridge) through a scree-filled gully. We traversed west along the
sometimes knife-like ridge mostly roped together in two teams until we reached
the eastern summit, then traversed another short ridge that took us to the true
western summit of Russell (#13 for Climb for a Cure). Our descent to base camp
was exhausting, since most of us had run out of water half way back and were
dehydrated as well as tired. The next morning after descending to the vehicle we
were on our way to Split Mtn, but it was 5:00 pm before we arrived at the
trailhead. We blazed up 4000 vertical feet of elevation to our base camp at
lower Red Lake chasing the suns descent. We arrived using headlamps at 9:40 pm
and set up a beautiful campsite by the lake. Early the next morning we were off
again towards the summit of Split Mtn, looking for the most doable route among
the snowfields and rock. Eventually we reached a point where we realized we were
"home free", as we could see the rest of our ascent to the summit was easy small
boulders and scree. Summit #14 for Climb for a Cure! From the Summit of Split we
could see 12 other 14ers!
In honor of breast cancer survivors Loretta Ghaner and Koehler, Deborah was
dressed all in PINK the entire trip. She was very picturesque even though some
other climbers probably had trouble taking her seriously. We wrote the names of
several cancer victims in the summit box (see our picture of the summit log).
includng Richard Minkkenen who passed away on June 19th after a battle with
cancer. Richard is the brother in law of Barbara Miller a dear friend of ours in
Modesto, California.
The whole trip was a fabulous experience, and on the way down Adrian and I were
reflecting on what an amazing journey this has been. Our only 14er left is White
Mtn, which is a hike anyone can join, not a true climb.
Email us if you are interested in joining us on the White Mountain
hike, and we will have more details later. Thank you to everyone for your
prayers and encouragement! If you wish to make a
donation, go to:
Donate You may also find
the link to the donation page, pictures, and stories about our climbs on:
www.climb14ers.org
More story and pictures to follow soon - please keep checking this page.
You may also see the track our climb on SPOT satellite tracking at:
Spot satellite tracking
Now we need only summit White Mountain.. We hope to climb White mountain , the
'easiest' of the California Fourteeners with a group of friends and supporters.
If you would like to join us please
Email us about the White mountain climb. Details to follow.
Success on Williamson in May..
On May 20th 2011 we reached the summit of Williamson at 11:20 in the morning.
Strangely it was perfectly still and warm on the summit even though it had been
windy and snowing as we climbed the final 1000 feet up. The long approach and
cold weather as well as the steep climbing made this a hard summit to gain.
After last years failure because we climbed the wrong gully, it was a relief to
have Ryan Swehla along to confirm we got the right route this time and to ably
lead us through the technical sections. Deborah, Adrian, Ryan, Ray and Carey all
summitted Williamson together. Ryan, Ray and Adrian also climbed Tyndal as Ryan
needed that summit for his separate quest of the 14ers. We are very glad to
report that Deborah, who was worried about a knee injury, was able to complete
the strenuous climb in fine form and is no worse for wear afterward.uest of the
14ers. We are very glad to report that Deborah, who was worried about a knee
injury, was able to complete the strenuous climb in fine form and is no worse
for wear afterward.
Read the Full Story of Williamson climb
Pictures
on Flicker
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