Snow Nymph
02-19-2004, 12:24 AM
Meysan Lake Parking to North Fork Lone Pine to Lower Boy Scout Lake
February 14-15, 2004
PHOTOS: http://community.webshots.com/user/trailho
SnowDude and I decided Friday morning to skip the Mammoth Mountain Mob Scene. Bob R. sends out a list of trips, and I had replied the day before, saying there was a 'slight chance' I might show up Saturday just to snow camp (they were leaving Friday to climb Mt Russell). By the time we decided NOT to go to Mammoth, I figured it was too late to ask anyone to go with me. When I left, SnowDude was a little concerned about me going winter backpacking solo, and mentioned a few times to "be careful", and "what about the ledges?", etc. Then after driving awhile, I began thinking about the 7 experienced hikers that died in the local mountains last month. I realized I was about to do the same thing, going solo in snowy conditions. When I have these thoughts, I listen. On the highway it happens, I slow down, and a cop goes flying by and pulls over the guy ahead of me. There’s a reason for everything, and I listen. So I called Calhiker. He had just replied to my post on the Whitney forum about going up the Mountaineer's Route. His pack was still semi-packed from the Fall Canyon trip 2 weeks ago, so he just had to throw his clothes and food in. He showed up in the morning, and we checked on the conditions at the visitor center. He didn't have snowshoes, ice axe or crampons, but I figured we'd go as far as we could, and a backup plan would be to camp at Lone Pine Lake, which is usually tracked out and on good trail. This was Calhiker’s first winter backpack so we would only go as far as was safe without snowshoes or crampons. We’ve dayhiked in snow before and he does ok without snowshoes. When I posthole to my knees, its just calf deep for him. I left my crampons in the truck, realizing that if I needed them, we would have to turn back anyway since Calhiker didn't have a pair of his own. They still would have provided me with better traction on the steeper slopes.
The Whitney Portal road was closed, but we were able to drive to the Meysan Lake parking area (7,900'). After repacking our packs, we started up the snow covered road at 11:15am, got to Whitney Portal trailhead (8,365') at noon, and took 1/2 hr break before heading up. We ran into a guy coming down the main trail who was pretty wiped out from his dayhike to Mirror Lake, almost incoherent. We turned right and headed up the North Fork trail, and shortly thereafter saw a guy coming down without snow gear. He said Lower Boy Scout Lake was doable without going up the ledges or needing the use of crampons or snowshoes. We were relieved to hear this. Then we caught up to a couple from the Czechoslovakian Republic who had really heavy packs on. The woman was struggling, so we said, 'hello' and passed them. I wanted to lighten my pack, so I put the snowshoes on, which made my packweight more bearable. At one point I stopped to take pictures, when out of nowhere a football size chunk of ice came tumbling down from the ledges above. We were thinking how fortunate we were to have stopped, because the ice had fallen some 50 feet and could have possibly seriously hurt one of us. We continued on, definitely more aware of our surroundings. Calhiker did fine without snowshoes, but near the top he started to posthole. This is where snowshoes would have made things easier for him. It was 34 deg at 3:45pm when we got to Lower Boy Scout Lake (10,440'). We put on extra layers, then found a pre-existing campsite. It wasn't big enough for 2 tents, so Calhiker took out the shovel and expanded the site while I went to get water. Bob R’s group was not at LBSL, so I’m glad I listened to my instincts. It wouldn't have been a good idea to be alone in these extreme conditions.
We stayed warm by setting up camp, and by 6pm I was ready to pump water. Air temp was 15 deg. I buried the water bag in snow for insulation, but it started freezing anyway. The PUR water filter didn't work with ice crystals in the water. The Camelback hoses were also freezing, so we spent time boiling water to defrost the hoses and filled the Camelbacks with hot water. My SnowPeak Gigapower (isobutane) worked just fine! Found out salad can freeze. I filled my nalgene with boiling water, then put the baggie of frozen salad next to it, so I had soft salad. It was 15 deg out and the wind was picking up, so we went to bed around 9pm. I didn’t realize Calhiker had a 2 season tent (he borrowed it from his brother) and in the morning when he woke up, the blowing snow had accumulated by his head. We both wore heavier boots that normally hurt our feet on longer hikes, but they did well in these conditions since we didn't have to go too far. I normally go 5 miles in the Montrails and my heels start feeling hot spots. I was feeling it by the time we got to camp, but the next day they were fine. It was really windy at night, and the snow from the boulder above kept falling on my tent. At one point it was blowing so hard I called out to Calhiker to see if he was ok. It sounded like his tent was ready to blow away. Sometime after midnight I looked out and didn’t see any stars overhead, just clouds. I was a little concerned about getting snowed on, since we only had one pair of snowshoes between the two of us to get down. It took awhile, but I finally fell asleep.
Sunday at 8am it was 20 deg inside my tent and 15 deg outside. There were blue skies and a light breeze, and by 9am it was 20 deg outside. We were heating water again and thawing Calhiker's Camelback hose (no room in his sleeping bag). I slept with my Camelback in the sleeping bag so it stayed warm. The sun hit our camp at 11:20 and the temperature changed from 22 deg to 45 deg in just a few minutes. We packed up and started down around noon. Part way down Walter Runkle passed us. He was on the Thor Peak trip we did in November. Then Bob Rockwell and Richard Piotrowski caught up to us. We did the gnarly icy section together. Bob slid on the ice and rolled over twice at the bottom. I took a picture of him just before the roll, and had the camera in position when he stopped, but I was worried about him at the moment and didn't take it. Bob's group left us behind, and I finally decided to take the snowshoes off, making it quicker to walk down the steep sections of the snowy trail. We got to the truck at 2:35pm, just as Bob was placing a goodbye note under the windshield wiper. We talked for a few minutes before they left. We thought they were hiking out on Monday, so it was a nice surprise to see them. They hadn't made their summit attempt of Mt. Russell due to soft snow conditions, but they didn't seem to mind. The experience alone was worth it, and they'll be back another day.
As we started driving down the snow and rock covered Whitney Portal Road, I asked Calhiker if he would do another winter backpack and he replied, “YEAH!”
February 14-15, 2004
PHOTOS: http://community.webshots.com/user/trailho
SnowDude and I decided Friday morning to skip the Mammoth Mountain Mob Scene. Bob R. sends out a list of trips, and I had replied the day before, saying there was a 'slight chance' I might show up Saturday just to snow camp (they were leaving Friday to climb Mt Russell). By the time we decided NOT to go to Mammoth, I figured it was too late to ask anyone to go with me. When I left, SnowDude was a little concerned about me going winter backpacking solo, and mentioned a few times to "be careful", and "what about the ledges?", etc. Then after driving awhile, I began thinking about the 7 experienced hikers that died in the local mountains last month. I realized I was about to do the same thing, going solo in snowy conditions. When I have these thoughts, I listen. On the highway it happens, I slow down, and a cop goes flying by and pulls over the guy ahead of me. There’s a reason for everything, and I listen. So I called Calhiker. He had just replied to my post on the Whitney forum about going up the Mountaineer's Route. His pack was still semi-packed from the Fall Canyon trip 2 weeks ago, so he just had to throw his clothes and food in. He showed up in the morning, and we checked on the conditions at the visitor center. He didn't have snowshoes, ice axe or crampons, but I figured we'd go as far as we could, and a backup plan would be to camp at Lone Pine Lake, which is usually tracked out and on good trail. This was Calhiker’s first winter backpack so we would only go as far as was safe without snowshoes or crampons. We’ve dayhiked in snow before and he does ok without snowshoes. When I posthole to my knees, its just calf deep for him. I left my crampons in the truck, realizing that if I needed them, we would have to turn back anyway since Calhiker didn't have a pair of his own. They still would have provided me with better traction on the steeper slopes.
The Whitney Portal road was closed, but we were able to drive to the Meysan Lake parking area (7,900'). After repacking our packs, we started up the snow covered road at 11:15am, got to Whitney Portal trailhead (8,365') at noon, and took 1/2 hr break before heading up. We ran into a guy coming down the main trail who was pretty wiped out from his dayhike to Mirror Lake, almost incoherent. We turned right and headed up the North Fork trail, and shortly thereafter saw a guy coming down without snow gear. He said Lower Boy Scout Lake was doable without going up the ledges or needing the use of crampons or snowshoes. We were relieved to hear this. Then we caught up to a couple from the Czechoslovakian Republic who had really heavy packs on. The woman was struggling, so we said, 'hello' and passed them. I wanted to lighten my pack, so I put the snowshoes on, which made my packweight more bearable. At one point I stopped to take pictures, when out of nowhere a football size chunk of ice came tumbling down from the ledges above. We were thinking how fortunate we were to have stopped, because the ice had fallen some 50 feet and could have possibly seriously hurt one of us. We continued on, definitely more aware of our surroundings. Calhiker did fine without snowshoes, but near the top he started to posthole. This is where snowshoes would have made things easier for him. It was 34 deg at 3:45pm when we got to Lower Boy Scout Lake (10,440'). We put on extra layers, then found a pre-existing campsite. It wasn't big enough for 2 tents, so Calhiker took out the shovel and expanded the site while I went to get water. Bob R’s group was not at LBSL, so I’m glad I listened to my instincts. It wouldn't have been a good idea to be alone in these extreme conditions.
We stayed warm by setting up camp, and by 6pm I was ready to pump water. Air temp was 15 deg. I buried the water bag in snow for insulation, but it started freezing anyway. The PUR water filter didn't work with ice crystals in the water. The Camelback hoses were also freezing, so we spent time boiling water to defrost the hoses and filled the Camelbacks with hot water. My SnowPeak Gigapower (isobutane) worked just fine! Found out salad can freeze. I filled my nalgene with boiling water, then put the baggie of frozen salad next to it, so I had soft salad. It was 15 deg out and the wind was picking up, so we went to bed around 9pm. I didn’t realize Calhiker had a 2 season tent (he borrowed it from his brother) and in the morning when he woke up, the blowing snow had accumulated by his head. We both wore heavier boots that normally hurt our feet on longer hikes, but they did well in these conditions since we didn't have to go too far. I normally go 5 miles in the Montrails and my heels start feeling hot spots. I was feeling it by the time we got to camp, but the next day they were fine. It was really windy at night, and the snow from the boulder above kept falling on my tent. At one point it was blowing so hard I called out to Calhiker to see if he was ok. It sounded like his tent was ready to blow away. Sometime after midnight I looked out and didn’t see any stars overhead, just clouds. I was a little concerned about getting snowed on, since we only had one pair of snowshoes between the two of us to get down. It took awhile, but I finally fell asleep.
Sunday at 8am it was 20 deg inside my tent and 15 deg outside. There were blue skies and a light breeze, and by 9am it was 20 deg outside. We were heating water again and thawing Calhiker's Camelback hose (no room in his sleeping bag). I slept with my Camelback in the sleeping bag so it stayed warm. The sun hit our camp at 11:20 and the temperature changed from 22 deg to 45 deg in just a few minutes. We packed up and started down around noon. Part way down Walter Runkle passed us. He was on the Thor Peak trip we did in November. Then Bob Rockwell and Richard Piotrowski caught up to us. We did the gnarly icy section together. Bob slid on the ice and rolled over twice at the bottom. I took a picture of him just before the roll, and had the camera in position when he stopped, but I was worried about him at the moment and didn't take it. Bob's group left us behind, and I finally decided to take the snowshoes off, making it quicker to walk down the steep sections of the snowy trail. We got to the truck at 2:35pm, just as Bob was placing a goodbye note under the windshield wiper. We talked for a few minutes before they left. We thought they were hiking out on Monday, so it was a nice surprise to see them. They hadn't made their summit attempt of Mt. Russell due to soft snow conditions, but they didn't seem to mind. The experience alone was worth it, and they'll be back another day.
As we started driving down the snow and rock covered Whitney Portal Road, I asked Calhiker if he would do another winter backpack and he replied, “YEAH!”