Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board WPSMB Group MR Climb 4/20/2012, Third Edition?

Get your 2012 calendars out! I hereby propose the third annual unofficial, non-sanctioned, non-organized, WPSMB Group MR Climb.

I plan to head up the weekend of 4/20/2012 with summit day being Saturday the 21st. It would be nice to see other WPSMB members on the route. Permit quotas don't begin until May.

To review the past WPSMB April follies, go to:
WPSMB Group MR Climb, Second Edition
MC Has Spoken- MR

Jim, yes great idea! Any flexibility on dates or is the 20th the only date you can go?

Anything is possible, but at this point that's the only April weekend that's not penciled for something on my calendar.

Only crossed my mind for a couple of seconds before I thought better of it (meaning making an announcement)... but I'm already working on a new (climbing) project that will have me up there the weekend of 03.30.12 - 04.01.12.

Do tell! Spending the last night of every month on top? Lemurian party? April fool jokes?

i habe an april fools joke...

Check RP's smugmug for details.......

Richard, stay away from Mammoth in a little over a year . . .

By the way, how's the half-million foot-gain goal coming? Still in your sights?

Shin helped me finish that off a few weeks ago. The year will probably end at slightly less than 600k. Shin knows a retired couple who have also achieved this milestone, so there's still hope for many more years of climbing.

That's just incredible Richard - 600K' in a year is well over 11K' per week on average! If I push it these last two weeks of the year, I'll hit 100K' - I can't fathom the kind of numbers you put up. Hearty congrats!

Thanks, Gary.

I have a BIG advantage over you in that the far southern Sierra are right out my front door. (Well, about 15 miles away...) It's pretty easy for me to head out and knock off 3K after work during longer daylight hours.

In regard to the streak I had going a few years ago... KW was guiding a group on Whitney the weekend the streak ended. All I would have had to do was drive down and put one foot in front of the other, knowing that a perfect track was waiting... With February out of the way, it could have easily gone on for another 8 months, which would have put it at 26. That number seems impossible to me now.

Congrats on 100K. (You've said it out loud, so you have to do it.) That's a BIG number too!

Richard that's the biggest thing you and me have in common stat geeks......I'm over 100K I'll have to check my new total. Becuase of you I'm buying a GPS. It's hard to track your real elevation gain if you don't have a gps and don't want to spend allot of time looking at a damn topo....(Kurt don't comment)
If I just look at TH elevation and Summit elevation I'm at little over 125K with 5 more Baldy summits planned for 2011...
Please post your year end stats when on 12-31 I create the annual end trhead of what did you climb this year.....
yeti

Somehow, I think it's a little more than that . . .

But yeah, I'm pretty much limited to the comparative molehills in North Georgia for the vast majority of my annual hiking. I'll typically get about 17K' each year between two trips to Cali (Sierra in the summer and Death Valley in the winter), but the rest is all local where the average gain/loss per mile is barely 500 feet. Since hiking is essentially my primary workout year-round, and I do it mostly on the same close and convenient (and boring) mountains over and over, I started keeping mileage/gain/time stats a few years ago. Helps keep me focused on goals while I'm trudging along with my pack wishing I was in the Sierra.

Good luck on the new MW streak!

LOL Scully! Up until a few of years ago (when I thought I was going BIG), I never, ever counted. In like '05, RK asked me how many summits of Whitney I had and I said "I don't know, but it feels like about 60, or so." A few of years ago, someone asked when I would hit 100, so I went back thru limited records and photo albums and came up with around 50 as a number I could PROVE, so that's why you always see nnnX+ when I write the number down now. (I KNOW that I've done more - just wouldn't ever be able to prove it.)

Shin's the one who told me I needed to start keeping track of miles and elevation gain this year. I've got a couple of spreadsheets at SKYDRIVE that are actually keeping track for me. (Links on my G+ profile page if you are interested in seeing them.)

I wouldn't be doing this counting stuff unless someone else told me I need to...

Rest assured that I'll be listing ALL of the peaks just so your thread will be a MILE LONG on the very first day...

In regard to GPS, there are a lot of times where I throw the numbers away. Problems like: signals bouncing off of canyons, excessive elevation gain because the device was left on during breaks (It's funny how you might have a thousand feet of gain while you're sitting eating lunch.), etc.

Count me in.

Are snowshoes necessary, or will 12-point crampons be sufficient?

It depends.
On conditions at the time.
And how big your feet are.
And how much you weigh.
And how much you enjoy post holing up to your armpits.

Hi Richard,
Today,my wife and I had a good visit with my retired couple who did over a half million feet elevation gain in a year. They asked me to tell you that your numbers were impressive indeed because their records were mostly done on lower elevation mountains for over 250 days of hiking but your elevation gain were mostly done on demanding high elevation peaks and long approach hikes in Sierra and other mountains during weekends. Your number is unarguably impressive.

What Shin said.

I'll have to mark my calendar. Good chance I'll be there.

And I just thought you were implying Richard was getting Old and should hike more during the week That's some strong stuff RP nice work