Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board Cottonwood Pass to Whitney Portal, 16 - 19 July

Hey Richard,

I think I saw you pass by our group at Guitar Lake on your way up to the cairns. I think we were eating dinner then. I can't imagine doing all that in one day. Just our hike from Soldier Lake to Guitar was a real butt-kicker for us.

I agree that must have been a long day. Soldier to Crabtree Meadows is as far as we got in a day - with 40 pound packs. How much weight were you carrying?

I was surprised that I didn't see anybody until I was nearly to Crabtree Meadow. I came across a group of East Coaster's taking a break. I stopped to have some food and conversation for an extended period of time.

davis2001r6, I passed by Guitar Lake at around 6:40pm. If you guys were the group of three tents near the lake, then yes, I did pass by and wave to you. (I've got a picture in the album listed below.)

The third group that I saw was a group of Boy Scouts that knew that Paul, Bob and Ron were just up the hill a ways. That was one nice moment!

Mark, my guess is that my pack was under 25 pounds.

Photos are at: http://piotrowski.smugmug.com/gallery/1697021

Yeap that was us, great pictures BTW. Wish we would have gotten an earlier start the morning, maybe could have chatted with you and Bob on the Summit when it was still clear out.

Bob R. & Richard,
great pictures.
Richard, on the picture #68 you have shot of Mt. Whitney north side. Is that Mt Russell, sharp peak in the center of the image?
again, great pictures and trip.
cheers

Tomi, It's only a guess, but since I'm pretty sure that that is a picture looking up the drainage to Artic Lake, that would be Russell.

It was an amazing sight seeing the moutain top glowing. The picture doesn't do it justice.

I remember asking Bob and Paul the next morning whether they knew for sure what I had been looking at. My description didn't provide enough detail for them to know.

Bob R,
I was looking through your photos and saw entry 70 on Dave Dykeman. I knew him from work. We weren't in the same dept so I didn't know him well but he was known as an avid hiker. I remember the day I came into work and heard he had died in a hiking accident. It's amazing to see an entry from 1983. Thanks for the photo. I'm day hiking Whitney on Sept. 10 fulfilling a 30 year wish.

Richard and tomi, I am quite certain it is Mt. Russell, same seen in my pictures #87 (right) and #101 (left).

DaveG, I knew him quite well. We were on several climbs together. When the word came about his accident, my rescue team went in for the recovery.