Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board Thor Peak, 13 April

Chuck, Tom, Bill, and I climbed Thor Peak yesterday, via the Mirror Lake route. Down the Secret Route into the North Fork—including a nice glissade in the softening snow.

The road is still closed, but you can drive up. There were about 30 cars at the Portal when we got there; six cars had obeyed the letter of the law and parked at the bottom. The big offending rock slab was still there.

Took crampons and ice ax, didn’t need them. Didn’t take snowshoes, didn’t need them.

In the late afternoon, we were sinking in a bit on the descent to Lower Boy Scout Lake. It wasn’t a problem, but it would have been tedious had we been going up. The snow conditions on the main trail, as far as we went (Mirror Lake), were fine. Typical for this time of year.

Below Lower Boy Scout Lake you still have your choice of staying on snow in the drainage, or the Ebersbacher Ledges...but barely. If you stay on the snow, watch out for rapidly softening and melting out areas, especially on snow bridges over the stream and rimayes. I was standing on the edge of a rimaye, hoping to get an exciting picture of Chuck crashing through a particularly delicate-looking snow bridge. All of a sudden I was ten feet lower, looking up through a hole at the sky! Fortunately, I was able to stem up and hand my poles and pack to Bill, then took an upward assist and scrambled out. No harm, no foul. The rest of the descent was uneventful, but I still don’t understand how some of those snow bridges held our weight.

Pictures: http://www.flickr.com/photos/rockwellb/sets/72157604537334439/

Oh, we saw this neat new hotel in Lone Pine:

"Whitney Portal Hostel"

Is that the name of Doug's new place? !!!

Cool! I guess this closes the "Name that Inn" thread.

Congrats to the four of you. Looks like a perfect day. Your photos are stunning! I hope to climb Thor Peak this year.

MC

I sure enjoyed the pictures, especially the snow filled ones. It seems like there are many routes to choose from to get to Thor Peak. A wonderful peak for sure. You always pick a different route, which keeps it interesting.

Did you need to get permits, since you were inside the Whitney Zone?

I always live vicariously through your pictures. Thank you so much for posting them. One question though--I can't find the word rimayes in my dictionary--could you please define that?

[rimaye] n another name for → bergschrund (C20: French, from Latin rima cleft)

A bergschrund is a crevasse that forms where the moving glacier ice separates from the stagnant ice above. It is often a serious obstacle for mountaineers, who sometimes abbreviate "bergschrund" to "'schrund".

In a corrie or cirque, the bergschrund is positioned at the rear, parallel to the back wall of the corrie. It is caused by the rotational movement of the glacier. In a longitudinal glacier, the bergschrund is at the top end of the glacier at a right angle to the flow of the glacier. It is caused by the downwards flow of the glacier.

Bergschrunds extend to the bedrock and can have a depth of well over 100 metres.

In winter, bergschrunds are often filled by snow from avalanches from the mountain above it. In later summer, due to melting, it lies open and can present a very difficult obstacle to alpinists.

The bergschrund is distinct from the randkluft (also called rimaye) which is the crevasse of which one face is the rock, back wall of the corrie. The randkluft arises in part from the melting of the ice arising from the presence of the warmer rock face. (Benn & Evans). However, the randkluft is sometimes called a bergschrund. (OED)

Beautiful pictures and educational material all in one place. I love this message board! Thank you!

Will no-one hijack a thread today or repost a previous one, to get some response to the announcement of DougSr today, in the Hostel (new) Forum?

(see http://www.whitneyportalstore.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/ubb/postlist/Board/7/page/1 )