Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board Winter to Spring: North Pal Attempt 4-/17-18/09

Since I write my TRs on my own timetable, here's a link to the pics from this past weekend, which tell a good tale themselves. Maybe someday I'll get around to writing the story of my first adventure into the North Fork of Big Pine Creek; or how there's ALWAYS water at Sam Mack Meadow ; or napping on the snow in my two piece Friday afternoon; or having a delicious dinner of corned beef, onion, and carrots in a Blackout Stout (Indian Wells) sauce over loaded mashed potatoes; or exploring the gulley up to the glacier overlook; or postholing our way to the base of the U-notch; or watching the avalanche from the ridge off Thunderbolt; or turning around when the snow got waist-deep; or seeing the first hints of turquoise in Third Lake; or noticing how much of the ice falls had collapsed in one night.

Yup. Maybe someday.

From the luckiest girl in the world: Climb Hard, Be Safe.

-L

Another beautiful trip! who knows what sort of treacherous conditions awaited you in the chimney at the top of the U-notch!

Hopefully I can get some Palisades under my boots this summer!

Have you seen the travel channel commercial about the Travel bug? Your pics and TR's give me the hiking bug! Good news is that even if you have the hiking bug it is still possible to lead a normal life. Although there is no known cure... Symptoms are an uncontrolable urge to go to the mountains to hike. The aching desire to sit atop a peak, any peak. Thanks again for the inspiration!

Well Moosie... if you ever -do- decide to write up the TR for this weekend... be sure to post it. I'd love to hear your stories

I guess complaining does work sometimes.

Photos are uploading right now. It's probably best if you wait until I build in the links between the albums. (First time shooting with the TZ5 for "summit" day, while shooting with the 50D for the approach and hike out.)

http://piotrowski.smugmug.com/gallery/7954654_W6Epi

While we're waiting...

"A turtle on his back." (Len, after I fell into a hip deep hole, and rolled on to my back, on the walk out.)



"It's a good thing Laura put those tracks in to the base of the U-Notch. I'd have turned around and gone home if I was out front in these conditions." (Me, on the walk out.)


"Are you postholing in my postholes?" (Me, to Laura (middle person on the rope). Len and I had just swapped leads and I had gone up another three, or four steps.)



"Len, those aren't tracks! They're evidence of a rockfall." (Me, but Len didn't hear me 'cause I said it under my breath as I was wondering whether Len had his glasses on.)



"Len likes to take the hard way up!" (Me, as Len headed up this slope instead of taking the easy route up the gully to our "north.")



"Are we done yet?" (I just made this one up.)



A bonus photo 'cause I just think this thing is too cool! (See you in the "real" Sierra after work now that I have this baby!) Thanks for the ride to the shop Len!

No Schrund at the base of U notch? Did it feel like an ice bridge? Looks like an awesome day with great weather. Thanks for the pics.

Dave:

It felt like deep snow, but fairly solid once I punched it down. (I guess I make a perfect #2 in line: someone makes the track, then I make it permanent ). The radiant heat coming off the snow was super intense, but the breeze that was there at the start made us scurry for layers. By the time we dropped back down, it was too warm. The snow in the U-notch was so soft that rapping was completely unnecessary. In fact, I think Richard and I both were jonesing for skis...

-L

Wow! Some really great pics! I especially loved the little, frozen waterfalls. So THAT'S what the U-Notch and North Pal look like up close. And you did that with a big NO WHINING button pinned to your rear! Thanks, Moose! :-) -- Hoppy

Wanna race?

To Kearsarge Pass?

I figure you have the advantage on the road, so we'd have to toss in some trail to swing things back my way.

Seriously, if you ever ride the thing up to the Sierra, let me know.

hehehe... "but, I came all the way from Washington to climb with you guys... "

"Is she going to frontpoint ALL THE WAY up the bowl??"

(Sorry, gang. Flashbacks from Baldy.)

I got the baby Ninja for the same reason that I bought the CRF-230L - it's lighter than the higher cc bikes and it also not as fast.

The first fill-up calculated at only about 55mpg. The 230 is getting me at least 85mpg and I've cracked 100mpg with one tank.

Speaking of engineering again - this thing handles like a dream. I took it up past Kennedy Meadows, hoping to get up to do Smith, Jackass, or Granite Knob (too much snow for a MC) and put it thru it paces on the way down. 65mph thru some 35mph curves without getting the adrenalin pumping. Down in the main canyon, the wind scared the **** out of me a couple of times. (As I told Len the other day, the bike is a little too light to handle strong cross winds.) It also didn't seem to care for the 8000'+ altitude. If it doesn't rain tomorrow, I'm going to find out how it'll do up at the Portal.

Get yourself a butt pad and come on up for some fun! (That's the only thing that gets me on the Ninja.)