Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Winter Access Forum Plastic boots end of April

Hello,

I'm having a most awful time finding a pair of mountaineering boots where I live. I can't find anyone in LA that rents boots. (Eastside sports and SMI rent them but I don't want to drive to Bishop.) I have found a pair of Invernos that fit well. I wanted the La Sportiva Nepals but the size they have in stock is a tad too big. I don't mind buying a plastic boot b/c I want to do Denali next year or the year hence.

To my surprise the invernos are not as awful to walk in as I remember plastic boots to be. How clumsy, awkward are the plastic boots on the Whitney MR? Is there still sufficient snow and ice? I notice that the boots a tad awkward to walk down stairs with. I am trying to determine how the boot would be in the section of the MR that involve scrambling (in the down climb).

What about the fatigue factor? Is it really that much more with plastic boots? It doesn't seem to bad in the store...

I know is this a stupid question, still: There's no way one could do the East Ridge of Mt. Russell in plastic boots this time of year, it would just be too awkward, no? Even with my beat up crampons?

I thank you for your insight.

I use a plastic boot (Korkach Arctis expe) for all my multi-day trips in the snow and for most one-day trips in winter. I use this boot for technical ice climbing. I even use it as a ski boot when I'm using skis and crampons on the same trip. It's the boot I used last April for the MR, Muir, and the south face and east ridge on Russell, and it's the boot I plan to use on the MR next weekend. I use the La Sportiva Trango in warmer weather.

Hi Bob. Thank you for your reply. I have to say that I'm really taken by the boots and happy to hear that you have had good experiences with plastic.

Muir looks like fun, though I'm not sure how keen I am on doing the extra 3.5 miles (I'm setting up camp on the MR). I would be very interested in hearing more about Russell. Did you do the class III route or the class V? With or without crampons? I hear people say that the class III section is not doable when it is snowed and/or iced. This may be naive, but they must mean without crampons, because I can't see what the problem would be if I had crampons and a solid boot like this.

Cheers

Kristoria:

I camped at Iceberg Lake last April. The second day, I did the MR, Muir from the trail, and then Russell via the class 3 route on the south face. The "final 400" on the MR involved some ice over rock; that definitely got my attention. Muir had no ice and not too much snow, so I did it without crampons. There was more snow than I expected on Russell, and much if it was really soft. I did most of it without crampons or ice axe. Of course, conditions the next day or the next year could be quite different.

When someone says something isn't doable, it usually means they can't do it themselves. I solo things in winter that some people wouldn't do in summer. The really good climbers climb stuff in winter that I couldn't top rope if I spent a whole summer trying. It's all relative.

Thank you again for your thoughts Bob.

As an aside, I just purchased my boots today. I really, really like them. I find that they allow me to be quite nimble. I bet I could even do cartwheels in them ....

Hi Kristoria. Bill here in California. Looking for some one to climb with the end of the month. Be interested in haveing another climber in the group?

Hi Bill,

I'll be arriving at Upper Boyscout Lake on the 22 or 23rd and trying to go for the summit the next day. You're welcome to meet me up at UBSL and hang out with me at camp, we can share supplies and check in on each other, make sure we're both good, and the company would be great, but I'm really not interested in tying in with anyone or climbing with anyone really. I'm going up solo, just me and my personal locating beacon, and that's a bit of the appeal. I've been looking forward to doing this solo and not having to think of anyone else's needs or abilities but my own and at this point (especially since I'm on the road and do not have reliable telephone or internet access) it would just be too complicated to do the logistics and coordinate and see if things would work out. I can't really change my dates either b/c I'm from Canada.

But good luck to you, and let me know if you will be around.

Christine

Hi Christine. I wont be going up till the 29th. It would of been nice to meet you. Let me know how the trip went. Ill be doing a solo climb also. That is me and my Beacon.

Hi Kristoria,

Did you get any kind of deal on those boots? My girlfriend has them and loves them. I need some good ones for Shast next month and not having any luck. I'm sure the plastics are good I just can't spend that much right now.

Thanks
Mouse

Hi M. House keep checking EBAY. I just picked up a new pair of Scarpa Inferno Mountaineering boots for $75. They are fantastic and so warm. Bill

What a deal. I will have to check that out. Thanks for the tip.

Hi M. Mouse,

No, no deal. I bought them for regular price from MEC in Canada. The big advantage was not the price but that they were the only boot available for me to try on in person.

I want to also say that I know that many people love these boots. However now that I've tried the boots in the field I'm not convinced that these are the perfect boot for the configuration of my foot as I did experience shin bang (with the Intuition liner) and I have at least 2 toes that are turning purple (though that might be a size/molding issue) after my recent Whitney trip. Everyone's foot is different so they might be perfect for your foot, but for my foot at least I am still trying to work through the issues I'm having with them.


Good luck!

Hi Christine:
So dont keep your trip a to your self. How did it go?
You came a long way for this Mountain tell us all about it.
Going up in the morning and can't wait!

Sorry, it took me a while to get back to Toronto and to download my photos/ get reliable internet connection.

Here are my photos from April 22-25th 2010.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=212429&id=548452159&l=834f53d453


I made it to the summit but I was really suffering. I don't remember feeling much joy, only nausea when I got to the summit, and upon returning to UBSL I just crashed in my tent. (Now at sea-level I am so buzzed!) The weight of my pack was really an issue for me, as was the sun, dehydration and shin bang from my plastic boots. My feet were in such pain. I was swollen for a few days after returning to sea level, I think from the sun. Bring a sun hat and wear sunscreen. I left my hat at the portal because I thought it was ugly and dead weight, but that is one of my biggest regrets.

I just realize today that I didn't even use an internal frame pack, it was just whatever piece of garbage I could afford 5 years ago on my student salary. I remember at the time being impressed that it had a waist belt and a sternum strap, (that's as high tech as it gets). Little did I know. After marching to the point where the mountaineers route diverts from normal route, my shoulders were killing, and I finally get one of the guys I met along the way to help me readjust my straps so that at least a portion of the weight was on my hips.

Since I really had to load up my pack it made accessing my waterbottles a real ordeal, meaning I would only drink water when I had the energy to take on and off my pack, and fight to get the water bottle back inside. I drank less than a liter a day. I tried to drink two liters on summit day but my second water bottle smelled like human waste (we had melted clean snow so it could not have been contaminated, it had to be the mix of yesterday's soup and the artificial strawberry drink I had in the waterbottle). Still, I couldn't get over how nasty the water smelled or the mental picture it gave me whenever I got a whiff of it and so I had to really force myself to drink from that second liter of water (sorry if that's too much information).

All the details that I can remember on the snowpack, etc are probably all irrelevant now. And most of what I can remember is just how nasty I felt, but whatever. We live, we learn. One of the reasons I wanted to do Whitney (besides getting to the summit) was to see my areas of strength and deficiency. To identify what areas and gear I would need to work on before getting into more serious mountains... and I've identified plenty of areas that I need to work on! So, I guess in that regards it was a success.

Hi Christine,

This is a little late but congrats on your Whitney summit. I think I remember seeing you above the Notch as I was down climbing, although I didn't know it was you at the time. Glad to hear everything work out well.

Thanks for your kind words Mike. In spite of everything, it was a lot of fun. I like to push myself beyond my comfort zone to see what I am capable of, and this was definitely in that category of climbs. So on the one hand I felt awful, but only physically. Mentally I was ready to do it again...that is, until I'd take a few steps and my body would remind me of exactly why that would not be a good idea.

I'll be back in a few years. I need to take some formal training and then once I have mastered the art I want to come back to do the East Buttress. Now that one's a real beauty.

Cheers.

Christine