Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board WPSMB group hike 2009

Hi Tom,

I'm still messaging Dave on whether I would try to stemwinder route, even if this doesn't happen, I would still like to do the other routes. So please add me to the list for this group hike, thanks.

Larry

Was up White Tundra, I live in Yorba Linda. Right now I"m heading up on Thursday late night or early early Friday. When are you headed up...BTW nice ride, I drive a Silver Tundra..

Hi Jeff. As it stands right now, I am planning on leaving for Lone Pine not TOO early Friday Morning. I will know for sure that I have Friday off work by this Tuesday. My plans are to spend Friday and Saturday nights at the Hostel, have breakfast Sunday morning at the Alabama Hills restaurant (across the street from the Hostel) and depart for home by Noon Sunday. If that works for you (or any one else on the board needing a ride up from "The OC"), let me know.



Scott McCay



Temporarily currently filthy dirty dusty off White Tundra

Hi I talked with Tom last night and been holding off on posting , I will tag along on the hike, will go up to Lower Boyscout Lake and if permits are open then onto Thor by a side route that is very easy, pace will be so slow sticks will be placed to check movement and a water tube used to check change of elevation, bread will be carried incase we drift off the traveled way. Thanks Doug

I am regretfully (understatement) changing my status to "not going". Our move date begins on the 15th. I don't want to straddle Dave (my husband) with having to handle the move on his own (he is currently working 7 days a week). I would need to take at least 4 days to drive down, acclimatize, hike and drive back. Btw, Dave told me I should go... he is the best.


You could have just said your pace will be at MC's pace...

we'll surely miss you MC , but understand and wish you and Dave the best with the move.

the mountain will always be there!...

norma

Yeah but the 2009 WPSMB group hike will not. What a great hike it will be! I'll have to live this one vicariously through the pix and TR's. Have fun on Stemwinder (if you're still planning on that route).

Destination: Thor Peak
Date: Saturday October 17,2009


Time to get your reservations in now
Separate thread now up for potluck / festivities

Who's going:

Tomcat_rc - Tom
- Lisa
RichardP - Richard
GigaMike - Mike
HypoxicZombie - Arthur
Brent - Brent
JamesL - James
DobeMom - Kristine
Jeff Schofield - Jeff
Rosabella - Rosie
Hedgehog - Doug forbes
ElMicheal - Michael
Adam S.
Moondust - Alice
Karen R. - Karen
AreteJoe - Joe
Simon
Sierragator - Jim
M. Mouse - Ava
markjwpcp - Mark
SanDi Carole - Carole
Graham - Rick
NormaR - Norma
Ranboze - Robin
Ridgeline - Dave
Trailbud - Doug
John H. - John
ocns2mts - Johnny
Jeff_M - Jeff
Wtny n1 - Betsy
Trucker - James
White Tundra - Scott
Dave G. - Dave
BobH - Bob Huey
It511 - Larry
Moosetracks - Laura
Melville1955 - Mark

Temperatures dropped significantly this week.
No longer just shorts and t-shirts weather.

10-3-09 hiked to Thor with Lisa and Snow Nymph
Ice early morning on the slabs at Clyde Meadow and long sleeves thoughout the day

So here is the way it is shaping up

Group A -leader Tom Brown aka Tomcat_rc will also have several friends that will help and are familiar for this group.
I will lead a group up starting up the North Fork. We will be taking the Smiley Face Route and plan to start around 7am hiking from the Portal. I did this hike Saturday at a simluted group pace and we summited in 6:05 minutes. This included several stops for break and a nice easy pace. Anyone who wants to make this hike but is not sure if they are in condition or other worries should be encouraged to join this group. If you decide to turn around during part of the hike(LBSL or Clyde), we will make sure you are provided for a safe passage down.

Group B - talked to Sierra Gator - possible will lead this group.
This will be a faster paced group. We talked about leaving 1/2 hour to 1 hour later than the group A. The start time will be finalized by leader

Group C - Jeff M leader

Leading a group starting up the Main Trail and ascending via the SE culoir. Jeff will announce his start time. This is a loose chute and group size should be limited. Jeff can add to this section.

Group D - Stemwinder.

This is a techinal route. Graham, Dave and Bob H. are capable of leading. They will handle all of their group contacts for start times and other logistics. By now I belive they have already picked their groups - but any questions should be directed to them directly.

Last posting I belive Norma, GigaMike and Richard P were the rest of that team.

Group E - leader Laura aka Moosetracks

leading a class III route from Girl Scout Lake(aka Barney Lake)
This route is the same aproach for Smiley except from GS Lake will use the class III boulder for a more direct approach to the summit. People taking this route should have comfort in class III boulders. If you have to ask what this means - this is not the route for you. Any questions contact group leader. Laura will set start time.

Group F - Doug Snr. - route TBD
Ok - even though he is much more interesting and has a lifetime of stories to tell, not everyone gets to hike with Doug. Remember no punching, kicking or scratching. We are all adults.

Remember the idea is to get everyone to the summit as close to 1pm as possible. My guess is that everyone should be able to descend within 3 hours.

Several of us will have radios and monitor on station 6 sub 3
Last weekend I was able to communicate with friends at Clyde Meadow while I was near Lone Pine Lake.

Feel free to add to message or pm as needed.

MC - it is with great sadness that I took your name of the "who is going list". I know it was not an easy decision to stay home and help Dave with the move. You have a good man to offer you to come. Hope you enjoy the trip reports and photos - we will post them as fast as we can.

Wish I could make it, but family is coming in to town.

BUT, please someone coordinate permits for each group. I remember too well the confusion on the first WPSMB hike when everyone got their own permit plus a couple just in case someone didn't get one, and the rangers were expecting 60 hikers heading up in one group. Keep them happy!

permtis - thanks for reminding me asabat.
I have had contact with a few people that I know are coming up on Friday. The best decision is to use a few people to get group permits(10-15) at a time. I will confirm next week who plans to pick them up. We can distribute them Saturday morning. I do think the Stemwinder people should either pickup their group number permits or contact someone who is getting permits to coordinate pickup.
Right now it looks like we could have 4 people picking up permits for group size of 10 and have it covered.
Thanks - Tom

Tomcat,

Thanks for posting that awesome alpenglow pic of the North Fork drainage (above). It is now my computer background pic. I regret that I won't be able to come out for the group hike this year.

CaT

Aaaaargh and drat! - I'm out - family stuff, family first - weather permitting, I may do it the following weekend - and hope for next year. Looking forward to the pics. Thanks, Tony

sorry to hear that Tony - let us know if things change again

In remembering that a big part of this hike is the memorial to Kent Ashcraft, I think that it is particularly fitting to have so many different routes up the mountain being represented by the different groups. It's going to be an exciting day on the mountain!

I would plan on leaving about 30 minutes behind tomcat, anticipating ours to be a smaller group and could move a little faster. No race to the top here: solid and steady is the name of the game.

If you are interested, here are links to pictures from when Snow Nymph and I climbed the Class 3 route a few years ago. It gives a good idea of the scrambling involved.

See everyone on the 17th!

-L

Thanks for reminding everyone. I thought this aspect of the climb was getting lost in the shuffle...

Kent was the master of finding new ways of doing the same thing... And Thor was one of the family favorites...

Good point, also it will be good to see you.

I have been fortunate in life not to "miss out" on much. I come from that old adage... where there is a will, there is a way. In this case, it's all about timing...

I am truly going to miss being on this group hike. I will be honoring Kent's memory with all of you in spirit; what a special day this is going to be! I so want to be on Thor on the 17th; for Kent's memorial, to experience the beauty of the eastern Sierra, to hike with "the best of friends" and meet new ones whose posts on this board have inspired me. Next time...

And yes, I have a good man... best of the best!

a nice view as you descend from Thor - I can see why they call them the cat ears

I'm coming up with SteveC. I don't know how far I will be able to hike, planning to start out & wait as necessary. So please put me on the list.

Destination: Thor Peak
Date: Saturday October 17,2009


Time to get your reservations in now
Separate thread now up for potluck / festivities

Who's going:

Tomcat_rc - Tom
- Lisa
RichardP - Richard
GigaMike - Mike
HypoxicZombie - Arthur
Brent - Brent
JamesL - James
DobeMom - Kristine
Jeff Schofield - Jeff
Rosabella - Rosie
Hedgehog - Doug forbes
ElMicheal - Michael
Adam S.
Moondust - Alice
Karen R. - Karen
AreteJoe - Joe
Simon
Sierragator - Jim
M. Mouse - Ava
markjwpcp - Mark
SanDi Carole - Carole
Graham - Rick
NormaR - Norma
Ranboze - Robin
Ridgeline - Dave
Trailbud - Doug
John H. - John
ocns2mts - Johnny
Jeff_M - Jeff
Wtny n1 - Betsy
Trucker - James
White Tundra - Scott
Dave G. - Dave
BobH - Bob Huey
It511 - Larry
Moosetracks - Laura
Melville1955 - Mark
Wagga

Temperatures dropped significantly this week.
No longer just shorts and t-shirts weather.

10-3-09 hiked to Thor with Lisa and Snow Nymph
Ice early morning on the slabs at Clyde Meadow and long sleeves thoughout the day

So here is the way it is shaping up

Group A -leader Tom Brown aka Tomcat_rc will also have several friends that will help and are familiar for this group.
I will lead a group up starting up the North Fork. We will be taking the Smiley Face Route and plan to start around 7am hiking from the Portal. I did this hike Saturday at a simluted group pace and we summited in 6:05 minutes. This included several stops for break and a nice easy pace. Anyone who wants to make this hike but is not sure if they are in condition or other worries should be encouraged to join this group. If you decide to turn around during part of the hike(LBSL or Clyde), we will make sure you are provided for a safe passage down.

Group B - talked to Sierra Gator - possible will lead this group.
This will be a faster paced group. We talked about leaving 1/2 hour to 1 hour later than the group A. The start time will be finalized by leader

Group C - Jeff M leader

Leading a group starting up the Main Trail and ascending via the SE culoir. Jeff will announce his start time. This is a loose chute and group size should be limited. Jeff can add to this section.

Group D - Stemwinder.

This is a techinal route. Graham, Dave and Bob H. are capable of leading. They will handle all of their group contacts for start times and other logistics. By now I belive they have already picked their groups - but any questions should be directed to them directly.

Last posting I belive Norma, GigaMike and Richard P were the rest of that team.

Group E - leader Laura aka Moosetracks

leading a class III route from Girl Scout Lake(aka Barney Lake)
This route is the same aproach for Smiley except from GS Lake will use the class III boulder for a more direct approach to the summit. People taking this route should have comfort in class III boulders. If you have to ask what this means - this is not the route for you. Any questions contact group leader. Laura will set start time.

Group F - Doug Snr. - route TBD
Ok - even though he is much more interesting and has a lifetime of stories to tell, not everyone gets to hike with Doug. Remember no punching, kicking or scratching. We are all adults.

Remember the idea is to get everyone to the summit as close to 1pm as possible. My guess is that everyone should be able to descend within 3 hours.

Several of us will have radios and monitor on station 6 sub 3
Last weekend I was able to communicate with friends at Clyde Meadow while I was near Lone Pine Lake.

Feel free to add to message or pm as needed.