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Trip dates: 2006 09 04-11 Carol and I have been wanting to climb Mount Sill for some time as part of our goal of climbing all of California's 14'ers. I attempted it in August 2005 with Chuck Taylor, but the morning after we climbed up Bishop pass, Chuck woke up with severe altitude sickness. Abort. Carol and I then went to the Sierras later in September 2005 with the objective of a Mt Sill trip, but I discovered that my knee was too sore after my first TCF to attempt such a thing. Abort. This year, Carol injured her Achilles' tendon in July, and it has not healed. By a strange chain of events (involving a trip to Japan, a Civic that wouldn't hold all the luggage, and the keeping of Bonnie's keys), I wound up planning this trip with my nephew Matthew and his girlfriend Natalie as partners - which turned out to be a good thing... 9/4, Monday - Day One - Finish packing, sad farewell to Carol; off early to get some altitude acclimatization. Between Oakdale and Yosemite NP, there were at least 8 different fires going along the road, coincidental with people heading home from the Labor Day weekend and idiotically throwing lighted cigarette butts out the window. Nice way to get the firemen away from their families on the holiday. Through Yosemite and caught a camp site at Tioga Lake Campground, ~9700' elevation. Nice for altitude acclimatization. Camped next to a door slammer - can't possibly get more than one item out of the car at the time, and has to slam the door or trunk every time. Oh well, they went down early. 9/5, Tuesday - Day Two - Up early, thinking about climbing Mount Dana. Never climbed Dana before, but seems like a good way to get more acclimated to altitude. Mount Dana is 13,053' high and the trailhead is at 9,945', so this seemed like a good day hike. The trailhead is on the east side of the road near the ranger station. No problems except huffing from being at sea level less than 16 hours earlier. Dinner at Nicely's in Lee Vining. Camped near Mono Lake. Click me for pictures. Later I called Carol and said "Climbing Dana less than 2 days before starting up Bishop Pass is either the smartest thing or the dumbest thing". Considering I did NOT get altitude sickness on this trip (despite much more opportunity; I spent 3 nights at altitude...), I guess it was a smart thing - I'll do it again in the future and see if it holds up. 9/6, Wednesday - Day Three - Up at a reasonable hour, breakfast at Nicely's in Lee Vining. Went to the Mono Basin visitor's center and got a permit. Contacted Mat 'n Nat and drove south to Bishop. Met climbing partners at the Bishop ranger station. Gear check, buy some groceries and last minute gear, then drive up toward Bishop pass. Camp overnight at Four Jeffrey Campground. 9/7, Thursday - Day
Four - Up early, pack backpacks, drive up to trailhead. Off we
go by 8:30 am. Up Bishop pass, then south cross-country
9/8, Friday - Day Five - Up, breakfast, pack up and off by 9ish. Headed over Thunderbolt pass for Potluck pass. The plan is to cross over Potluck pass and camp in the next basin. Actuality turns out otherwise. Long day of the crappiest kind of talus traverse - up / down / across / all sizes and shapes. Rick gets frustrated and heads for the low ground - "it'll be easier" - Nat joins him. Turns out it's further down than I thought and then there's a nice steep bowl to climb out of. Good news - we now know the way out, plus we see a lot of pretty country. Bad news - it's a grind to get the altitude back. Meanwhile, Mat is not having so much fun on the talus - however, his route is more direct and faster. We finally meet up at the top of Potluck pass. Nat takes a break; Rick and Mat go scout out the way down off Potluck into the next basin. After much looking and discussion, we decide to camp on the northwest side of Potluck about 150' below the pass near a couple of small tarns that have water. The climb down Potluck would have us doing Class 3 climbing moves with full backpacks - or passing packs on ropes - not fun - plus, we figured we could easily reach Mt Sill and get back before dark from a base camp on the northwest side of Potluck. This turned out to be a happy decision. 9/9, Saturday, Day Six, Peak Day! Up early, pack and off - we'll have breakfast on the fly. Mat has graciously agreed to carry the team's pack for the day - "We'll all go faster, Mat!" - now I'll be buying the beer; the least I can do. Up and over the pass,
pick our way down the other side, and start the grind up the valley. LOTS of
talus and scree, snow fields to cross, really grungy high-angle scree slopes. We
were looking for the right chute to climb Sill - we knew if we picked the wrong
chute we would be in for a lot of extra climbing and possibly not make it. After
much more talus crossing and finding the
Polemonium glacier, we decided on a
chute (I had memorized the picture Anyway, after less than 2 hours after we found the chute, we're all standing on top of Mount Sill - my 7th 14'er, the first for Mat and Nat. Group hug, pictures, Skittles, signing and reading the peak register, a little nap for some and it's time to go down. We figured out later that we only needed to traverse about a mile to summit Polemonium peak - but the guidebook says the the peak is Class 4 and is "stunningly exposed" (the more I read this guidebook and go to the places it describes, the more I realize "stunningly exposed" probably means a 1000-2000' flying lesson before the body comes to rest) - we had no climbing equipment so we weren't going to bag that one anyway. Next time, with Carol. Lots of fun on the way out glissading down the snowfields - strangely, we had enough energy to climb back up and slide down again "just 'cause it's fun!". Back at camp, dinner and it's freezing again when the sun goes down - in our tents by 7:15 for the long night. Click me for pictures. 9/10, Sunday, Day 7, Exit Day. The original trip plan said parts of two days to get out - we'd had enough and were highly motivated to get out of Dodge - plus, somewhere along the way Mat or Nat said something about a Taco Bell exit dinner, and I was like "Are you kidding!!! Do you know how many times I've stuffed myself at the Bishop Taco Bell after a backcountry trip??? We are SO ON." So then we spent hours discussing how much we were going to order and what. I digress. 4:15 am - a windstorm kicks up. The tent keeps making popping sounds like rain - but it's not. Fortunately, it's just wind, no weather front. Up at 6:15, packed and marching by 6:45, breakfast on the fly, off and down over the first "pass-let" and down into the bowl Nat and I had ascended on Friday. I lost the route we came up and we wound up west of where we wanted to be and at one point cliffed out and had to do a Class 3 down climb and hand down a pack. Good times, as Mat would say. This down climb was the end of the road for my external frame pack - too proud to have it handed down, and it almost caused me to biff and become a problem to the team. Back on route, over Knapsack pass (steep but MUCH BETTER than Thunderbolt pass), cross Dusy Basin and find the trail, up we go to Bishop pass. A little rest, and we're flying down the trail. Nat develops some knee problems about 1.5 miles out, which slows us down, but ultimately we're out and headed for food, cervezas fresca and a hotel room. Click me for pictures. The waitress at Taco Bell was laughing by the time we got done
ordering
I realized after my trip with Neil that a few beers après-hike actually helped control the memory of the pain - plus the body needs fluids, right? Off to the hotel, showers, spa, and sleep on a big, soft, comfy bed - aaaahhh. 9/11, Monday, Day 8, I got
up early, breakfast in the lobby (double biscuits w/ gravy, 3 eggs, cantaloupe,
8 glasses (thimbles) of juice, coffee), and it's off to San Jose. Mat and Nat
continued their vacation. I got home
Lessons from the trip:
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