Another opportunity to head out to the Sierra for a few days before winter chill? Most definitely. A big storm was coming off the Pacific and hitting the central and northern Range of Light but sparing the southern end. Instead of snow there were 30-50mph winds all weekend without fail but with fairly clear skies. That allowed a Langley summit, amazingly only my second time up the "easiest" Sierra 14er but boy that frigid wind was piercing. A stunning view of the Whitney region greeted me at the top and I hunkered down away from the wind long enough to not get frozen and down a bag of chips. Down "Old" Army Pass and back to Horseshoe for another windy night by the fire. It turns out most of the Sierra got dumped on with the hope of good things to come. If this was my last weekend out there until next year then I'm happy I came out. I've come to the realization I didn't backpack one night this year (although car camped a fair amount) and that is somewhat disappointing. That will change next year. I would like to climb Whitney in the winter early 2017 but I need to educat myself more on traveling in avalanche terrain first. I should take an AVI 1 course in Mammoth or Bishop this winter. Anyway, here are a few photos from the weekend:
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| Never seen that before. Legit cairns? |
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| Langley summit |
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| Cottonwood Lake #5 |
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| Looking back at Army Pass |
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| Cottonwood Lake #3 |
Don't take my word for it, but I'm pretty sure the avalanche danger on Whitney is quite low. I did it in January a few years ago and it was relatively straightforward.
ReplyDeleteI remembered you did that. However, read this: http://ktla.com/2015/11/23/missing-ucla-students-body-found-buried-under-avalanche-in-john-muir-wilderness/
DeleteAnyway, it would be good to learn some new backcountry skills.