My excellent adventure

[ckissick]

Months ago I signed up for a 4-day guided winter mountaineering skills course. I just got back from it, and what an incredible adventure. Long story short, I went to Mammoth Lakes, CA, and we spent the first day rock climbing, which was fun. But the second day was when the real fun began.

We went ice climbing up frozen waterfalls near Lee Vining. I'd never done it before, and it was harder on the forearms and calves than I would have thought. The 40 mph winds made it interesting. Actually climbing up a near-vertical ice wall was amazing.

[ckissick]

The next day, we were at the trail head for a 3.5 mile long, steep snow-shoe trek to the base of Crystal Crag. Here's the obligatory Porsche shot with my 42-pound backpack. Trekking through deep snow with a heavy pack was exhausting.



Camp!

[ckissick]

Notice the nice, sunny day at camp? Not the next day. We got up at 6 AM to head up to the 10,300-foot summit. Here we are about to walk across a lake.


And the approach to the ridge.


The final route is to the distant peak, around the right side of the false peak in front of us. No more snow shoes, finally.

[ckissick]

There were parts where a rope was a good idea.


And, finally, the summit. I took the pic, so that's not me. It was snowing with sustained winds of about 40 mph.

[ckissick]

After we reached the summit, we trekked back to camp and then the cars. We started at 7 AM and got to the cars at 4 PM. Long day! I have never been more tired. The cold weather (about 15-degree wind chill) and the snow shoes really wear you out.

But everyone of us was stoked about the bad weather. It made it much more of an adventure, like we were real mountaineers. Because, let's face it, climbing a 10,300-foot peak, even in winter conditions, is not exactly Everest. But for a few hours, I felt like a real mountain man. It was one of, it not the best, adventure I've ever experienced.

[Jims5543]

Very cool, it is fun to challenge and push yourself out of your comfort zone.

I saw two problems.

1. That is too cold for my blood, I would have died.

2. Maybe I missed it, was there a sleep number bed in that tent?

[sc_rufctr]

That looks like some wild terrain. All the best!

[Shaun @ Tru6]

Originally Posted by ckissick

After we reached the summit, we trekked back to camp and then the cars. We started at 7 AM and got to the cars at 4 PM. Long day! I have never been more tired. The cold weather (about 15-degree wind chill) and the snow shoes really wear you out.

But everyone of us was stoked about the bad weather. It made it much more of an adventure, like we were real mountaineers. Because, let's face it, climbing a 10,300-foot peak, even in winter conditions, is not exactly Everest. But for a few hours, I felt like a real mountain man. It was one of, it not the best, adventure I've ever experienced.

That is a truly excellent adventure, well done!

I know what you mean about the weather, when I hiked New Zealand it was 70 in the valley and we were hit by a snow squall cresting one of the mountain peaks. Never felt more alive.

[LWJ]

Awesome! Thanks for the inspiration.

[herr_oberst]

That's fantastic! Thanks for sharing the fun!

[Seahawk]

Originally Posted by Jims5543

...Maybe I missed it, was there a sleep number bed in that tent?

Beautiful. Made be laugh.

What a great day that must have been! The ice climbing is something I would still love to try

I have never done any winter camping, which is odd given the number of days I have spent outside.

[Sooner or later]

Damn sure was an excellent adventure!

[3rd_gear_Ted]

Went winter backpacking in the Sierra's @ Saddlebag Lake, it was the toughest backpacking trip I ever did.
Was advised to keep a spare pair of wool socks inside my upper pant legs at all times. Changing into those warm socks after hiking all day was sweet. The "night" bottle in the mummy sleeping bag was fun too. Marmat's appeared from nowhere and tried to get in our gear all the time whenever you stopped.
Need to lose 15 lbs. go winter backpacking three days, guaranteed results.

[fastfredracing]

This is a fairly fantastic thread . Thanks for sharing .

[911 Rod]

Excellent for sure!
My sphincter tighten up just looking at the heights!

[Tishabet]

Very cool, and sounds like you had a blast. What guiding group did you use? I've done a lot of a backpacking and mountaineering trips with significant snowshoe portions, it is insane how much more difficult it is (especially in deep and unpacked snow) compared to the same routes in the summer.

[flatbutt]

Back in the day doing Mt Marcy solo on President's weekend. Not long after the selfie my Nikon F2 froze up.



She who was my Mrs and I spent most of our vacay time backpacking the ADKs.

[Rick Lee]

I was just up at Mammoth in August, my band had a gig there for their annual town festival. That is some gorgeous country out there. Unfortunately, the scenery was kind of blurred by the smoke from all the wildfires. I rode my bike up there about 12 yrs ago and did some skiing then too. I would like to do that four day course sometime.

[Shaun @ Tru6]

Onward and upward

[craigster59]

Here's some real snow camping. Gonzales, me, Fahey and Dustman.