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Day 48
Our navigational mantra becomes “Trail Schmail”. The more we try to stick to our imaginings of where the trail might be under the snow, the harder the going gets. So we give up and just go where we’re going. Trail Schmail. Going up Kearsarge Pass Pete has a conversation with a nearby coyote. They both…
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Day 47 (Tape)
Okay it’s Saturday morning and our first task… the sun is still behind Mt Whitney, the fields are covered with frost, and our first task of the day is to, Oh God, (painful laugh) walk barefoot across a freezing cold Whitney Creek. Pete: And here’s how cold it is: Oh Jesus! (Screams shrieks and moans)…
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Day 47
The events of today are far and away beyond the means to experience vicariously through words. Being, however, that it was one of the most exhilarating, full, and altogether surreal days of my life, I will attempt to make a record of it. I’ve never been a coffee drinker. Some people like it as a…
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Day 46 (Pete)
I was wrong about two things. The climb was 8.7 miles and a 4,150 ft. altitude gain. That’s one. Sneaking past the ranger station wasn’t the crux of the day. It did, however, come right off. The prospect of wading icy cold Whitney creek and clambering up on to the frost caked far bank at…
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Day 46 (Tape)
We’re on Mt. Whitney, after a successful summit, on our way down. (laugh) Pete just self-arrested glacading down a snow field!! Pete: woohoo! Me: all right pete, first self arrest! Pete: Was it stylin? Me: it was, it looked almost reflexive! Pete: I was ready for it. Me: and I recorded it, I was going…
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Day 46
Mt. Whitney makes a grand day. Out come the hiking boots, the ice axes, and the gaiters, all for their first trial. The day is beautiful! It can’t be perfect though – we forget the sunscreen and I turn very red. At the top we talk to a few others who ascended from Whitney Portal.…
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Day 45 (Pete)
Well no bears last night after all that anxiety building. Tonight’s camp, in Crabtree Meadow, has a big metal box to store food in. We had to go by map and compass once today. Snow cover was about 85%. Often we could find our way by spying the little five and ten foot trail sections…
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Day 45 (Tape)
Crabtree Meadows, believe it or not Ready to take on Whitney in the morning. Ah, that came about pleasantly enough with, uh, sleeping late this morning. Didn’t get out of the tent until the sun was already up in the sky. And ah, didn’t feel too bad about it. We got up and packed up,…
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Day 45
We are in real mountains! We encounter real snow, but not enough yet to get us real lost. The exitement is building for our planned summit of Whitney tomorrow. We have no permit to make the popular climb, but hope to sneak past the ranger station unnoticed in the morning. At Crabtree Meadows we camp…
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Day 44 (Pete)
The first day out from Kennedy Meadows we have hit snow as expected. It is not, however, as all encompassing or as ominous as we expected. Toward 10,000 ft. it gets patchy. The trail is still quite easy to follow. Even on north facing slopes, which see little sun, the coverage is broken into small…