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This is the EScree - the Electronic version of the Scree newsletter from
the Peak Climbing Section of the Loma Prieta Chapter of the Sierra Club.
It should be viewed or printed with a fixed-pitch font such as Courier.
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This publication may not be posted on any public news group.
February, 2000 Vol. 34 No. 2
Deadline for submissions to the next Scree is Sunday 2/27/2000
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This issue of Scree will be on the Official PCS Website at
http://lomaprieta.sierraclub.org/pcs/scree
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Next general meeting (PCS meetings are the second tuesday of each month)
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Date: Tuesday, February 8
Time: 8:00 PM
Program: Double Feature: Spring Skiing and Fall Canyon
Hiking - The Sierra High Route and Cherry Creek Canyon
Some people feel that spring is the best time of the year in the
Sierra - the look of winter but with typically sunny weather. See
this myth dispelled on a 6-day ski traverse of the heart of the Sierra.
A hidden jewel of the Sierra is revealed as the second feature
documents a PCS team's recent non-epic non-first descent of the
nonetheless beautiful Cherry Creek Canyon, carved eons ago by
glaciers from the Yosemite granite.
Directions: REI - San Carlos (650) 508-2330
1119 Industrial Rd. Suite 1-B San Carlos, CA 94070
From 101 South: Holly/Brittan exit, follow Brittan Ave signs
From 101 North: Whipple exit, go left over freeway to
Industrial Road, go right on Industrial to Brittan Ave.
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Advance Trip Planning Meeting
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Date: Thursday, February 10, 2000
Time: 8:00 PM
Place: Home of Arun Mahajan, arun@tollbridgetech.com
Contact: Dee Booth, deebooth@cisco.com
Requests for backcountry permits for the Inyo National Forest will begin being
accepted on March 1. They can be mailed or faxed and will be handled on a
first-come-first-served basis. Trips for the entire summer should be planned
now so please come to this meeting and bring your ideas for official and
unofficial trips. Arun has kindly offered to host this meeting at his home.
Directions From 101:
1. Take the Oregon Expressway exit in Palo Alto.
2. Go west, through a few lights. After Bryant is the Alma exit. It is a sharp
right. If you miss it, you will know because you go under an overpass.
3. After taking the exit, follow the exit road till it meets Alma.
4. Go north (right turn) on Alma for a few blocks passing roads like California,
Santa Rita, Rinconada, Seale. These roads are on the right. The CalTrain tracks
are on the left of Alma.
5. After Seale is Tennyson. My townhouse is in a 4-plex, 1745 Alma, the second
unit from the road. It is north of Tennyson but south of the next road, Lowell.
Off street parking on Tennyson or Lowell, there is none in the complex for
guests, I am afraid.
Directions From 280:
1. Take the Page Mill Road exit in Palo Alto.
2. Drive east on Page Mill, go through El Camino
3. Alma (north) is a sharp right turn within half a mile of the El Camino junction.
4. Follow the directions mentioned in 4 above.
-- Rick Booth
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Wilderness First Aid
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To help trip leaders and would-be leaders get the required First
Aid certificate, the Chapter sponsors a First Aid class each
quarter, based on a nationally recognized first aid text, but with
added material and emphasis on wilderness situations with no
phone to dial 911. The next First Aid classes will be Saturday,
February 26 and Sunday, February 27 at the Peninsula
Conservation Center in Palo Alto (from Bayshore/Hwy. 101 at
San Antonio, turn toward the Bay; turn left at 1st stoplight, then
right at Corporation Way to park behind PCC). Class is 8:30 a.m.
to 5:30 p.m. (1 hour for your bag lunch) and is limited to 12
people. To sign up, send choice of day, and a check for $40 with a
stamped, self-addressed business-sized envelope to: Health
Education Services, 200 Waverly, Menlo Park, CA 94025.
Cancellations get partial refund if a substitute attends (you get to
keep the Wilderness First Aid book). For more information, call
650-321-6500.
-- Marg Ottenberg
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How to Run a Mountaineering Trip in the Sierra Club
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The Sierra Club allows trips requiring the use of ice axe,
crampons, ropes, or other "Mountaineering Gear". While all
other trips are approved by the PCS Scheduler alone,
Mountaineering trips (also known as "Restricted Trips") require
in addition the approval of the MOC (Mountaineering Oversight
Committee). The PCS ran several successful mountaineering
trips last year, and I expect there will be much interest in those
trips this season. The process does require a bit more planning
and time, but it beats not having the gear when you need it - or
having to cancel a trip because the conditions have changed. In
addition, Restricted Trips leaders are covered by the Club's
liability insurance, as well as being provided with an accidental
death/medical policy (as described at the bottom of the
Application).
As a member of the MOC I like to make the process of applying
and getting approval for Restricted Trip more accessible to PCS
leaders. Following is a write-up describing, in general, the
process. There is a reference to resources such as the actual MOC
procedures and forms at the end of this article.
Requirements:
Mountaineering trips need to be approved by both the PCS and
the MOC. So the trips have to qualify under both systems.
The PCS requires that a leader first be approved by the PCS's
Mountaineering Committee to lead trips at the required level (see
below). Then the leader can apply to the PCS Scheduler and
propose the trip. The PCS Scheduler approves or rejects the trip
based on the leader's rating. This is no different than leading
non-restricted trips under the PCS and the Sierra Club.
The MOC requires that each trip be led by a leader and an
assistant leader. Both leaders have to be qualified to lead the trip,
but the assistant leader does not have to be as experienced as the
leader. The assistant leader must be qualified to take over leading
the trip and handle emergencies (see resources below). There are
a few restrictions such as not climbing vertical ice, but who on
earth wants to climb that? Also, both leaders and all participants
must be Sierra Club members.
Process:
It is wise to contact the PCS Scheduler about the proposed trip
before filling out the MOC application form (below).
Fill out the form and include the climbing resume for each leader.
Mail the papers to the PCS Scheduler who, after approval, will
send them to the MOC. It generally takes about two weeks to get
MOC approval. One should refrain from advertising a trip until it
has been approved, so plan ahead. The MOC now also excepts
applications in word format on email. You may use this option
and save some trees.
During and after-trip paper work:
The trip is not done without the paper work.
Before the trip, each leader/participant is required to sign the
release of liability form and the sign-in sheet (below). After the
trip the leader is required to promptly send the waivers and sheet
to the SC Outing Department.
References:
The full text of MOC policies and procedures appears on the
Sierra Club Leader's web site
The
different forms are also available from there. Access to the web
site is available to all Sierra Club leaders. Contact me if you need
the password. I have Word-97 versions of some of the forms that
can be used by people who prefer to fill out the forms on their
computers. If you don't have web access, contact me for hard
copy forms.
Informal Mountaineering Committee Procedures are in the PCS
binder at http://www.climber.org/pcs/Binder/
-- Ron Karpel
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1999 End-of-Year Treasurer's Report
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The PCS is in satisfactory financial health. The number of
hardcopy subscribers has declined to 90 likely due to an
increased number of people choosing to view the "Scree" on the
web or to receive it electronically.
The traditional method of measuring the net worth of the PCS has
been to calculate the cost of the newsletters owed members at
this time and subtract that amount from the ending balance. This
brings our net worth to $487.49. Calculations are below.
The average balance in the checking account has fallen from
$1122 at the beginning of 1999 to $973 at the end. Our low
balance is due to our taking in less in subscriptions than we
spend to print and mail the "Scree", and to a service charge of
$12 being levied against our account every month.
Continuing to draw down our balance will have unwanted results.
It may be time to raise the cost of a "Scree" subscription, or to
reduce the size of the newsletter to bring down the cost of
printing it.
Thanks to Jim Ramaker for his help in preparing this statement.
-- Dee Booth
Beginning Balance 1/16/99 1184.47
Income from Scree Subscriptions 963.00
Expenses from Printing and Mailing Scree 1075.58
July Barbeque 30.00
Bank Service Charges 144.00
*Cost of newsletters owed to paid members 410.40
Ending Balance 12/5/99 487.49
*Number of hardcopy subscribers 90
Average number of months remaining on subscriptions x 6
---
Number of newsletters owed 540
Average cost of printing and mailing newsletters x.76
----
Cost of newsletters owed to paid members 410.40
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PCS Trips
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PCS trips must be submitted through the Scheduler (see back
cover for details). Trips not received from the Scheduler will be
listed as PRIVATE, without recourse.
*** Rock Climbing Practice
Dates: Tue. April 4th (evening session),
Sat. April 8th (practice),
Sat. April 15th (backup date)
Leaders: Ron Karpel, Kelly Maas, Rick Booth
Contact: Ron Karpel, email: ronny@karpel.org (W)510-771-3231
This is a restricted outing of the Sierra Club. To participate, you
must be a Sierra Club Member. Participants must be experience
on class 3 terrain and will be required to use a helmet.
Our practice will emphasize safe rock climbing using rock
climbing gear. The goal is to cover the kind of rock climbing
situations one might encounter during mountaineering in the
Sierra Nevada. We will practice climbing rock routes of class-4
and easy class-5 (up to about 5.4) levels. Participants will train in
general use of ropes, tying knots, using harnesses, using
protections devices, setting anchors, using slings and biners,
providing belay to leaders top rope belay to followers, tying in to
a belay station, using belay devices, and practice rappelling. We
do not intend to train in leading rock climbing.
The theory session will take place in a suitable location in the
Bay Area (the Peninsula Conservation Center is one option). The
practice itself will take place in the Pinnacles National
Monument.
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Mt. Lassen - 12/29/99
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I was restless, the weather was astonishingly good for December,
but no one was free for a winter ascent of Lassen... so I went
solo. It took only a couple of hours to reach the first lake from the
chalet where they close the road in winter (5 mi north of Hwy
89/36 junction), so I climbed Ski Heil and Eagle Peak that
afternoon. Lassen and out by early afternoon the next day. This
would be a good beginner's trip, with navigation practice around
the lakes and ice axes on the face.
At the base of the peak, it was in the 20s at night, 50s during the
day. There was no wind, the top 500' of the summit was mostly
bare, and my campsite overlooking Helen Lake had a patch of dry
duff to spread out my gear. I used snowshoes only around the
lakes, with packed snow on the road and crampon ice on the face.
(I went up the chute between the cliffs to make the route a BIT
more interesting.)
Hmmm. Is this June or December?
Must be December, because there were snowmobile tracks ON
THE LOWER SUMMIT bump! They went right over the cable
marked "sensitive plants", but the amazing thing was that they
got up 1000' of 35 degree slopes! The machines I rode in Alaska
as a kid wouldn't have survived that.
Spectacular sunset and sunrise, purple and orange that doesn't
show up well in photographs, but if you've never been there you
really need to see the (embarassing?) summit surprise. Pictures
are now at http://www.climber.org/TripReports/
DRIVING THERE: From I-5, exit in Red Bluff and go east on
Hwy 36. After 45 miles, turn north on 89 and continue 6 miles to
the entrance station, where you must pay $10 year round (use
self-pay slot if the station is unmanned). If you have a Golden
Eagle or similar pass, you can write the number on the envelope
at the entrance station. You will be ticketed if you don't have an
envelope stub on your dash. It's not clear if you can park along 89
just outside the entrance station to avoid the fee.
The rangers have a lot of trouble describing where the road is
closed if you call them - they just keep saying that you must know
where the chalet is, and it's closed THERE! Hard to find on a
road map, but now I know it's East-Southeast of Brokeoff Mtn.
In the winter, the south approach to Lassen is closed at "the
chalet", which serves the overnight parking lot next to the park
entrance station.
The chalet has pay phones, restrooms, and a first aid station, and
appears to be mostly open year round even though the restaurant
is closed in winter.
The road is plowed to the parking loops between the entrance
station and the chalet, which is within site of the entrance station.
In spite of what the rangers say on the phone, self-issue permits
are available at the chalet in winter. In summer, you should stop
at the ranger station on the north side of Hwy 36 in the town of Mineral.
The station was closed when I was there (12/99) even though
they told me I had to stop for a permit when I called in advance.
-- Steve Eckert
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Lone Pine Peak - December 1999
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I decided to take advantage of the dry "La Nina" winter and try to
sneak one more sierra peak into the 1999 season. So at 4:00 a.m.,
I left my (warm) home in the Antelope Valley and headed for the
eastern sierra - my plan was to day hike Lone Pine Peak.
After a quick drive up 395, I was on the Meysan Lakes trail at
7:00 a.m., and after a pleasant hike arrived at the small unnamed
lake just below (northeast) Meysan Lake. Secor recommends
taking a chute which starts at Meysan Lake, but the broad chute
which angled to the left (east) of my location looked like it would
work. While this route did get me to the summit ridge, I can't say
it was a lot of fun, in fact it sucked - lots of sand and scree mixed
in with an occasional loose boulder. Also, the low winter sun
angle prevented the sun from shining on this side of the ridge, so
I was getting a little chilly. After one false summit (referred to as
an "observation point" in a previous trip report), I was at the
summit register at 12:00 p.m. By now the wind had picked up a
bit, and I was feeling the effects of a quick ascent from near sea
level. So I had a quick lunch and headed back down.
I did make one slight error on the way down which is worth
mentioning. Instead of returning via the ascent chute, I chose a
chute that was just northeast of my ascent route - it was marked
with a cairn and there was evidence of previous descents, so I
figured it would probably go.
Unfortunately, this chute (and several others to the southwest) all
end in cliffs. Since I didn't have a rope, I had to traverse over
several steeps ribs before I found a safe descent route.
The hike back on the trail was uneventful, and I reached my truck
at 3:45 p.m. A majority of the trip was on dry ground. What
little snow I did encounter was less than 8" deep (wind drifts)
and easy to negotiate in hiking boots.
-- Ron Norton
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Kilimanjaro
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We've had 90 degree weather, 20 degree weather, a snow storm
on the day we hiked from 12K - 15K, and rain but, we've made it
back down the mountain after a truly unique trip!
Steve made it up to the summit of Kilimanjaro at 19,340 ft.,
arriving at the crater rim in time for sunrise and back down to
camp in just under10 hours. Rebecca made it up to Barafu Camp,
at 15,000 ft., before being felled by altitude aliments (head- and
stomach-wise). Twenty of the 30 climbers made it up to the
summit on Jan 22; two more made it up to the crater rim. The trip
down the mountain was almost as memorable -- skiing down
9,000 ft. of thick, wet mud left all of us filthy and definitely ready
for our first shower in days!
We leave tomorrow for our safari in the Serengeti area -- should
give us plenty more stories to tell! Cheers,
-- Rebecca Eckert, from the Marangu Hotel (Tanzania)
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PCS and SPS on BCS
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Bear Creek Spire (13,713) is one of those classic peaks that every
aspiring Sierra mountaineer must deal with sooner or later.
Seven of us gathered on the morning of Sat. July 31 to attempt it:
David Ress, Bob Suzuki, Joan Marshall, Eddie Sudol, Carol
Snyder, Terry Flood, and myself(Jim Ramaker). (Carol and Terry
are experienced SPS climbers from the San Diego area -- my
second trip in a row where PCS and SPS climbers joined forces.)
Instead of the standard Ulrich route, our goal was the northeast
buttress, with experienced rock climbers David and Bob planning
lead the several class-4 pitches.
We left the Rock Creek trailhead at 7:30 a.m. and hiked into
Little Lakes Valley. The hike up from this trailhead is so easy it's
mind-boggling. You're in nice alpine country right from the
parking lot, and after just three hours of hiking through the gently
rolling terrain of meadows and lakes, you're in position to camp
for one of the four big peaks in the area -- Mills, Abbot, Dade,
and Bear Creek Spire. No wonder this trailhead attracts many
casual dayhikers. Mosquitoes were almost non-existent, a
welcome change from my trip three weeks earlier.
We set up camp at Treasure Lakes at 10, then continued up the
valley past Dade Lake under partly cloudy skies. We'd had some
light showers at Camp9 in Yosemite the night before, but the
forecast was for improving weather. Pleasant cross-country travel
up slabs, talus, and snow took us to the foot of the buttress by 1
p.m. The buttress was a sobering though not terrifying sight,
rising 1500' to the summit ridge. The first hour of climbing was
pleasant class 2-3 scrambling with no difficulties. About halfway
up is a steep section of rough-textured, beautifully solid rock,
which we climbed unroped via ramps and ledges on the left side,
with perhaps a move or two of class-4. I thought we'd have hard
climbing from then on, and was surprised to find another long
stretch of class 2-3scrambling with no exposure. All the real
difficulties of this route are right near the top.
Around 3 p.m., Joan decided to descend because of altitude
sickness, and Bob went down with her, which left us with just
one experienced lead climber for the five of us. About the same
time, the sky darkened and a few snowflakes drifted down. But
we heard no thunder, so we continued up and soon reached the
area just below the summit ridge where the buttress merges with
a nearly vertical headwall. We got out our two ropes and David
led up this section, then belayed the other four of us up. No
problems, except the pitch took a full hour. We turned left and
climbed alittle way unroped along a ledge on the left side of the
airy summit ridge, then roped up for a horizontal pitch on the
crest of the blocky, exposed ridge. To save time, we had one
person belay while two climbers on the rope simul-climbed.
David put in plenty of pro to keep us safe. Our third roped pitch
continued along the ridge, dropping down to the right onto an
easy sidewalk ledge.
Now it was 5:30 p.m. and we were at the base of the steep 30'
wall right below the summit, with no time to waste. David soloed
the wall via some thin, exposed face moves over on the right,
then belayed the rest of us as we climbed the awkward squeeze
chimney on the left described in Secor (Carol climbed the airy
face moves like David). At the top of the cliff I was dismayed to
see we were still not up -- we had another 40 feet of ridge-
running and then the infamous summit block. We did this part
unroped -- David, Terry, and Eddie climbed up on the summit
block, while Carol and I were content to reach up and slap the
highest point. I don't recommend doing the summit block
unroped unless you're an expert - the move down from it onto a
single shallow foothold is awkward and very exposed. Eddie lay
folded over the summit for a minute or more, unwilling to push
his body out from the slanting face and make the move down.
Finally he did so as the rest of us averted our eyes.
We rapped down the 30' cliff, and then David cleaned the rap
anchor and climbed down unroped. The dark clouds of late
afternoon were breaking up, but the sun was sinking fast, so we
hurried down the class-3 ledges of the Ulrich route. This section
is not trivial -- the ledges are covered with gravel and rubble, and
it's possible to get off-route and cliff out. About 7 we arrived at
the sandy class-2 terrain above Cox Col, the difficulties finally
behind us. Descending the moderate snowfield below Cox Col
was no problem except for the slightly snow-phobic southern
Californians. Next was a beautiful section of downsloping slabs
and ledges, some with cascades running down them. Finally we
arrived at Dade Lake, but it was now 8:30 p.m. and we were
running out of daylight. "Another epic," David exclaimed -- with
fresh memories of his18-hour day on Norman Clyde the week
before.
This was my first experience getting caught out on the talus in
the dark, and it wasn't bad. It's amazing how long the faint light
of twilight lasts and how much it can help you walk, especially
over white granite boulders. I had a flashlight but didn't need it
most of the time. From our camp, Bob shone his flashlight
toward us for over an hour, which was a great help because the
pinpoint of light showed us exactly where to head and we didn't
have to worry about route finding in the dark. When we finally
pulled into camp at 9:30, Bob handed each of us a hot mug of
soup. What a guy.
It was a happy camp that night as we had a late dinner and
crawled into our sleeping bags. Sunday we slept in a bit and had
a leisurely Sunday brunch. Around 9:30 Carol and Terry hiked
out, and Bob and Joan persuaded Eddie and me to head up
Treasure Peak (12,920+), the junior-sized peak just west of our
lake.
We headed up grassy gullies to a scree plateau about 1/3 of the
way up, then contemplated the cliffs of the steep upper pyramid.
A direct assault looked like class-4 or harder, so we traversed up
and right onto a class-3 ledge system just above an area of white
rock. After awhile I spotted a gully over to the right and we
entered it. It cliffed out below us, but formed a hidden highway
above us all the way to the summit. We'd somehow managed to
find about the only class-3 way up the east side of this peak. A
short way up the gully, Joan decided to descend, and Bob again
gallantly escorted her down. Eddie and I continued up and
summited at 12:30.
Looking west, we realized we hadn't really climbed Treasure
Peak - an exposed knife edge separated us from the slightly
higher west summit. The standard route up Treasure Peak is from
the west and is class-3. Oh well, at least we did a mildly sporty
climb and got on top of something high. Views were wonderful
because we were in the interior of Little Lakes Valley and could
look off toward high peaks to the east, west, and south.
Eddie and I retraced our circuitous route on the descent, and then
we all packed up and hiked out about 2:30. Instead of taking the
use trail back to the main trail, we went up on the ridge to the
east of camp and walked along the slabs there (a "shortcut" that
Bob and David wanted to try).After a few minutes going cross-
country, the only fiasco of the trip happened. Eddie discovered
that his daypack had fallen off his backpack, and said he was
going to retrace his steps for no more than 5 minutes to look for
it. That was the last we saw of him for six hours! We waited for
him for about 40 minutes, with frequent yelling and whistle
blowing to guide him back to us, but no luck. We then decided
no point in all of us waiting, so Bob, Joan, and David hiked out to
head for home. I waited another 20 minutes, blowing my whistle
every minute, then decided Eddie must have gone all the way
back to the lake where we camped and taken the use trail down.
I'd been there an hour, and for Eddie to go back to the lake and
return to me would've taken no more than 30 minutes.
So I hiked the rest of the way out in an hour, getting to the
trailhead at 5. Three hours later it was 8 p.m. and still no Eddie! I
considered leaving, figuring Eddie had sleeping gear with him
and would just have to find his own way home. Instead I took a
long walk up the trail and finally at 8:30, there was Eddie. He'd
found his daypack, BUT HAD LOSTHIS BACKPACK! Unknown
to me, when we split up, he took off his backpack, and had been
unable to find where he left it. He was unclear about just where
he'd been searching for it, but apparently he went too high up
onthe ridge and too far east, ending up over near Chickenfoot
Lake. He never heard our yelling and whistling, and ended up
searching for three hours. Good thing I waited -- if I'd left, he
would've arrived at the10,000-foot trailhead at 9 p.m. with
nothing but shorts and a t-shirt.
-- Jim Ramaker
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Porter - November, 1999
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Thursday evening Lori and I drove down to Ballarat and enjoyed
the opportunistic foxes who circled us. Up bright and early
Friday for thed rive up Pleasant Canyon. My heart sank when we
started to see how bad the road is. We were moving rocks within
the first half mile. We did major work on three wash crossings.
After having gone not even two miles, the road climbs steeply out
of the floor of the canyon. This was going to take more time
moving rocks than we had. Also, we had been warned of serious
washouts only a little ahead. I thought that our project was
doomed and that finishing the list would be put off indefinitely.
We were only at 3000 feet and still four miles below Clair Camp.
Lori, however, was adamant. She said "It's only 20 miles." With
this encouragement, we shouldered the packs and were off. In a
short distance, the first water appeared on the road and continued
for the next mile. In places the stream covered the road. There
were several badly washed out sections which no 2wd vehicle can
do and looked tricky for 4wd. Above the water the road would
prove to be very good until the last half mile to the Cooper Mine.
We finally hit the sun at Clair Camp. We had gone four miles
and climbed to 5000 feet. The guide says to continue up the road
foranother 2.5 miles to the "Stone Corral" where one should take
a leftfork. This sounded easy enough. After what seemed like
quite a long distance and still no Stone Corral we became
concerned as we were now heading off up the now broad valley
toward the SE. Study of the map showed that we were way past
were the Stone Corral was and that the road we wanted, up to the
Cooper mine, now lay along the base of the hillside on the far
side of the valley, although it was not visible. We took off cross
country, trusting the map. This proved to be accurate and we
were soon trudging up the road which was not too bad up to a
mine shaft entrance at a point where the road crossed the small
canyon it was following and the switch backed steeply back to the
south, gaining the ridge to the right of the canyon. At this point,
we are directly below a prominent peak with a very white rocky
top, the most noticable feature in the entire upper valley. Where
the road traversed left, we stashed two water bottles and began
the rising coutour to the saddle east of the white topped peak.
This was not especially pleasant, but went quickly. Up the west
ridge of Porter through the Pinyons to the pretty summit where
we had a very quick bite to eat. It was 1:45; fortunately it was all
downhill. On the way down we never did see the Stone Corral.
Correct instructions for finding the fork to the Cooper Mine:
From the sign "Death Valley National Park", continue another
200 yard sup the road to a fork and turn left. Note that there is a
hard left right at the sign which appears to go to the saddle west
of the white topped peak.
We trucked on down much faster than our ascent, arriving at our
2wdToyota maybe two minutes before we would have gotten the
headlamps out and were back home before 9pm.
Round trip stats: 20 miles, 6000 feet, 11 hours ( although we lost
30 minutes because of the mythical Stone Corral ).
For those with 2wd, the optimal tactic for doing Porter now may
be to do the backpack up Surprise Canyon to Panamint City,
where there is water, climb both Sentinel and Porter the next day,
and then hike out the third day.
-- Eric and Lori Beck
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Private Trips
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Private trips may be submitted directly to the Scree Editor, but
are not insured, sponsored, or supervised by the Sierra Club.
They are listed here because they may be of interest to PCS
members.
*** Feather Peak
Peak: Feather Peak (13,242 ft.), Class:4 snow
Date: May 27-29
Contact: Kai Wiedman, (650)347-5234
Feather Peak is a striking landmark dominating the Royce Lakes basin.
As a climbers' peak, known not only for its isolation but for
its difficulty by any route, it has earned the respect of many a
Sierra climber. We will attempt the North Couloir featured in the
book "Sierra Classics."
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Mt Shasta
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Peak: Mt. Shasta 14,162 ft.,Class: 3
Date: June 3-4
Contact: Kai Wiedman (650)347-5234
Co-Contact: Cecil Anison cecilann@earhlink.net
Mt. Shasta is a climbers' mountain, singular in its magnificence.
Sargent's Ridge will be an airy, challenging route with steep
traverses and mixed climbing. Please join us on this exhillarating
adventure.
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THE BACK PAGE
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Scree is the monthly journal of the Peak Climbing Section
of the Sierra Club, Loma Prieta Chapter. Visit our website at
http://www.climber.org/pcs/
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Elected Officials
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Chair:
Rick Booth / pcs-chair@climber.org
408-354-7291 home
237 San Mateo Avenue, Los Gatos, CA 95030
Vice Chair and Trip Scheduler:
Dee Booth / pcs-scheduler@climber.org
408-354-7291 home
237 San Mateo Avenue, Los Gatos, CA 95030
Treasurer and Membership Roster (address changes):
Bill Kirkpatrick / pcs-treasurer@climber.org
408-293-2447 home
435 N. Second St. #217, San Jose CA 95112
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Publicity Committee Positions
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Scree Editor:
Bob Bynum / pcs-editor@climber.org
510-659-1413 home
761 Towhee Court, Fremont CA 94539-7421
PCS World Wide Web Publisher:
Aaron Schuman / pcs-webmaster@climber.org
650-943-7532 home
223 Horizon Avenue, Mountain View, CA 94043-4718
Publicity Chair:
Steve Eckert / pcs-listmaster@climber.org
650-508-0500 home
1814 Oak Knoll Drive, Belmont, CA 94002-1753
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Subscriptions and Email List Info
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Hard copy subscriptions are $10. Subscription applications and
checks payable to "PCS" should be mailed to the Treasurer so they
arrive before the last Tuesday of the expiration month. If you are
on one of the PCS email lists (either the sierra-nevada@climber.org
discussion list or the california-news@climber.org read-only list,
you have a free EScree subscription. For online info, send Email to
info@climber.org. EScree subscribers should send a subscription form
to the Treasurer to become voting PCS members at no charge. All
subscribers are requested to send a donation of $2/year to cover
operating expenses other than printing the Scree. The Scree is on
the PCS web site (as both plain text and Adobe Acrobat/PDF) at
http://www.climber.org/pcs/Scree/index.html
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Rock Climbing Classifications
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The following trip classifications are to assist you in choosing trips for
which you are qualified. No simple rating system can anticipate all
possible conditions.
Class 1: Walking on a trail.
Class 2: Walking cross-country, using hands for balance.
Class 3: Requires use of hands for climbing, rope may be used.
Class 4: Requires rope belays.
Class 5: Technical rock climbing.
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Deadline for submissions to the next Scree is Sunday 2/27/2000.
Meetings are the second Tuesday of each month.
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"Vy can't ve chust climb?" - John Salathe
First Class EMail - Dated Material as soon as it's published!