SWCAMBORNE

I won the lottery.  Really I won the annual lottery for a pass to climb the Mt Whitney Trail.  Nurit won also so we are grouping together and four of us will attempt the hike on September 9, 2013.  It’s the Monday after Labor Day and between Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur.  A very auspicious date.

My Friend Lee F summiting in 2004

The trail starts from just west of Lone Pine California at about 8000 feet and 11 miles later reaches the summit at 14,500 feet.  To put it in perspective about ten years ago I climbed to the top of Half Dome in Yosemite with Rebecca it was 17 miles round trip and about 4,800 ft of elevation gain to a max of about 9000 feet.  I survived it easily. This hike is higher, longer and has 25% more elevation gain.  And by the way I’m ten years older.  My only hope is that I will be in better shape.

So far Rebecca and Carmela R. have signed up to go along and Doug W.  is a strong maybe.  Contact me if you would like to be on the list in case we have any dropouts.  Read more about the hike. 

My Half Dome tee shirt with the facts

I thinking about using the hike to help raise awareness of awareness.  Are you aware of how unaware many people are?  I’m planning to pester people to send money in my name to an organization that pretends to care about the shocking lack of awareness.  In this way you can feel more aware and caring and I can pretend that I am hiking for a higher purpose than just filling one of my lifetime goals.  Of course “lifetime goals” are out of vogue and  have been renamed “bucket list items” which make them sound less pretentious and more frivolous.  So it goes.

I will be doing a lot of training in the local mountains over the next 162 days.  Henninger Flats 5.8 miles with a 1500 foot elevation gain is my current hike.   It represents about 25% of of what I need to be able to do, while starting at 8000 feet.  Oh my.

I’ll see you on the trail.

Nurit and I went walking in Sierra Madre last Saturday morning and were able to watch the finish of the Mt Wilson Trail Race. The fastest time was an hour and two minutes. Not bad for sixish miles on dirt in the mountains.

the finish line

For a few years I entertained fantasies of running in this race. But it was not to be.   When I was young and healthy enough I didn’t have the time. Now my knees are not very good for running. But I can walk so I’m still working toward climbing Mt Whitney.  It reminds me of a Bob Hope golf joke: “Someday I hope to shoot my age… of course I’ll have to live to be 120.”

Third Place

Did I mention that they are running in the mountains. See the picture above. This is the area that burned in the Sierra Madre fire in April and then had torrential rain in May. All of the weather caused the race to be rescheduled but not canceled.

Master of the Universe

Yes that is a picture of me at the top of Mt Wilson. On Friday the 31st of August I climbed to the top of Mount Wilson and back.

It was about 19 miles round trip with an elevation gain of 4750 feet.

The weather was perfect for hiking. I started out at 6am with my usual supplies for a walk to Henninger plus an extra 4 liters of water and some snacks.

Dawn on the trail

I had hiked about an hour above Henninger a few weeks ago and thought that I was within an hour of the summit of Mt Wilson. I was off by an hour or two.

Not there yet

The round trip took about 10 hours and at the end I was tired but still had enough energy to go over to Huntington Hospital and visit Gary D. More on that story later.

This was going to be my first of several full day hikes in preparation for climbing Mt Whitney in September but fate has intervened. Gary D’s illness and the delayed completion of our remodel mean that I have run out of time. I’m going to put my name in the lottery for next year and will keep working on this goal. Stay tuned.

I went on my longest hike of the summer yesterday. And I did pretty well. I left Eaton Canyon at 6am

Sunrise

and hiked up to Henniger Flats with a very nice young lady named, I think, Sheila (I didn’t write it down). On the way up we talked about the slide area and what we could do about it. She inspired me to do more than just work a little bit on the worst spots on the trail. See later entries. At Henniger Flats we got a short tour of the now closed museum by the helpful young ranger. She admired my Panama hat since she is from Ecuador like the hat.

At about 8am I left the Flats and headed up the toll road for another hour to the point where it looked like I was close to Mount Wilson.

Tower view point

I could have made it to the top and back if I had had enough time. It was a smoggy still day.

You can just see Downtown LA

I’m training to climb Mt Whitney in September. The Mountain itself is over 14,000 feet high but by driving to Whitney Portal and climbing the Mount Whitney Trail Route the elevation gain is about 6300 feet and the distance is about 12 miles round trip. September is a good time for the climb since the crowds will have decreased substantially. I’m planning to make it a two night three day trip.

Lee Summits Whitney

My friend Lee F climbed it a few years ago as part of his hike along the John Muir Trail.

On the trail

To train I plan to hike in the front range of the San Gabriels a couple of times a week until I can climb 5000 feet in a day with a 15 lb pack. It is a lot harder to climb at altitude but you have to start somewhere.  I’m looking for partners to train with and to go on the climb.