Highpointing Advice Needed (OR, NV, AZ)

[bignslow]

Hi All,

We're heading out west in a few weeks for some state highpoints.

We're starting the trip with Hood, taking a 2 day mountaineering class and then getting guided to the summit
Next we're hoping to tackle Boundary Peak (NV)
Finally we're going to head down to AZ for Humphrey's Peak

Has anyone done some of these, and if so do you have any pointers specifically relating to:
1) Preparation for working at higher altitudes
2) Routes to Boundary (I'm considering the Queen's Mine approach over the Trail Canyon approach)
3) Coping with the "alpine start", our guides want us to meet them at 11:30 PM the "day" of our climb.

Any advice, tips, or information you may have would be greatly appreciated.

 

[TCD]

Sounds like a great trip, guys!

For the altitude, plan your acclimatization. You don't want to fly in from sea level, and then jump right on the hike the next day. Work in a couple "hike high, sleep low" days prior to the actual hike. (For example, when we did Whitney, our schedule was Tenaya (10K), Hoffman (11K), Dana (13K), rest day, Whitney (14K). That worked really well. Find nearby non-technical mountains to use for this, so it's easy to get it done. Of course there are no guarantees. Even the same individual can do well at altitude on one trip, and then poorly on another. It's not well understood why.

On all 3, but especially on Hood, respect the weather. We bailed out prior to starting our Hood attempt in 99 because of conditions. I would love to have climbed it, but it's still there (and I'm still here!).

The early start hurts for a few minutes, but it pays off. Pre pack everything the afternoon before; stay hydrated and if you get a headache from lack of sleep just hit the Ibuprofen; and just accept the fact that you won't have much sleep that day. I love to sleep, but the benefits of the early start are huge: you can deal with delays and still achieve your objective; and especially out west, you can be up and down off the most exposed parts before the Noon lightning storms arrive. We got up at 11:30 in our camp at Tuolomne for Whitney. It hurt, but even with the drive, it got us on the trail at about 4, which was nice; we finished in daylight.

Have fun and take lots of pictures!

Tom

 

[TrishandAlex]

Excellent! I look forward to reading your trip reports when you return. The girls and I are heading west in late August/early September to resume our highpointing quest. We're considering NV as one of our peaks.

We did Humphreys Peak, AZ last year. It was our first high altitude hike and we spent 4 or 5 days acclimatizing. We acclimated on the actual trail. The first day, we drove to the trailhead (just over 9000 feet in elevation) and hung out all day. The next day, we hiked to 10,000 feet, sat by the trail and read for hours. The next day, we went higher. The day before our hike, we took the lift up to neighboring Agassiz peak (over 12,000 feet) and walked/jogged/and jumped about for most of the day. Each night, we descended and slept in the lodge at the base of the ski area (about 8000 feet). This approach worked well for us. When we did the hike itself, it felt no different than doing a standard hike in the Whites (until we began our descent -- Alex got a slight headache that went away after we returned to the trailhead).

Wishing you the best of luck and fantastic hiking,
Trish

 

[bignslow]

Thanks for the advice guys!

 

[Kevin Rooney]

As for Boundary - approaching it from either side of the ridge doesn't really matter - either one is about the same in terms of effort. The Queen's Mine works fine. As for Humphrey's - you start from the parking lot of the local ski area - pretty straightforward. There's only one trail - interesting forest, till the ridge then it's volcanic rubble. I didn't know the mountain was volcanic until that point.

If you have a bit of time - from Bishop, drive to Body ghost town. It's a fascinating place.

 

[Jay H]

NV:You can PM Tmax for Boundary, I don't recall the route. I didn't do this climb since I got sick on Whitney which was our previous trip with hikethe115 so I kind of hung out in the valley while Tmax and Hikethe115 successfully climbed Boundary. I don't remember our approach other than it was a long drive on a kind of desolate road that was in OK shape with some bad spots. You can see wild mustangs out there. I remember them saying it was very dry up at the top and rocky and not much shade so bring the sunscreen for sure. I'm not really highpointing so it didn't bother me too much not to summit, plus we were headed to Shasta afterwards which I wanted to be able to do,

OR: I didn't find Hood that hard physically, good suggestion is to try to camp before at elevation, at least somewhere close to Timberline Camp or so. I'm sure you can ask/talk to the guide service about best way or recommendations on where to stay or camp.

Jay

 

[Peakbagr]

Agree with Jay, camp at elevation for as many days as you can. For Mt Hood, we left Timberline Lodge at 10:30pm and climbed thru the night. Sat waiting( and shivering) for the sky to lighten at the bergschrund before going up thru the Gates.

On Humphries - A wonderfully graded and switchbacking trail until you hit the last part, a very rocky ridge. Notorious for summit winds, I'd definitely pack a hat, mittens and shells so you can stay and enjoy the summit. A nice acclimitizing hike is Tank Meadows right below Humphries. Hike up and enjoy the open wildflower meadows under the gaze of Humphries.

Also agree with Kevin about the ghost town, but if your in the vicinity, I'd take the day and visit the 2 high elevation Bristlecone Pine groves. As close to a religilous experience as you'll have outside a place of worship.

 

[bignslow]

Thanks for the extra advice.
We're staying in government camp (4k') for the nights before our hood climb and we're probably going to stay at queens mine (9k') the night before our ascent of Boundary.

Hood is the real goal, the rest are a bonus, so either of us don't cope well with the altitude we'll adjust our goals accordingly.

 

[Kevin Rooney]

...
Also agree with Kevin about the ghost town, but if your in the vicinity, I'd take the day and visit the 2 high elevation Bristlecone Pine groves. As close to a religilous experience as you'll have outside a place of worship.

Yes, good point Alan. I love the Bristlecone Pine NF also. One of the great things about hiking in the Eastern Sierra is that Bristlecone pines occur elsewhere as well so you get the opportunity to see their twisted, knarly agelessness in many places. Another observation re: Boundary - locals rarely do Boundary, as it's seen mostly as the far northerly bump on the ridge that is the White Mountain range on California's eastern border with Nevada. Mostly they do White Mtn itself, as it's a 14'er, and at times it's rather busy (and civilized) as there's a road to the top. But for High Pointers - Boundary in the draw, as it's in Nevada. Personally, there are lots of other more interesting peaks to climb in Nevada than Boundary, but it will still give you some great views of both the Sierra and Death Valley, notably the Saline Valley.

 

[erugs]

We hiked Boundary Peak from the East after spending time in Yosemite and before climbing Whitney. We camped at the trailhead after driving in a long, narrow dirt road. The hike begins on a trail, oddly enough, then when you hit the scree area the trail seems to end. Some folk starting about the same time we di headed right up the loose scree. I kept more to the left, where the rocks were bigger and more secure. When the others saw I was making better time than they, they followed my lead (and passed me, story of my life). From the summit, we hiked north along the ridgeline and came down by another trail. I don't have my maps with me, so can't name what we did, but it was a nice change and not quite as easy to follow. We saw wild horses, which was really cool. The only word of advice we were given was to make sure you went down the same drainage you went up, so you would end up at your car.

 

[bignslow]

I just wanted to reply to the thread and let everyone know how it went:

• Hood (7/10,11,12/12)
  We stayed in government camp (4k') and did the mountaineering class for 2 days prior near the lodge (7k') on the summit day our guide did a great job of keeping a slow and steady pace, so we never really noticed the altitude. We weren't really expecting to summit, the freeze level was at 14k' all week and we figured the risk of rock/ice fall would be too great, but when we got to the top of the hogsback everything sounded good so we were able to make it.
• Boundary
  After visiting Yosemite, our plan was to drive to the trailhead at 9.5k' for Queen's Mine. Previous trip reports indicated that a car would make it to the trailhead. We got to about 7.5k' before we ran into a rut that was too difficult for the rental car (the fact that it was a prius and had almost no ground clearance didn't help. A better 2wd car might make it, but that would be iffy. We were far enough out of our comfort zone going above 13k' that we didn't feel comfortable starting from 7k' (the nearest spot where we were able to get the car parked not blocking the road) so we decided to save it for another trip (when we can come back with a truck). The bummer is that the trip reports I had read were all written around 2005 and 2007, I never considered looking at the dates, but obviously a lot can change with un-maintained roads in 5-7 years.
• Humphreys
  We hiked from the AZ Ski Bowl (9k') after staying in flagstaff (7k'). We took the climb nice and slow which allowed us to keep moving at a constant pace. We definitely noticed the altitude in that we weren't able to speed along, but overall Trish's advice was very helpful, it really wasn't more difficult than any 4k we had previously done. We also saw the blowdown patch that I remembered hearing about from Trish's trip report, that was a lot of downed trees.

Overall the trip was a wonderful success, the big goal was to get Mount Hood, so the other peaks were simply bonuses.

Along the way we also visited the following:

• Crater Lake
• Mount Saint Hellens
• Mt Raininer (tried to hike to Muir, but blisters turned me back half way)
• California redwoods
• Yosemite
• Grand Canyon

Thanks again to everyone for your help.

 

[TrishandAlex]

Congratulations on getting Hood and Humphreys! Sounds like you had a great trip. Glad my advice was helpful. Thanks for posting about the road to Boundary -- when we decide to hike that one, we'll rent a truck.

Trish

 

[Puma concolor]

Congrats on your trip and particularly on Hood, bignslow. I was on Hood on 7/10 and hiked up to the top of the ski lifts probably right around the same time you were doing snow school. I had planned on soloing the south side but due to the freeze line and increasingly melted-out conditions, I wasn't comfortable soloing. Very glad to see you made the summit!

 

[bignslow]

Congratulations on getting Hood and Humphreys! Sounds like you had a great trip. Glad my advice was helpful. Thanks for posting about the road to Boundary -- when we decide to hike that one, we'll rent a truck.

Trish

Thanks!

Congrats on your trip and particularly on Hood, bignslow. I was on Hood on 7/10 and hiked up to the top of the ski lifts probably right around the same time you were doing snow school. I had planned on soloing the south side but due to the freeze line and increasingly melted-out conditions, I wasn't comfortable soloing. Very glad to see you made the summit!

After reading this trip report the day we started our mountaineering class:
http://www.peakbagger.com/climber/ascent.aspx?aid=251711

I figured our chances of summiting were nil. I would have made the same exact choice had we not been guided, but the guides (multiple parties) thought it was safe. Their feeling was that the snow pack was the same temperature (something-thermic?) and was stable. Their theory was that the worst of the debris had already fallen earlier in the warm temps.

 

[Puma concolor]

O

After reading this trip report the day we started our mountaineering class:
http://www.peakbagger.com/climber/ascent.aspx?aid=251711

The strange part about my attempt (if you even want to call it that) is that when I got back down to the parking area at Timberline, I looked down and my right winter boot was literally falling apart. It had split all the way from the toe to near the heel. Would have been a real serious problem if I had gone higher on the mountain. I guess sometimes things work out even when they don't work out.

 

[DougPaul]

Their feeling was that the snow pack was the same temperature (something-thermic?) and was stable.

Isothermic?

Doug

 

[bignslow]

Isothermic?

Doug

That sounds about right (from a person with absolutely no avalanche awareness training).

 

[DougPaul]

Isothermic?

That sounds about right (from a person with absolutely no avalanche awareness training).

The prefix "iso" means the same...

The term "isothermal" is used to describe a snowpack that is the same temperature throughout. A temperature gradient within a snowpack can result in a layer of depth hoar (weak ice crystals which can form the sliding surface for an avalanche). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avalanche

Doug