Kenneth, I went on a recon speedhike of the trail from Charlotte to the Upper Vidette area on Jul5; looked great. There was heavy winter left over snow on Forester; and below 11,000. PCTers told me they were able to negotiate Forester with ice gear but, it was dangerous at some spots. I heard some folks avoided it altogether because of lack of gear; I don't blame them. Also mentioned as questionable was Glen Pass. I guess the south side of it is thick. Lots of scrambling happening on both passes. I also heard folks are falling short on the east side of Whitney. PCTers told me the west approach to Whitney summit was a mother. By the time you get up there, things should be better. It rained in the area last week and temps went up; summer temps are here. I will give my day hike a go (Onion V to Lone Pine Lake) on August 1st. I am only taking lightweight crampons so, I hope that will be enough. I do have a plan B in case the snow is too thick to cross the passes; turn around.

Happy Trails,
JD

Edited by DeLaSierra on 07/12/2010 19:46:43 MDT.

"I also heard folks are falling short on the east side of Whitney."

Jorge, can you be more specific? Do you refer to the east side Mount Whitney Trail, or the Mountaineer's Route, or what?

On a normal year, it is perfectly normal to have a small amount of snow on the Mount Whitney Trail until August 1. Obviously, it is not a normal year, so a more significant amount of snow should be expected. However, I would think that the trail has been beaten into submission by now.

--B.G.--

Hi:

When I was on the trail on Jul4-5, I heard folks were turning around at the cables because of snow/ice. The next rough spot was at Trail Crest and upward. Anyone coming from the west found it difficult from trail junction and upward. I do not know anything about the mountaneering route; I should have asked -- sorry.

Jorge, this is good information.

I'm not terribly surprised to hear that hikers turned around at the cables. Some people just freak out easily. There is always a bit of snow and ice there, but the cables are rock-solid to hang onto, or else you can squeeze behind the snow and ice next to the rock. I remember before the cables where installed.

Coming from the west and going up the last 1.9 miles to the summit shouldn't be too bad. Generally the only thing that stops hikers is the thin air. Most remaining snow there will melt off except for the last patch 100 vertical meters below the summit.

--B.G.--

Good deal; glad to help! I was thinking the same thing -- most folks coming from the east are 1st timers. Have a great trek!

Happy Trails!

jd

My two cents:
Jorge and Kenneth,
Good points all around re. direction of travel and starting points except for the "Happy Isles" sign. I know of no such sign. I have had this conversation with Aaron Sorenson and Michael Popov. There is a mileage sign a few 100 feet into the trail from the Happy Isles start in YNP which lists distance to local points and Mt Whitney. Michael used this as his finish point on one of his beer fueled wicked fast efforts.
>
A sign listing distances is not a trailhead. There are many such signs along the trail. To me it is clear where the north end of the JMT is. There is a car width dirt road that hits the Merced River and ends at the automated water level monitoring station. At this point the road narrows abruptly to a hiking trail. There is a bear warning sign at this point and this is where the trail begins - not a mileage sign placed arbitrarily along the route a few 100 feet beyond the trail's starting point.
>
Get a good sleep in and have a fast trip OR give yourself no more than 3-5 hours/night, go for the record and be pre pared for some serious sleep deprivation induced psychosis.
Good luck to all.

the stone bridge about 100 yds further than where Al is describing makes the most sense.
1. it is an impossible to miss or argue about landmark.
2. it marks the beginning of the pavement ... in keeping with the car to car philosophy.

Art,
Good luck driving your car to the JMT southern terminus at the 14'497' summit of Mt Whitney!
>
As Jorge and Kenneth posit, a trail doesn't need to start at a parking lot. To drive to the JMT southern end would require driving your car 12 miles up a highly protected single track hiking trail. To drive to the bridge that you refer to in YNP to the north for most of us would necessitate a moving violation from park Law Enforcement Officers as that road is only open to park busses and handicapped vehicles. And even for those vehicles, there is no place to leave a car anywhere near there. The closest appropriate parking lot is the wilderness parking lot at the base of Glacier Point Apron 3/4 mile to the west.
>
The JMT south end is defined as the summit of Mt Whitney (12 miles from the parking lot) by those who created it. I see the north end as being where the single track hiking trail ends (where it drops to the shore of the Merced River) and a wide dirt park vehicle accessible road begins. If you need a place to park your car, travel another mile west to the Wilderness Parking Lot.

"The JMT south end is defined as the summit of Mt Whitney (12 miles from the parking lot)"

Actually, it is 10.7 miles from the parking lot, but who is counting?

--B.G.--

Hey guys! Thanks for pitching in!!

Al, thanks so much for your comments. Knowing a bit about your JMT background, I welcome such comments with respect. Kenneth will be out there soon. I am still trying to teach myself the discipline of a UL fastpacker and if I may say so, showing progress.

I will be out on the trail on Aug 1st on a 42 mile day hike from Onion Valley to Lone Pine Lake. I need to test my training so far as well as my gear. My goal will be a 6-8 day JMT in Aug 2011 (this is the most realistic time frame I can give myself for now / I don't enjoy hiking at night). I hope the passes are clear by Aug1; I was out there on July 4th and there was lots of snow. The Tyndall Creek was reported as "unpassable" as of July 12! What? I hope for an improvement in a couple of weeks!!

Anyway, good to hear from you and the others; here is a toast to the "conquering of the useless", right Al?

Jorge,
To paraphrase a greater writer than me:
Mountain running is useless like poetry and dangerous like lovemaking.

That happy isles sign is only 100 yards or so from the road.
If it were right off the side of the road, we would count that extra 100 yards.

If you were to break the record by the 25 seconds or so it would take to get from the sign to the road, go for it...

Honestly Brett ruined it for us counting his Unsuported Record up to Whitney means everybody else going for the U/S Record now needs to do the climb up to Whitney under the clock.

At one point last year, if Michael Popov were to have both records, he was going to make a claim to change the JMT Record Attempts to be the JMT, and not to include the distance from the Portal to the top of Whitney.

If someone were to go N-S I would Highly recommend doing just the JMT and enjoy the view for a few hours with a beer.
My only stipulation would be that if you know you had time and could break the overall record down to the portal, to do so.
Good luck on that after I get through with it.

Edited by awsorensen on 07/16/2010 17:34:53 MDT.

Good one Al!

Aaron: I thought Brett went up to the shelter and waited there 'till 6am or something like that... he clocked himself going up there but i don't think he counted it. He has video of himself hanging out at the shelter with another trail blazer; not sure though.

You guys are gonna make this JMT record runs impossible for the rest of us mortals. That Spanish kid, Kilian Jornet, the one who broke the TRT last year, is looking to come down with his huge Solomon crew. Did you see his video of the TRT run? His crew literally tucked him in his friggen sleeping bag when he wanted to go nite-nite for an hour or so -- literally!! Plus, he had a pacer the whole way and no back pack to speak of... man... that was one supported run.... He wants to come down to the JMT and do the same trick... make it as hard as possible for him... LOL!

Jorge
That was Ian that did the Unsupported Attempt and slept on Whitney until 6:00.
Both Ian and I are starting during August's full moon for the overall record this year.
i will be going Supported and Ian Unsupported, however Ian has to start at the portal now because of the way the record was made by Brett, (breaking the supported record going unsupported).

The only reason Kilian did not do the JMT last year was because permit issues did not allow Salomon to get the video equipment they wanted up there so they settled for the TRT.

Kilian could get this record down below 3 days.
He just crossed the pyrenees in 740 kilometers in 7 days with 40,000 meters of elevation gain.
He is a master at elevation and technical terrain. He may not be able to run a 15 hour 100 miler at western states, but he destroys everyone in the Monte Blanc championships which has almost double the elevation as WS and is 106 miles.
I would love to see Geoff Roes go there and run head to head with Kilian on his turf.
Sorry I am a fan of what Kilian competes in. No baby stuff. He just gets babied.

Good info Aaron. I will sure be monitoring.

Since I'm new to the trail sports, I have been trying to define myself into whatever category fits me best. I like to trailrun the occasional 10k or 50k, I like to heavy backpack with friends and family, and, I like to take off with a light backpack once in a while by myself and cover long distances. The difference now-days is that I like to run once in a while with the pack on; hence, this takes me to my interrogative.

Is there an inherent difference between a fastpacker and a speedhiker? I do find several and thus, I consider myself a fastpacker in essence. I consider you trail blazers speedhikers; although, when I saw Brett on the trail in 2009, he looked just like any other backpacker out there. I had no clue what the guy was up to until I saw his pics and articles! I'd like to stir the pot in a BPL discussion board to see if I draw some attention to the topic. I hope you jump in and plug in your opinions too.

Happy Trails!
jd

Edited by DeLaSierra on 07/17/2010 14:55:00 MDT.

"Fastpacking and Speedhiking; are these different names for the same sport?"

Some good items posted on the forum already. Look up the forum by the same title and pitch in your opinions, experiences, "two-cents", what have you. I think it will help define our sport more and awaken more interest in folks out there.

jd

Jorge, thanks for the on-trail report. Thankfully, I still have a month of melting from when you hiked it to the start of my hike on August 5th. As for time, I will be racing my inner self more than any record. I would like to get in the neighborhood of 5 days. Time will tell. My right knee is getting better...

Aaron, thanks for the input. I doubt if I will knock out any records, certainly not Michael's or Brett's time, but I hope to do well.

I am running a blog on this hike at:
http://walk4sock.blogspot.com
Part of my objective is to raise some money for a camp for disabled kids called Camp SOCK, as in Southern Oregon Camp Kiwanis. I am a member of the Kiwanis group that puts the camp on each year. Check it out at:
http://www.campsock.org

Again everyone, thanks for the input. Happy Trails!

Ken "Moose" Muller

Getting ready to skip town and head south to Yosemite. Train leaves tonight at 10pm. Amtrak from home here in Klamath Falls, OR to Sacramento, bus to Stockton, train to Merced, then bus to Yosemite. Should arrive around 1:30pm tomorrow... get my permit and start the hike at midnight plus one minute.

Follow the Walk 4 SOCK... the web address...

http://share.findmespot.com/shared/gogl.jsp?glId=0933O8mCvhXC6kaJgrSOb4IloX2ZqE1Dg

The backpack is at 30 pounds with the food for 7 days, no water. I would like to shave it to 25, but don't know if I can get to that goal or not. Right now, the weight for stuff stands at:

11.1 oz. -- Backpack (thin sil-nylon GVP 4)
6 lb., 2.4 oz. -- Sleep gear / Shelter total
-- Tyvek ground sheet (6.7 oz.)
-- REI tarp tent shelter (1 lb., 15.5 oz.)
-- Big Agnes Horse Thief down bag (35 deg F) (1 lb., 15.6 oz.)
-- Thermarest pad (15.4 oz.)
-- Foam/Air pillow (13.2 oz.)
3 lb., 9.4 oz. -- Extra Clothing / Rain Gear
11.6 oz. -- Eating / Hydration Equipment
12.9 oz. -- Lights, Batteries, etc.
14.7 oz. -- Survival Gear / First Aid
9.2 oz. -- Meds and Footcare
12.8 oz. -- Toiletries and misc.
4.9 oz. -- SPOT tracking device
15lb., 12.6 oz. -- Food + Bear Vault

I did not skimp on sleep gear and protection this time... after the hypothermia in 2008, I don't plan to repeat that historical mistake.

Concession in weight that I have made...

--The pillow is comfort, but allows proper sleep, for me anyways, so I take it.

--The hiking boots, Montrail Sabino Trail Mid GTX's, weigh only 9 ounces total more than my pair of trail running shoes, a small price in weight to pay for keeping the soles of my feet from feeling every sharp rock underfoot and becoming tenderized to the point of agony (JMT 2006 trip)

--Hiking poles are aluminum, not carbon fiber. Don't have $150 to spend trying to save 10 oz.

--Camelback - easier to fill than a Platypus... that is the only reason.

--5-hour energy - the B-complex vitamins in this concentrated drink work well for sustaining energy, so I use it.

--Lights and batteries - SPOT tracker for fun and safety, camera for photos and videos, and headlamp and flashlight for night hiking all come at a price. 12.9 ounces in this case.

--ALL my food runs at greater than 100 calories per ounce, except for the pouches of tuna and the freeze-dried dinners. Taste counts for something, and I gotta have some taste in my diet.

--I am going without a cookstove. Foods will soak for about an hour to rehydrate (in the plastic jar with the wide-mouth green lid) while I am still hiking on down the trail. Lukewarm tasty but not piping hot. Titanium cup + stormproof matches and firestarter if I need an emergency warm-up.

I know I can shave a few ounces here and there... I'll probably be flinging stuff out as I roll into Yosemite.

Never stop exploring!
}
}:[: ) Moose
}

Donations may be mailed to:
Camp SOCK, Walk 4 SOCK 2010
PO Box 735
Keno, OR 97627-0735

Electronic Donation submissions may be made through Click and Pledge at:
https://co.clickandpledge.com/sp/d2/default.aspx?wid=22240
this is a secure site. There is a $0.40 transaction fee charged to the cardholder.

Thanks for your support!! 100% of donations go directly to Camp SOCK.

Edited by ken_muller on 08/03/2010 12:21:53 MDT.

Greetings All:
Ken, have a great hike and we hope to read from you soon. The trail is a go from Charlotte all the way to Portal; some stubborn small snow fields on the north side of Forester's upper half will make you scramble a little; all doable.

Good Luck!!

Well,
I went on my Onion Valley-Portal hike on Aug1 and sure learned a lot. Took off from Onion Valley at about 330am and 10 minutes into the hike I had an encounter of the mama bear kind. The shape and color of their eyes when the headlamp beam hits them head-on is one of a kind. I made noise, screamed, everything I could do to get the pair to move off the trail but, nope. I was afraid mama bear was holding her ground for a possible second cub in the area so, I turned around and went back to the trailhead. An hour later, I went back up making more noise than ever. The bears had moved but I could see them on my right side at about 100 feet away. I kept on going as I sang out loud. That was that.

The climb up to Kearsarge Pass was easy. The subsequent run down to Lower Vidette (via Bullfrog Lake) was fine. On-and-off to the Upper Vidette and then face to face with the great Divide and Mr. Forester. I was feeling good up the hill until I hit about 12500 feet. If anyone out there felt a little short of breath on Sunday morning at about 10am, it was because I was sucking-up all the oxigen from Forester. I never got my butt kicked like that before. Maybe it was because I over spent myself trying to catch up with time or, because I was just not used to the altitude. Anyway, by the time I made it down to Tyndall Creek, my legs were no longer good for running.

I made it to Crabtree at about 730pm and decided not to continue because I do not enjoy hiking at night -- let alone down Whitney. Per the map, I completed almost 30 miles in 15 hours; a stinking average of 2mph. The next day, I got up pain-free and happy as a jay bird. Ready to summit. Once I began my ascend, I discovered my uphill legs were not there. So, although I was feeling good on level ground and downhill trails, the uphill was not happening. I figured I had a case of the "burnt-out" and decided not to summit (I know... WTF!!!).

I doubled time down the hill toward the portal with my 20 pound ULA pack (water and food included). On my way, I met one of the BPL bloggers named "BJ" or "BG". He put two-and-two together and figured out who I was. That was so cool! I am glad he caught me working down the hill and not slacking off!! Good times B!!!!!

Anyway, finished a 43.7 run in about 21 trail hours. My knees are fine, no blisters or injuries to speak of; other than a heavy case of the chaffing where the sun never shines. Why were my uphill legs gone after Forester remains for me to find out. All my training takes place in much lower elevations and that had something to do with it, I'm sure (although I did have some runs in the area on Jul4-5).

I also wonder if pre-run nutrition and/or dehydration played a part; not to mention I am a type two diabetic and what happened was just me "bunking" or going low on sugar. Who knows... I did not check or was concerned about that...I don't like excuses... I was not physically ready for the Onion Valley-to-Portal challenge and that was that. I found out first hand, and accept, that I am not ready for a 5-7 day JMT fastpack run either.... not yet anyway.

Nevertheless, although I did not meet my goal, I felt very accomplished with my run. All in all, the last 10 months have been a good transformation period; from a 40 pound pack and three weeks on the JMT -- to a 14.5 base weight (20 total) and a 21 hour JMT ride. I totally enjoyed my mini adventure. Riding the JMT never gets old anyway.

Good times,
jd