u/MountainBluebird5

Let's say you're going up to a peak like Matterhorn (12k), Aggasiz (13k) or Whitney (14k).

If you are spending a night before the summit trying to acclimate, what is your "target" altitude?

In the past I usually shoot for as high as I can up to 10k, but curious what other peoples takes are.

(Obviously for something like Whitney you may want more than just a single night)

I know there are some of you that will tell me acclimating for just one or two nights doesn't do anything, but for myself I've found I am much better off when I do.

I’m planning on backpacking up Mt Whitney in two weeks. Itd be my second time up Mt Whitney, third 14er overall (other two are Langley and Shasta 2x).

Im debating if I should hit Mt Muir, either the same day we summit Whitney or the day after (heading up again from trail camp).

Been watching youtube videos and it seems scary but somewhat doable - I have a hard time judging steepness and the exact exposure just from videos though.

I have done class 2/class 3 scrambling before although this will be the highest altitude I’ve scrambled at. I rock climb here and there but would not really consider myself ”a climber” per se.

Any thoughts / advice? Anyone done it before, and if so how much experience did you have going in?

Maybe there is not much more to say beyond “yep it’s a class three to low four at altitude with exposure” but I’m always curious to hear other people’s experiences.

First, will apologize in advance for what is probably one of many sleeping bag posts on this forum.

I am looking for a sleeping bag that is ideally relatively light (around 2, maybe maximum of 3 pounds), for mountaineering and backpacking primarily in California and the sierras, with some trips to the PNW and similar.

I currently have the Kelty Cosmic Down 0 degree and a Kelty Cosmic Down 20 degree that is maybe ~10 years old, and has been improperly stored for most of that (just in the sack it came in), so I think its lost a fair bit of its warmth. I often find myself debating whether to bring the 20 degree and risk being cold, or the 0 degree that is very heavy (four pounds).

Ideally, I'd want just 15 or 20 degree sleeping bag that I can bring with me on all my trips - and maybe save the 0 degree only for car camping or very cold nights, e.g. when there's an expectation it will be well below freezing (like sub 20 degrees).

Some examples of trips I'd like to do:

• 14ers such as Whitney, Split Mountain, Langley, Williamson and Tyndall, in the summer
• Shasta Avalanche Gulch in May - June
• Mt Adams in Spring
• Camp at Dewey Point in the snow
• (eventually) Mt. Rainier

I generally run hot.

Some bags I'm considering:

• Western Mountaineering - either alpinlite or ultralite. Main con here is the price.
• Nemo disco 15 degrees - it's a quarter of the price of the WM ones but a pound heavier. Also read that the temp ratings are not necessarily comparable.
• General ultralite backpacking sleeping bags - e.g. zpacks 20 degree bag.

I think one other specific question is whether to go for a 15 degree or a 20 degree bag.

Thanks in advance for any advice anyone has!

EDIT: I could afford an $800 bag, esp if I got it on sale for $600, I just don't know if my current usage justifies I should. I probably do some form of backpacking or camping about once a month although have done some cool stuff so far.

I’ve become pretty interested in doing the 7 peaks loop in desolation wilderness:

https://fastestknowntime.com/route/desolation-7-summits-ca

Ive done 3/7 individually before and done some pretty hard stuff but nothing quite at this level. Eg Ive done Mt Whitney, Mt Shasta, etc, Whitney being the most elevation and mileage I’ve done in a day. I also ran the SF Marathon this year (not super fast, like 5 hours, although did not really train for it). Done some scrambling here and there but not an insane amount of it.

I‘d love to start a discussion if anyone who’s done or attempted it before (or sections of it). I found some trip reports and blogs but there’s really not too much out there.

In terms of specific questions, I’m wondering if it basically mandates trail running or it’s possible to do only by hiking if you start early, finish late, during a time when days are longer.

Im also curious how the scrambly sections are - eg how much exposure is there going down from pyramid to the backside of jacks.

I recognize it’s pretty insane but I think it could be a pretty cool long term goal to work up to.

You don't need a helmet for the last scramble up Pyramid peak in tahoe right?

I want to do Alamere falls next weekend with my partner. Ideally I don't want to take the shortcut.

I did it once before on a backpacking trip, and we didn't plan out the tides at all - we just went there, saw the beach was safe, went, and headed back before the tide increased. I think in fairness we may have just lucked out - this was 3/26/2022, we got there at noon, and the tides look like they were historically very low that day.

I want to go again, but am having trouble parsing the information available online. It does seem like below zero feet is pretty consistently safe. The only problem is that this Sunday (when I was planning to go), the two low tides are just before 8am and also 8pm - neither of which is very conducive to a day hike if the trailhead is two hours away.

https://preview.redd.it/9mxzb1jpbvfh1.png?width=1010&format=png&auto=webp&s=3b371f628b9d7a76312efe42ae0b63d7e762f8e6

Also clearly not everyone is hiking it at these times - maybe everyone is just taking the shortcut but it seems like people are hiking it every day and the vast majority are not getting there pre-8am.

So what gives - is there a realistic + safe way to hike it in a day this weekend (coming from the bay) or is it just not really possible and everyone else is just being stupid? If we were to go this Sunday, what would be a safe range to try to be leaving the waterfall by? 11am?

Plan is to do this like late September.

• Thursday
  • Print permits online
  • Leave in the afternoon
  • Drive from the Bay
  • Stay in Mammoth
• Friday
  • Wake up pretty early
  • Drive to trailhead (~2-2.5 hours)
  • About 6 hours of hiking - seems like about 4 miles, 4k feet of gain, on very "bushwhacky" trail
  • Camp at Red Lake (10.5k')
• Saturday
  • Wake up at ~3am
  • Seems like about 3.5k' additional feet of gain to the summit but very steep
  • Try to summit before 11am, anticipating class 2 on the way up with maybe some class 3.
  • Spend another night at red lake
• Sunday (reverse of friday)
  • Hike out
  • Drive home (around 8 hours)

Alternate itinerary: Spend Saturday acclimating, summit sunday, hike all the way down sunday, motel off of 395, drive back Monday morning.

The car situation seems like one of the trickier parts of it. I posted about this before but seems like here are the options, none of which are perfect:

• Use my car (Honda Fit) - disaster waiting to happen
• Rent a car / truck - Probably much more rugged, but would be out a lot of money if something were to happen.
• Walk to the trailhead - Makes Friday much more intense, adds 2000 feet of elevation gain + 4 miles
• Bike from paved road to trailhead - Might be the best option but would need to acquire and transport bikes.

I would also be curious if anyone has any feedback on how exposed it is - how sketchy do the class 3 sections feel if there are any?

Want to summit Mt Hoffman some time this year. How exposed / technical is it? And anyone have a GPX track or something? Running into surprisingly little information about the route online.

I want to do Mt. Dana sometime this summer, maybe in August (it will be hot unfortunately). We'd probably come from the Bay friday night, camp two nights, maybe Mt. Hoffman / May Lake saturday, summit sunday, return home.

I'm wondering what the best way to acclimate / camp is. Three options I'm considering:

1. Reserve a spot at porcupine flat (8k feet) for two nights
2. Try to find a spot at one of the FCFS campsites friday night like saddlebag lake
3. A mix of both - porcupine first night, then try to find a spot at saddlebag the second night.

I know some people say that acclimatizing for only 1-2 days doesn't matter but I personally feel much better spending a bit of time at altitude vs going straight from 0 to 14k.

Also, how big of a thing are afternoon thunderstorms in Yosemite? I know for example in Colorado it's almost every single afternoon on peaks (or at least seems like that) but seems like this is less of a phenemenon in the sierras (but maybe still present).

Appreciate your help! Let me know if there is another good option I'm not considering or if you did it before, what you did.

Apologies if this is too redundant - I have looked at the pinned post already but feel free to delete if so.

I've spent a fair bit of time in Yosemite but this is my first time taking a larger group of friends who are coming from out-of-state. They like hiking but not quite as much as me and one of them is recovering from an injury, so he said something like Clouds Rest would be a bit too much for him. We have a campsite July 3 - 5 in the valley.

Here's the loose plan so far:

• Friday - leave the bay at 7am, try to get there by 10:30 - 11, Mist Trail in the afternoon, chill.
• Saturday - Seems like moving our car from the campsite is a bad idea during the day. Thinking about doing something chill in the valley like mirror lake, or rafting (are rentals open right now). Toying with the idea of going up to GP for sunset (or maybe taft point) in the early evening when it cools off a bit. 4 mile or panorama seemed cool but I think too long for my friend and the shuttle situation seemed like a lot.
• Sunday - Pack up camp and tioga road. Thinking either Cathedral lake, May lake, and/or Tenaya lake. Head home around 5pm.

Could squeeze in lower yosemite falls at some point or other easy walks. A few questions:

• I know parking will be bad in the valley. Will we need to get up super early to get a spot at e.g. Cathedral lake on Sunday though?
• Most campsites have space for two cars right?
• Are raft rentals available in the valley?
• Any thoughts on the itinerary? Wanting to hit some of the highlights while not feeling like its too packed in and there's no time to relax.

EDIT: Will Mariposa grove also be equally bad if we come in the morning on Friday?

I just finished the Salkantay Trek in Peru, which goes right by Mt Humantay and Mt Salkantay. The trek itself is just a hike, and pretty touristy (although still an absolute blast). 

I was wondering what it would take to actually climb either mountain. It looks like Salkantay has been summited, but only less than 100 times total. 

However, I could find almost nothing on Summit Post or the internet Mt Humantay - just one trip report claiming a first ascent in 2017. I found it a bit hard to believe it had only been climbed that recently - it’s right off of a super popular trek, and Lake Humantay is a super popular tourist attraction in its own right. 

I was talking with my guide and he said he had tried it twice, and that the standard route people usually approach from the North, which makes it sound like it’s attempted at least somewhat frequently by locals (although obviously taken with a grain of salt). 

Curious if anyone has any more information about this mountain? 

Note: I am definitely a novice myself so this is not something I’m personally planning to do but rather more of a general curiosity. 

Unfortunately, my job has become quite demanding recently, and I’m looking for recs for a service to help me a bit with the day to day household cleaning, I think on a cadence of about every two weeks or once a month.

Anyone have any recommendations they’ve used in the past?

Based in Calfiornia. I spend most of my time doing ungroomed blacks. I would say I am advanced but nothing too crazy - I am pretty comfortable with most of the runs off of KT 22 at Palisades for example, comfortable with everything at Sierra at Tahoe even in bad conditions.

I don’t really do terrain park much but I was thinking the lower stiffness and playfulness would be good for moguls while still having a bit of carving ability and all mountain roundness.

Thoughts? Was also looking at QSTs as just a standard all mountain ski but seems like most places are sold out for the season.

Should also mention they’re on sale for only like $300.

Edit: Probably only buying one pair of skis for the next season.