Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board Gear Lost in Shepherd Pass Area

Richard, James and I headed up to the Shepherd Pass area on Friday. Hoping to summit both Williamson and Tyndall the following days but we were greeted by high winds. So we decided to camp just below the pass Friday night and just above the Pothole area to avoid the perhaps even windier area above the Pass. That night the winds continued though and we decided to not try and go up the Pass on Saturday. Instead, we headed up to Mt. Keith on Saturday as a conditions check. We were successful with our Mt. Keith summit and figured that we would give Tyndall or Willy a go on Sunday. But that night the winds increased in strength and intensity. So much so that my Black Diamond Eldorado expedition tent got ripped from the ground and launched several hundred feet in the air by a huge gust of wind. Along with a bunch of gear inside the tent that was lost as well. A few items were retrieved but we were unable to locate some key items.

1 - Mountain Hardwear 0 degree Phantom Sleeping Bag
1 - Neo Air Mat (by Thermarest)
1 - Black closed cell foam mat (brand unknown)
1 - Lowa Mountain Expert GTX boot (red in color and for the right foot)
1 - Beige OR Hat

There were a couple of other smaller items like a stuff sack and socks etc. but not worth mentioning.

So, if anyone happens to be up in the Shepherd Pass area in the coming weeks (months) and comes across any of these items please let me know. We were able to retrieve some stuff and it was all found just above the Pothole area. We're figuring that the tent debris, sleeping bag and mats are much further down the gully as the debris was seen several hundred feet in the air and traveling at a very fast rate down the gully.

Thanks everyone!

-Ryan

At least you tagged Keith, but it's a shame you lost so much gear on the mountain. I'd be pretty upset if I lost all that gear - especially the mountaineering boot and sleeping bag. You might want to post over at Summitpost's California Forum too - that forum has a bigger audience than this one because it's focus isn't just the Whitney area.

Ryan didn't mention it, but he did find his camera equipment. Bad news is it was destroyed......$3K+ worth!

Thanks wingding! I plan on posting over at Summitpost as well. I just want to make sure I get the word out where I can.

Ryan so sorry to hear than man, seriously sucks! Patrick and I will be up there over the July 4th weekend although a long time from now we'll keep our eye's peeled. We actually might camp in the same place you guys did so we will have some time to go "exploring". The bag might be blown away by then but the boot should be somewhere around there......

Well for what it's worth great job on Keith! Saw RP's pics....

Yeti

dang - and I thought my Jetboil pot lid flying for a quarter mile was bad luck with the winds...

I may be coming through the area in late July, crossing over Junction Pass to the Pothole and over to Shepherd. May even do some off trail shortcutting, so I may get into areas that are not usually visited.

Jeff and Fish, thanks for thinking of me. It would be interesting if someone found the boot or even the sleeping bag. Just to know where they went... We scoured the debris area for hours looking for that boot. But if it ended up in the willows it will probably never be found.

Ouch - the camera equipment detroyed too.

You may get some of the gear back. I lost my ice axe, sunglasses, hat, and gps in a fall on Lyell Glacier a few years ago. Other climbers found and retrieved everything but the sunglasses the following weekend because I posted about it on a forum - there's some really nice people out there.

Best of luck getting the gear back.

Ryan,
so sorry to hear about your loss. i'm glad you're OK and hope that you recover some of it.

when i crawled past one of the windows on the MWMT Saturday i really felt it was possible to get blown over (since i had already been knocked off my feet once while on the summit.) after reading this, i realize i was not being dramatic, but sensible.

congrats on Keith.

Ryan,

I'm sorry you lost all that gear. I hope you're able to recover some of it. I know how expensive that stuff is....If I'm out that way this summer I will look around for it...maybe my dog can sniff it out!

congratulations on the hike, though. Those were some really nasty conditions last weekend!!

Thanks Norma and Tracie. I appreciate you support.

Tracie, I'm sure if any could find it it would be Talus. That would be awesome.