Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board Whitney area trip photos - Thor, Gamblers Special, Trailmaster, Woollyback

Thor Peak with BobR, tomcat and Rachel on 8/27/06: http://outdoors.webshots.com/album/553554993SLgXLl
My camera broke on this trip, so I'm just now getting the photos together before it broke, photos I borrowed from BobR, and photos I took by borrowing tomcat's camera

Gambler's Special Peak with Trailtrekker and Mtflyer on 9/8/06: http://outdoors.webshots.com/album/553904794LQRKCi
Didn't make it.

Gambler's Special gets very few visitors, but coincidentally I happened to climb it the day after your attempt. In your pictures the mountain you thought was Gambler's Special is actually the Cleaver's east face. Had you climbed up the route you thought would take you up Gambler's Special, you would have instead topped out on Cleaver Col and been treated to a beautiful view of Tulainyo Lake. From there you would have access to Tunnabora, the Cleaver, Carillon and Russell. Climbing Cleaver Col involves about the same elevation gain as climbing Gambler's Special, but I think the Cleaver Col payoff is better. If you have the time, the views from Carillon, Tunnabora and the Cleaver are superb.

Peak 12960 (Gambler's Peak) is mostly north (and a little west) from Lower Boy Scout Lake. I believe Marmoting is correct about the pictures not being Gamblers Special peak.

See #35 in this Bob R. photo album, taken from Thor peak

http://members12.clubphoto.com/robert634908/1340814/guest.phtml

You could climb Gamblers peak straight up from Lower Boy Scout Lake (the southern approach). Or you could follow the canyon up to where you were and then turn to the right and up. That would put you on the Southwest approach.

Here are a few pictures we took on our trip up to Gamblers Peak, via the more southern (southeast) approach.

<a href="http://outdoors.webshots.com/album/215977132YyrhmI?start=72">Gamblers Peak</a>

The suprising thing about that area is the hidden Carillon Canyon, which is out of sight from down lower near Lower Boy Scout Lake. It is a nice place more people should visit.

Thanks, marmoting and Kashcraft!

I guess I'm still not sure which one is Gamblers. I'll have to check TOPO. I think its the one I originally set a waypoint on, but after looking at BobR's Route (photo), we thought it was the other one (east face of Cleaver). I'll fix the captions as soon as I figure it out. Thanks!

Sunday, 10 September 2006
Trailmaster Peak photos: http://outdoors.webshots.com/album/554020904QYWNne

BobR did some peaks along the ridge from Cottonwood Pass. I only got Trailmaster Pk (12,336'). I wasn't sure I was on the right peak, no register & not named on the map, so I went for the next peak (tried two high points). Spent too much time looking for registers and ran out of time. I took a shortcut and followed footprints all the way down and hiked 1.25 miles back on the main trail. I found out later the first peak was Trailmaster Peak.

Gambler's Special is peak 12960+ about 1/3 mile due east of the small lake you reached. When standing at the lake and facing the route you thought would take you up Gambler's Special, the peak actually would have been directly behind you. You were walking along the south and southwest faces of Gambler's Special the entire time you followed the creek up to the lake. BobR has a picture of Gambler's Special in photo 56 in this album:

http://members12.clubphoto.com/robert634908/2651498/guest.phtml

Thanks, that's the one I had marked on the GPS. I guess you hike up to Cleaver-Col, then traverse around? I saw Bob's "route" photo from his hike, but didn't pay attention to the photo before that said "route to Cleaver-Col". Thanks!

Do you want to talk about which camera and what happened? Is it an S80?

Cleaver Col does not provide access to Gambler's Special. It brings you up to Tulainyo Lake and all the peaks surrounding that lake. To climb Gambler's Special from the small, unnamed lake you reached, you would make an ascending traverse nearly in a straight line from the lake to the summit.

marmoting, I think I know what you're talking about now. Thanks! I'll give it another try sometime.

josh, yes, its the S80. I have two S80s and two S70 that I keep sending back for repair. Some my fault, some not. The last S70 and the one I sent back this time had the door/lens that stuck (under warranty). The other S70 was dropped in the outlet of LBSL (I had to pay for that one). I had to buy another S70 because the S80 wasn't out for another month. I got the first s80 as soon as it came out, then fell on ice snowboarding soon after (cracked LCD screen, had to pay for it). I needed a camera (couldn't wait) so I bought another one. So now I think all 4 are under warranty. And I have cameras to last me a few years. Guess I'm pretty rough on cameras.

Sunday, 17 September 2006
Photos - Woollyback (12,840'):
http://outdoors.webshots.com/album/554201605cKZVOO

No one replied for a Sunday hike, so I almost didn't go (tired from Dragon Pk). I went anyway (with no beta/just pics I saw Fri), and made the summit!

I especially liked the trip up to Wolleyback. Other then Bob R., who hiked over it to or from Mt. Langley I have never even know anyone who has done it. You hardley ever hear about it. Sure had a nice view of the Cottonwood lakes basin.