This is the third yr we planned to do the Whitney from the back country - this time from OV to WP with two newbies. Last two trips have been very satisfying success stories (2007 - Symms ck, Shepard Pass to WP, 2008 - Highway 180, Avalanche, Colby, Kern to WP). Here are the points of failure: 1. Both newbies showed up with ankle braces on day one, 2. both water filters failed at Upper Vidette Meadows, 3. horror stories of hikers wading through hip deep snow drifts at the Forrester Pass. The last one made me decide to turn back while the one dragging his feet can still walk back safely without me using the 911 on my findmespot
(Thanks to Laura for the tips, I just came back to LA and checked the kml file and the messages and tracking are excellent- I just kept the gadget in tracking mode in my day-pack hoping it would track and it did).
The brightest spots on the trip:
Watching the galaxies, milky way and the unblinking stars from the second Kearsarge lake. Taking a dip in the ice cold waters of the lake and hollering to my hearts content!
Laying down on the back with Doug Sr on the third floor roof top of WPS hostel in LP and trying to get a glimpse of ISS with Shuttle attached (
www.nasa.gov). We had fun talking about it but missed the sight as it was only 15deg above the north horizon and the ISS moves real fast (less than 2 mins across the horizon). Two days at the Hostel are the most relaxing in our vacation. Did a day hike to the second lake on the new army pass trail.
Right now making a list of lessons learnt for next year. We will be back! Thanks to Laura and others on this message board for the inspiring TRs and tips!
Krishna
