11
Apr
Almost There
Not far to go now, but the mountain is not making it easy. Just fought my way up a steep snow covered slope post holing every other step. Will try & avoid the snow. Big temp drop.
Not far to go now, but the mountain is not making it easy. Just fought my way up a steep snow covered slope post holing every other step. Will try & avoid the snow. Big temp drop.
Only 1800′ to go but it’s rocky & brutally steep here w loose talus covering the slope. Also getting very cold and windy. Last break before the 13k summit.
Trail covered in thick carpet of slushy snow here. Picking my way up adjacent rocky slope. Hearing minor avalanches as the sun warms the slopes. Windy now
Break time. Good view of summit, steep scree w snow from summit to valley. Looks icy from here & does not look like enough snow to slide dwn, so no shortcuts
Good news is I’m
moving out, will be down climbing in dark as sunset is at 7:30. Bad news is rental car needs paint job from trip in. Tracking started now.
After 6 hrs sleep, woke In a sparse brown valley, bubbling stream nearby. Snow in first visible pass. Perfect day, 50 degrees & clear
At Trailhead! Navigating the maze of unmarked mountain roads in dark was tough. Took 17 miles & 2 hours. Explorer did well and the back makes a swell tent.
Been driving all day, and was getting concerned about fuel as I was approaching the point of no return. I just stopped at a brothel that sells gasoline as well as the more traditional fare. It has sort of a creepy twilight zone feel.
This is the most desolate part of America I have seen so far. The brothel is the first thing I have seen since Vegas aside from a few boarded up concerns here and there.
It’s been a whirlwind of a week with very little downtime and sorting out the gear last night only afforded me 3 hours of sleep. So after running the typical travelers gauntlet of delays, indifferent airline employees and ridiculous security measures, I find myself driving through a desert in a brand new but dusty black Ford Explorer on my way to Boundary Peak Nevada. At 13,140 foot it’s the biggest hill This state has to offer so I have to climb it.
The roads approaching Boundary Peak are little more than goat paths with several gulley and water crossings, so I asked for the vehicle with the most ground clearance and they gave me the Explorer which I like. It’s sofa like seats fit my manly 6′ frame perfectly. It rides like a dream (I might actually fall asleep) and has lots of cool tech. We’ll see how well it handles the nasty stuff before I give it the Danger seal of approval.
The aforementioned goat paths present another challenge in that they are not correctly plotted as far as I can tell and are harder than hens teeth to find. GPS won’t help me, as every mapping system I have studied shows them differently so I’m not sure which to trust. I have read a number of accounts of folks being lost, one for 24 hours. I spent some time on Google Earth visually following and backtracking along miles of meandering paths leading up to the mountain to find a way in. So if I got it right I’ll have enough of time to setup a proper camp at the base of the mountain tonight and get a good nights rest.
So if all goes according to plan, I’ll be striking out in the morning to climb State Highpoint #26. I’ll be moving fast and expect to be back down in time for dinner.
Then I’ll head to Vegas for a security trade show, were I’ll meet up with my good Freind Rick Overholt who is hiking up Angels Landing as I write this. Well do the trade show together and head back to Houston next Saturday.
Indecently, we won a project last month to build a server farm to handle the bookings for one of the major Vegas Hotel/Casinos. I don’t have permission to use thier name in our marketing, so I can’t tell you who it is. Not sure if this qualifies as marketing, but I’ll err on the side of caution. Did I just say that?
Yes its true, we are taking another cruise already. I know, we just returned from a cruise less than a few weeks ago.
But the last was a ballroom dance cruise, and this one is a family cruise. We are taking, Chris, Nina, Hanna and Valentina (our two grand daughters) and Tatiana and Patrick. They are the “other” grandparents, we will have some competition. I’m not too worried though, I’m a pretty solid grandpa.
Well be back on April 6th.
Emerald Princess is now back at Laporte dock. We will disembark soon. Its been a fantastic cruise with lots of dining, dancing & fun.
This short video does a good job capturing the energy and fun. Dance instructor Matt Kelling shot the footage and I did the editing on my iPad mini with iMovie.
Sat down to have breakfast at 10AM with Magician Bart Rockett who needs some props for his new act in Destin Florida. I literally spent all day with him wrapping up at 5PM. I’m going to help him with some magic props. This should be a fun project, and I’m looking forward to seeing them in use.
120 miles from Roatan. We’ll be docked there when we wake up. Digging the new beacon. 72 hours of tracking and still at 19% battery.
I have activated tracking, for the purpose of testing a new satellite beacon
Danger is sharing their location at the MapShare web site: https://share.delorme.com/danger
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To learn more about MapShare and the DeLorme inReach two-way satellite communicator, visit http://delorme.com/inReach or http://inReachCanada.com
Susan and I are headed out tomorrow for a one week Ballroom Dance Cruise which we do every year. It’s a lot of fun, and gives us the opportunity to really hone our dancing skills. We will be back from the cruise on Feb 23rd.
Then on Feb 25th I’ll leave the country again for business trip with Entrepreneurs Organization until March 2nd.
I’ll be taking the new DeLorme InReach Explorer Two Way Satellite Communicator with me for testing, so you will be able to track our progress (not that watching a cruise ship is particularly exciting) but won’t be broadcasting any posts to the mail group. I’ve been tinkering with it around the house and it seems like it will be a much improved solution.
We are trying to carve out some time in the next month or two to punch out the 12,637 ft. Humphreys Peak the state highpoint of Arizona.
On January 10th 2015, I stood atop the summit of Mount Marcy the highest mountain in the state of New York. My long time friend and climbing partner Rick Overholt joined me on this climb, but opted not to join me on the summit. You will find the complete Trip Report here.
Statistics
Completed: January 10th, 2015
State: New York
Elevation: 5,343′
Distance: 15 Miles
Time: 2 Days
Mount Marcy Links
Trip Report
Blog Posts
Photo Gallery
GPS Track
You will find, status, photo galleries and trip reports for all of my adventures on the Highpoints Page.
iPhone & fingers froze, hence the absent updates. At Loj now putting hot things in & on our bodies. There’s a tiny room that shoots hot water out the wall!
Just finished breaking camp, everything is an ordeal in these conditions. Bars are frozen solid so I sucked some half frozen honey from a packet. Headed down
Rick turned back. Some Canadian climbers came along and I linked up with them. Found trail, we were 10 feet from it. Almost there now.
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