October 2014 Peak
Climbing Section, Loma Prieta Chapter, Sierra Club Vol. 48 No.10
General Meeting
Date Tuesday, October 14,
2014
Time 7:30 pm – 9:30
pm
Where PCC
3921
E. Bayshore Road
Palo
Alto, CA
Presenter:
Arun Mahajan
In fall 2007, an expedition from the UK
spent close to three weeks climbing and exploring in a small section of the
Himalaya that is in the Lahul-Spiti district of the state of Himachal Pradesh
in India. In the process, the splendid pyramidal peak of Gangsthang
(6162m/20,200+ ft) was climbed and 6 members stood on the tiny summit, having
made a new route up the West Face, finishing up the normal SW Ridge. Prior to
this, for acclimatization, the subsidiary rock peak of Thirot Shivling
(5324m/17,500ft) was also reached.
The team also enjoyed a superb journey
into the area, taking the night sleeper from Delhi, the amazing narrow gauge
railway to Shimla hill station, beautiful roads through the verdant valleys of
Kullu and Manali, and a breath-taking drive over the 13,000 foot Rohtang Pass
into the spectacular Chandra-Bhaga valley.
Come and enjoy a slide show of this
wonderful region and its imposing peaks with Arun Mahajan who was a team member
of this expedition. This climb was noted in the 2008 edition of the American
Alpine Journal.
Directions from 101
Exit at San Antonio
Road, go east to the first traffic light, turn left and follow Bayshore Rd to
the PCC on the corner of Corporation Way. A sign marking the PCC is out front.
Park and enter in the back of the building.
Google
http://tinyurl.com/28ng
Editor's Notes
Wonderful News!
Sonja Dietrich would like to
announce the arrival of the next generation for PCS. Johann Willem Dieterich
left his first belay line on September 3rd at 4:12 am. He is looking forward to
starting his outdoor adventures near and far. Meanwhile, he is working on
establishing good relations with local wildlife.
Congratulations and welcome to the
newest member of the PCS!
Our agenda for this month's
meeting is very full, so please try and be on time so we can make a prompt
start. Thank you!
Judy
Chair Column
We
have been fortunate in the last two years to receive donations that enabled the
Section to raise some money and put it aside for a good cause, despite not
charging for membership. Last year Sybille Hechtel donated copies of Richard
Hechtel’s autobiography which we distributed for donations. Thanks to Sybille.
This year Louise Wholey has donated money contributed by participants in trips
she led co-sponsored with the Backcountry Ski Section of the Bay Chapter which
were targeted for leader training. Thank you Louise.
At
the last Section meeting, we floated the idea of donating to the Sequoia Kings Canyon
Search and Rescue team in appreciation for their stellar
efforts
in evacuating Lisa Barboza after her unfortunate encounter with a falling
boulder in the Kaweahs — in which the boulder won. The idea met with
general approval and the above donations give us the wherewithal to do this
without a fund raising effort. As a result we are sending $150 in the name of
the PCS to the Sequoia Parks Foundation earmarked for Search and Rescue. Of
course, additional donations to help with this are also welcome.
Elections
for next year's officers are coming up in November, folks. I need both
volunteers for a nominating committee and suggestions and or volunteers for
candidates.
Join
us on October 14th for our monthly meeting. Arun Mahajan will regale us with
tales of his 2007 Himalayan trip to climb Gangstang.
Before
the slideshow, we will hold our annual fall trip planning session. So come with
your ideas for trips you want to lead or have someone else lead during the late
fall-winter-early spring season. We would like to get a good mix of ski touring
and snowshoe outings, Sierra winter climbs (always a good adventure), and local
training hikes.
Terry
PCS Trip Calendar
There
are no official PCS trips currently scheduled.
Private Trip Calendar
Important: Private trips are not insured,
sponsored, or supervised by the Sierra Club. They are listed here because they
may be of interest to PCS members. Private trips may be submitted directly to
the Scree editor.
November
8 - 9: Pinnacles
Leader:
Jeff Fisher
Private Trip Details
Pinnacles
Goal: Have fun
in the Park
Location:
Pinnacles National Park
Dates:
November 8 - 9
Leader: Jeff
Fisher
Hiking
and/or Climbing. Your choice. Come down for a weekend of climbing and/or hiking
or even biking. There will be climbers of varying abilities. Campsites 69, 70
and 71 have been reserve Saturday night at the Pinnacles campground on the east
side of the park. Each site is $23 and holds up to 6 people. Shoes, harness and
helmet needed if you are going to be climbing. You can stay the night, or just
come down for one of the days. I will be climbing on Saturday and plan on
hiking to N. Chalone Peak on Sunday. We will meet Saturday morning at 9AM at
the Bear Gulch visitor center on the east side of the park. Bear Gulch visitor center
is approximately 3 miles past the campground/park headquarters. Entry fees are
can be paid at the headquarters or at the Bear Gulch visitor center. Leader;
Jeff Fisher, E-mail; jeff_fisher_5252 at sbcglobal.net
In Addition
Here is a trip that may be of interest to PCS members from former PCS
member and Chair, Emilie Cortes, who now runs an all women's adventure travel
company. She's offering 10% off either of these trips for any PCS
member.
Everest Base Camp http://www.callwild.com/trip.php?id=32
$3895 November
11-27, 2014
A
challenging 12 day trek to the base camp of the highest mountain on the planet
- Everest Base Camp. We will also hike to the top of Kala Pattar which
offers the best views of Everest. We carry day packs and stay in
traditional Sherpa tea houses along the way. EBC requires a strong sense
of adventure and willingness to train and prepare for your trek.
Trip Report
Middle Palisade
(14,040')
August 18 - 23
By Debbie Bulger
Photos by Richard Stover
Middle Palisade is well known among the climbing
community as having some of the finest rock scrambling in the Sierra.
Middle Palisade rises above the Middle Palisade Glacier
I camped with Richard Stover at the unnamed tarn above
Finger Lake where I would begin the climb. Richard planned to remain in camp
and photograph the climb. I had arranged for a guide to meet me at the tarn at
5 a.m. on the morning of August 20.
Richard and I took two days to climb the approximately
3500' from the trailhead to our basecamp with full packs, heavy with climbing
gear and food for five days, in order to conserve energy for the climb itself.
The obscure “use trail” from Brainerd Lake to Finger Lake lived up to its
reputation and proved difficult to find. Later, on our return, Richard and I
met a woman who makes the climb to Finger every year. Her preferred route
ascends from the west side of Brainerd, but the start is obscured by pines and
brush. The difficulty of finding this route was to cause me problems on the
climb day.
Brainerd Lake is green, but Finger is more aqua, colored
by the silt of the Middle Palisade Glacier. Many climbers start their climb at
Finger Lake, but I figured I needed the head start since I am quite slow.
Traversing the west side of Finger with only a day pack is not too difficult;
with a full pack it is more of a challenge.
Obstacles include some talus and a short cliff that
plunges about 15 feet into the lake. After one reaches the inlet at the south
end of the lake, one must then chug up 450 feet of talus in a narrow chute to
reach the tarn.
On climb day the alarm went off at 4:30 a.m. Matt, my
guide, was supposed to arrive at 5 a.m. He did not arrive at the predawn hour.
5:30: no guide. 6 a.m., nada. I was getting very sad, on the verge of crying.
After all, this climb was most likely my last hurrah. At 71 I no longer do
technical climbing by myself, and I’m too slow to do it with any of my climbing
friends.
At 6:40 a.m. I spotted a person skirting the lake shore
500' below. It turned out to be Matt. When he arrived about 7 a.m., he
explained he had spent 3 hours trying to find the way up to Finger from
Brainerd Lake in the dark.
At 7:30 a.m. Matt and I left camp scrambling over talus
and glacial moraine for 1300' to the start of the climb, avoiding the Middle
Palisade glacier entirely. We stashed our unused ice axes and crampons, roped
up and began to climb on the brown/red rock at the end of the medial moraine.
The first two hundred feet or so consists of very steep
and loose red and white rock. There is a wall on the right as one ascends. Some
of the handholds are sound, and some come loose, including a 3-foot flake, which
dislodged when I tested it. Beyond that crumbly beginning, however, the rock is
solid and the climbing heavenly: sound rock, bucket handholds and footholds for
1500 feet. What can I say, FUN, FUN, FUN. The joys of solid rock and
spectacular vistas are exhilarating.
The joy of climbing! Debbie on ledge during climb
This is what Richard could see with his telephoto lens.
Compare to the previous photo!
We reached the summit, which contains one of the old cast
aluminum Sierra Club register boxes, at 2 p.m. Can you believe I dropped what I
thought was the only good pen in the register? It was a long way down. Finally
I found a working Sharpie and signed in. Due to the late hour, we started down
soon after.
We had about 2800' to descend to get back to camp. I was
tired. My back and knees were telling me I wasn’t 40 anymore.
Here I am on
the summit
When we reached the moraine, I was spent. It was starting
to get dark. All day I had had only brief stops and little food. I forced
myself to eat a food bar. Yuck.
With only 300 feet of talus to descend to camp, it was
very dark. We turned on our headlamps. From below there was a flashing light.
Soon Richard arrived with hot miso soup, trekking poles, and medical supplies
should they be needed. Despite the fact both Matt and I carried first aid kits,
seeing Richard was a big morale boost.
Together the three of us returned to camp arriving at
9:30 p.m. By 10, after having soup and some food, Matt left for the trailhead.
I fell into a deep sleep, which lasted most of the next day with brief awake
periods for Advil and food. The day after there were extremely high winds (I
estimated 50 mph) which almost collapsed our tent. With difficulty we packed up
and hiked back down to Finger Lake. On the way we spotted an
American pika and its abundant haystack stashed under a
rock to protect next winter’s food from the high winds. From there it was a
short hike back to the trailhead the next day.
Elected Officials
Chair
Terry Cline: terry_cline@yahoo.com
Vice Chair and Trip
Scheduler
Rakesh
Ranjan: rakesh.lists@gmail.com
Treasurer and
Membership Roster (address changes)
Yoni
Novat: ynovat@gmail.com
Publicity
Committee Positions
Scree Editor
Judy Molland / screeeditor@gmail.com
PCS World Wide Web
Publisher
Joe Baker/ pcs@joebaker.us
Joining
the PCS is easy. Go to http://www.peakclimbing.org/join
PCS Announcement
Listserv.
If you join the PCS Announcement
Listserv you will receive announcements and updates of trips and meetings. Use
the http://lists.sierraclub.org/SCRIPTS/WA.EXE?A0=LOMAP-PCS-ANNOUNCE&X=&Y=
web page.
Climbing
Classifications
The
following trip classifications are to assist you in choosing trips for which
you are qualified. No simple rating system can anticipate all possible
conditions.
Class 1: Walking on a trail.
Class 2: Climbing using hands for
balance.
Class 3: Climbing requires the use of
hands, maybe a rope.
Class 4: Requires rope belays.
Class 5: Technical rock climbing.
Trips may also be rated by level of
exertion: easy, moderate, strenuous, or extreme.
Deadline
for submissions to the next Scree is
Thursday, October 23. Meetings are held on the second Tuesday of each
month