Landscape hikers – “10 essentials” or not?

[Jmarmck]

That is the main thorofare between Half Dome, Yosemite and Mammoth Lakes.

[Drew Bedo]

Thomas: Thank you for pointing that out. Weston and Adams stood side-by-side on so many subjects. I was just making a flippant remark using a quote I have often seen attributed to Weston.

Ten Essentials: (in case something goes wrong?) I would rather not place myself in a situation where any number of essentials were needed.

At this time in my life, I am more cautious about where I go and what I do. As a younger man I have gon off, alone or with friends, and placed myself in situations that could have ended badly with little more than a missed step. When I was twenty years old, I went up Long's Peak with a small group. We camped at tree-line and went up the next morning using The Cable Route — now closed to non-technical climbers. We didn't know any better in 1970.


I no longer do that kind of thing out of the caution that comes with a few years and lessened physical ability. Cheers to all who can.

[tgtaylor]

I know what you mean Drew. The sea-cliffs in California are very hazardous and are constantly eroding landwards. I have hiked many times on the cliffs lining the south shore of the Golden Gate and there was one spot where you could only get one foot in with a shear drop-off on the left. It wasn't a very long strip you had to negotiate but one in which you had to plant one foot in and use that “foothold” to quickly catapult the other foot to the other end where the path widened out and the ground was more stable. The first foot was usually accompanied by some ground give.

Well one day I decided to climb over some large boulders on Baker Beach with P67II in a rather heavy backpack to shoot the GG Bridge from the other side. It was college finals time and two guys were sitting at the base of the boulders studying when I started climbing over them. I got all the way up when suddenly I lost foot traction and decided to butt scramble but quickly ran out of traction there too. I was just clinging to the rock by static electricity and found myself incrementally slipping down to a 30 foot fall into a black hole that I couldn't see into. Then I remembered the two students studying for their finals and called out for their help. They pondered it for seemingly a long minute but both came up and took the pack (“Jesus this is heavy”) and gave me the hand that enabled me to get upright and stabilized so that I could get out of there.

After that experience I became overly caution when negotiating trail obstacles. Then one day me and another were doing that same hike along the Golden Gate and came to that same spot that I have negotiated several times as noted above. He went first – exactly as I use to do – and I noticed a little ground give way as usual. When it came to my turn, I couldn't do it. Instead I managed to climb around it and got that “Scaredy Cat” look of disdain.

Sometimes you are lucky and get to realize your mistake before you have to pay for it.

Thomas

[Bill Burk]

See the first-aid kit in post #102? I have to add coffee to this kit.

I was running late for yesterday's day trip, and in my rush to meet the gang I skipped making coffee for myself.

So I took one of the Vivarin tabs in my kit. It was the third of four pills which means I have now had three coffee emergencies.

I am still hammering out the details of how I will add coffee to the kit, whether I will be satisfied with four packs of Starbucks Via and if I will need to include a canister stove.

But facts are facts, caffeine withdrawal is my most frequently encountered emergency.

[Heroique]

I have to add coffee to this kit ... caffeine withdrawal is my most frequently encountered emergency.

Yes, I too belong to this group of caffeine-addicted hikers.

The ultimate nightmare – caffeine deprivation during an emergency.

An emergency within an emergency!

[Jerry Bodine]

Edward Weston at Lake Ediza:

http://www.wikipaintings.org/en/edwa...alifornia-1937

This was taken...maybe 40 or so miles from the car.

Thomas

And it's interesting, though the location looks to be about 10 miles from today's road at Mammoth Lakes.

[ROL]

Caffeine used to be a required part of every climbing guide's kit, before the introduction of more exotic and injectable solutions. It was used to get tired client's asses in gear. Not a coffee drinker, I began carrying it in my first aid kit in the '70s, and have since added strong emergency painkillers, like unused Vicodin – none of which, BTW, I carry in my camera pack.

And it's interesting, though the location looks to be about 10 miles from today's road at Mammoth Lakes.

That's right.

[tgtaylor]

And it's interesting, though the location looks to be about 10 miles from today's road at Mammoth Lakes.

Supposedly 14.4 miles from the Agnew Meadows trailhead if that TH existed back then. If so, then that would have been a 30 mile RT hike for Ed - way over the preferred 100 yards from the car.

Thomas

[Drew Wiley]

Back then the trail to Lk Ediza might have been far more crowded than it is today, because there were no formal restrictions in play, and Shadow Lake was a very
popular campsite on the way up (still is, but under camping quota). EW complained of his ticker feeling funny up at Ediza, which is right around timberline, but otherwise just a few miles past Shadow. I haven't been up there for awhile. The last time, some lady got thrown from a horse right onto granite on the trail inbetween, broke her hip, and there was a noisy helicopter rescue. Things get even more interesting up above Ediza, is the spectacular crossing from Iceberg over
the top, where I saw three people try to negotiate the pass without ice axes, take a terrible slide, and just barely, barely miss going into Iceberg and inevitably
drowning (no way to climb out up the glacier tongue) - they survived, remarkably without breaking any bones, but were otherwise a bloody mess. That's the trouble with these kind of popular areas. People read the guidebooks and figure out the shortcuts, but otherwise are too inexperienced or improperly equipped.

[ROL]

We used to refer to Shadow lake as the "ghetto", in the "good ol' days" before trail head quotas. It was over camped and smoky in the quiet hours. No experienced hiker/mountaineers ever stayed there, partly because it was too close to the TH compared to other, more desirable destinations. I still claim it is the only place in the Sierra where I have gotten sick from the water. It was likely from a high pollen count on the water, not Giardia, though the symptoms were similar. Coincidentally enough, it was on the way back from Ediza, where we'd spent several days climbing in the Minarets.

Shadow Lake, After the Storm

AA had a devil of a time convincing EW (and other respected artists) to accompany him up to the High Sierra. I believe it was just prior to the Ediza trip that EW made his famous Juniper photo on Polly Dome above Tenaya Lake, and became justifiably enraptured with the terrain. AA wrote that he had to load EW's film holders at Ediza, because he couldn't get the hang of it. If memory further serves, it was on the return from that trip that AA suffered his famous studio fire in the Valley (perhaps, I've mixed up the history a bit )

Minarets, Lake Ediza

To think that one Weston's most famous Sierra photos was of his girlfriend (at Ediza). I'm no EW.