A Pair of Aces - June 3-5

Last Sunday was Wayne's 80th birthday party in Las Vegas. (Happy Birthday Wayne!!) With this in mind, I developed a plan to get a bit of peak bagging in while in Nevada.  The goal was to climb Mount Charleston outside of Las Vegas before the party on Sunday and then head north to Ely and climb Wheeler Peak in Great Basin National Park a couple of days later.

We (Tamara, Dylan and I) arrived in Las Vegas Saturday afternoon and met up with Taylor, Mom, Wayne, Janet and Bruce (friends of Mom's from Clinton, MA) at the cabin at Mount Charleston.  Since the party was starting at 2PM (Sunday) Dylan and I figured we would have to get an alpine start to be back in time.

We were at the Trail Canyon trail head at 4:30AM on Sunday morning.  Dylan set a blistering pace in the early morning light and we quickly gained 2000 feet in the first hour and a half. As we joined up with the North Loop trail we had our first view of the peak in the sunrise.

Once we reached the North Loop trail, we began a long slog that followed the contours of the mountain at roughly 10,200 feet.  This slog lasted for roughly 4 miles and took us to the Devil's Thumb.

Our plan was to take the Devil's Thumb shortcut to add a little spice to the long hike.  The Devil's Thumb is the band of cliffs on the right side of the photo below.

A Summitpost trip report on the Devil's Thumb showed photos of the supposed "route".  Even though I had printed the pictures and had them with me, we still couldn't find the route detailed.  But we took a look around, and after one false start, found a section that allowed a little class 3+ scramble up the cliff bands and we quickly gained the ridge to the summit. 

Dylan on the Devil's Thumb

We made the final push to the summit and reached the high point in Southern Nevada in 4 1/4 hours.  Not too bad for a 7.5 mile trip.

Rocking the 1980 Vuarnets at the summit

Once on top we enjoyed the sunshine and had lunch at 8:30.  I was feeling a little woozy and after eating, I still wasn't feeling too good.  Don't know if it was the lack of breakfast, the altitude, or the previous night's dinner, but my stomach was twisting.  Rather than down climb the Thumb we took the normal trail down, switch-backing down the face and following cliff bands back to the ridge below the Thumb.  Here I took a break to fix my stomach issue and after a bit started feeling better.

Dylan was feeling great.  In fact he ran down a portion of the trail! 

We made it back to the trail head at 1:00PM just in time to take a shower and start partying.

Mount Charleston Stats:
4100 feet elevation gain
15 miles
8.5 hours car to car

Our next step was to a take a detour on the way home to Idaho.  So, on Monday afternoon, we left Tamara and Taylor with Mom and Wayne, and headed north for Baker, Nevada.  After a 4 hour drive, we had our objective in sight - Wheeler Peak, Nevada's second highest peak at 13,063 feet.


Wheeler Peak on the right

We pulled into our accommodations for the night, the Silver Jack Inn, (http://www.silverjackinn.com/) in Baker, at roughly 5:30PM.  This is a great little place with 10 rooms and a cafe situated at the entrance to Great Basin National Park.  I highly recommend it if you're planning on climbing this peak.  The rooms are clean and the proprietor, Terry, does the cooking and he fixed us a mean pizza that night!

As we were detailing our plans to Terry, another gentleman sitting there (we later learned his name was Dave) chimed in that he was planning on climbing Wheeler the next day as well.  We quickly agreed that the three of us would head up the mountain together climbing Wheeler first and then following the ridge over to Jeff Davis Peak (Nevada's 3rd highest).

The next morning we followed each other up the short road to the trail head at 10,000 feet and hit the trail at approximately 6:30AM.  There was a large cloud hanging over Wheeler and the wind was blowing pretty good, but we were not deterred. 

After a short distance we took a detour to Stella Lake and here we saw a nice line that could be used to gain the summit ridge of Wheeler.


Dylan and Dave looking over the couloir to the ridge

After talking Dave into it, we headed up over the talus.  For the most part, the rock was solid and didn't move too much. Once we hit the snow, we found it was solid, allowing us to quickly gain the summit ridge.

Once on the ridge, we found the original summit trail which made the going pretty easy.  By this time, the wind really started howling and the summit was shrouded in clouds.  We put on our rain gear and continued up into the fog.

After another 30 minutes of fighting the gusty, cold winds we reached the summit!  Total time was 2:45 to travel the 3000 feet elevation gain. 

Summit Splattski with Dylan, Dave, and myself

Unfortunately, the views were nonexistent and with visibility less than 50 yards we decided to forgo traversing over to Jeff Davis.  We spent a short time on the summit out of the wind, but the cold drove us down the mountain.  We followed the trail, zig-zagging down the mountain, feeling good that we had taken the shortcut to the top. 

Once back to the ridge, the clouds lifted and we decided to explore the area some.  With Dylan again feeling it, he led us around the rock moraine, through the Bristlecone tree grove and to the last glacier in Nevada at a fast pace.

Posing in front of a 1000 year old Bristlecone pine

Dylan at the glacier

As always happens, once off the mountain the clouds lifted and eventually disappeared.

Looking back at the end of the day

Trip Stats:
Elevation gain: 3000 feet
Distance: 3.2 miles to summit, 10 miles total
Car to car time: 6.5 hours

In talking with Dave that day, we found out that he was from New Jersey and had spent the last 5-6 years taking vacations out west to hike and climb mountains.  This year happened to be at Great Basin National Park.  We had a great time getting to know Dave and came away feeling great that we live in Idaho and can climb most anytime.

Idaho Summits Spring Outing - Peak 10027

Heading toward the Summit (J. Platt photo)

Dylan and I have attended the last three Idaho Summits group outings and have had a great time at all of them.  This weekend saw the group meet to climb Peak 10027 near Lake Alturus in the northern Sawtooths.  Dylan had prior obligations (something about camping with a bunch of Kuna High School science club guys and gals) and somehow he had it in his mind that this would be more fun that hanging with a bunch of old men.  I'm not too sure if he made the right choice.

The group (15 of us) gathered at the Cabin Creek trail head a little before 8AM, on a bluebird day with temps in the low 20's.  There was not a cloud in the sky and just enough of a breeze to keep you cool.  John Platt (http://www.splattski.com/2012/pk10027_b/index.html) set a blistering pace for the first hour until we finally got on to solid snow cover.  Here we slowed down a bit and had some time to converse.  We had quite a group with us - the ages ranged from 22 to early 60's, and we were international too - Oleg originally hailed from Russia, while Rodolfo grew up in Spain.

We quickly progressed up through the snow as the temperatures continued to rise.  The snow remained solid, and thankfully we didn't need to remove our snowshoes from our packs.  At roughly 8800 feet we took a break with the summit in full view.  At this point, I joined George and Jake on an assault directly up the east face while the others took a ridge route.

Summit of Peak 10027 with our route

George took the lead on traversing the snow field as we moved higher.  The snow was softening but we felt very secure with our crampons providing a firm gripping.  As the mountain steepened, George graciously allowed Jake to take the lead.  After all, we had at least 20 years on him and have learned that youth are good for breaking trail.  With Jake setting the pace we were on the summit quickly. 

Nearing the summit (George R photo)

Once on top we were treated to fantastic views as the others in the group came up the ridge route to join us.

Steve and Eric are all smiles

John P approaching the summit

The Splattski summit photo courtesy of George R.

Luckily the summit was plenty big and easily accommodated the 15 of us.  We spent the better part of an hour here eating, taking pictures and chatting in the gorgeous weather.  There were multiple plans on leaving the summit.  Nathan (who had already skied one lap) skied down, three others decided to traverse north and climb McDonald Peak, George and I were going to glissade down off the summit, and the others would traverse south and east across a ridge before heading down. 

George pondering a possible glissade path

And here is the path

The glissade down was a blast!  The snow was nice and soft allowing for a very controlled descent with good speed.  We dropped 1000 feet in a matter of minutes.  As George and I continued down through the snow we were joined by Bob (who decided against taking the long way out) and the three of us cruised out and were down at the car enjoying a beer by 2PM.

I'd like to thank Dan (http://idahosummits.com/trip_reports/trip_report.php?trip_id=71)  for setting up another great trip.

PS: Here is a great photo taken by Matt that Dan doctored up to show routes.

Dylan's Eagle Scout Project

Installed Goose Nesting Box

Saturday saw Dylan working with scouts from Kuna Troop 181 on his Eagle Scout project.  The project consisted of constructing three goose nesting boxes and placing them around Hubbard Reservoir.

Dylan's buddy Conner giving some last minute instruction on operating the mitre saw.

What do I do now?

As the adults look on...

Nick doing some drilling

Adding the post

Dang I wish this drill bit was longer.

Coming along

Delivered!

Man these are heavy!

The crew getting ready to plant.

Planting.

First one is done!

Now the second

Iwo Jima pose



Now we're done!

 A special thanks to the adults for offering pointers: Todd (Scoutmaster), Chuck (Asst. Scoutmaster), Tom, and Nathan.  To the scouts: Nick, Ryan, Jared, Nolan, Kyle, and Cody as well as Dylan's buddy Conner.

The Peak ( 太平山 ) Hong Kong

Since I was stuck in Hong Kong for the weekend with nothing much planned, I decided that I would scale the highest peak on Hong Kong Island proper.  Locally known as "The Peak", I wanted to forgo the nomal mode of travel by taking the "The Tram" and hike the peak on foot. Besides the ticket line for the tram was way too long.

I checked the avalanche report (after all it is winter) and with reported low avy conditions I set off alone.

The peak in the mist.

The first step was getting across the bay, and since canoeing was out I took the Star Ferry.

Crossing the bay

Once across the bay, I was in a land of tall trees and many, many people.

The peak seen through the trees

It took me a while, but after winding through the trees I eventually found the trail head.

Trail head

The trail initially wound up the mountain with sustained class 2 climbing.


Class 2 section

I followed the trail cairns as I made my way up above the tall trees.

Cairns seen along the way(click to open larger view)

More class 2 climbing

Once out of the tall trees I came across many beautiful creek crossings and the trail turned from class 2 into class 3 scrambling.

Creek crossing

Class 3 section

As I struggled with my route finding in the 70 degree/90% humidity weather, I wound up the side of the mountain on slippery concrete paths and eventually found myself on the summit ridge.  The objective became a little clearer.

Summit in view (left peak)

Finally, after 2.5 hours of wandering through tall trees, numerous creek crossings, and sustained class 2 climbing I had reached the summit! Well as close to it as I could get - the actual high point was fenced to keep the riff-raff out.

Summit Splattski

And enjoyed some phenomenal views:

I was pretty beat after the climb, so I took the more normal mode of transportation down the mountain to the appointed meeting place for lunch.

Typical mode of transportation

Lunch - Tom Yum soup at Good Luck Thai

A look back at the peak on the boat ride home.

Trip stats:

Elevation gain: 1800' (sea level to summit)

Distance: Unknown - since GPS wasn't working

Time: 2.5 hours from bay to summit with another 2 hours for lunch and liquid refreshments