A Jong Journey; July 1-4 TR
Who: Starring: moreSNOWplease, Suzanne, PillsburyHoBoy, Llama, with guest stars Ryan, EricaZ, Heather,
and various Mags and MMites
What: Mtn biking, Hiking, Camping, Riding, etc...
When: July 1-4
Where: Mammoth and Saddlebag Lake Region
Woke up to beautiful skies around mammoth and spent the morning visiting friends, walking around and gathering
some stuff from Mammoth Mountaineering.
By the village Heather and I saw these beauties.
http://www.biglines.com/photosv2/200...ines_62699.jpg
SPent the rest of hte afternoon following 50Kleg on his old Stumpjumper and got worked down follow me.
That night I stopped by the maggot camp and got some z's (no no, not Erica) in my bivy.
The next morning I went to meet up with the crew for the two days and night of backpacking. One more stop
at Mammoth Mountaineering for some last minute things and food and we were off to Whoa Nellie for breakfast.
At the Saddlebag lake road we organized our gear and then I caught a ride with John. John was a really nice
guy who resisted any help on the resort while I waited 1:15 for Mike, Greg, and Suzanne. In fact, he even
helped me carry the packs the 150ft to the trailhead.
http://www.biglines.com/photosv2/200...ines_62693.jpg
Looking toward the campsite
http://www.biglines.com/photosv2/200...ines_62692.jpg
I split the first 300 yards or so until it was all burned off on the Miner's trail so then we booted all the
way to our campsite. On the way I snapped this beauty looking back at the resort and John's truck, the happy gear sled.
http://www.biglines.com/photosv2/200...ines_62696.jpg
At the campsite, we filtered some glacial water out of the stream and enjoyed the best tasting water of our lives while
staring at the next days playground. While the bowls looked good, I had my eyes on the couloir on the right. I don't
know what it's called but if anyone can chime in, I'd appreciate it.
http://www.biglines.com/photosv2/200...ines_62690.jpg
That night temperatures dropped to 27f in my bivy and we all were very cold. Nalgene's of boiled water at our feet helped,
but a layer of caplene and a beanie still left me feeling frigid most of hte night. Thge next morning frost and ice covered
the zippers of the bivy, but once the sun hit it was nice and warm. THe rest of the gang slept late so I let them know I was
leaving and started my way up to the ridge via the bowls with the plan to traverse over the ridge to the couloir.
Across the ridgetop I was in radio contact with the gang near the base (after they woke up and hiked out some) when I saw a glacial
pool. I set up my camera and took my first self portrait with it.
http://www.biglines.com/photosv2/200...ines_62694.jpg
Using radios and visual contact from the bottom of the chute I found the opening and hiked in a bit checking it out. It was very stable
but the crevasses on either side made me a bit nervous. Greg reported that it smooth and clear with th exception of on berschrund
on skiers right about 1/3 the way down. No, the entrance wasn't perpendicular to the ground, I just uploaded these without figuring you
couldn't rotate after upload.
http://www.biglines.com/photosv2/200...ines_62695.jpg
I strapped in and got two turns before I lost my back egde, slid down the side and into a crevasse. All told, probably about 16 ft before I
stopped myself with my board on the rocks, and my back on the snow. I was riding with ice axe in hand, but didn't get it down in time to stop me, just slow me down.
Good thing to since when I was stopped I immediately went for the radio to find it missing. Looking down in to the crevasse I couldn't see
anything as it disappeared out of sight beneath me.
It was at this point I realized I had taken a decent fall where SAR was at least several hours away and my friends were probably going to start worrying pretty soon.
I stayed calm and evaluated the situation. I was stopped in a chimney climb hold with my board on my feet and my ice axe in hand. For the moment I was stable.
I remained calm and collected and over 20 minutes of very careful, deliberate manipulation I managed to get my board off and
placed where it wouldn't fall, my pack off, my crampons out, put my crampons on and got my board lashed to my pack. A deep breath and
a nod to the reaper and I started to climb out, back on to the snow. I climbed down another 20 ft to a safe zone on skiers right
and got back in to my board. Then with some shaky legs and elephant stubbornness I took off down the couloir to the bottom where Greg was waiting to hear of my experience.
Thanks to moreSNOWplease for the picture.
http://www.biglines.com/photosv2/200...ines_62700.jpg
Afterwards I relaxed at camp hile the gang took some great lines down hte open bowls through soft slushy stuff. When they were done we packed up and packed out.
Everyone seemed in good spirits but very very tired. We set an incredible pace and got back to the truck with plenty of daylight left.
The next day (July 4) we woke up early thanks to Ryan's damned alarm. Slow moving and tired from a full set of activites meant we didn't get on the hill until 10:30 or so.
Regardless we had an aesome time and got lots of fun turns in down the dropouts, climax, cornice, etc... I took a couple turns in the gravy boat they
were calling a pipe and just generally goofed off. Around 1230 we got some pizza and beer and headed up the gondola about 130 for the top of the world gathering.
http://www.biglines.com/photosv2/200...ines_62698.jpg
Up there we had fun like everyone else. I took it upon myself to raid the other camp, repeatedly switching sides and enjoying running across the field of fire. I found myself
several times in compromising positions with one mag and a couple maggettes throughout the grappling matches and laughed a ton while doing it. At the end, some of the group headed
down Cornice for one last run on that mountain for the season. At the bottom Tye Dye Bill was nice enough to take our picture. Greg and I were too tired for the Yodler and so we
went to the condo, packed up and headed home. That night I slept harder than I think I've slept in a long time.
Then I had to wake up at 6am to get to work. Damn jobs.
-- Llama
