Onion Vally to Whitney Portal

[lilbitmo]

James renamed the file that all the pictures came from, which meant that all the links are now no good.

I put the picture link at the bottom of the original story, it's going to take too long to redo each picture but if I find the time I might

[arocknoid]

Ahh, thanks for the link and the update. Perhaps you can emblazon the edit a wee bit, to jump out more noticeably from the post, e.g.:

(Edit - looks like the pictures have been relocated, so here's the shortcut to them, sorry I'll have to ask James Ledbetter what happened to them, in the mean time):


click for Patrick and James', "Top o' the world, Ma!" super-dooper-whooper photos

(you can quickly get the above code to paste into the original post via right click, "view page source")

and thanks again for the grrreat post, and daydreamin' getaway...

[Hikin_Jim]

I treated us to full pasta dinner the first night out, plus I carried three changes of clothes, plus at least a dozen chocolate chip cookies, if I'm gonna punish myself I'm surely going to reward myself, no steel bear canister, just the typical Garcia, which is heavy enough if you know what I mean

50 still seems heavy, but what the hey. Looks like an excellent trip.

And oh yes those Garcias are plenty heavy as is.


HJ

[James]

Sorry about the photos, that was an OOPS on my part. I'll re-do the links and repost soon. In the meantime here are the photos:

http://s1281.photobucket.com/user/WPSMB1/library/z5%20OV%20to%20WP%2008-14%20to%2008-17-2013?sort=9&page=1

Jim, my pack was a bit less than Patrick's but we had similar items, bear canister (far and away the largest and heaviest item), Reactor stove (need lighter one like one you mention), fuel, some clothing, various camping things, pad, small day pack for peaks, water bottles. It adds up. No tent but we had tarps, etc. in case of rain. We definitely had the largest packs out there but it looked retro (think back to camp trips from days gone by and all packs looked like that and throw in the external frames too, which ground into your back to make it all the more fun).

[Hikin_Jim]

External frame packs, ugh. I put up with those things for years. I *never* found them to be as comfortable as internal frame or no-frame packs.

Don't mind me; I'm just a gear-a-holic. I'm always curious what people are carrying and what good "tricks of the trade" they have. I usually think of a tent as the heaviest single item people carry, so I figured you guys would be lighter since you were tarping it.

The Reactor is the best danged stove for high winds out there. There's nothing I'd rather have on a windswept ridge. It is a little heavy though. The new 1.0L pot is lighter -- a lot lighter if you have one of the original 1.7L pots with cast rather than welded fins.


Oh, and if you haven't seen this (A Little Reactor Levity), it's worth seeing.

An alcohol stove is lighter than most any gas stove (no steel canister), and ESBIT stoves are lighter still. Takes some getting used to alcohol or ESBIT though. They're different -- much slower and lower power.


HJ

[James]

Photos are back up, thanks Patrick.

Jim, I really like my Reactor but I wish they had the smaller size one back when I got mine. I definitely would have bought the smaller one. Someday maybe. Then again I also like the little UL stoves out there and I know exactly where to get the beta on those.

[HH8]

Onion Valley to Whitney Portal (A 70 hour Odyssey)

Killer trip. Your laughter still echoes.