Mt. Tyndall August 2010

[skunkboy]

Howdy folks... just a quick TR of my jaunt with my two friends up Mt. Tyndall last week. Rick and I took off from Palm Springs and hooked up with Tom, who was coming down from Carson City, in Independence. Drove up to the Shepherds Pass trailhead and set up camp. The next morning we started out up Symmes creek canyon.
We crossed the creek four times then headed up the infamous switchbacks and with much huffing and puffing to make the saddle between Symmes and Shepherds canyons. We dropped into Shepherds canyon then made our way up to Mahogony Flats where we set up our bivy. We were treated to many meteor showers during the night, and in fact all the nights that we were out. The next morning we marched up the canyon past Anvil camp and the Pothole. After crossing two snowfields and ascending more switchbacks, we made the top of the pass in the early afternoon.
We set up bivy at first lake and relaxed. As we relaxed, the weather started to turn nasty. First it was raining, then sleet and finally hail. The hail started out the size of peas and increased to marble size in about five minutes. Finally the hail stopped and large snow flakes started coming down.
After thirty minutes of this, the storm passed and by sunset, there were blue skies and sunshine everywhere.
The next morning we set off for the east rib route of Tyndall. Up and up to the rib we went. Stomped up a couple of snowfields and came to the base of the east rib. Rick was feeling the altitude, so he wished Tom and I good luck, and we were on our way. It was class two up the rib for about a thousand feet, till we got to the base of the headwall. We had read and heard from other parties, that you had traverse left over the rib and into a big chimney that takes you to the ridgeline, but true to our nickname: Off Route Boys, we traversed right up under the headwall and quickly got into trouble. It went from third to fourth class very quickly, and the only way out of there was to do fifth class moves to exit out onto the ridge. Since we didn't have a rope, we felt this wasn't a good idea. We downclimbed back to the last cairn, and moved left. Bingo, the bomb proof chimney/chute appeared. It was like Arethra Franklins "Freeway of Love" all the way to the ridgeline. From there the views were awesome.
We scrambled up to a couple of false summits before we hit the real thing.
From the summit you could look south and see Mt. Russell and Mt. Whitney.
Well after that we scampered and slipped and stumbled back to camp by the lake. After laying around for a while like narcoleptic whales, we jumped into the lake and that changed everything. The words heart-attack cold come to mind. Anyway... the next morning we headed down the canyon. We were all feeling kinda beat up, so we took our time, and enjoyed the scenery. We camped again in Mahogony Flats and were visited by a deer and her doe, who wandered into camp.
Not only did we see deer, we saw trout come close into shore just after we jumped into the lake. When we were laying down under the tarp after we got down from the mountain, a hummingbird flew under the tarp and hovered right in front of our noses. He looked at us and seemed perplexed as if he wanted to say; "what are you guys doing here?" He then turned around and flew out. It was a very animal oriented outing for us, and it was very cool. The last day, which happened to be my birthday, we got an early start and were out back to the trailhead before noon. We drove down to Lone Pine and gorged on pizza. This was very, very good. Drove up to Onion Valley to observe the circus, and then out onto a dusty foothill road where the stars were bright, the beers were cold, and the howls coming from the desert almost sounded like real wolves.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/skunkboy12 ... 623656661/


Sincerely and with best regards,

Skunk

[Andy]

Thanks for the great TR Skunk. Sounds like it was an awesome trip with some classic sierra weather and great refreshments! And a happy birthday to you.

[bluerail]

Sounds like a great time ! ....and Happy Birthday also. thanks for sharing

[tinaballina]

Great TR Skunkboy-might be doing Tyndall this weekend.

[Sally]

Hi Skunk, What a magnificent trip! I love the high country.
How did your shelter fare in the severe weather you had? It looked like a neat setup.
Thanks for the TR and pics. Now I'm getting REALLY excited about my trip in the Sierras next week.

[Hikin_Jim]

I don't know, Sally, I think their shelter looks just fine.



Seriously though, was your shelter something you just rigged up from a plain tarp or was that a purpose built shelter. Looks like you wouldn't have too much pro against side blown wind/snow/rain, yes?



HJ

[halhiker]

Did Tyndall a few years ago and had a great hike. Hiked up late on a Friday afternoon to Anvil Camp and spent the night. Got up next day and summited Tyndall and then hike back to the trailhead. Got rained on for about an hour on the hike out during a thunder storm. Great area.

Thanks for posting the pictures.

[skunkboy]

Sally and Jim, the tarp we used was just a 10 x 12 silnylon tarp from Campmor. It weighs just 19 oz.

http://www.campmor.com/outdoor/gear/Product___20070

With the tarp, Tyvek ground cloth, mosquito netting, cord, stakes and bag, it comes out to 4 lbs and 3 oz. If I left the mosquito netting behind, it would weigh less than 3 lbs. My Kelty 3 man tent weighs over 8 lbs., so it's kind of a no brainer. We've been using this system for two years now. It has 2-3 times the room that a tent would have, and it's light and airy, which means no condensation. We could have slept 4 people under there and maybe one or two more in a pinch. The sides are staked down and the end that was open to the snow and wind, we just propped up our backpacks and made a windbreak and closed off that end. It worked fine. There are also many, many ways of setting up a tarp. Here are some sites for those interested in the many ways of tarp camping.

http://www.equipped.com/tarp-shelters.htm
http://www.bushcraftnorthwest.com/articles/articles.htm
http://owareusa.com/

It's pretty funny about getting snowed on last week, because last summer when we climbed Matterhorn Peak in Yosemite, we got snowed on there too. We were just below Horsecreek Pass when it started to snow, so we set up a temporary shelter with the tarp, and tried to wait out the storm. When we realized that it wasn't going to get any better, we folded up the tarp and beat a hasty retreat down to the tree-line, where we set up a better bivy, similar to the one in the pictures. Here's a little video that we shot when the storm hit us last year.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iSC-XGhRIj8

As you can tell from the video, you need to stake out lines from all the grommets to get the tarp taunt. Anyway... thanks for the birthday wishes, and Sally and Tina, godspeed on your trips up to the high country.

Best wishes

Skunk