Dec 26 - Jamie's, "Tour de France"

I spent an uneventful Christmas in Paris. The real Christmas highlight for me was meeting Jamie 6:30AM on Dec 26. Despite getting lost on the way to the metro station, I arrived at the airport in plenty of time to meet Jamie. She was tired, but in good spirits and excited to be here in France. We spent much of her first day wandering around the streets, taking in some of the sights. Practically her first words to me were, "I'll be happy as long as I see the Eiffel Tower." We saw the Tour d' Eiffel in short order and all the rest was gravy.

Jamie's French Tour

The morning of our second day in Paris, we braved a one hour line to get into the Musee d' Orsay. We were both burned out after one hour of looking at some of the best impressionist era paintings by the likes of van Gogh, Monet, and Renoir. We were disappointed to only see a single Matisse, which was not very impressive. I've captured a few of the ones I liked best. A major problem for both of us was the huge amount of traffic viewing the paintings as the crush of people made it virtually impossible to sit and admire them.

We caught a late afternoon TGV and arrived in Lyon at 6PM, still in time to have a great meal at one of the traditional Lyonnais bouchon's. Lyon is similar to Toulouse, not too large, lots of old French buildings with charm, great food, an old town, a waterfront (in fact Lyon has two waterfront's, with both the Rhone and Saone Rivers flowing through town. We really liked Lyon and will return one day.

We rented a car in Lyon and drove to the Nice area, where we spent two evenings. On the drive, we stopped in Avignon, where the pope hid out during the 1500's. I got a haircut from a local coiffeur and got the skinny on the area. Basically a nice place, especially for raising a family. I don't think we've found a "bad" place during our time in France. The main basilica was BIG, as one would expect of a papal building, and the city had a good mix of quaint old curvy streets and modern bistros. Avignon is another place we'll visit again in the future.

Highlights from the Nice area were having dinner chez Brelet, where Jamie and I had to brave 3.5 hours speaking French at the dinner table (a challenging but fun experience for both of us), seeing Nathalie's small studio/art supply store in the village of Valbonne, and seeing the Picaso Museum in Antibes. While it was fun to see a few of Picaso's works at the museum, they were almost all from a single era during Picaso's life and it would have been more interesting to view the changes in Picaso's style during his lifetime.

The drive along the Cote d' Azur was memorable. It wasn't a particularly nice day, with some overcast and a bit cold, but the serpentine road along the coast wound its way through some beautiful areas. Jamie was impressed by the castle at Carcassonne, despite the crappy weather, but the highlight of the afternoon was meeting with Dominique & Luc Bouriez (my Nov teacher and her husband) and their good friends Jenny and Will, a couple of Americans who are living most of the time in France these days. We toasted the New Year (well, I suppose since it was not yet the new year, we must have been toasting 2008). They had heard sooooo much about Jamie, that it was fun to show them that indeed, Jamie is just as good as I made her out to be!

Our final destination on New Year's Eve was Nick Sawyer's, an old Xilinx friend who now lives just outside of Toulouse. Nick and Brigitte throw a mean party. In addition to champagne and midnight backyard fireworks, there was awesome food (the foie grass was to die for!), karaoke, more food, good bilingual company, great wine, and at 5AM in the morning as things were winding down, they served onion soup just before all the guests left. It was good fun.

We flew back to the US on Jan 3. My year of traveling is behind me, and it's time to figure out the next chapter in my life.

Dec 23 - Bordeaux

I took the train Bordeaux. I did not have an assigned seat and there was confusion for about 30 minutes after I boarded the train with people claiming their assigned seats. I was fortunate to find a seat as the train was very full. Between the "greves" (French strikes) shutting down some of the trains and the naturally high volume of travel around Christmas, the train was packed. I sat beside an older (I must be careful with this pejorative term, but I would guess she was between 55 and 60) woman and managed to hold my own talking to her. I was a bit tired after 90 minutes of chatting, but it was a kick to communicate with a local.

Bordeaux

I checked into my hotel near the train station, took a short rest (or perhaps I logged into Facebook and threw a few pillows and snowballs at various friends, I forget now). Before long, I took the Bordeaux light rail downtown to meet Tanja, a German friend of Hanna, my housemate from Toulouse. Tanja had graciously agreed to show me around Bordeaux. She was attending French school in Bordeaux, much as I was in Toulouse, except that she had four months to study.

We spent several hours wandering the streets of Bordeaux, and gradually made our way to the waterfront (Garonne River - same as Toulouse, except being close to the Atlantic, it was larger in Bordeaux) by nightfall. The light was not great but it was good enough to get a good view of the "Mirror de Bordeaux", something for which the city is famous. There is an area 40m x 60m covered with flat black granite blocks, each having several small holes in it. Water flows up through the holes, to form a very thin layer on the surface. This acts as an almost perfect reflector, and the view of the government buildings opposite were just beautiful, especially as the sun was setting and the resulting deep blue of the sky was visible.

There is a much longer bridge here in Bordeaux than in Toulouse, although they don't have the fancy lighting here, using only standard bulbs instead of the multicolors in Toulouse. Tanja liked the lit up bridge here better than Pont Neuf in Toulouse while I prefer the Pont Neuf.

Like all French cities, there are lots of churches in Bordeaux. I got some photos of one of the ugliest churches I have ever seen. It looks like something out of Lord of the Rings, with thin, ornate, flying buttresses. Yukko.

I picked up a few bottles of Bordeaux at the local grocery store, taking them with me on the train to Paris. I figured Jamie and I would find a way to drink them during our "Tour de France". It turns out that we drank almost all of the bottles, thereby reducing the weight of my bag.

Dec 20 - More Toulouse

Well, there was another nice day with sun in Toulouse, and I got a few more photos. This brings the total for December up to three days with sunshine. Toulouse is a beautiful city, but the weather in Nov, Dec (verified firsthand) and I suppose Jan, Feb leaves something to be desired. I've enjoyed my stay in Toulouse and look forward to coming back with Jamie at year end.

More Toulouse

My school, Langue Onze, has been good for me. Instead of being one of the young students, as I was at my school in Nov, here I'm the oldest student by a wide margin. Every other student I met was between 18 and 28. However, I felt like one of the group and went out for beers a couple times with students from my class.

I lived chez Mme Garcia, who rents out a couple rooms of her apartment to students from Langue Onze. During my stay, the second rented room was occupied by Hanna, a delightful young German woman, who was studying French to assist her in the first half of 2009, when she will be working at French-speaking refugee camps in Cameroon. Hanna and I walked to school every day and got a lot of practice speaking French during our daily walks.

Dec 14 - Toulouse

I've been in Toulouse for two weeks taking classes. The school has not left a lot time for exploring but I've been out enough to know that Toulouse is a beautiful city, as you can see from some of the photos. There is an old part of the city which takes 10 to 15 minutes walk to traverse. (ie,it is a very manageable size)

Toulouse

Dec 7 - Les Abbatoirs Musee d'Art Mordern

Hannah and I visited the Museum of Modern Art. In addition to the hot cat woman near the front entrance to the exhibit, there were some incredible photos of naked African men. Ladies,if you've always been wondering, now's your chance to check it out.

Les Abbatoirs Musee, In Toulouse

I've included a small sample of the art. There was enough to keep both Hannah (my German housemate) and I happy (Cat woman, naked men, go figure).

I also went to a photo exhibit but was disappointed by what I saw. Make that extremely disappointed. When staying in Toulouse at the end of October I went to another museum which had a good variety of art dating from Roman times. They do have some good cultural exhibits here in Toulouse.

Dec 1 - Langue Onze in Toulouse

I opted to try two schools in France, the second one being Langue Onze, located in Toulouse.

http://www.langue-onze.asso.fr/toulouse_city.html

It is much larger than Ludoexpression, and has a younger student body. The two schools are very different and I like them both very much.

Langue Onze, Toulouse

The students although much youngerthan I have been very accepting of me and we'vegone for beers several times. I'm again staying with a French family, (Mme Garcia - a hot French babe), and there is a second student staying chez Garcia.

True to form, there have several strikes since we've been here. I have some shots of a manifestation, the French word for strike. I was surprised to learn that it was in fact the French University Students complaining about too much work.

Nov 15 - JL's Wine Making Class

I spent the weekend of Nov 15 with my good friend Jean-Louis Brelet and his family. He's been trying to get me to visit for years and when he planted his own vineyard and invited me to a party to taste the first wine from his vineyard, well, you know I just had to go!

Roquefort le Pins (near Nice)

In addition to tasting his wine (very good), we spent time enjoying the French way of life (slurping coffee out of large bowls, eating well, drinking even better) and had time for a quick trip up to the French Solar Observatory located in the mountains behind Jean-Louis. It was a great weekend. Jean-Louis, I will be back to visit again!

Nov 3 - School Starts

I've made my way to Ludoexpression School, a very small school located in the village of Villegailhenc, 10km north of Carcassonne.

http://www.ludoexpression.com/

http://maps.google.fr/maps?f=q&hl=fr&q=&jsv=139e&sll=47.15984,
2.988281&sspn=8.666759,18.457031&ie=UTF8&geocode=FT06lAIdNu0jAA

The school is run by a couple, Dominique (the teacher), and her husband, Luc (administration and publicity). Part of my objective was to live with a French family, thereby increasing my exposure to the French language and the French culture. No problem, says Luc, come stay with us! I have to say, this is the first time I have lived with the professor.

Villegailhenc (near Carcassonne)

It was a very positive experience. I was able to learn from Luc and Dominique as well as their two chilldren, Fabien and Cyril.

The village of Carcassonne was nearby and is a must see if you are in the area. I also became friends with John, a retired RAF pilot who lives in this area, and Jenny & Will, an American couple who spend most of their time in France now. Everyone I met here was very kind.

Oct 30, Arrival in France

I've travelled to France to take two months of French classes. The first month is in the small village of Villegailhenc and in December I'm in Toulouse.

I eased into speaking French by visiting with a couple of friends in the Toulouse area, both of whom I work with at Xilinx. Nick Sawyer has been at Xilinx for over twenty years and is married to Brigitte, a native French woman. Mark Quartermain, like Nick,is originally from England but fell in love with a French woman, Marie, and now makes the Toulouse area his home.

France Info

Oct 8 - 12, High Sierras

Jamie and her brother John had a trip planned to the Sierra Nevada Mountains as a reward for Jamie completing her MBA thesis. I was fortunate to accompany them and joined in a couple of Mountain ascents (Mt Conness and Mt Dana). The weather turned bad while we were on Mt Dana and Jamie and I descended when only 200 feet shy of the summit. Time proved we made the correct decision. We got back to camp and started packing amidst light snow flurries. By the time we were headed down to lower elevations, it started snowing in earnest.

Mt Conness & Mt Dana

The first real snowstorm of the year caught most folks by surprise and ended up closing all the major mountain passes south of hiway #50. 

Sept 25 - 28 Mountain Light Photography Workshop

Mountain Light, a company founded by Galen and Barbara Rowell, offers photography workshops in the spring and fall. This three day event focused on fall colors. Fifteen of us attended and all of us had a great time, learned a lot and took some great photos.

Sept 19 - 21 Rubicon Winery Harvest Party

Jamie and I attended the Rubicon Winery's Annual Harvest Party. This soiree has great food, free-flowing wine and a great band playing music which is very danceable. It was an outstanding weekend.

Rubicon Winery

Sept 13 - Exploring Thunderbolt Pass Area

Six of us intended to summit Mt. Sill, in the Palisade area of the Sierra Nevada. It took longer than we anticipated to reach this from South Lake and we were unable to see Mt. Sill. We had a great overnight trip, hiking from South Lake, over Bishop Pass, behind Mt. Agassiz, boulder hopping above the Dusy Basin, crossing Thunderbolt Pass and camping on the flanks of Mt. Thunderbolt. We were exhausted by 6PM on Saturday and it was all we could do to set up camp.

Thunderbolt Pass

We originally talked about getting up early and doing a recon of the Mt Sill area but no-one, including me, made any attempt on Sunday morning to do this. Our camp did not receive direct sun until after 8AM, it was cold, and the area was not photogenic. We all stayed in bed late.

We crossed Thunderbolt Pass on the way back, and descended into Dusy Basin, both to avoid the boulder hopping if we stayed on the flanks of Mt Winchell and Mt Agassiz and to obtain more water. The hike out was much easier than our boulder hopping adventure on Saturday. We made it to the cars by 3:30PM and made good time on the way back to the bay area.

Aug 13 - 17 Travel Photography Workshop

Every year, Book Passage, an independent bookstore located in Corte Madera, north of San Francisco, hosts a workshop for travel writers and travel photographers. This is by far the best workshop in the world for travel writers/photographers. It was an outstanding few days with world class authors and photographers instructing. 

Aug 28 - 31 Burning Man

Burning Man is an annual event in the Nevada desert. The popular conception is that there is a week long party where everyone runs around stoned and naked. The reality is somewhat different.

July 25 - Squires Becomes US Citizen

It finally happened. I became a US Citizen today, Friday July 25 at 11:15 PDT. If you had told me 25 years ago that I would become a US Citizen one day, I'd have bet a lot of money that would never be the case. Most Canadians grow up with an innate distrust and even dislike of the US. I think this stems from being pushed around by the US, the feelings are the same as you harbor for a neighborhood bully.

US Citizen

Even seven years ago, although my view had softened somewhat, I didn't think I would become a US Citizen. In the past five years, however, I've come to believe that the US is a pretty special country, where almost anyone can realize their dreams, whatever they may be. Don't get me wrong, there are still plenty of things wrong with the US, George Bush probably being at the top of the list, but for all the things which are broken, or truly onerous, there are many other things which are working better than most other places in the world.

I've just spent several months traveling in India and Nepal. The corruption in government at all levels is just amazing. People in the US complain at how corrupt things are here. The level of transparency in government here is much, much better than most other countries. The press is allowed to print virtually anything. There are max terms on the presidency. There are regular elections. The number of positives far outweigh the negatives, and I proudly say I'm an American (perhaps with a qualifier of not having voted for Bush).

That being said, both Canada and the US recognize dual citizenship, so I don't have to give up my Canadian citizenship.

June 22 - Mount Shasta

Our team of 10 people successfully sumit Mount Shasta on Sunday June 22. As the "old man" on the trip, I try (and I think succeed!) to provide some excitement for all the youngsters on this trip.

Mt. Shasta

Things get off to an auspicious start when Avis does not have the full size rental car and substitutes a Jetta. It does have a huge trunk and I decide to go with it, first collecting Marie-Luce from Palo Alto. Armed with Google maps and ML's excellent navigation skills, we make our way flawlessly through San Francisco's streets to Alex's, only to find that he's out grabbing a bite to eat. No worries, Arnaud lives four blocks away and can be picked up before Alex, but wait, Arnaud is naked in his living room trying to decide what to wear on this trip (He's French and you know how they have to keep up with fashion.)

The drive up is very entertaining, especially Arnaud's story of his uncle peeing on a car door lock in order to unfreeze it (winter in Grenoble). Turns out that his uncle was drunk and peed on the wrong car and when the owner of the car sees a man peeing on it, he knifes him in the back! Not to be outdone, Alex tells us of a time when he goes into a bar asking for a drink and the bartender pulls a gun on him. Alex leaves the bar with a big smile on his face. (Check with Alex to find out why.)

All this fun in the car leads naturally to a great evening at the Bunny Flat campground (located at the trailhead for our hike/climb up Shasta). Most of the group have never sampled Fred Steak, so this is a chance to try something new.

http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Cookbook:Fred_Steak

Salad, potatoes and a home-made rhubarb pie (Arnaud's famous French recipe) round out our meal. Everyone thinks the food is fabulous, although the two bottles of wine may have something to do with things tasting good. Arnaud cracks a few, "old man", jokes when he learns I'm 49, and we all laugh so hard we have tears streaming down our cheeks. I confess that I can't remember what the jokes are - guess my memory must be going.

The evening is memorable for another reason. It's such a beautiful night, and we're all bloated blimps at this point, that we set up our sleeping bags on our sleeping pads without bothering with tents. Thirty minutes later a few drops of rain scare ML and Arnaud into putting up their tent. Alex and I have read the weather reports, talked to the ranger and are confident that worst case will bring only sprinkles this evening. After several episodes of sprinkles, the rain fly of my tent is pulled over our sleeping bags.

An hour later finds both of us awake, itching mosquito bites. Alex and I are still tough and just pull the tent from its stuff sack, and drape it over our heads to deny the mosquitos their pound of flesh. It is stuffy and claustrophobic with the tent fabric lying on our heads, and neither of us gets much (any) sleep. An hour later brings enough rain that we shed our tough mountain men image and rush to assemble the tent and clamber in. So much for a good night's sleep prior to Saturday's hike to Hidden Valley.

The weather continues to be ugly on Saturday, with overcast skies, wind and occasional sprinkles. Although it seems like wretched weather, its actually much better for hiking. With a cloudless sky, temperatures can rise to 100 degrees or more in this area. Climbers coming down the mountain tell how they had to retreat from 12,000 feet when high winds, rain, snow and lightning forced them back.

We arrive at Hidden Valley by 11AM and are able to claim good spots for our tents. People continue to arrive until 8PM, with about 40 tents scattered over the valley.

The West Face is clearly demarcated and is, in fact, the only continuous strip of snow up the mountain. With such a narrow chute and so many climbers, we move up our planned departure time to beat the rush, in order to minimize the chance of climbers above us knocking rocks down. Waking up at midnight allows us to set off at 1AM. We have split our party of ten into two teams, Alex, ML, Arnaud, and myself comprising one team while Dan, Francesco, Ian, Nina, Bridget, Dan are the other. 

It's cold, but we make great time and reach the summit by 6:30AM. I've been up Shasta three times before but still find the experience emotional, shedding a few happy tears this time. The obligatory photos are captured but it is cold and windy and lingering at the summit is not an option.

There is a glissade track on the main face and I volunteer to go down first, set up my camera at the bottom and get photos of the others coming down the track. The sun is only now starting to hit the glissade track so it is pretty icy. It makes for a memorable ride and I have to stop frequently and go slowly to avoid sliding out of control. Descending about 1500 feet, I reach a sunny area that looks like the best spot for photos. Getting out of the track, I realize that my shorts, poly pro long underwear and regular jockey shorts have all been abraded by the icy snow in the track. I suppose its a good thing the cold icy snow has numbed my butt, else my ass would be feeling the missing skin. Fortunately, the crown jewels are still intact.

Photos are taken but everyone agrees that putting crampons back on and walking down the remainder of the way is the thing to do. We take a break after a while, removing our packs to fish out food and water. I'm fifty feet lower than the others during this rest break, and when I see a water bottle come loose and come hurtling down the hill towards me I attempt to be a hockey goalie and stop the errant bottle. It's coming fast and I have no time to watch my foot placements, instead keeping my eyes fixed on the incoming bottle. 

Moving quickly, my right foot lands on the side of a snow cup, rolling on its side, sending a shooting pain up my leg, and causing me to collapse on the slope. I don't hear anything pop so I assume its a bad sprain and not broken. After a few steps, it's clear that I cannot put any weight on it. Putting our heads together, we try to figure out a way to get down the steep snow slope. I dismiss anything that involves walking as it is way too painful to load my right foot. 

Glissade! That's the way down, my bottom protestations notwithstanding. But how to do it safely and keep my right foot from bumping on the snow? Somehow, going down the track needs to be done in a controlled manner. Answer: fasten a tether to my backpack, someone walks beside the glissade track holding my tether, thus lowering me at walking speed. I still need my ice axe in case my, "keeper", stumbles and lets go my tether. The plan works and slowly we make our way down the hill. At some point Alex sees some blood on the track. We determine that liposuction is a better option for reducing the size of my butt and place a garbage bag under my bottom. Ahhhhh, the simple pleasures in life. So much more comfortable!

The grade starts to level off and the snow starts to run out. I don't fancy the idea of being pulled on my ass over the sharp rocks between me and our camp, even with the garbage bag to sit on. About this time we notice a CHP chopper circling overhead. They've probably been wondering what the heck is going on down here. I conclude that there is no way I will be able to walk from our camp back to the trailhead and suggest that we signal the chopper and see if I can get airlifted out. 

The chopper tries to communicate with us via loudspeaker but it is unintelligible over the sound of their engine and the blades beating the air. They eventually land and Alex piggy-back's me over to the helicopter. The California Highway Patrol chopper has been looking for a couple who phoned in the night before saying they were unable to continue down the mountain and are lost. The two officers, Bob and Tara, are incredibly nice. They first express their amazement that Alex has been able to carry me 1/4 mile over rocks and snow cover. Tara especially has her eye on him. Then they load me in the back seat, tell me not to touch ANYTHING or I'll make the chopper crash, and off we go. 

They spend a few minutes searching for the lost couple, before flying me over to Shasta's Mercy Hospital. After landing, Tara takes my blood pressure (122/80) and wants me to remove my boot so she can have a look at my foot. She and Bob must justify picking me up and they want some evidence that I am sufficiently hurt that I would not be able to walk out from camp. Bob jokes that he wants to see broken bones sticking out and blood spurting but they settle for a big bruise on the right side of my foot.

The hospital is all of 100 feet from the helicopter landing pad but they must send an ambulance to greet me. What a day of firsts for me! First helicopter evacuation, first ambulance ride, what's next??? Perhaps I shouldn't ask!

The staff at Mercy Hospital are incredibly friendly, admitting me immediately, and Dr. Grover Shipman is in to see me within minutes. I learn later that he has an ulterior motive, to learn about snow conditions on the mountain. He and his girlfriend are planning to hike in to Hidden Valley and climb Shasta next Thur, Fri, Sat. I give him all the details he'll need and in return he sends me in for X-rays. 

The technician takes two X-rays and has me wait on the gurney while she develops them. When she returns and takes a third, I'm suspicious that something in my foot is not quite right. Grover shows me two fractures, one in a metatarsal called a pseudo-Jones fracture and a distal fibula fracture. He is surprised that I am not in more pain, and sends me on my way with a splint, telling me to check in with my doctor in Palo Alto within the next five days. He also gives me some vicodin, a powerful painkiller. 

So ends our Mt. Shasta expedition. Several of the team will travel to Rainier next weekend. I wish them good luck and hope that none of them share my fortune of having a helicopter ride off the mountain!

FYI, I actually make the news in some papers that print the US Forest Service press release verbatim. I'm the male with the broken leg mentioned in the last sentence in the press release below:

http://www.fs.fed.us/r5/shastatrinity/news/2008/releases/024-june22-mt-shasta-search.shtml

Fri, June 6 - Mt Whitney Summit

Summit Day, Mt Whitney Trip

There are two main routes to the summit from Trail Camp. The standard route winds its way up 99 switch backs (someone more anal than I must have counted them) while a chute to the climber's right provides a direct snow ascent at an angle of 35 to 40 degrees. The views while walking up the chute are spectacular, the early low angle sun lighting up the yellow rock faces on our right side. The view looking east from the top of the chute shows Trail Camp, the surrounding mountains, and the Owens Valley with the Inyo Mountains beyond.

An hour at the summit is enough time to enjoy the view without getting too cold from the 30 mph winds (there are many big blocks of rock at the summit acting as wind breaks). We enjoy the first 30 minutes alone and then 4 other groups make the summit. A 60 year old gentleman is wearing a kilt. Dunkley inquires as to whether he is a "real" Scot and learns that he has taken precautions to reduce drafts under his kilt.

I had last climbed Mt. Whitney in 1984 with a good friend, Dave Parlour, and try calling Dave from the top. My phone has intermittent reception (not sure why) and I'm not able to reach Dave. I talk to Dave later and he tells me that I must be doing pretty well to reach the summit as an old man (Thanks Dave!)

We hike back to camp, pack up and make it back down to the trailhead by 5PM. A ranger tells us on the way down that the small store in the trailhead parking lot has the best burgers within 50 miles. It is true that everything tastes better after a few days climbing in the mountains, but these burgers are "really" good and the good selection of beers further enhances this. Most of us have sore feet but we all enjoy the hike and climb, looking forward to the next mountain adventure.

Dunkley and I make our way toward Santa Barbara, where he has some good friends, Mike and Fiona. Following the Kern River, Dunk navigates and is able to provide enough entertaining driving to keep me happy for months. Dunk may have selected different roads had he known what he was in for as the passenger. 

Thur, June 5 - Mt. Whitney Trail Camp

At 9AM, Dunk and I meet Alex, Eric, and Arnaut at the Whitney Portal store, near the Mt. Whitney trailhead before starting up the trail. We make good time and reach Trail Camp by 2PM. Weather is clear and about 70 degrees, with only a few patches of snow to negotiate below the 12000' camp.

Trail Camp, Mt. Whitney

The trail winds through pine forest, passing some beautiful alpine lakes. The sun lights up the golden-yellow rock and highlights it against a sky bluer than those of Nepal. There is plenty of water flowing in streams along the way, meaning we don't need to haul water up the mountain.

Arnaut, Eric and Alex have brought all the fixins' for a wonderful steak dinner while I supply the wine. Everyone gets more than enough food to carry them up Mt. Whitney. Winds are gusty, occasionally reaching 40 mph, but our tents are well anchored (after Eric and Arnaud move theirs) and everyone except Eric, who has a bad cold, gets a good sleep.

Wed, June 4 - Sierras

Gary Dunkley (Dunk), a good friend, flies into San Jose with all his climbing kit. We drive through Yosemite, over the Tioga Pass, and down #395 to the Lone Pine ranger station, arriving 5:30PM, 30 minutes before closing time. Other than being a bit cool over the pass, it is ideal "top down" weather and we enjoy a good chat and a few rays on the drive.

The ranger has just done the mountaineer's route on Mt. Whitney and explains that the main chute has unconsolidated snow which could avalanche, while the upper portions are mixed rock and ice with significant vertical exposure. In contrast, conditions in a chute adjacent to the standard route are excellent. We take the permit for the standard route, which will have us camp at Trail Camp (12,000 ft) tomorrow, and summit the following day. The other three members of our party, Alex, Eric and Arnaut, leave the Bay Area at 6PM and do not arrive till the wee hours of the night. 

Drive to Whitney

Dunk and I spend the night on BLM (Bureau of Land Management) land, sleeping under the stars. BLM land is very lightly regulated. The good news is you can camp wherever you like at no charge. The bad news is you sometimes share the land with kooks having guns, motorcylces, jeeps, booze or combinations of all the above. We are fortunate and have the place to ourselves, enjoying a beautiful starlit evening.