Re: Mt. Whitney Disc Golf

Mountaineer's Route - Par 6




* note - if you stray off the "official" route then you are possibly subjected to dissing by the "experts" out there
* note - I prefer to go explore for myself thanks... I'm sure Norman Clyde didn't have a guidebook and wasn't in any hurry either

Half Dome a Nice Day

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So did you get a two-stroke penalty for flinging the disc out of bounds?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/04/2012 05:34PM by plawrence.

Its actually stroke and distance...so he had to retrieve the frisbee, go back to the top and do it all over again. Those OB's really hurt!

So, where did you and QITNL go, aside from the Mountaineers Route? I'd seen on powdiction a while back that what little snow we had seemed to stop around the Rock Creek Valley, and this plus Calipidder's blog post from Cottonwood would suggest a lot of dryness in the highest part of the Sierra.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/04/2012 09:23PM by ttilley.

Of the snowpack reports I've read, the Southern Sierra is a lot drier and had far less snow than the Central and Northern Sierras.
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Out of bounds? Have you played this hole yourselves? What a bunch of wet blankets.

We also went up the East Ridge of Russell. The first couple thousand feet are total garbage, but the ridge is a total gas.

Don't believe everything you read on the Internet.

how difficult was the route? didnt look worse than class 3

Depends how you define "difficult." Class two is often a choss swamp, class three is usually more solid.

I'd take the latter in a heartbeat.

You understand we're playing downhilll, of course - we're going for distance.

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ryanmj
how difficult was the route? didnt look worse than class 3

If you're asking Mountaineer's Route... I think it has some aura about it or something.
For what reason I'm not sure. Sure, it does look somewhat daunting from Iceberg...
but imho even if you go the "wrong" way it's mostly just a "climb" up.
I guess the "final 400" is class3.. but that was the most fun part of the climb.
Somehow these two clowns made it up this and Mt. Russell without a guidebook.
Some people I guess think we are fools for going left instead of right. Whatever.
One of the more interesting things I saw was a cool cave right near Pinnacle Pass
which we would have never seen if we would have "followed the book".
Plus Pinnacle Pass was quite possibly more fun than Thor anyway.
Definitely more fun than the Mountaineer's Route. Def. didn't have a Poodle at
the top or a number of pushy people trying to shove you aside to sign the book.

Anyway, we did have a blast hiking around for 4 days/ 3nights... and seeing
Tulainyo has been on my list of things I've wanted to see for many years.

I'll try to get a photo or two up.

(btw... I got a on the hole)

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chick-on
Definitely more fun than the Mountaineer's Route. Def. didn't have a Poodle at
the top or a number of pushy people trying to shove you aside to sign the book.

Or coffee?

Pics, please...some of us who still live without adequate technology are not able to view youtube or videos...

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hikerchick395
Pics, please...some of us who still live without adequate technology are not able to view youtube or videos...

Here's a few for you:

Pinnacle Pass:


Top o Whitney:


Russell East Ridge:


Top o Russell (Whitney on left):


Thanks to QITNL for all his help... wouldn't have done any of this w/o him.

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chick-on
I'm sure Norman Clyde didn't have a guidebook

Neither did Pete Starr...

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Royalist

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chick-on
I'm sure Norman Clyde didn't have a guidebook

Neither did Pete Starr...

These type of comments are really hard to comment on. First of all I really hate commenting on others' demise.
And second of all, plain and simple, whether the "right" route is taken or not... accidents happen.

The only way to avoid it is to stay on the couch.
I prefer to eat my Twinkies in the Mountains.... They are calling...

Have a nice day

All that being said... the Pete Starr story is an interesting one:
http://www.stanfordalumni.org/news/magazine/2003/novdec/features/starr.html

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chick-on
the Pete Starr story is an interesting one

I recommend the book (the Stanford material is a condensed version; the book is better, IMO): http://www.amazon.com/Missing-Minarets-Search-Walter-Starr/dp/1930238185

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These type of comments are really hard to comment on.

Sorry, but I don't have much reverence for human life. Few of us are very special - there are billions more to pick up the slack, and Pete Starr's family are unlikely to be distressed by my remarks 80 years later.

I simply felt your comment about Clyde was akin to "my grandfather smoked 4 packs a day and lived to 90" - cherry-pick your data and you can prove anything. Clyde was exceptional (both skill and luck), but he could easily have suffered Starr's fate, or died with Dulley. Come to that, the melanoma that ended his life may have been the result of careless over-exposure to the sun.

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whether the "right" route is taken or not... accidents happen

Reductio ad absurdum "you could get run over walking to the store, so why not go base-jumping?"

That said, I agree a life spent avoiding all possible risk ain't much of a life. I look at how children are coddled to the point of insanity these days and pity them when I recall the freedoms I enjoyed. And even as adults we seem to be nannied more and more.

I also don't think you were being foolhardy taking the route you did - you don't strike me as a pollo loco. I think we both like to go to mildly risky places, but mitigate the heck out of the risks by application of the little grey cells. In that, we are actually safer than many of the lowing herd on the Mist Trail.

Ahem, I just remembered pressing on to summit Alta Peak as a thunderstorm rolled in, which was not, perhaps, the most shining example of risk mitigation. I made the summit, but when the temperature suddenly dropped 15 degrees I got nervous, and when lightning cracked so close I was nearly deafened, I decided the balance of risks made it safer to run down the trail as fast as possible. The blasted and scorched Fox Pines up there are good reminders that I should have paid more attention to on my way up.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 06/14/2012 09:26AM by Royalist.

I took the route that looked the safest and void of scree shuffling...
I personally have no death wish and am not "ok dying out there".
I'll take the easiest way up if it is also the safest.
We are all fools at times... and we all make mistakes... some pay dearly for those.
(Muir almost did too)

Anyway, on all your points I agree. We are on the same page.
I won't get into a philosophical discussion about our place on this earth...
(well I'll say I don't think we are so special... just really lucky)
W/R to Clyde... I just mentioned him b/c most people know about
him and he did it in the time before 1000 guidebooks existed and
this here internet. I personally have a lot of fun just looking at maps and
coming up with a route and just go explore. No guidebook required.
If run into something insurmountable... then just turn around... go a
different way.

Mainly have fun out there and respect the land since so many others also
are out there. And respect each other.

(p.s. I like the forum b/c it's nice to help other people... and also gives me
more ideas of places to go see for myself)

(p.s.s. truth of the matter w/r to Whitney is I looked up the chute and said to
Joe.. "we're not going up there are we... can we go that way instead?" )
(it turns out it it's overrated) (it just looks gnarly)

Ok, Have a nice day

edit: Argh. At the end of the day... just don't tell me I went the wrong way
when I got to the top and back down safely... that's just ridiculous
(that's where this all came about with my comment about Clyde)

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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/14/2012 09:35AM by chick-on.

I witnessed this a couple of years ago on top of Mt. Whitney



Golfing at 14,500 ft., Mt. Whitney summit, California by urbandispute, on Flickr

Well... the truth of the matter is that someone somewhere has a shot of
someone throwing a frisbee disc off the top of Whitney... b/c I found it
on the way up (and back on the way down)...
I'm sure these clowns had just a wonderful time at at time. It's unlikely
they would hit someone down at Artic Lake tarns... but it's still just
pretty stupid. Prob. not quite... but just about as smart as throwing
rocks off the top of El Cap or North Dome or Glacier Pt. or Half Dome
or... you get my point.
I remember once at Royal Arches Lake chucking exfoliated rocks down
from above... and think how stupid it was... The Old Dude would have
been in the right to yell at me. I think I got it from the wife ...
Live and Learn

Fore!

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Here's one more:

Actually one of the things I really wanted to see. Tulainyo
It was kinda strange in that it just looked like it was not quite right...
(i.e. tilted)

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Thanx!!!

Great pics! Nice day and love the Tulainyo one