Telescope (11,049 ft; 3,367 m) & Wildrose (9,064ft; 2762m) Peaks, Death Valley 
(Cordada Rapel) 

Trail head

It is Thanksgiving weekend and we expect all the roads to be full of traffic, so we leave home at 4am in the morning, expecting to arrive at Death Valley around noon. Luckily we have been early enough to avoid the traffic jams, so we arrive at Thorndike Campground at 12:30pm. There is snow starting from the Charcoal Kilns, but we try to get as far as we can by car. The car gets stuck on the icy road a few hundred meters past the Thorndike campground. The road is steep and we are not far from the Mahogany Flat campground, so we turn around and park in a flat spot between the 2 campgrounds. We take our overnight gear and start walking around 1pm. It is cold (~4C), but the weather is stable and sunny. 

Telescope Peak Summit

In less than 2 hours we are at the spot where we planned to camp, approximately in the middle of the way up. It is early and sunny so we decide to leave the backpacks and summit today. We know that it will be dark after 5pm, but the way back is easy and we can do it with our headlamps. The trail is steeper and longer than we expected and the last 300m of elevation is riddled with switch backs, with plenty of snow and some ice. We don't carry crampons, but we are lucky to have taken the poles. I start  having altitude sickness after one hour of having left the backpack. I am getting a terrible headache and feeling dizzy, but the peak seems so close and so achievable! I keep walking, knowing that Artur is probably perfectly alright and needs to summit today. We arrive at the summit after sunset but still with daylight. It is really windy and cold. We put on everything we carry with us and hurry down after the obligatory summit picture. 
In 1hour 30 min we get back to our backpacks. It is completely dark - we have a moonless night. We walk down still 30 minutes more until we find the nice camping spot that we saw coming up. We set up our tent, prepare a hot dinner and finally rest. We are at more than 3000m altitude. We can still feel the altitude and the temperature has dropped to below freezing, actually outside the tent we are at -5C (23F). But then, the surprise, the moment than all mountaineers enjoy, the view that no picture can show: a perfectly moonless sky, with stars so shiny than seem closer to us, like if we could reach them. The wind is not blowing any more, the beauty is breathtaking. 

Telescope peak from the trail going down

Our tent in the morning

The next day, another blue sky and freezing temperatures. Luckily the water and gas were in our sleeping bag so they are not frozen. We have a hot breakfast, pack and hike down to the parking lot in ~2hours. 
The day is so beautiful and it is so early that we decide to hike Wildrose peak , a 8.5 miles round trip from the Charcoal Kilns parking lot.  


That peak is easy, pretty steep and it is extremely windy at the top. 
The trail is also longer than expected, with a long detour to the east before heading to the peak, but it is very easy to follow and we run into plenty of people, including kids. 

Wildrose Peak Summit

The view is quite spectacular, we can see Death Valley quite well. Worth coming up. Now, Las Vegas waits for us!

Mt. Gibbs (12764 ft, 3890 m) and Monroe Hall Research Natural Area
(Artur and Meri)

East of Tioga Pass there are several campgrounds that are a lot smaller than Tuolumme Meadows and have a higher chance to have free sites on Saturday morning. We wanted to try Sawmill Campground, a walk-in campground that seemed peaceful because of the fact that you have to walk a while to arrive at the campsite. As we expected, the place was nice, clean and calm and we were lucky to get the last free spot on Saturday noon.

It took us 3 trips to the car, each one 10 minutes, to bring all our stuff to the site. As it was hot and I didn't remember that we would be so far from the car, we had taken the cooler and the big stove. After having lunch, instead of going to the car again, we just started walking from our campsite to the Carnegie Institute Experimental Station. This was a really good choice. There is a well maintained path to the station and it continues into the Monroe Hall Research Natural Area. The trail enters into the valley that leads to Mount Conness (12590 ft) and White Mountain (12057 ft), wandering on the right of Lee Vining Creek. The valley is gorgeous at this time of the year. The snow has almost completely melted and everywhere you look it is full of water and flowers. We found quite a lot of people on the trail, including groups of rock climbers. We are not sure but we think they are climbing the south-east wall of Mt. Conness. Following the trail, it took us around 2 and a half hours to get to the top of the saddle and walk a little bit along the ridge to Mt. Conness. As it was getting late, we didn't have time to reach the peak of Mt. Conness. There may have been at least another hour left to go. In 2 hours we arrived back to our campsite, just as the sun was setting. We still saw 3 or 4 rock climbing teams passing by and were wondering where they were all coming from.

Artur in front of Mt. Conness

On Sunday morning we heard voices at 4am, some rock climbers passing very close our tent, apparently a little lost and off trail. Where were they going? Its still a mystery. We got up at 7am and saw several more teams of people with ropes and helmets going in direction of Mt. Conness.

After breakfast, and only 2 trips to load the car, we left the quiet campground towards Tioga Pass and parked at Mono Pass trail head (it has 3 bear lockers). From there, we hiked 1h30min gently sloping up to Mono Pass.

Mono Pass

Then we started hiking up Mt. Gibbs by the south-southeast ridge. The terrain is full of loose rocks so our pace was rather slow, but in around 2 hours we arrived at the peak. We didn't see any other people on the trail (or lack thereof), but read in the summit register that at least 2 groups of people had climbed the peak earlier the same day. As it was sunny, not very windy, and still early we had lunch and took a nap before starting down.
The amount of flowers in this area was spectacular. The snow was also almost completely melted and the landscape was full of colors of the different flowers.

We hiked down on the north-west ridge. There are some areas with big rocks and steep slopes that slowed us down a little bit, but in general it was easier going then the south ridge on the way up. In 2h 30 minutes we were back at the car without major problems. The streams at this time of year are quite low on water or altogether dried out so we could cross them without difficulty.

Tenaya Peak (10280 ft / 3133 m) and Mt. Hoffmann (10850 ft / 3307 m) - Yosemite National Park
(Carlos, Rudy, Artur and Meri)

Both are day hikes, not strenuous and incredibly beautiful. It took us 2 hours to get to Tenaya Peak from the Tenaya Lake (Sunrise trailhead).

Rudy in front of Half-Dome and Yosemite Valley

It is a crosscountry hike, with a lot of slabs and some grade III passes that can be avoided depending on the way up. Our only adventure was crossing the river at the begining of the hike. There was too much water so we had to take off our shoes to cross, wading through the calf-high stream. We hiked up a little east of the south ridge, staying west of the stream that runs down the valley, and hiked down via Mildred Lake. In a bit more than one hour we were cooling our toes on the beach of Tenaya Lake.

Tenaya Peak throning above Tenaya Lake

One of the most beautiful views from Tenaya Peak is the Yosemite Valley from the north-east side, with a spectacular view of Half-Dome from the side that sports the trail on which people hike to its top. The mosquitoes attacked us all day long, as the day was hot and they were hungry.

Before the hike we secured a campsite at White Wolf, one of the campgrounds on Tioga Pass Road. Luckily this weekend there were fewer people in the park than last time we were there, so we did not need to spend extra time driving around to various campgrounds to find a place to pitch our tents. Also this time our site was virtually mosquito free, unlike last time.

On Sunday we climbed Mount Hoffmann. This too is a short day hike, even easier than Tenaya Peak. We left the car at May Lake trailhead, which has ample space for parking and has plenty of bear lockers. There is a trail all the way from the lake to the top of the mountain which makes it busier than Tenaya Peak on which we saw only the odd climbing party on their descent.

Mount Hoffmann

While Rudy and Meri were arriving in less that 2 hours to the 'official' top (the one with the antenna), Artur had time to climb that one as well as the 3 minor peaks. Carlos reached us on the first peak just as we were starting to head down.
The mosquitoes were a lot worse than the previous day and we were all but bathing in bug repellent to keep them at bay. After lunch, though, they seemed to rest from the heat and give us a break.
Again, in little over one hour we were back at the car, ready for a good wash in a nearby creek.

Tuolumne Meadows Menagerie & Mt.Dana (13053ft - 3979m)
(Nighty Night Deer, Dana Peak Marmot, Lembert Dome Chipmunk, Campground Rabbit, Plenty of Huge Mosquitoes & Cordada Rapel )

On Saturday 4am we woke up for a long weekend. We wanted to arrive at Tuolumne Meadows before anyone else to get a first-come first-served campsite. Of course, it was the busiest weekend of the year in Tuolumne Meadows, and the first one with open campgrounds, so our attempt was futile. Some of the campgrounds were still closed for too much snow or water and the others were already packed from the previous days. We drove to the east of Tioga Pass looking for more campgrounds and still found some full and some closed. We found the first free campsite at the last campground that appeared on our map, Aspen Campground. The mosquitoes ravaged us without mercy. Luckily the weather was good and we could still get some exercise bushwhacking from the campground to a no-name 9500 ft peak in direction of Mount Dana.

Later that evening we had company from a deer, which would insist during 2 nights in keeping us company for a while (and trying to steal our food from the table).

On Sunday morning, we got up at 6 to hike Mt. Dana. The previous day we had seen that we didn't need any snow gear unlike expected. There were only a few patches of snow along the whole route, and even those could easily be avoided if necessary. It took us 3.5 hours from the Mono Pass trail head at Tioga Road to the peak (13053ft, 3979m). From the trailhead, we walked less than one mile until we got to the crossing with Dana Fork river. Then, we continued on the left side of the river and hiked up by the west ridge. On the top, a highwayman marmot was trying to get some of our food. Given its well fed appearance it had obviously been successful with its overt attempts on other mountaneers.

We hiked down via the south-east ridge. Our original idea was to traverse to Mt. Gibbs, but we were too tired for that and it would have made for a very long day. We hiked back to the parking lot following the right side of the Dana Fork river, same as we came up. We needed more than 3 hours to make it back. The rocks of Mount Dana's eastern slope are big and not very stable, so our pace was slower than usual.

The next day we changed to Tuolumne Meadows Campground inside the National Park. From there, we hiked to another no-name peak on the way to Ragged Peak, with an altitude of ~10400 ft. It was a very nice hike, and I highly recommend it. We returned via Lembert Dome (9450ft), hiking the easy peak from the east side and going back to the campground via the Pacific Crest Trail at the side of the Lyell Fork River. We were surprised by the little beaches that we found around this side of the meadows and enjoyed being able to wash our dust covered faces in the clear snowmelt water.

In the evening a seemingly very confused and lost rabbit came to search refuge at our tent for a couple of hours.

Tuesday was the day we had to go back home, but we wanted to do at least some short hike. So we decided to climb Indian Rock peak. The trailhead is one mile before Porcupine Campground and has bear boxes. It is a weird hike because you start going down before you actually climb. It was only a few miles, so in 1h10min we were on the top.
The view is spectacular - from Indian Rock one can see the north-west face of Half Dome.

Not surprisingly, and after wonderful weather for 4 days, we started seeing black clouds growing quickly above us. A thunderstorm formed rapidly and we had just enough time to get to the car before the clouds started to let out their content, accompanied by angry growling. Few minutes later our car was bathed in hail. Pretty scary to be out there with those ice rocks coming down onto your head.

Mt. Silliman (11188 ft - 3410 m)
(Rudy, Artur & Meri) 


Mount Silliman is usually an easy hike, but we had read many reports talking about bad weather at the last minute. We took all our snow gear, including crampons, snow shoes, shovels, ice ax and beacons and got ready for any possible bad event. 


We arrived at Sequoia National Park in around 4 hours, and a while later we were already at Lodgepole taking our self-issued wilderness permits. There were very few people and way too much snow (more than 1 meter on the parking lot), but the weather seemed really good. Actually, it was warmer than we expected and with so much snow we thought that the avalanche hazard could become significant. 


The snow helped us to walk well with snow shoes for most of the way up, not too soft, not too hard. Except for some dry spots at the begining of the trail, all was packed with snow. We used the GPS to find our way up because there were no tracks that could help us when we started following Silliman creek. Thanks to other trip reports found on the Internet we had the way points well defined and could get to the meadow without much difficulties. We found the way up more strenuous than we expected, maybe because we hadn't been training a lot lately. It took us 4 hours to get to the camp, at the bend  of Silliman creek, just below the slabs. The place is really flat and big, and the snow was perfect for camping. We found a part of the creek that was accessible so we didn't need to melt snow. In front of us we could see the slabs and a nice couloir. Maybe for another year... 


Inside the tent we were below zero Celsius. At night, the sky was clear and the moon was really small, like a melon slice, so the stars were especially bright.

The next day we woke up at 6am, already with daylight. We hiked up to Silliman Lake around 30 meters to the right side of the creek. The snow covering the creek seemed to be ready to fall in form of avalanche at any time, so we made sure to be well to the right and avoid being caught in the worst case scenario. We had our beacons turned on. We walked with snow shoes but changed poles for ice ax. After arriving to the lake, which was completely covered with snow, we saw the peak for the first time. There was still a steep hike in front of us and the snow was becoming harder, so we changed snow shoes for crampons. At this point Rudy started having problems with his crampons. For some strange reason the crampons disassembled themselves when he made a step. As the snow had becomen quite hard and the way became really steep, he decided to go back to camp. Artur and Meri continued for around half an hour until the peak. It was around 10:20am when we arrived. The day was becoming really sunny so we covered ourselves with plenty of sunscreen. There was almost no wind. We made our entry into the peak log and went down quickly to catch up with Rudy. With several nice and long glisades, we arrived at camp in one and a half hours. There was a marmot close to us. It had made its personal snow cave. We had plenty of time to have lunch, dry the tent a little and rest. Then, we changed to snow shoes and poles and made our way back to the parking lot in 2 hours. 

Pictures used by permision from Rudy Ortega 

Lost around Buena Vista Peak we climbed Bruce Peak (9743ft, 2970m)

Yosemite NP

On Thanksgiving weekend we decided to get a little bit of cold and hike up to the Sierras. We had never been on the south side of Yosemite and knew that Wawona had some trails worth trying. In ~4 hours we arrived at the self-permit station at the Wawona Hotel and self-issued a permit. The parking at the trailhead has bear lockers and a restroom. The day was clear and relatively warm. After having a quick lunch we put on our backpacks, which weighes ~18Kg, and started the long hike up to Chilnualna Falls. During the first 2 hours the trail is windy and steep uphill with nice views to Wawona valley. Afterwards, the trail meanders through forrests and is flatter. We climbed about 4000 ft before deciding to stop to make camp. It was around 4:30 and we knew at 5 the sun would already have set. There were some patches of snow but we found a nice dry flat spot to put our tent. We had decided to take the route south to Buena Vista peak and camp near Grouse Lake.

On friday the day was quite clear and we started walking at 8am. We planed to be at Buena Vista Peak at 12pm, and then go down to Buena Vista lakes via the north ridge. To arrive at the peak we had to hike the last part crosscountry, as no trail leads you there.

At 12:30pm we arrived at a peak thinking that is Buena Vista Peak. Happy but very cold, we had some lunch and decided to hike down the ridge to a lake that we could see clearly from the peak. On the way down there was a steep unexpected step that we had to pass. There was snow and ice so we put on our crampons and jumped down the rocks. At this moment we started realizing that something was weird and that the reference points didn't correlate with the map and the coordinates. We realized that we had been in the wrong peak (Bruce Peak) and that we were actually going farther away from the trail. Also, we were leaving the area for which we carried a map. Worried, we decided the go back up the ridge of the mountain we had just climbed. It started snowing and the ridge was too steep and too far so we found a relatively nice and dry spot and camped on a semiridge. The snowfall and the wind got heavier. It became dark and cold and we didn't know if the day after we would be able to climb that ridge with so much fresh snow. We started worrying about the avalanche hazard and started thinking how much food we had. How many days could we stay here before somebody came to look for us? Nobody knew that we were there. The permit was self-issued, maybe nobody would ever look for us!

During the night there were some moments when the snow storm stopped. We had a nice moon shining down on us and everything was already white.

On Saturday, we woke up early, at 5:30. The idea was to start walking as soon as we had sunlight. We looked again at our map and almost in all directions there was a steep incline. So we decided to take the shortest path and go up the ridge we took the day before. As we approached the ridge it seemed more impossible to climb. The snow covered the flat rocks of Yosemite but it was powder that would slide pretty easily. We found a couloir that seemed more accessible.

The snow was deep in some places but we managed to climb the ridge taking turns leading and without major slides. It had snowed a little more but now it was finishing and it seemed that the weather was going to improve. To make sure we found the way back, we decided to return to the trail we hiked the day before, as we had the track on the GPS and we would be able to follow it if the snow had hidden the trail.

Fortunately, the way down was not very steep and we found the trail soon enough. There was snow all the way down until Chilnualna falls, but the trail was visible almost always and when not we had our GPS.

After a long day of 8 hours, 17 miles and 5800ft of elevation drop we arrived at the trailhead. At Wawona there was no snow, the sun was shining, some people looked at us saying: real hikers!!

We were exhausted but happy. Our body would remember that trip for a few days. Artur would have joint problems for the week and Meri her favourite giant blisters.

Goat Mountain (12.207ft, 3.721m) i Mt. Hutchings (10.785ft, 3.287m)
Kings canyon National Park

(Rudy, Artur i Meri)

Dissabte al migdia, recollim els permisos a la "permit station" de "Roads End", hem tingut sort i no s'havia acabat la quota del camí. Ens diuen que probablement trobarem el llac on volem dormir gelat, però realment sembla mentida amb la calor que fa aquí a la vall.

Comencem a caminar passades les 12 del migdia el Copper Creek Trail. Pujar 5000 peus de desnivell - més de 1500m - amb 16 quilos a l'esquena no és el que s'acostuma a fer un primer dia de cap de setmana llarg. Especialment després d'haver-se llevat a les 5 del matí i haver conduit unes 5 hores i mitja. Però volíem dormir a alçada, així que fem el cor fort i la Meri arriba mig morta.... però arriba. L'Artur, com sempre, arriba fresc com una rosa! Hem trigat unes 6 hores, les dues últimes especialment lentes.

Plantem el campament a uns 10.000 peus (3.000m), però sense arribar al llac (Grouse Lake). Tenim la sort de trobar-nos rodejats d'arbres que ens pararan el vent i el fred i tenim ben a prop un rierol que ens farà d'habituallament liquid. 

El diumenge, sortim a les 7:30 del matí. Trobem el llac gelat tal com ens havien dit, després de creuar una quants rierols. Per pujar a Goat Mt. agafem la ruta sud-est. La idea és rodejar una mica la muntanya pel sud i després crestejar fins al pic. La primera part serà molt empinada, amb part de roca i part de tartera. Arribem primer al fals pic, que és rodó i no presenta cap problema 

d'accés. La part interessant tot just comença. Queda davant nostra una cresta relativament llarga de grau 3 i en algunes ocasions bastant exposada. Sabem que en Rudy té vertigen i ens preocupa una mica però com que està animat i és valent comencem a pujar lentament. Quan arribem al segon fals pic (12.100 ft, 3.688m) , i davant nostre es presenta més cresta i més exposada i amb una travessa de neu a uns 45 graus, en Rudy se'ns planta i ens diu que la seva filla no es mereix perdre un pare tant aviat (per cert, té raó, és una nena preciosa de 2 anys). 

Així que dinem una mica, i decidim baixar en retirada per la vessant est de la muntanya. La baixada serà ràpida en un primer moment però després haurem de fer un trenca-cames amunt i avall per vorejar més roques, zones de bastant desnivell i no arribar a cap paret. 

El dia, per sort, és fantàstic. Anem parant de tant en tant per mirar les muntanyes de l'Eastern Sierra que tenim davant, uns quants quatre mils impressionants estan al nostre davant. La bellesa de la Sierra és enmudidora. Quantes muntanyes ens queden per fer! Quines parets! Quines crestes! Quin granit!

Cap a les 3 del migdia arribem de tornada al llac original i poca estona més tard al nostre campament base. Ens anirem a dormir aviat. L'Artur li ha faltat fer pic, així que decidim llevar-nos a les 4 del matí del dia següent per poder fer el Mt. Hutchings. 

Així, el dilluns, a les 4 del matí ens llevem i sense gairebé ni esmorzar ni un simple cafè pugem cap al Hutchings. Després d'una desorientació inicial per la foscor i els arbres, ens dirigim crestejant 

cap al pic. La ruta és gairebé tota nevada (a aquestes hores la neu és bastant dura) així que ens posarem grampons. Els últims 100 metres són de cresta de segon/tercer grau, que fem al anar però voregem al tornar per la vessant est. En una hora estem al pic, i al sol encara li queda estona per sortir... anem baixant lentament fins que ens podem parar a veure la sortida de sol quedar-nos satisfets d'aquest despertar. 

En poc menys d'una hora tornem a estar al campament. Aquest cop sí: cafè, esmorzar calent... ens ho hem merescut. Tranquil·lament anirem desmuntant el campament i en poc més de tres hores baixarem els 5000 peus de desnivell fins al cotxe. A baix, dinar a la vora del riu, serà el nostre comiat a aquest cap de setmana tant perfecte.

Moses and Maggie
(Peak Climbing Section)

Moses and Maggie són dos tres mils que es troben al sud del Sequoia National Park, dins del Sequoia National Forest. El camí que ens porta als pics està rodejat dels sequoies més antics del planeta. Són com gegants que et vigilen, silents, majestuosos, t'acompanyen amb la mirada i t'observen intrigats. Un d'ells, ja caigut, serà el que ens permetrà passar el riu, que ara és massa ràpid i va massa ple. 

Arribem a l'inici del camí el divendres sobre les 10 de la nit. Són gairebé 5hores i mitja de cotxe. Per sort la lluna és plena i el cel clar i tenim bona visibilitat. Un munt de vaques en mig del camí ens recorden que hem d'anar en compte a la carretera. La porta que havia d'estar oberta des d'avui roman tancada, i per tant haurem de fer uns quants quilòmetres més per arribar a la nostra destinació. Dormim al campament abans de hidden valley i el matí següent ens llevem a les 5:30 del matí. 

El dissabte se'ns presenta espectacular. Hem de fer camí fins a trobar un lloc còmode i sense neu per acampar 12 persones, això ens durà a travessar el riu per sobre d'un sequoia gegant en posició ascendent que ens farà tremolar a tots les cames una estona. Després de 3 hores, finalment trobem una zona acceptable i seca per acampar,

posem tenda i bivacs i marxem a fer el pic més alt: Maggie (10.234feet, 3.119m). Passada una hora inicial de esgarrapades entre arbustos aconseguim arribar a la neu més sòlida. Amb 4 hores arribem al pic, rodejant el fals pic d'abans per l'esquerra. La baixada la farem per la vall, al costat del riu, per evitar més esgarrapades, i arribarem a la nostra zona d'acampada a les 6 i mitja del vespre. Sopem i dormim, estem esgotats, no hi ha temps per veure la lluna plena.

Diumenge pugem a Moses (9.331feet, 2.844m). El primer obstacle tornarà a ser creuar el riu, que farem per sobre un arbre humit i relliscós no massa segur. Poc després veurem un ós tot just davant nostre caminant tranquilament en la mateixa direcció que nosaltres. Més tard, trobarem aquestes flors en perill d'extinció: Erythronium grandiflorum ssp. pusaterii.

Arribarem a la cresta, bonica, llarga i exposada, amb lentitud i estarem a punt d'abandonar-la diverses vegades. Un company del grup fins i tot cau i surt plè de sang de rascar pedra. Per sort, finalment, i amb l'ajuda de piolet i escalada gairebé de 4rt grau, arribarem al pic tots sans. El cafè al pic no deixarà de sorprendre a algun dels nostres nous companys de viatge. 

Finalment, arribem al campament, recollim tenda i utensilis i fem camí de tornada cap al cotxe.

 Per majoria absoluta no passen pel sequoia gegant al creuar el riu de tornada però ens haurem de tornar a descalçar per passar les aigües ràpides i fredes uns quilòmetres més avall. 

El cap de setmana acaba després d'haver fet uns 44 quilòmetres i més de 3000 metres de desnivell, alguns amb una motxilla considerablement carregada. Ens sentin vells i cansats, però contents. 

Round Top (3.164m)
(Loma Prieta Chapter - Sierra Club)

Aquest cap de setmana fem dos pics: Red Lake Peak el dissabte, dormim a la neu a prop de Carson Pass, i Round Top el diumenge amb la gent del Sierra Club.

El Red Lake Peak serà ràpid i ens servirà d'aclimatació. És un 3000 facilet que pujarem i baixarem en 3 hores. Podrem investigar el terreny i buscar un lloc maco i lluny de la carretera per plantar les tendes. Curiosament descobrim que hi ha bastanta gent acampada a prop nostre. Sembla que hi ha un bany "artificial" d'aigua calenta que no aconseguim veure. 

La nit serà sense lluna, un cel estelat impressionant i un vent que gairebé no toca la tenda però el soroll que fa no deixa dormir. Tenim sort d'estar ben arrecerats. 

A matí següent ens trobem a l'aparcament a les 8:30 amb la gen del Club. El Round Top, però, ja és un altre estil de muntanya. Una muntanya molt maca i a la vegada una mica tècnica, amb grimpada final i cresta. Som 19 persones així que l'aproximació que es podria haver fet en dues hores es retarda bastant. La meitat del grup va amb esquis i l'altra meitat amb raquetes de neu. La pujada passa al voltant del Winnemuca Lake, planejant durant uns 3 quilòmetres i després comença a pujar de valent fins que als últims ~200m es fa més empinada i alguna gent es queda ja abans d'arribar al coll. Als últims 30 metres deixarem raquetes i esquis i canviarem a grampons i piolet. Hi ha gel però principalment és roca i neu tova en una grimpadeta fins al cim. 

Després del vent que ens acompanya tot el camí, el cim es presenta estranyament tranquil. Dinem amb sol i una temperatura relativament agradable. No ens estem molta estona ja que la gent que 

no ha volgut pujar al cim està esperant-nos i deuen estar agafant molt de fred.

Baixem i tornem a mig perdre al camí, per sort tenim els GPS i aconseguim trobar el cotxe.

Ens queda el gust de cim, una cresta pendent per a fer a l'estiu, i un bosc tot just descobert que no necessita de permisos especials per a accedir-hi. Sabem que tornarem...