Mt Whitney Zone Forums General Discussion Hiking personal ad.....

I kind of go by the motto...."If you didn't bleed, you didn't hike".

Whut?!?!!

We had mottos like that in the military -- not for playtime

It's because I have been an outdoor person since I was a kid. I used to hunt everything from deer to Quail. I would bring my buddies to hunt with me and I always wore shorts. Hunting for Quail in the Chaparral and heavy brush would cut my legs up pretty good. They actually looked worse than they were. My legs don't look much better when I fish for Trout in the Sierras. I was always one of those guys who got on his hands and knees and snuck up to the creeks so the fish wouldn't see me. My friends would always tell me if I didn't come back with blood on my legs, we didn't work hard enough. The jokes from my buddies have continued since we now hike together.

-m

In giving thought to your original question, some thoughts. I've not found that this board is particular set up to facilitate connections among climbers, although that occasionally happens.

A couple of resources:

I would STRONGLY recommend the Sierra Club's Wilderness Travel Course. It really seems to facilitate people getting together for adventures, and is a springboard for adventure. Unfortunately, it is taught during the winter, so you've missed this round, but next year would be a great idea.

-Outdoorsclub.org is specifically for what you are looking for.
-Southern California Mountaineers Association is, as well, and they do a lot of training, and they have some great climbers.
-in fact the Sierra Club has an unbelievable number of challenging hikes and climbs. Sierra Peaks section, Hundred Peaks section, and Desert Peak sections all have regularly scheduled challenging hikes all year, and I don't think you even have to be a member for many of them.

It is exciting to think of the options open to you, and with guidance and help from experience people, you can do amazing things.

You might do a search on posts by member Moosetracks, who graduated a few years back from WTC, and has gone on to an eviable and amazing mountaineering career.

There are also other great opportunities for more intense hiking, while doing service. I particularly recommend:

www.trailcrew.org
www.habitatwork.org
http://friendsoftheinyo.org/foi/

I've worked personally with all three, and find them all to be outstanding people that are extremely generous in sharing their knowledge, and have great trips, including week-long trips in the backcountry.

Steve, I implied it was dangerous in my response to KevinR. Stating the rockfall and ill-prepared climbers, who make it dangerous for everyone in the bowl. I, also, stated in my response to Ken that I don't go up the bowl because the number of people who are in it. When put in combination with the rockfall, I find the risk level unacceptable for a climb to a destination that I find ain't all that a bag of chips.

As for people dying here...which was not a part of the original query, they die and get injured here more because there are more people play here, just like Mt. Whitney and Ice House Canyon for that matter. I mentioned some of the stupid things I have seen on the mountain in my responses, I could use up most of this site's bandwidth listing others.

I do not believe the bowl to be a challenging or interesting climb because it is a "I came, I saw, I conquered" kind of trip. If that offends people, then it is my view they offend easily. I find things that challenge above the shoulder skills much more interesting and challenging.