Kaiser Peak with the family

Kaiser peak is my favorite training peak, easy access, lots of elevation gain and a short drive from Fresno -- its a peak I go back to again and again. As I train for Denali, I have made a few trips up, sometimes alone, sometimes with the dog, and sometimes all three of us go.

My lovely wife :)

Even Penny likes Kaiser peak

 The views are great, especially with some snow cover.

Trees

 

Looking towards the summit

Mt Carillon (13,552')

I had an enjoyable weekend peak bagging out in the Whitney zone with Mitch. I am in the midst of a 6 month training program for Denali, and with the holiday break nearing the end, I wanted to take advantage of the dry, warm weather and get out on one more peak before classes start-up again. 

Dry weather?

 I really didn't have any particular objective in mind, I just wanted to stretch my legs, gain some altitude and camp out in the cold. We decided on heading up to Mt. Carillon and Mt Russell, since neither of us had climbed those peaks. 

We met up Friday night, and had a leisurely start on Saturday, following a hearty breakfast at the Mt. Whitney restaurant in Lone Pine.  

After weeks of high-pressure on the Sierra, the weather started to change on Saturday, with high winds and a low pressure system bringing cold air and snow to the mountains.  Mitch pulled out his pocket-inter-web machine, and confirmed that the weather was supposed to improve on Sunday, before a massive storm system moves in on Monday.  So we headed up to our planned bivy site at Upper Boy Scout lake.

Mitch capturing the moments in the snow

 

Home sweet home.

Since we arrived at our camp fairly early, and the weather has too heinous to bother going for the summit on Saturday, we busied ourselves by constructing a rock-walled kitchen and hiked around the area.

Kitchen shelter construction

Looking down on our camp

 We were in bed by dark and up around 4:30am the next day for our ascent. I didn't feel very good upon waking, a headache, lack of appetite, maybe mild AMS? Its been a while since I felt so poorly on the mountain. But I sucked it up, and we headed off.

Heading up in early morning - Photo credit - M. Quiring

 We reached the Russell-Carillon col around sunrise, and we were greeted with beautiful views of Mt. Whitney and Mt. Russell.

Mt Whitney at sunrise

 

Mitch shooting stills

 We headed over to Mt. Carillon, I was not sure exactly where the summit was, so we ended up traversing the entire west ridge before finding the true summit (oops!)

Mitch on Mt. Carillon's west ridge after the first false summit.

 

Hmmm, where the heck is the summit? - Photo credit - M. Quiring

Eventually we found the true summit, way the heck over on the far side of the ridge. 

Mitch on the top

 

Summit selfie!

We then looked over at Mt. Russell, the next logical objective. Although I really wanted to climb it, the truth was I felt like garbage. I was weak, and nauseous. I climbed more than 15 peaks last year, and felt great for every one, but once in a while the altitude hits me hard.  I am a bit disappointed with my body's performance on this trip, but sometimes that's how it roles, so I asked Mitch if we could head down. Russell will have to wait. Thanks Mitch for understanding!

Whitney (left) - Russell (right) - next time.....

We blasted down the trail and back to Lone Pine for some yummy burritos! First peak of 2018, winter might finally be settling into the Sierra's. Looking forward to some serious winter ascents once the snows are here.