Before I tell you all about how I hiked 30 miles, to the top of the 2nd highest peak in California and back, in 19 hours, you need to promise me you’ll never try this.
If you do try it, please do it over a couple days, or a few days and enjoy yourself. Just don’t go for it in one day. OK, you’ve been warned, so here's the trip report:
From the ranger station in Lone Pine looking west. No permit necessary for a 1-day effort :)
My “extreme hiking” partner, Burt, and I set off from sea-level in San Diego on Thursday to attempt Mt. Williamson and Tyndall in a day. We were dialed with our ultralight gear set-up, stoked on the forecast and sufficiently satisfied with our fitness.
Truck clearance isn't completely necessary but it really helps gain access to the trail
We set up camp at the hot and buggy Symmes Creek trailhead (6300’) Friday afternoon at sunset and hit the sack at 8:45pm for a 1:30am wake up call.
We were on the trail by 2am and going for it:
My eyes say it all in this pic
It took us 6 hours to gain Shepard Pass (~12000’) in 11 miles (we thought was going to be 9.5 miles).
Like ice in the morning and slush in the afternoon
At the top of the pass, Tyndall is directly to the west and looks goregous.
Tyndall is easier and more fun than Williamson
Our plan was to bag Williamson first and hit Tyndall on the way back, if we were feeling up to it.
We headed south for Williamson Bowl and this is where the fun (re. suck) began. Williamson Bowl is so evil: it’s both extremely energy and time consuming. It took what seemed like 2 hours to get to the base of the chute below Williamson.
Epic shot -- thanks Burt!
The bowl is the gnarliest boulder field I’ve ever crossed. It’s boulder upon boulder upon boulder that are far from stable. Many would shift and begin to topple, requiring us to either stabilize with every little muscle in our leg or jump to another boulder quickly before the one we were on rolled over and risked crushing a foot/ankle/leg. It went on forever but we made it across and stopped to make water in a beautiful alpine lake.
Getting across this on the return trip is definitely the crux
I was feeling the altitude by the time we reached the west face chute while we pressed onward and upward in the chute. Every step we took, we would slide back down a half-step. I also had to frequently empty rocks out of my shoes, even while wearing gaiters.
Frankentoby mode
At the top of the chute, my altitude headache was squeezing the fun out of my brain, but when we discovered the 100’ rock-climbing variation, I was stoked to change it up and free-solo climb to the summit plateau.
Nice crack!
Burt recorded video with the GroPro HD Hero in this section and got it all! I can hardly wait to get the footage edited and published. Stay tuned for an amazing POV climb coming at you soon!
In an altitude-induced stupor, we gained the summit plateau, then a false summit:
Followed by the true summit of Mt. Williamson (14,389'), finally at 1:30pm:
Take it to the top!
I could hardly see at this point, but I managed to capture this 360 panoramic video, after calling my girlfriend, from the top:
I was trashed from the altitude and it was pretty obvious that Tyndall was not going to happen and that the new plan centered around getting lower so my headache would subside.
Down-climbing the rock section was fun but the descent through the chute was brutal. I was moving slowly at this point so Burt took off to make us water at the lake while I worked my way across the boulder-filled bowl back towards Sherpard Pass.
Gotta stay positive even when it hurts
At the top of the pass, I took 1 Aleve and 2 ibuprofen and by the bottom of the pass (11,500’) I was totally better!
I got my second wind, just in time for the 4.5 hours and 11 miles of hiking that remained.
4 creek crossings a mile out from the trailhead
I was stoked to be feeling better and finished the day strong at 9:20pm, just 19 hours and 20 minutes after we began our day.
Mother Nature in all her beauty. I feel so fortunate to see and do these things.
What a tough day! I was frustrated that altitude sickness prevented us from experiencing Mt. Tyndall but obviously knew going into it that it could potentially be an issue. It's also one of the reasons I'm so drawn to mountaineering in the first place: it's extremely difficult. We still had a blast while pushing our limits -- Burt was amazing during his longest day ever -- and he and I will be putting together another epic soon enough.
Thanks for reading along and I welcome any questions (about the route, gear, etc.) comments or feedback:
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