The weather was good and Matt, John and I planned to head up Mt Whitney’s Mountaineers route. We drove 7 hours through the night and slept one mile down road of the portal because the road was closed. This trip was pretty rushed to do in a weekend from the Bay Area, but it was well worth it.
Matt’s trip report can be found here.
After not even attempting Mt. Hood due to weather Matt, John and I had about a 4-5 day window of time during the middle of spring break to attempt Mt. Shasta via Cassaval Ridge. Cassaval Ridge is a more technical and more aesthetic line up the Mountain then Avalanche Gulch which we had all completed before. Unfortunately both attempts were thwarted due to weather. The first one due to deep unconsolidated snow, and the second due to high winds. We will certainly return to attempt this route as it is only four hours north of Berkeley.
Matt’s trip report can be found here.
The northern Lost Coast is a truly idyllic place to go backpacking. The secret has gotten out and now permits are required, but it is still not terribly crowded, especially during the winter months. We only saw a few other people the whole weekend. I got about 10 people from my school together to do a key swapping trip, and we did the Northern Section in one weekend.
As the area is so pretty and since the trip went so smoothly, I will mostly let the pictures speak for themselves.
Matt, Adam, Anthony and I set out to Mexico to attempt to the climb the 18,491′ Citlaltepetl (Pico de Orizaba). This volcano is the highest point in Mexico and the third highest point in North America. This was my first time going outside of the United States or Canada in a long long time and I am really glad that I did. Furthermore we got to see a part of Mexico that many American tourists never get to see.
I got in early and on the first day we took the bus from TAPO to Ciudad Serdan, from there we took a combi(a small very cheap van that fits about 10 people and serves routes less crowded then bus routes) to Tlachichuca
In Tlachichuca we talked to the local guide about a potential ride up to the base of the mountain. However it was very expensive, 1000 pesos each(about 50 dollars). He told us that it was a thirty mile walk but in reality it was only about 10-15. We decided that since we needed to acclimatize anyways it would be best to just do the walk up 7000 feet to the end of the road. Luckily we were able to hitch a ride for about half of it. If you take this strategy be sure to carry lots of water! We found a spring at the hut but apparently it is not always running.
After that we began to walk up the roads. There are many different intersecting roads and there is no good map. So, we just headed up steep hillsides and eventually got to the hut at the end of the road well after dark. We were now at 14,500 feet and were really feeling the altitude,
We talked to a few tourguides that came up that day and they said that the conditions were very bad on the mountain. The Jamapa glacier was very wind scoured as it had not snowed in a long time. A few people had died on the mountain last month. We were talking with the guides in spanish, their clients were from the United States. Not knowing that we spoke english, the clients said “these idiots are going up there without a guide and without ice screws”. The guides started to translate, ‘Ustedes van sin guia?”, but when we answered in english and the clients were quite embarrased. TWe decided that we could not safely complete this route and decided that we would try the route from the other side of the mountain. We paid one of the tour guides some money for a ride back down to Tlachichuca and then took a combi back to Ciudad Serdan.
We took a taxi and then paid some people to get us a few miles from the hut on the other side of the mountain. Our packs were very heavy with lots of water, and we climbed to over 15,000 feet to spend the night at the hut. For the second night in a row we had a large hut to ourselves. The next morning we set off for the summit.
Matt and I arrived at the top 45 minutes before Adam and Anthony and spent some time relaxing and taking in the view. By the time they got there they were feeling sick so we descended almost immediately. Anthony was starting to display symptoms of HACE so Matt and I had to guide him down as quickly as possible. It may be tempting to not acclimatize on this climb as the summit is only 4-5 hours from the hut, but do not be tempted by it. Even after spending a few days at above 14,000 feet Anthony still got sick.
When we got back to the hut we immediately sent Adam and Anthony back down the road to get to a lower elevation. Unfortunately this meant we had to carry both of their packs down as well in addition to 7L of water each. We placed one pack on our front and one on our back and began to descend.
We made it down to another hut and stayed the night there. The next morning we walked most of the way down to town and then hitched a ride the rest of the way.
We then all took a bus back to Mexico City. On a whim Matt and I decided to climb Iztaccihuatal as we were already acclimatized and it was near Mexico City. We took a bus for only a dollar fifty to Amecameca, and a cheap taxi to the park headquarters. By this point night had fallen. After paying the park entrance fee we found a ride with a nice man from Mexico City the last four miles to the trailhead. We camped the night there and departed very early the next morning.
After ten hours of hiking we got back to the trailhead at around 4pm, stoked but tired. Luckily a very nice couple from Mexico City gave us a ride all the way to downtown Mexico where we stayed at a hostel. They even bought us dinner despite our insistence to buy their dinner. My karmic debt continues to grow. They said that it was on the condition that we tell Americans the Trump is wrong about Mexicans and that they are good people.
The next day(our 6th in Mexico) after walking for hours through the incredible markets in Mexico City, I took the train to the airport and flew home.
Matt’s trip report: https://www.mattymorrison.com/orizaba
After the fall semester ended I got my wisdom teeth removed and after a day or two of not doing much I was itching to head to Death Valley. Ira and I headed south in search of solitude and adventure. We spent the ride down discussing potential routes as we each had spent a lot of time researching where to go. The trip started as many other trips to Death Valley did, at Emigrant Campground.
We decided to go to the ranger’s station at Furnace Creek to seek advice, but they told us that their guess was as good as ours. They were quite impressed with the trips we had done in Death Valley and were quite friendly but unfortunately did not give many suggestions. Thus we decided on Ira’s proposal: 50 miles in the owlshead mountains, which involved crossing an enormous barren valley to get there. Soon, we set out into the desert.
https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/embed?mid=1_UzWfzBI2tCzoU8mwl6aevjPpBg23dEz
It was late by the time we set out so we camped near the beautiful Ibex dunes. This was the last time we’d see another person on the whole trip.
The next morning we set out across the Amargosa Valley, we topped off our water at Saratoga Springs but the water tasted very salty and we avoided drinking it as long as possible into the trip. There may be a better place to fill up water here but we did not find one.
It took the better part of the second day but we finally made it to the Owlsheads and to the mouth of Passage Canyon.
We spent the night in Passage Canyon to hide from the wind and crested over the Owlsheads the next day. We were treated to a panoramic view and our first glimpse of Owl Lake.
It was very windy at Owl lake and as always is the case in the desert, water was limited so we could not linger in the Owlsheads. Soon we headed down contact canyon.
The next day our trip came to an end, we returned to the Amargosa Valley were we walked North to the road and planned to hitch out. Eventually I would like to find a route in the Black mountains to link with this one and create a Death Valley traverse route, but for now we wanted to head back to the Bay Area to celebrate the holidays with our families.
Hitching out on the road was tougher then expected, because of the uncertainty of hitching out we carried plenty of extra food and water. Well we originally intended to go south to our car, it quickly became apparent that cars were quite sparse along the road and we could not afford to be picky, thus, we were forced to hitch North to Badwater where we knew there would be a much more favorable number of cars for hitching. 3.5 long hours later we got a ride. Never lose trust in the road.
We got an impromptu tour of Death Valley after getting a ride North out of Badwater from two UC Berkeley students, who happened to be in the same hiking club as me. We saw Artist’s Drive and Zabriskie point. They then dropped us off at the junction to Dante’s view.
Eventually we got two rides east which got us to Death Valley Junction. Almost every car going by was following the same formulaic tour: Badwater, to Zabriskie Point to Dante’s View for sunset and then east towards Las Vegas. They certainly had a very different experience in the valley then the one we just had and seemed noticeably less stoked about it. We were offered at least five rides to Las Vegas but turned them all down. Just as we thought our luck had run out, as it so often goes with hitching we found a ride all the way back to our car. We drove south and out of the desert. Good bye Death Valley!
As with all of my trips in Death Valley, thank you to panamintcity.com without which we would not have even considered the Owlshead Mountains.
Anthony Ottati