Favorite California Peaks?

[Dave B]

i'm not your research monkey. look it up on the googles and maybe you can slip in fancy words at more appropriate places here on out.

lol, classic.

[docinco]

know how i know you don't know what that word means?

No I don't, please explain.

i'm not your research monkey. look it up on the googles and maybe you can slip in fancy words at more appropriate places here on out.

perhaps your hostility and dogmatism would be better received on reddit? meanwhile, on topic, would highly recommend the bishop pass approach to north palisade, class 4, scenery (and photography) to die for and no protection needed. the eastern approach is class 5 and the 7 lakes basin is also beautiful but so is dusy basin, and if you go to the edge of the escarpment the views are the equal of anything in yosemite.

[OldTrad]

The Minarets of course. What, is nobody a climber on this site? Sheesh

[Scott P]

It appears that I might be working 2 hours from Bishop late Feb until December if you ever wanted to do something on a weekend.

[Altitude High]

gaslighting

know how i know you don't know what that word means?

This must be a new word in the social lexicon. I first heard it (read it) on this site a few months ago and was totally puzzled. So I looked it up. The main Bing definition:

gaslight [ˈɡaslīt]
VERB
gaslighting (present participle)
manipulate (someone) by psychological means into questioning their own sanity.
There's also an audio button on Bing that you can push to hear a clear chirpy voice pronounce it.

And from Wikipedia:
Gaslighting is a form of psychological manipulation in which a person or a group covertly sows seeds of doubt in a targeted individual or group, making them question their own memory, perception, or judgment. It may evoke changes in them such as cognitive dissonance or low self-esteem, rendering the victim additionally dependent on the gaslighter for emotional support and validation. Using denial, misdirection, contradiction and misinformation, gaslighting involves attempts to destabilize the victim and delegitimize the victim's beliefs.

But there's a better term that I prefer (about 15 seconds before it starts):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xwDrJqqEmVw

[cedica]

gaslighting

know how i know you don't know what that word means?

This must be a new word in the social lexicon.

Yup, circa 1938: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gas_Light

[719BR]

No I don't, please explain.

i'm not your research monkey. look it up on the googles and maybe you can slip in fancy words at more appropriate places here on out.

perhaps your hostility and dogmatism would be better received on reddit? meanwhile, on topic, would highly recommend the bishop pass approach to north palisade, class 4, scenery (and photography) to die for and no protection needed. the eastern approach is class 5 and the 7 lakes basin is also beautiful but so is dusy basin, and if you go to the edge of the escarpment the views are the equal of anything in yosemite.

i'm so sorry that i'm just not interested in polite discourse with someone whose opening salvo was along the lines of "you're an idiot" (in his now deleted original response).

i'm also not interested in dialoguing with someone has difficulty avoiding strawmen.

to recap: the original question was "What is the ideal time of year to hike/climb California high peaks?"

an answer was given, "April - November with the perpetual drought which is now normal". this response is wrong on multiple levels. first of all, no one who has spent any significant time in the sierra would say april - november is the "ideal" time to hike/climb high peaks. second of all, it assumes that we are in a constant state of drought, which is factually inaccurate - this isn't a matter of "opinion".

assuming for the sake of argument you want to focus on this year, which of course would be most relevant, the comment is not valid either. as i stated, the last number i heard was 93% of average at this point, and that was before the last dump (the very next link that was posted immediately after this has the exact number i quoted btw).

but i am told, among other things, that the current snow pack is less than 50% of the april total. which would matter, in april.

it is true that the state, overall, is below average. it is also true that parts of the state are doing much worse. there has been a milder winter this year, which has led to less snow in lower elevations. this is reflected in the fact that the high peaks of the central sierra have a higher snow total than the lower elevation northern or southern sierra. you don't have to take my word for it, the link that supports this was conveniently posted by someone who thought it was proving their point.

now, stipulating for the sake of the discussion that the 75% of YTD overall total number is accurate (again, from their link), my position remains the same - that is, if you think 75% of average is "drought", then frankly it's just not worth having the discussion.

the "high peaks" of the sierra are not undergoing a prolonged drought (or "new normal"), nor is the ideal time to hike/climb them "april - november".

[HikerGuy]

the "high peaks" of the sierra are not undergoing a prolonged drought

This is not true, the High Sierra are in moderate to severe drought right now with short- and long-term impacts.
https://droughtmonitor.unl.edu/CurrentM ... .aspx?West

EDIT: It's definitely not as dire as the previous drought period, but there is little margin.
https://www.capradio.org/articles/2021/ ... perts-say/
https://www.drought.gov/states/california

EDIT2: Long-term warming and drying will likely impact the Southwest US including California.
https://science.sciencemag.org/content/368/6488/314

[Monster5]

See, this is reflective of larger issues associated with misinformation spread on social media.

1. Person A posts an off-the-cuff misleading statistic (e.g. we're at 93% of snowpack)
2. That statistic is easily placed into context with a simple click of a mouse and a few minutes of thought processing (e.g. 93% is a single station; statewide is between 54 - 76 % of CURRENT snowpack).
3. Rather than note the misleading statistic, person A doubles down, gets defensive, spews more misleading statistics, arm-waives a bunch of doubt into said statistics and even the literal definition of words (such as drought), starts attacking everyone else's credentials and experience (which includes numerous Sierra trips in said time frame) and uses the classic "arguing this isn't worth my time" tactic.

Truly, all you have to do is say as follows and be done with it: Apologies, I guess stating we're at 93% snowpack was misleading, and using that statistic to defend my views on recognized drought conditions was faulty.
Let me do some more research and see if I can better defend my position which is ultimately somewhere along the lines of: "drought has negative connotations but there is no need to be alarmed by that word."

[Bale]

If you “believe” scientific research of tree ring data, (many Americans don’t understand how science works, and yes, I’m being condescending AF), the southwestern US is not only in a drought, but in the midst of a megadrought, the worst in 1200 years. At this point, the term drought is a bit misleading since the high temps, no monsoon “non-soons”, less snowpack, fires, etc are, like Monster said, the new normal.
Anyhoo, back on topic. I’m thinking of a nice mountain climbing trip to the Eastern Sierra early summer, maybe I’ll tell ya my favorite peak when I return:)

[andreasansone]

I’d say I loved Russell Williamson and north rib of Tyndall when we did the Cali 14ers link up they were some of our favorites - although that thunderbolt to sill traverse was spicy! Coming off Middle Pal onto the JM trail was nothing short of spectacular.

From mountaineers route of Whitney we dropped down and went up and over the Russell Whitney saddle up Russell's S gulley
Then from there dropped down Russell's N ridge To Wallace lake
and climbed over vacation pass up and over east Barnard peak.
We dropped to Helen of Troy lake which gets you into Williamson bowl & climbed up Williamson - Traversed to Tyndall and up North rib of Tyndall

[CoHi591]

I’d say I loved Russell Williamson and north rib of Tyndall when we did the Cali 14ers link up they were some of our favorites - although that thunderbolt to sill traverse was spicy! Coming off Middle Pal onto the JM trail was nothing short of spectacular.

From mountaineers route of Whitney we dropped down and went up and over the Russell Whitney saddle up Russell's S gulley
Then from there dropped down Russell's N ridge To Wallace lake
and climbed over vacation pass up and over east Barnard peak.
We dropped to Helen of Troy lake which gets you into Williamson bowl & climbed up Williamson - Traversed to Tyndall and up North rib of Tyndall

Thank you for this. It's so hard to decide. I might do some variation of that but perhaps only Russell/Williamson/Tyndall. I don't want anything too too spicy alone (I've seen pictures of Russell as well as Middle Pal and think I'd be more comfortable with the former) but it's hard to pass up any reason to be in the Bishop Pass -> Palisades area. May try to swing a day trip of Cloudkicker or something similar from South Lake just to get that fix.