view from Kearsarge pass looking east

Tom Grundy's Charlotte Dome (2007) Page

Time for another Sierra trip, this one in August 2007. First stop, Tuolumne Meadows, where I climbed the regular route on Fairview with Anthony. We started around 5 pm, which had us topping out after sunset. It was a little dark for the descent, but that was part of Anthony's fiendish plan, and anyway, we had headlamps.

I climb up fairview (this pic and next thanks to Anthony)

coiling the rope on the summit of fairview

Charlotte dome after sunset

Ranger Ted ready for action

The next day we were a little low on motivation. The upcoming trip to Charlotte dome was looming large, and Julie was still feeiling a little under the weather. Ranger Ted stopped by, and I finally got a picture of him in his ranger regalia. By the time we got out to Medlicott, it was roasting in the sun. We did a few nice face climbs and then bailed. We packed up and headed to Rock creek to meet up with Ted and Anne, but they weren't there. We did a few climbs and packed up most of our stuff for Charlotte dome, trimming the rack to try to save weight for the trudge in. On the 26th, we picked up some last minute supplies, the permit, and the pain in the back bear canister (a heavy plastic barrel to keep the food in - supposedly bear proof), and headed south to Independence. From there we headed up to the Onion Valley trailhead in a downpour - not exactly an auspicious start. In fact we were pretty worried about the weather, since it was the tail end of hurricane Dean, and the forecast called for a 20% chance of thunderstorms for a few days.

The trail climbs steadily for 4.5 miles to the summit of Kearsarge pass, and we did too. There were a lot more people hiking out. I said "hello" to one of them, and he responded with "very well thank you, and went on to enthusiastically describe his hike. After only a bit more rain, it was cool and dry for the rest of the hike. It was nice to have the shade when we were hiking uphill, and it might have been rather brutal on a normal sunny day.After the pass (11,760'), the trail headed back downhill, eventually leveling off where it crossed the JMT before heading downhill again to Charlotte lake. From there we continued west on a less obvious trail, eventually leaving that for an even more obscure trail to where we bivied near a beautiful spring. It got dark before we made it to the bivy site, although I maintain that it wasn't entirely due to my taking too many pictures. There were 2 people in a tent there when we arrived.

Charlotte Lake view

The next morning, I was amped to get going, but Julie wasn't as motivated or awake. We talked to the others, who had climbed it the day before while surrounded by downpours (and they climbed 2 pitches in the rain). We knew we were going to go, and eventually we did, dropping down around the south side of the dome to the start of the climb. From there we swung leads, rarely knowing we were on route, but it didn't really seem to matter, as you could climb nearly anywhere, and even if the route was runout, it didn't seem like you would fall, so it wasn't too scary. We managed to skip a few pitches by climbing past the belay locations marked on the topo. Usually this was fine, but it did result in a few less than stellar stances. Julie kindly let me lead the "furrows" pitch, which was some unusual vertical furrows in the rock with interesting pinches and stems. After that, things were less pleasant, as it started to rain. We put on raingear and climbed as quickly as we could up to the summit. Unfortunately, the electrical activity was picking up, and at the top I could hear buzzing that changed as I turned my head, and feel the hair on the back of my hand stand up when I held it out. I am sure I'd have noticed more if I wasn't wearing a wet raincoat. Needless to say, we didn't tarry, we didn't even take the time to sign the summit register or leave spiderman there. Once we were well off the summit ridge, we changed our shoes. We also noted that the time between lightning flashes and the thunder crashes was getting rather short. The echoes, however, were most impressive. Then on we went down through the rain back to camp, getting there around 2:30 for some miso soup and then a pasta dish.

Julie on the final stretch up to Kearsarge pass

Julie belays pitch 6 or so (the slot)

Julie and the topo

here comes the storm (taken from pitch 8 or so)

That afternoon I tromped around and took more pictures while Julie napped and tried to warm up.

It took a while to get going the next morning, mostly because I was trying to dry everything out before packing it up. Eventually we were packed up and began the deathmarch. It wasn't too bad at first, and we even found a better path for the part we had done in the dark before. Still, things seemed to be going fairly slowly. We stopped for lunch at Charlotte lake. Then it was more slogging up towards the pass as the weather and my energy deteriorated. It started raining before the pass, and mostly rained the rest of the way. I was stumbling bad enough to make Julie laugh before we finally got back to the car. We were treated to a few rainbows near the end, but the rain turned serious for the last 1/2 mile to compensate. To add insult to injury my knee really hurt when I bent down at the end of the trip. OUCH. Maybe I need to come up with something better than "Tom is a person who can carry heavy loads up hills".

We headed down to Independence and Julie pulled the "I have a job" card and got a hotel room. I must admit the hot shower and space to dry stuff out was appreciated, especially as my head hurt and I didn't feel like eating (a sure sign all is not well in the land of Tom). The hotel even had wi-fi to report we weren't dead yet.

I was still not at 100% the next day. We toured Manzanar (one of the "relocation centers" where America locked up people of Japanese ancestry during WWII - definitely not one of our prouder moments). Then up to Whitney portal to scope Keeler Needle. Then we split ways, Julie back to work in Flagstaff, and I to head north to Oregon.

Spidey helps carry the pack

the spring by camp

Julie filtering water from the spring

Charlotte dome the morning we climbed

A very tired Tom

view on the hike out

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Julie sports my umbrella in the rain