EISPIRATEN

This forum is dead! Time to revive.

Which hikes have you done that you think you were the most angry / swearing the most?

Obviously the anger could happen for different reasons for everyone. Maybe it was the hot day, exposed trail. Maybe the steepness of the trail. Or the lack of stability of the trail. Or the brush. Or simply the length / elevation gain. Or the altitude. Or getting lost.

But in the end it comes down to the feeling.

My list


#5 Cactus to Clouds. The only hike I've "hit the wall". The 9,000' of elevation gain was fine. But around 9500 to 10000 ft high, I hit the wall. I started slowing down a lot, and so did others.

One could claim it was the altitude, and I'm sure it had a little to do with it, but I think this was just about exhausting my fuel reserves. I'd been up that high many times before and never felt like that. An the trail was not steep at all. So I was pretty pissed!

#4 Rabbit and Villager Peaks. It's long and tough yeah, but it's more about the terrain. Lot's of rocky stuff to annoy the feet (right John and Jen?). And the cholla. Don't forget the cholla (and Poland). I got stabbed by multiple cholla which came from seemingly nowhere, and each cholla stabbed me multiple times, and stabbed me when trying to pull them out.

#3 First ascent of Iron Mountain #1. Link to 2nd ascent. Probably on everyone's list. For this one I had better knowledge of what to expect the trail to be like. But still the combination of being stabbed by yucca, loose terrain, and steepness led to some swearing. Plus I was pushing my pace, and that last mile is of course cursable.

The pounding going down the first 3 miles is pretty bad, and I didn't have poles, so any slip and I went into a yucca. I hate yucca!

#2 My first attempt to ascend Monrovia Peak. Link to TR for second. What a pain. I think this was my first try of a route described from Sierra Club's HPS list without knowing how brushy it would be. It was really foggy that day, so when we starting ascending the ridge, we kept going through a bunch of brush on steep trail, with no end in sight. We had no idea how long it would last!

To make things worse, the group had enough just below Rankin Peak, so we turned around without going to Monrovia. Then, on the way down, we went down the wrong ridge, and had to descend into canyon via some "trail" someone literally made with a chainsaw.

So yes there was definitely swearing on that one.

#1 Getting up to Bighorn Ridge
Easily the most swearing. All the main elements were there; tons of brush & steep, unstable, and exposed trail. So much breaking through brush, crawling through brush, dust in the eyes and the like. I was swearing, getting angry at the brush, and taking my anger out on the brush. And I was pretty exhausted after.

And this was only getting up the ridge and to 5800'!. We still have to go back and go all the way up to Baldy.

Honorable mention:
Ascending Telegraph Peak via ridge from Telegraph/Thunder saddle (a pain, but short)
Baldora and Widco Mines (trail from saddle brushed over and washed out).
Sugarloaf from Falling Rock Canyon (unstable rock and scree)
SW ridge of Muir Peak (brush)
Brushed over ridge around Montara in the Bay Area

You've obviously given this some thought. Off the top of my head, one hike that comes to mind for me (there will be others!) is a jaunt up Mt. Lukens. My son talked me into taking a trace trail out of Haines Canyon. All was well until we got to within 1000' or so of the top. Suddenly, there was lots of slushy snow and we were in trail shoes. We decided to persist. After another 500', it started to rain -- a nice cold rain. Then the wind picked up. By the time we went down (yes, we did go all the way up), we were soaked, freezing, and there may have been a colorful word or two.

Little Jimmy camp last year...I need a flame thrower loaded with Deet.

Most cursing I have heard as a % of route attempts is the first slip into really cold water...even higher% if the air temps are really hot. +Get the tape recorder going if they forgot to waterproof any prized items suspectible to water. 8)

Never forget Poland.

The brush around the 'tunnel' on Snow Creek is always a huge pain. After that, probably Icehouse Canyon all the way to the saddle, as it's mind numbingly boring after you've done it a thousand times.

One measuring stick I use on how tough a hike was to ask myself "would I do it again ". Most tough hikes I've done it might take a day or two, maybe a month or two, but soon the painful memories would disappear and I could always be talked into doing it again..... until

Triplet Rocks
Talk about your death marches My buddy and I did it last June and those painful memories still linger

Does the drive to and from the trail head count?

I usually only curse if I trip over something or some other stupid thing due to my own inattention. And then there was this time where I watched Zé and his fellow hikers heading up to Big Horn Ridge and I actually said out loud ..."fucking idiots!".

There was a backpacking trip I took in the Sierras, up and over Whitney, then hiked North-West to get into Kings Canyon (Road's End). My most cursable part came along the section of trail from the Kaweah-Kern River up to Colby Pass. It was miserably long uphill slog, unmaintained and our bivy site (some obscure lake called Gallats) was never found. We passed out next to the trail as it got dark... ugh. Lot's of cursing.

second place... snow creek!

I only curse at yuccas. But I make it count.

LD wrote:One measuring stick I use on how tough a hike was to ask myself "would I do it again ". Most tough hikes I've done it might take a day or two, maybe a month or two, but soon the painful memories would disappear and I could always be talked into doing it again..... until

Triplet Rocks

That was a fantastic pic of triplet rocks....best one published so far in fact.
Trip report on that one around?

X2 on the Triplet Rocks one. Not done often... TR!!!!!!!!!!!!! 8)

HikeUp wrote:Does the drive to and from the trail head count?

I usually only curse if I trip over something or some other stupid thing due to my own inattention. And then there was this time where I watched Zé and his fellow hikers heading up to Big Horn Ridge and I actually said out loud ..."fucking idiots!".

yeah I don't think I've seen another TR on Triplet Rocks other than this.

Describe LD! I want to do it this summer / fall.

Zé wrote:yeah I don't think I've seen another TR on Triplet Rocks other than this.

Describe LD! I want to do it this summer / fall.

Yeah, thats the one that got me
I never did a TR but I'll write one up tonight when I get home. Mistakes and all. You don't want to do this in summer.Late May will be the best.

I've been annoyed a few times.

• Iron Mtn. I don't really like this mountain. Seems like either you love it or you hate it. I was constantly tormented by flies and yucca. Going back down the steep section was annoying. Going back up and down all those stupid bumps was really annoying.
• Mt. Whitney Main Trail. During this first trip up I got really annoyed at myself 1 mile from the summit because I thought I might have to turn around. The altitude was killing me. I slowed down and eventually made it.
• Big Baldy Clockwise Loop in July. I got really sick from the heat just before Timber Mtn. This hike made be sick of hiking. I went to the beach for the rest of the summer.
• San Gorgonio via Vivian Creek. This was the first time I did anything over 12 miles. I hit the wall at 10,500 ft and was annoyed by my slow progress. The summit was like a mirage--it never got any closer no matter how much I walked. On the way back, I got really annoyed by how long it was taking to get out of there. It went on forever. It was like a nightmare. I'd walk and walk and walk and walk and Vivian Creek would never appear. That steep, rocky descent down to Mill Creek was even more annoying.
• Skyline round trip. Going back down was just plain annoying. The descent from Long Valley is annoyingly steep and then it gets annoyingly rocky for miles and miles. The rockiness never lets up. It just gets worst and worst and worst. The only good thing about this hike was meeting those two hotties in short shorts--then again that could have been all in my head.
• Baldy to Iron and back. This was and still is the hardest hike I've ever done. I was sick to my stomach, exhausted and for the first time worried that I might actually not be able to get out of there. I kept telling myself this hiking sh*t is stupid. Why do I put myself through this? I swore up and down that if I ever got out of there, I would never hike again. So much for that.

Ironically, for me, my first times up C2C and Rabbit Peak were really fun.

TacoDelRio wrote:X2 on the Triplet Rocks one. Not done often... TR!!!!!!!!!!!!! 8)

Don't want to step on anyones toes about which hike is the toughest but this one has Brian's and my vote. There's a reason no one does this hike.


I had originally read of this hike from Erik Siering report and filed it away in memory for future plans. I enticed a few friends (victims) into trying it with me after pointing Triplets out from Mt. Williamson. Looking from there the route doesn’t look that tough; follow the ridge down from Twin Peaks, tag the summit block; “that doesn’t look that big”; and then head back up the ridge “that doesn’t look that hard”. So we made plans do try it in late 2007. It would be more of a scouting mission but if everything panned out we would try to go all the way.

So late 2007 six of us started from Buckhorn, up to Twin then down the south ridgeline. There was a small use trail for a while and we followed that until it petered out. From there we mainly stayed on the east side of the ridge occasionally dropping over to the west side of the ridge to avoid cliffs. The west side had more growth so we had to resort to cutting our way through with some saws and clippers we carried for just this reason. We finally arrived at 6300’. That’s where you drop down on the west side into a large gulley just as Erik Siering had said. The only difference was it must have been a slow growth decade when he did it because that gulley and the ridgeline further down now had every known species of yucca, manzinita, buckthorn and some I didn’t know that the San Gabriels could produce. So we turned around there, as we knew there wouldn’t be enough daylight to continue, vowing to come back.

Soooo…. myself, friend Brian and another friend Susie were going to try in May 2008. But a week before our attempt a freak snowstorm came out of nowhere putting a blanket of 6-8 inches of snow on the North side of Waterman and Twin. We attempted it anyway but the trail from Buckthorn to Twin was obliterated from snow and it took us 3 hours to Twin and on top of that Twin was shrouded in fog so bad when we got to the summit we weren’t sure it was the top, it was that thick. We looked around and recognized some landmarks and then went down the south ridge to check for snow coverage. It was and slippery to boot so we headed back to Buckhorn again dejected, this time with frozen feet.

Shot down for the second time. Now it was getting personal. So Brian and I decided to give it another go in late June. It was getting hotter then we liked but that’s when our schedules worked. We met at the 210 rideshare at 3 A.M. and drove up to Buckhorn, packed our gear (30 meter rope, slings, harnesses; we were going to attempt a Tyrolean traverse to the middle block), six liters of water each and were on the trail by 4 A.M.
Mistake#1: We should have car camped at the trailhead because neither one of us got any sleep having to meet at 3.

With no snow on the trail we made it to Twin in two hours dropping a liter of water at the signage at the bottom of the switchbacks between Waterman and Twin and another liter on top of Twin.
We headed down the ridge occasionally seeing a feature we recognized from our first trip. What struck us both was that the route didn’t seem the same and I don’t think it was. There are different ways to traverse the ridgeline. Sometimes you drop down to the west, sometimes to the east; it’s whatever works for you. Make the wrong decision though and it costs you time.
Mistake#2: We should have put ducks on our route for the way back because everything looked different in the fading light and at a different angle. (Not a big believer in ducks, believing that’s part of the challenge in this type of scrambling, but I should have made them and knocked them down on the way back)

Finally making it to 6300’ we took a break. By now it was around 80 without a cloud in the sky and getting warmer. Before Brian led us down the gulley we left another liter of water. Dropping down into the gulley we realized we should have brought saws. The “local fauna” was so thick we crawling on our stomachs pushing our packs ahead of us or else just bull rushing our way through.
Mistake#3: Wear long sleeves and pants. The “local fauna” tore my arms to hell.
From there to the final 3rd class ridgeline at Triplet are multiple saddles and route finding decisions. One of those (him)“which way?”, (me)“hell if I know, just pick one” days. (Did I mention it was hot?) Pick the wrong way and you end up backtracking wasting time.

Finally we made it to the final chute with the 3rd class section before the blocks. At 11:30 A.M. we arrived at the first summit block. A short friction move and we were there. While I placed a summit register (you gotta have something to sign for the poor SOB’s making it this far) I told Brian to take the rope and gear out and set up the traverse. He just laughed and gave me an evil stare.(I had suggested carrying the climbing gear) We were just too tired to try and it would have cost us another hour at least.
Mistake#4: 30 meter rope won’t cut it. This blocks are BIG. Center block is 60 to 80’.You need at least a 60 if someone wants to do this. A better option I think would be to try to get to the top of a chock stone between the first and second block (perhaps by lowering someone down from the first block) then throw it over the top, secure it on the other side and tie loops or batman it. We could have carried more water instead of lugging all this dead weight, which I was running out of quick.

After a 30-minute break we headed back down. I was down to 1 liter of water and it was getter hotter. It was up to 85 by now so I suggested to Brian that I thought if went down the West face instead of the 3rd class chute we could save some time. Brian wanted to go down the same route but I convinced him to try it my way.
Mistake#5: Go back down the chute. The route we took cliffed out and it ended up costing us an extra hour just to get back to the chute.

O.K. This TR is already too long so I’ll spare you the gory details of our death march back up. Things like me running out of water, hitting the wall, getting cramps, looking for any kind of shade, sitting down, Brian telling me to get my ass up,(only if you give me some of your water, dude),taking wrong turns because of no ducks, Brian scouting out ahead looking for the shortest way (I was useless by then),Brian almost putting his hand on a baby rattler.

We finally made it up to Twin just before dark. We were home free by then. We took a 30-minute break (statched water tastes sooo good) then headed down. Our bodies totally spent and depleted it took 3 hours to get back to my truck right at midnight.
20-hour freaking death march. If it wasn’t for the heat things probably would have turned out different. We made good time getting to the summit, just climbing back up 2000’ in that heat was the killer.

Tip1: The view from 6300’ makes the summit blocks look deceptively close. They’re not. It took us the same amount of time to get there as it did from Twin to 6300’.
Tip2: Make sure your partner drives his truck so you can sleep on the way back.
Tip3: Make sure to hide your car keys in your pack so your partner won’t be tempted to leave you behind.
Tip4: Make sure your climbing partner is stronger then you, so you can drink his extra water.

04:00- start
06:00- Twin
08:45- 6300’
11:30- summit
20:30- Twin
00:00- Truck
44 hours-no sleep

Twin Peaks in May 2008.....what the f


Brian on the summitblock


Last time I smiled that day


Higher middle block


Notice friction slab on left and chockstone between left block and higher block

no such thing as too long of TR, especially for this route, nice job!

seems like the descent was in reasonable time. i'd guess with better tracking (and hydration ) the time back would have been about the same.

how much of the time was spent in brush? that's the major annoying part to me it seems.

Sweet lord. 8)

Think there's another way to tackle it?

TacoDelRio wrote:Sweet lord. 8)

Think there's another way to tackle it?

Taco,
In my copy of 106 TOPS the author said the strong party that did it in May 1976 used a car shuttle between Buckthorn and the Bear Canyon trailhead at Coldbrook Ranger Station on 39. It doesn't say where they came down but the obvious would be the south ridgeline from Triplet and then working your way to Upper Bear Trail Camp. But that ridge looked like it was pretty well covered also with San Gabriel's worst.Much hacking and bloodletting I would think.

Zé wrote: how much of the time was spent in brush? that's the major annoying part to me it seems.

Ze, the upper part before you get the gulley should be pretty clear except for anything that grew back since last year. Where you head down the gulley at the beginning is the worst before it thins out toward the bottom. What really slows you down is the route finding.To avoid the heavier brush sometimes we went down off the ridge line maybe too far and sometimes it seems we should have gone down further.
Think Yucaipa Ridge between Little San Gorgonio and Galena but on steroids.

If you look at the picture of me on Triplet that gulley starts right where my right elbow is. We should have perhaps gone down further in the gulley before heading up again. It might have saved time.

Are you still thinking of going this year?

I figured I'd give it a shot. I'm looking for partners. Was thinking of going up from Bear Canyon though. Previous scouting and reports says that's gonna be tough.

I am thinking of going this year. When is up in the air. Obviously wait for a cooler day, but it will have to wait in queue for the few other hikes that have the same requirements that I want to do. So maybe in the fall.

Sure thing Hoss. Bring a machete and we're set!

Also the possibility Taco that I get a couple of days off to kidnap you for Mermaid pk 3705 and this one..over 2 days...waiting for a tad warmer overnight weather...should be returning via Smith Mtn's Eastern ridge...

Sounds like a plan. I'm down.