EISPIRATEN

A few years back, Dima and I rode up to the top of White Mtn Peak from Grandview campground above 8,000ft. Clearly, the pure way to do it would be to ride from the lowest realistic point, that being either Big Pine (a lot of pavement), or Bishop (nearly all dirt). I took my gravel bike last time which was fine on the way up but murder on the descent until I hit pavement, which I took down to the 395. Two years back Kris and I rode up the 168 from the 395 on our road/gravel bikes to the visitor center at the end of the pavement, so I had covered all the ground from the 395 to the summit, but not in one go.

I have a mountain bike this time, which is well suited to this mission despite some serious shortcomings on its design. It will soon be replaced by a superior bike which can have a rear rack without breaking the frame and turning it into an overpriced paperweight. I didn't need a rear rack for this trip, though I probably would've fitted one anyway, so off we went.

Our goal was to ride up Silver Canyon from the 6 outside of Bishop to White Mtn Rd at about 10,000ft, make a left, and just keep going to the top above 14k. My buddy Rick I in Bishop told me about the old Silver Canyon Rd which breaks off from regular Silver near the switchbacks. It turned out to be beautiful, if a bit slower. The views are spectacular and it's more adventurous feeling than regular Silver. I don't necessarily care to do either Silver again, but I am glad we went this way and I think it's cooler up the old road.

So after work on Saturday night, I rode to Kris' house, met up with Dima, and we set off up the 14 to 395 to camp up near Bishop. I drove a short distance but was tired from a very busy day at work and a regular work week, so I could only manage so much. Driving automobiles on non-twisty roads is much more sleep-inducing than riding a bike. I can usually manage about 30 minutes before my eyes do the thing where they bounce around and I need to stop so I don't hurt anyone. We switched off driving and got to camp after midnight sometime. The boys slept in the van and I rolled out my bivy in the silt/dust outside. We got a few hours of sleep and started riding about 0600, a bit after we wanted to start. I would say if you're going to do this same route and you're not super fit or acclimatized to ride a bike for a long time above 10k, you should start very early, as in 0400 or so.


Riding up Silver was cool, with really cool geology and shit in the canyon proper, some stream crossings where you get your feet wet, and nice views of the Sierra as you ride higher. The sun changes the colors of the mountains as it rises higher in the morning, the ridge of the White Mountain Range keeping you in shade for quite some time. The road splits and we chose to take the old Silver road to the left, taking the regular route on the way home. The old road follows a riverbed for quite some time, feeling like Tatooine as you push through soft soil and river rocks with Jawas hiding just around the corner, about to shoot your bike with an Ion Blaster so they can steal your parts and make a Jawa Tweeker Crawler Bike and sell it to some poor hapless moisture farmers in Nevada. Eventually the road switchbacks right and begins to climb out of the canyon up a narrow road/trail. I was relieved to begin this next phase of the operation, called the I'm-sick-of-soft-soil-and-pushing phase. Much more of this phase was rideable, save for the steep switchbacks on the way up where I couldn't stay on without spinning out or expending more energy than I wanted to. It's important on big days like this to take the easy way when doing the macho thing means expending energy you will need much more later when you're at a high elevation and just thinking can be tiring. If it's loose and you'll hafta try real hard to keep riding for a short section, just gently dismount and walk.


The views really opened up as we rode higher, with the Palisades in the distance. As usual the best views of the Sierra are in the Whites. When one looks at a mountain range and sees familiar peaks they've had memories on, one can stand there for a bit and get lost in it. The switchbacks chill out after a while and we came across an old cabin where we took a short break. A couple more turns above takes you to the long plateau that White Mtn Rd is on. A log blocks the road where it breaks off from White, so I plopped down and began eating lunch while the boys caught up. A big piece of premade sandwich, some Snickers bars, and a cigarillo made for a nice meal while we watched the Labor Day traffic go by. A few gravel and mountain bikes, an ebike or two, and a Tesla drove by. We had a real good lunch talking shit and laughing about random bullshit before packing up and beginning the next phase of the operation, known as ride-for-a-really-goddamn-long-time-up-this-road-which-never-ends.


The rest of the way up is much easier riding than Silver, but the elevation provides a challenge. I was slow the first time riding up this but was feeling very strong today, not feeling anything until a couple miles from the summit. I had Giardia a little while ago and shat my brains out for three weeks straight, losing 16lbs (197-181lbs), which thoroughly kicked my ass, so for the past month I've been training to get big and stronk again. I jokingly say I'm bulking. I eat like I am, though. My performance on this trip has given me great confidence for the immensely difficult things I want to do in the future. I'm feeling pretty fuckin good. Altitude (or elevation, I use 'em interchangeably cause I'm dumb and can't care that much) used to be my weak point, but it is now somewhere in the middle. I'm no champion, but I don't suck as much as I used to. I felt terrible descending from Mount Emerson after climbing the Waterfall Route with Ezgi a little while ago, but have been great otherwise.


The road towards the summit went as usual, long but not too slow, lots of rollers (short climbs and descents), always gaining some elevation just to spend it afterwards, always averaging somewhere around 11,000ft. I expected this from last time so I didn't think nothin' of it. My usual commute gives me training for endurance, which takes care of the bulk of life. We took a break where the road hits 11,880 near Sheep Mtn, and the landscape becomes lunar. It's one of my favorite places around. Super quiet if the wind's not howling, with white and grey scree and minimal vegetation, with some ancient Bristlecones off to the east. Had another lunch, then continued down this descent towards the gate. I stopped to take a photo of a neat RV up at the gate when someone hollered my name. Deb and Stacy were there, having just got back from hiking to the summit. We hung out and talked shit for a while, having not seen either of them in a couple years. It was Stacy's first 14'er, interesting since they both live in the area. Deb has climbed a shitload of stuff around here so she entertained herself in another way, picking up some annoying trash that's been trending in the mountains lately, an offshoot of the mental diseases sprouting from the festering corpse of social media. I applaud this.


They gave us some snacks and we began out slow climb up towards Barcroft and the summit. It was late afternoon now, and I wasn't so sure we'd hit the summit before sunset. I was still feeling very strong and stable but the boys were slowing down a bit. The sun was setting as we rode along the plateau beyond the observatory. We made the decision to leave the bikes and hike the remaining distance to the summit, as most of that isn't really rideable, especially at night. Kris was having trouble with his balance and was suffering from AMS. We made it to about 1,000ft below the summit when we called it and began hiking back. Kris was bummed that we had to leave but I was just happy not to risk him falling and hitting his head out here. He was in a rough state, though thankfully not real nauseous or anything.



It seemed to take forever to get back to the bikes, and we were quite relieved to be back on em. A nice brisk descent took us to the Observatory, then Barcroft, then the gate. The further down we got, the better Kris felt. The issue with getting low when you're suffering from AMS on White Mountain is that the damn road stays high for a very long time, so the suffering continues for hours. On a lot of peaks you climb, you can get low sooner since the terrain and route are much steeper.

The night was calm with light winds and temps down into the 40's, not too cold but you didn't wanna sit in the wind for long. We saw some unusual orange lights moving very fast and maneuvering in unusual ways towards Mono Lake, following the same pattern. No idea what they were but it was real cool to watch. Very dark up here so the stars were stupendous, the Milky Way very bright, and satellites blinking in and out of sight. A few climbs and descents led to the 600ft climb one must push through before the short descent to the top of Silver Canyon. That one took a while and I walked a lot of it, as I was tired enough that keeping the bike straight between washboards and big rocks was too much of a chore, and not much faster. Dima and I both got to the top at the same time, and Kris caught up very shortly thereafter. We descended to the top of Silver, checked our maps, and started down. Kris was back to his normal self, and spirits were high. The descent was quite steep and very fun. I had to stop early on to carve a witness mark into my aluminium seatpost so I could lower it (and bring it back up to the right point later). With the saddle out of the way I was able to ride without feeling like I'd get thrown off the bike. My brakes got hot and the rear brake lever went to the bar, a result of me not bleeding my brakes before the trip. Dima had similar issues, so we were careful in our spirited descent. Kris, back to health and on the coolest bike of the bunch, made short work of the descent, as he is an excellent mountain biker. He ripped down ahead of us and would wait for us to catch up.


A bit further down I got out in front and the road levelled out. Our first water crossings came up, and I entered some of the cautiously, others at speed. We all got wet from the ass down and it was great fun. At one point the entire road was a shallow stream, and I didn't recognize it from the morning. Looking at the GPS (Strava), we had indeed ridden this section in the morning, I just didn't recall it.

The road slowly levelled out more and more and we entered the valley. We reached the van at 0250 hours, some 21 hours after setting off. We changed out of our wet clothes, bumbled around, and Dima and I had a beer. Once I had the beer in me, I was too tired to make any real sense of anything, so I sloppily set up my bed and fell into it. We got a few more hours of sleep and went to breakfast at El Ranchito in Bishop, where we had lots of coffee and some tasty food while watching some random chick with big boobs and way too much makeup talk for what seemed like hours on Telemundo. She must've been very important cause that segment went on for hours. She had the shiniest clothing and jewelry on, like she was the wife of a Silver Baron in the old west or some shit. Then she left as quickly as she showed up, and it was all about things going on in Nuevo Jersey in Spanish. We drove south and stopped at Big Willi's in Lone Pine to hang out with Blair and try to make conversation with about 15% of a functioning brain. We were awake and healthy but pretty out of it. My body felt strong and I know I could do much more, but my mental capacity was quite reduced. You kinda shut off parts of your brain on these endurance things like seals shut off their stomachs or whatever when they dive for a long time. Works great for a stupid grunt like me who just does manual labor and hasta read a map once in a while.

Anyway, thanks for reading this trip report. It was a grand time out with the boys and it made me feel very fulfilled. I feel incredibly strong and I am happy to have spent such quality time with my buddies in a super beautiful, stark, and challenging place. I've only been up there a few times now but it's real different and special so I like it a lot. The Sierra are high and sharp and pointy and good for climbing, but the Whites are just as high but so rounded and endless, like you're on another planet. You can't escape the elevation, so if you're not ready for it it can be an endless treadmill of discomfort. It's beautiful. We will be back sometime soon, once I rebuild my bike around the new frame I'm ordering. I am thinking of camping up there somewhere before hitting the summit, maybe in late spring or so once the snow is mostly melted. I may go back again in a few months, though alone, as I have a tour planned that focuses on remote high roads.

Numbers wise, we did a little over 61 miles with 12,975ft of climbing in about 21hrs.

Have a good one out there guys. Cheers.

Hell yeah guys! Glad you turned back when altitude sickness started setting in. It would have been extra risky trying to summit with that!

Things I knew before but was reminded of on this trip: the mountain doesn't give a shit about you. It doesn't care how young or old or fit you are. You will never conquer it. You can choose to test yourself on it or stay at home and watch TV. The mountain will always be there, indifferent. I have never been hit so hard by AMS before. I have had pretty severe headaches at altitude which I usually just slog through because I don't like to take any kind of meds unless absolutely necessary. This was something different. My brain was willing my body to continue but my body didn't respond. My heart was racing and I was falling over like I was drunk. It was a very humbling experience. Thanks to Dima and Ryan for looking out for me on the mountain and for being understanding when I pulled the plug 1000ft from the summit. Once I got down to 10000ft I already felt much better and by 8000ft I was back to normal. I recall the most vividly these moments when I push myself hard in unreal landscapes, in the mountains, with good friends. This will certainly be one of those adventures I look back fondly on a long time from now.

Thanks for the great report! It's a testament to the value of having excellent friends on such difficult adventures.

Always love your TRs, Taco. An epic day to the moonscape and back. The White Mountains appeal to me because everyone goes to the Sierra. And I know what you mean about a view full of memories. I rubber-neck glance at the Gabes' silhouette every morning driving to work- its very safe.

Nice work everyone!

The 600-700' climb on the way back from White is tough, even though it's not steep. Something about White seems to cause more AMS problems than expected, or maybe it's just my imagination. The terrain is gorgeous, though. And you can't get a better sweeping view of the Sierra anywhere else.

The extra gain on the return from the peak is more like 2000ft (4000ft extra roundtrip!) when going back to Silver Peak rd or out to the visitor center.

Here're my photos.

Start of the canyon. The ridge at the back is 6.5kft above.



View of the Sierra





Silver Canyon is pretty cool. Here's the lower section, before we turned left to Old Silver Canyon rd.





Old Silver Canyon rd is cooler. The first 1000 vertical feet are in the riverbed. Very soft here.









Eventually you climb out, and it becomes more rideable





The upper section of the road has cool "signs" made from old can lids; no idea what they say anymore





The road is supported by a loooong rock wall. Here's a section:



Chunky



The cabin:





We were carrying a LOT of water, since there isn't a reliable supply on the mountain. A few springs are labelled on the usgs topo, though. Pretty sure most are dry. This one, in the "Campito Meadow" is surrounded by a broken barbed wire fence, and actually has a seep of water in it:



Would be a pain to pump it out, so we got water the old-fashioned way: by asking helpful passers-by.

First view of the peak



This is the "Lamb Camp". If you're stuck up there for the night, it's a useful rock shelter, I guess. I didn't walk to the "spring" because there wasn't anything obviously there.



I might want a do-over in a year or two.

Excellent photos! I am down to go back.