From the south, Feather Peak has a distinctive orange swath across the upper slopes of the SE Face. I'd heard that a plane dumped a load of fire-retardant across the summit sometime in the past, but thought that might be more fiction than truth. Upon closer examination, one can see that indeed something was spilled on the rock that doesn't wash off:



I'd have thought that the fire retardants would be more environmentally friendly, that is, would degrade with time - otherwise we'd have a bunch of orange-painted trees out there, no? Does anybody know more of the story behind this? Just curious...

Dougb wrote:Okay here it is, the 2011 Challenge:

Day 1: Picket Guard Peak
Day 2: Devils Crags 1-7
Day 3: Foerster Peak
Day 4: Kern Point
Day 5: Tunemah Peak
Day 6: Ericsson Crags 1-3
Day 7: Scylla
Day 8: Mt McDuffie
Day 9: Black Kaweah
Day 10: Tehipite Dome

....lol. I hope Bob makes the 2011 Challenge sufficiently difficult, though- a little more demanding than this years challenge.

btw Did Feather have a summit register when you all were up there ? I couldn't find one in 2005.

Darija wrote: ....lol. I hope Bob makes the 2011 Challenge sufficiently difficult, though- a little more demanding than this years challenge.

hardcore...

Michael Graupe wrote:If you make the challenge really hard you will not find many hiking the peaks. See last year for example. The four days of 15+hr hiking was really pushing the limit and only very few people even attempted the hard peaks such as McGee, Charybdis, Marion, Deerhorn. Everyone else was looking for easier alternatives.

yea....like Bob doing Marion by himself you mean?

I think the peaks offered by last years challenge were great, I just wish I could have participated in the difficult ones instead of opting out for alternate peaks-(I did some good peaks and got long days in, but I had to scale down a little bit due to not optimal conditioning and various other life issues that were cluttering my brain.) Some of the peaks that were on last years challenge I'm now doing as solo day hikes this month.

Bob Burd wrote:From the south, Feather Peak has a distinctive orange swath across the upper slopes of the SE Face. I'd heard that a plane dumped a load of fire-retardant across the summit sometime in the past, but thought that might be more fiction than truth. Upon closer examination, one can see that indeed something was spilled on the rock that doesn't wash off:



I'd have thought that the fire retardants would be more environmentally friendly, that is, would degrade with time - otherwise we'd have a bunch of orange-painted trees out there, no? Does anybody know more of the story behind this? Just curious...

Rocks with that colored stain are all over the San Gabriels, too. I always thought it's the fire retardant the planes dump during our annual wildfires I've never seen it fade or disappear though

Bob Burd wrote:I'd have thought that the fire retardants would be more environmentally friendly, that is, would degrade with time - otherwise we'd have a bunch of orange-painted trees out there, no? Does anybody know more of the story behind this? Just curious...

More magenta-orange?

Often the coloring is hematite, Fe2O3, and it doesn't degrade with time -- it's thermodynamically stable.

rhyang wrote:btw Did Feather have a summit register when you all were up there ? I couldn't find one in 2005.

No, but we left one there in a glass jar I pilfered from Camiaca Peak - for some reason that peak had three containers.

Okay, here's an idea for the Challenge. It also consideres the "driving" aspect, and reduces that too. There are three "epics" in the Sierra, (for list baggers): RFT, PPV and RFE.

They stand for Reinstein, Finger and Tunemah; Pettit, Piute and Volunteer; and Rogers, Foerster and Electra. Then there's 'The Two'...Kern Point and Picket guard. All these peaks are class 2, so no one is going to fall and die. But getting all those in ten days would be pretty gruelling. I remember doing RFT and Scylla with a friend in four days, and that was very tough, and we camped out there! Anyhow, If you got Rogers and Electra, but failed to get Foerster, you got to go ALLL the way back to the car, (no driving though), but in the morning you have to go ALLL the way back to Foerster! Say you get Kern Point, but fail to get Picket Guard, you have to go allll the way back the next morning, but at least no driving is involved.

Anyhow, that would be brutal, the only problem would be the drive around to courtright, but one could find an East side substitute for RFT. So it could look like this:

Day1-3: PPV
Day 4-6: RFE
Day 7-8: KP & PG
Day 9-10: Lamont and Sawtooth (just kidding).

Bob Burd wrote:From the south, Feather Peak has a distinctive orange swath across the upper slopes of the SE Face. I'd heard that a plane dumped a load of fire-retardant across the summit sometime in the past, but thought that might be more fiction than truth. Upon closer examination, one can see that indeed something was spilled on the rock that doesn't wash off:



I'd have thought that the fire retardants would be more environmentally friendly, that is, would degrade with time - otherwise we'd have a bunch of orange-painted trees out there, no? Does anybody know more of the story behind this? Just curious...

Here is a thread about it

http://www.summitpost.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=34289

Newer retardants use ammonium sulfate or ammonium polyphosphate with attapulgite clay thickener or diammonium phosphate with a guar gum derivative thickener. These are not only less toxic but act as fertilizers to help the regrowth of plants after the fire. Fire retardants often contain wetting agents, preservatives and rust inhibitors and are colored red with ferric oxide or fugitive color to mark where they have been dropped. Brand names of fire retardants for aerial application include Fire-Trol and Phos-Chek.

Some water-dropping aircraft carry tanks of a guar gum derivative to thicken the water and reduce runoff.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aerial_firefighting

Hey man, Bob is the decider of your fate, I was just making suggestions for those who think it was too easy

The only way I'd come out in my current condition would be if it was a powderpuff challenge, say Lamont and dinner at Indian Wells!

butitsadryheat wrote:
Here is a thread about it

http://www.summitpost.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=34289

Thanks biadh, I missed the earlier thread. Or perhaps I read it in its entirety and this was the source of what I'd heard but only vaguely recall. The ol' noodle isn't what it used to be...

Dougb wrote:Hey man, Bob is the decider of your fate, I was just making suggestions for those who think it was too easy

The long hikes are fun on their own, but not so much during the Challenge. Once you're out for more than 14hrs in a day, then you start on sleep deprivation and more serious recovery issues. The point of the Challenge is to make it fun, not hell.

I hear you Bob, you are wise to disregard my input! I never was good at dayhiking, at least on consecutive days like that, I guess I'm more of a backpacker. I am amazed at what you are doing, guys like you and Matthew, and Sean, I mean how do you do it? You are like the Lance Armstrong of the mountains

Dougb wrote:I mean how do you do it?

Doping. And lots of practice. At doping, that is.