Hi All,

This is my first post on summitpost and I thought I would share my experience from our Mt. Williamson/Tyndall peak expedition this last weekend. Thunderstorms approached during our attempt of Williamson. So half of our party abandoned the attempt (myself included). We were climbing out of the Williamson bowl when this particular thunderstorm rolled in. As we were traversing out of the bowl I felt a little static and heard a "buzz" sound from my neck which was pretty unnerving. I thought that we would be safer in the bowl than approaching the summit. However, I neglected to take into account that water conducts electricity, so being surrounded by four lakes was not the ideal place to be. Then, while on the plateau heading back to camp at Shepherd's pass, the storm moved in right above us. The thunder was so loud and deafening it shook me to my core each time it roared. I witnessed lightening strike not more than 200-250 yards in front of me. The hail and wind picked up such that it was pelting our faces horizontally and it stung. Thankfully my GPS was working because I had become a little disoriented what with the thunder, lightening, hail, and cloud cover masking the nearby mountains and geographical features. Once we did make it back to camp we took shelter in the tent and hoped that it would hold up through the wind and hail. Meanwhile I boiled water and covered my hiking partner with two sleeping bags who was shivering and approaching hypothermia.

Thankfully our tent held up as we awaited word from the rest of our party They did return safely several hours later and reported that they had successfully reached the summit. They said there was a brief break in the weather while on the summit but it was quite scary having to down-climb in these conditions.

The below pictures were taken ten minutes apart looking down into the bowl.




[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RzObEeen6tA[/youtube]

Although we did not get to summit on this trip, I'm glad no one was injured or hurt, and we'll try again next year. Live to climb another day!

-Bill

Thanks for the report and the reminder about how dangerous it is out there in a storm. I'm glad you're all safe. I once pushed my luck in the White Mountains and kept going to Boundary Peak when I should have turned around. I was almost at the summit when I ran into another couple that were thinking about turning around. While we were talking lightening hit along the ridge really close to them - it was so scarey and we could feel the electricity. Right after that, hail started to fall and we were in a white out. Lightening kept striking all around us, and we could feel the electricity build up right before each lightening strike; so we'd crouch down and wait until it hit and and then continue to work our way down between the strikes.

Since then I've been a real weather wimp.

That forecast that says there's a 20% chance of thunder storms usually means that there will be a 100% chance of thunder storms over 20% of the area, and we all know that area is usually up high on the peaks and ridges.

Thunderstorms can be a terrifying experience when you're right in them (like at 12,000 ft in the Williamson Bowl!) My favorite description about the sound is "Thor's Hammer". We usually associate thunder with a deep, low rumble when it's far away, bur when you're right in the lightning storm it's more of a clanging noise of intense volume, as though you can hear the very atoms being smashed. I can understand how you could get disoriented by it.

You made the correct decision to bail. The mountain is not going anywhere. Yeah, it's a b!tch to get to, but better to be able to come back another day then die trying. In my teens I stupidly made the decision to go to the top of Half Dome with a storm approaching. That buzzing noise you describe was intense on the summit, and a blue-ish aura appeared around our feet followed by a loud "BANG". We high tailed it outa there and were freaked out about having to touch the cables to make the descent. Like I said, stupid move. One I will never forget, nor ever repeat. Glad you and your partner are OK.

Did people in CA check the weather for that weekend? What's up with several threads regarding getting in thunderstorms on your 'expeditions?' Chances for storm on that weekend were quite high. Check the weather!!!

KathyW >>>"...Since then I've been a real weather wimp."

May I suggest you learned and have become wiser? Being afraid of something dangerous is healthy.

Obviously most people have a poor understanding of electrical phenomenon including lightning in thunderstorms that reflects a range of modest to considerable stupid behaviors and actions often displayed by people outside in such storms. And ironically that includes a fair number of mountain enthusiasts that ought to know better because simple sound information is readily available from many sources.

Electronics is my career. Decades ago as a young twentysomething I was regularly visiting the Sierra and its sometimes horrifying monstrous thunderstorms and lightning frightened me into learning what I ought do when coping with such storms. Thus bought a fat 314 page 1972 book, "The Lightning Book" by Peter E. Viemeister of the MIT Press, that became a foundation for my own understanding.

Over the decades I've been in a lot of storms and some have been rather epic, especially during summers when the Mexican Monsoon pushes up along the spine of the Sierra Crest. And sometimes I see people tented at what are obviously dangerous locations or worse are outside hiking about in dangerous places. Too complicated to adequately discuss here.

bclements3 >>>"...I thought that we would be safer in the bowl than approaching the summit. However, I neglected to take into account that water conducts electricity, so being surrounded by four lakes was not the ideal place to be."



Indeed up on Williamson whether on the summit, ridge, or on most of the higher talus chutes leading up would be more dangerous than many areas on Williamson Bowl despite those lakes. It is true the lakes themselves, lake edges, or streams would be dangerous, especially those out in the open without other higher topography adjacent. I've tinted the following section of topo map of the Shepherd Pass and Williamson Bowl zone with a crude approximation of what I would consider the range of lightning risks. The red areas have highest risks, magenta areas moderate risks, and yellow areas lowest risks. Areas with no color are somewhat higher than lowest risks. There are other local issues one cannot assess from a mere map that would also come into play. For instance tenting on a broad bedrock area is dangerous because when wet, lightning tends to spread out in a sheet. The best areas are at the base of steeper slopes, away from wet areas, not atop bedrock joint cracks, preferably on well drained dry rocky soils. Such areas also often have convenient large talus blocks that can also provide some protection from weather.

David
http://www.davidsenesac.com

Actually, NWS outta Reno only had the TS possibilities at 20% for the southern Mono County area and the NWS outta of Las Vegas had it at the same, 20% for the northern to central Inyo County area for last weekends event.

A generic forecast TS % which I have learned over the past 30 plus years to mean it can go either way. The same % factor was given during the July Monsoonal event that washed out both the NF and Main Whitney Trails and stranded over 37 parties leading to the combined rescue from four different SAR entities of 28 of those folks.

Today's forecast is calling for "Mostly Sunny" and Zero % for TSers yet as I look out my front living room window at Morrison clear down to Langley, I see nothing but cloud cover throughout the Eastern Sierra at the present moment.

Got nailed twice with heavy graupel, cold winds and thunder this weekend during my inbound and outbound route on my resupply of Peninsula back in the Lower Crabtree area. Had the same proverbial 20%er for the entire Friday/Sat period I was up and back there.


Took this shot looking back up at Whitney/Russell area as I was driving home yesterday afternoon after descending from seeing Peninsula...


I also informed him of next weeks Winter Storm forecast (Cold Low System coming outta the Gulf of Alaska) that is calling for up to 2.5 QPF (which relates to 2.5 Feet of snow above 9K') for most of the Central and Northern Sierra beginning on Monday evening. After his cold experience back in '09, he instantly decided to get out asap and go do some day hikes and capture the snow with the Fall Colors. Good choice on his part IMO.

Looks like Winter is coming in with a fury beginning Monday through Thrusday....