You guys are good. Another one - Mt. Lola, named for a very colorful character during the gold rush days.
Day 10 - Mt. Anna MillsWell, all was going swimmingly for me until about 2am last night. With a 3am wake-up, I was already feeling pretty bad. Seems I picked up a bug somewhere and my body has been spending time trying to expel it from one orifice or another. I drove about halfway up the Horseshoe Meadow Rd before having to pull over to vomit. I think that was a sign of some sort. Anyway, I drove back to Lone Pine and never got close to the TH this morning. Mostly I spent the day sleeping. But not so the others.
Around 8 participants headed out over Cottonwood Pass into the dry, southern reaches of the range. The peak is not a difficult climb, but it's pretty far out there - about 27mi roundtrip. To no great surprise, Eric was the first back in under 10hrs and almost immediately headed home to San Diego. The others trickled in over the next hours. When all was said and done, we had four folks that completed all ten Challenge Peaks, not a record number, but an excellent showing.
Eric Su, 18, San Diego. Our young speedster not only climbed all ten Challenge peaks but an additional 12.5 bonus peaks, all in less time than the rest of us could just climb the Challenge peaks.
Jonathan Bourne, 58, Mammoth Lakes. This local East-sider doesn't let age slow him down any, moving faster than most folks less than half his age.
Nick Clawson, 27, Fayetteville, AR. On his first Challenge, Nick was remarkable. The highest summits in AR are about 3,000ft. Without ever having seen immense boulder and talus fields as we have in the Sierra, Nick was as fast moving over them as anyone. It is believed he may be Chris McCandless reincarnated.
Tom Grundy, 46, Bishop. Tom moves at a slower speed than most of the others, but he never missed a summit. 20lbs of photographic equipment may be responsible for slowing him down some.
Jersey results:
Yellow (fastest overall time for 10 Challenge peaks)
1. Eric Su
2. Jonathan Bourne
3. Nick Clawson
White (fastest under 25yrs of age)
1. Eric Su
2. Michael Chapiro
3. Greg Cooper
Green (fastest over 50yrs of age)
1. Jonathan Bourne
2. Bob Burd
3. Jeff Moffat
Polka dot (most total peaks)
1. Eric Su, 22.5 summits
2. Bill Peters, 20 summits
3. Michael Graupe, Tom Grundy, 16.5 summits
Thanks to everyone that participated this year! Hope to see many of you back again next year!