Dark Star C2C
We waited until the end of the weekend so that I could recover from a lingering cold and to avoid the 4th of July weekend crowds. It turns out that while I was getting better, Kostas was getting worse as he had mysteriously picked up my cold. So with occasional coughing fits we made the drive at a leisurely 60 MPH to Big Pine on Monday afternoon.
After some simuling and a bit of soloing we finally rappelled into the big notch, at which point we opted to go left on the quickest/easiest path to the summit. We tagged the summit at 6:30PM (11.5 hours on route) and then began the descent to Contact Pass and then Third Lake.
Around an hour after tagging the summit, I looked up to see Kostas in a familiar coughing fit, except this time he ended up puking. “Damn” I thought to myself, “he must have really been suffering”. With a throbbing headache and severe nausea we pressed onward and after arriving at Contact Pass, I started getting that familiar feeling in my throat. With the rope in mid-coil around my neck I too let loose. I could see Kostas standing there out of the corner of my eye, while I was heaving stomach acid onto the talus and all he could do was swat the mosquitos away from my head. Within 5 minutes of puking, I felt significantly better as we had descended 2000 ft in elevation. Unfortunately, Kostas was feeling worse as he had developed a fever and was exhausted head to toe.
We made the descent back to our packs at third lake at which point Kostas decided that he needed to rest. I left him with my 8oz bivy sack, synthetic poofy jacket and balaclava so that he could try to get some sleep while I did the walk along the well-defined North Fork Trail back to the car. The plan was for him to get some rest and join me when he woke up. I was worried about leaving him there by himself but he assured me he could take care of himself and there was really no way for us both to stay comfortable in the chilly night air with the supplies we brought. Reluctantly, I ran off down the trail dreaming of water and non-bar-shaped food.
At 2:20AM I was awakened by the dome light of the car turning on above my head. It was Kostas. Thrilled to see him, I extended my hand out to congratulate him on his accomplishment: Dark Star, Car-to-Car 23.5 hours.
Notes:
* Unrope way earlier, we stayed roped up way longer than we needed to.
* Bring salty food. I am sick and tired of all of those sweet bars or “candy” as Croft would say.
* Driving 60MPH in my Xterra I was able to increase my gas mileage from 16 MPG to 22MPG and I even got 27 MPG going from Lone Pine to Kramer Junction. This saved us ~$55 in gas over the whole trip.
* Total Times: 21 hours C2C & 23.5 hours C2C
Posted in Trip Reports |
July 12th, 2008 at 11:09 pm
You guys are the definition of glorious in pics 9 and 11.
Badass! Nice TR, I actually read all of it!
July 13th, 2008 at 9:36 am
Nice job dudes! Huge effort. Serious deathmarch on the way down, eh?
Kostas… Dude, you’re wearing both my helmet and my trademark orange shirt. You look like me in all these photos!
July 13th, 2008 at 9:37 am
Oh my god, you’re even using my little backpack! The only way to tell it’s you is the nose!
July 13th, 2008 at 11:47 am
Are we missing the pictures from the alpine version of “2 girls, 1 cup?”
July 13th, 2008 at 8:20 pm
If this is not a Scotty Vacation ™, I don’t know what is… congrats and get better, Kostas. You can try the Clif Shot Bloks with 3x salt, but it doesn’t have a lot of calories.
July 14th, 2008 at 1:00 am
Those photos/captions are hilarious.
July 15th, 2008 at 5:53 am
What the fuck is going on back there? I leave and all hell breaks loose! Good job guys. I heard SRA was harder though. hehehehehe…………..he…….he.
July 19th, 2008 at 2:22 am
This is a good reminder why I boulder. In the gym.
July 23rd, 2008 at 8:08 pm
This is on my list…but first, two routes on the Hulk car to car…
July 25th, 2008 at 1:58 pm
I l-o-v-e y-o-u. Kisses.
August 23rd, 2008 at 8:38 pm
Ticked it today…darkstar c2c…sans vomit. 14.5 hrs casual style, good weather, lots of hot ladies cheered for us at the trailhead saying ” I l-o-v-e y-o-u. Kisses.”
August 29th, 2008 at 12:16 pm
Nice going Vic! Way to push it up there. Whats next on the list?
October 16th, 2008 at 5:46 am
Awesome to see my route get cranked in modern style. Many congratulations! I hiked out of the Palisades the day before, so narrowly missed seeing you guys on the trail. Different deal, later in a life, hanging with my daughter Kyra, 12 — who mainly went fishing in Fourth Lake after I sandbagged her into being up there in the first place by treating her to a horseback ride in — and my son Tory, 15, who will probably drag me up DS in a day when he gets older.
Like your website, and I’ve read through a bunch of yur trip reports. Nice looking FAs around the Whitney area. You guys rock — keep after it!