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Terri putting on snowshoes
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Date: 02/15/2010
Views: 1
The road to Onion Valley was closed at Seven Pines, about 5 miles and 3000 feet below the trailhead. We got about a quarter mile before the snowshoes had to go on.
02/15/2010
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Heading into the mountains
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Date: 02/15/2010
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The snow was very soft from all of the recent snowfall, making travel slow and tiring.
02/15/2010
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Terri and the White Mountians
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Date: 02/15/2010
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The views across Owens Valley were spectacular, and the fresh snow blanketing everything was beautiful.
02/15/2010
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Independence Peak
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Date: 02/15/2010
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This peak ended up being our objective due to the deep snow making Dragon Peak, our original objective, too difficult to reach.
02/15/2010
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Terri breaking trail
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Date: 02/11/2010
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We hauled heavy packs for about 6 hours the first day, which really wiped us out.
02/11/2010
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Neal in the tent
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Happy and warm in the tent!
02/15/2010
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Morning of the second day
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We made our tent platform right on the road about a quarter mile shy of the Onion Valley trailhead.
02/15/2010
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Neal in Onion Valley
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From here we decided to head up to Independence Peak, only a mile further from here, instead of the 5 miles to Dragon Peak.
02/15/2010
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Terri and Independence Peak
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Date: 02/15/2010
Views: 1
After practicing some glacier travel skills, we headed on up to the base of the peak.
02/15/2010
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Neal digging a tent platform
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We leveled out a nice spot for the tent and got things set up.
02/15/2010
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The tent, looking back at Onion Valley
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Date: 02/15/2010
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Once camp was set up we had some time to hike around and play in the wonderfully soft snow.
02/15/2010
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Terri relaxing in the tent
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Date: 02/12/2010
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But not before a quick nap in the tent!
02/12/2010
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Terri making a snow angel
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Perfect snow angel conditions!
02/15/2010
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Neal on stumps
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It took me about 10 falls before I managed to stand on these stumps- it's harder than it looks!
02/15/2010
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Neal falling off stumps
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Date: 02/15/2010
Views: 1
And the snow is really deep!
02/15/2010
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Terri leaping off of a boulder
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Then we moved on to rock jumping, which was lots of fun.
02/15/2010
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Terri bouldering
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Date: 02/12/2010
Views: 1
And we did some bouldering. This was the only boulder we could find that wasn't completely under the snow.
02/12/2010
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Terri bouldering
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02/12/2010
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Terri on top of boulder
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Date: 02/12/2010
Views: 1
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02/12/2010
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Neal tree climbing
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Date: 02/12/2010
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Then we moved on to tree climbing! I didn't know if this tree could hold me, but it did!
02/12/2010
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Neal at the top of the tree
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Date: 02/15/2010
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02/15/2010
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Neal falling out of the tree
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Date: 02/12/2010
Views: 1
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02/12/2010
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Terri tree balancing
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There were also many horizontal trees, which made for fun balancing.
02/12/2010
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Terri jumping off horizontal tree
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But they are hard to balance on!!
02/12/2010
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Neal climbs under a tree
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It's easier to go on the bottom!
02/15/2010
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Neal climbing a stump
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Finally, we discovered the joy of climbing stumps. There were many great stumps of varying degrees of difficulty.
02/12/2010
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Neal on the stump
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02/12/2010
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Neal coming off the stump
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Date: 02/12/2010
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02/12/2010
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Neal flying off the stump
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Date: 02/12/2010
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02/12/2010
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Neal deep in snow!
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Date: 02/12/2010
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02/12/2010
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Terri leaps off a stump
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Date: 02/12/2010
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Woohoo!
02/12/2010
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Starting our ascent of Independence Peak
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Early the next morning we snowshoed up to the base of the peak, then switched to crampons and ice axes before getting on the steep stuff.
02/17/2010
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Neal climbing in soft snow
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Neal leads the way up into a narrow couloir
02/17/2010
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Terri makes her way up the steep slope
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02/13/2010
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Terri leading up the couloir
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Date: 02/17/2010
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02/17/2010
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Terri at the start of the mixed section
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After climbing a thousand feet up the couloir, we faced another thousand feet of mixed rock and snow terrain to reach the headwall of the peak. This terrain was lower angle, but still tiring to climb.
02/13/2010
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Terri in a mess of snow and rocks
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02/13/2010
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Neal taking a rest
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Date: 02/13/2010
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Here we are nearing the rocky headwall, which allowed us to remove our crampons and stow the ice axes. Another 500 feet of 3rd and 4th class rock to the top!
02/13/2010
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Neal on the highest point
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Date: 02/13/2010
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The summit ridge was spectacular, with views into the high sierra country and views of Owens Valley and the White Mountains beyond.
02/13/2010
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Neal and Terri on Independence Peak
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What better place than here to ask the girl you love to marry you?
02/13/2010
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Engaged!
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Date: 02/17/2010
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So on the snowy peak I got down on one knee and told her I wanted to spend the rest of my life with her.
02/17/2010
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Getting Down
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Date: 02/13/2010
Views: 1
After carefully descending the technical rock section we got onto a large snow slope with good conditions for glissading (aka sliding). With ice axes ready for self arrest we slid 2000 feet down the mountain back to our snowshoes! We got down in 45 minutes what took us 5 hours to climb- oh the joys of winter!
02/13/2010
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Hiking back to Onion Valley
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After a rest back at camp we packed up and starting the hike out.
02/13/2010
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Tent overlooking Owens Valley and White Mountains
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Date: 02/13/2010
Views: 2
We got to within a few miles of the car that night before making camp. One more night on the snow before making a return to solid ground.
02/13/2010
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