Since Tioga Pass was open this record dry year, I set out with my son to climb Mt Dana on New Years Day.
Along the way, we were amazed to see the ice on Lake Tenaya. We stopped, and explored, watching ice skaters and dozens of people playing on the ice near the shore. (Here's a youtube
video uploaded 12/18/11).
A new experience for me was hearing the continuous "bongo drumming" sound the ice was making as stress cracks were popping all over the place. Some sounded close, even right under foot, while the others were from far away.
Here's Brett on one of those trees that floats out and then the stump end sinks with the top sticking out:
We could see bubbles in the ice -- it was at least 8 inches thick.
It looks like lots of other people already knew about this rare situation... I found this picture elsewhere, taken a week or so earlier:
These signs were posted all over the place:
Others enjoying the occasion:
Oh.... right, this is a Mt. Dana trip report...
With all the above delay, we got started at 12:20 PM from Tioga Pass. It took us 3 hours to make the summit, then 30 minutes at the top to eat, take pictures, and make phone calls. And two hours to get down. Used headlamps the last half mile. We encountered 4 others on the hike. One guy said he made it up in 2 hours!
It was about 40F and windy at the top.
Found the one spot where my Sprint phone would connect (roaming mode, and with 5 bars!). "Can you hear me now?"
Good times!
More pics
here.
