Mt Whitney Zone Forums General Discussion Let Our Freak Flag Fly

Chris..... there ya go :-)

And, I repeat: If anybody needs flagging, I'll be in the hikers parking lot late Tuesday, sleeping in my truck Tuesday night and probably around a couple of hours or more in the morning before I head up with Gary Wednesday. I have flagging. It's free. Just come by and ask me.

If I don't give it away..... I might have to pull a "Christo" on the trail head entry.

First one to tell me what that means gets double flagging......oh, and Gary buys the beer :-0

Yum, beer. And I'll be there in a few days at the Portal. I think you want to do an Eastern Sierra version of The Gates. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Gates. Sounds like a fun project!

QS,

Save some flagging for the WWW Marathon next year. It can be used to mark the trail and reduce the number of people that get lost.

Wazzu

Joe, here in Colorado we are fighting Christo who wants to drape the Arkansas River for several miles. Most of us thought that once his wife died, so would his project, but he is still trying to get permission.

We have two winners!!!! Akichow and CMC2.

To tell you the truth, I didn't even know he was still around.

I'll tell Gary about the beer(s) when I see him :-)

Sounds like there's a chance Akichow may even be able to be at the portal to get his winnings.

Surprized Christo is still allowed to do any of his "Art". He is responsible for several deaths due to his art. He had large flags posted all over the Gorman area on the I5 on the Grapevine between Santa Clarita and San Joaquin Valley. High winds caused one to break lose and kill a woman.

Those were big yellow umbrellas along the Grapevine. I was there the day that the woman was killed by the umbrella that was knocked over by the wind (though I didn't actually see that tragedy). He had a simultaneous umbrella installation in Japan using light blue umbrellas.

I think I still have some of the first day issue stamps and envelopes from the umbrella thingie.

Only if I don't have to get a sex change to enjoy that beer.

Seriously, while the days are a little off, I am hoping to meet and see some of the folks on this board. We're doing Little Lakes Valley hikes for a couple of days, entering the Portal on July 23. I'll have my green, green, and pink flags from Steve a-flying, somehow....

Hmmmmm, why did you give me that opening??? I mean, you are from the Bay Area :-)

I'll be leaving sometime on the 23rd, so I may be there and would love to meet you. Gary will be there as well as a bunch of others. Again, we just all have to look for the flags.....

Will look out for you and Gary!

Thinking of starting up the old trail, per recent trip reports, to avoid some water crossings....

Here I have this nice shiny new ice axe, and some ability to use it, and sounds like I should just leave it in the car. (Crampons definitely are staying in the car per the reports.)

Yea, I'm leaving the ice axe and microspikes at home. I do want to try some snow this Winter though, probably Baldy. My kids think it looks like fun and I have the ice axes, but now I will need to get crampons for all of us....
We did some light rock climbing in the Alabama Hills and had a blast, so I've also promised them a trip to the climbing gym out here.

Hope to see you at the portal and I'm not sure if you remember, your dog look a lot like mine, just a bit different color.

Ah yes, I do! Sasha is coming to Little Lakes Valley, but then she goes to a kennel for two nights while we are on Whitney. So no Sasha at the portal.

I ran into Akichow on the main trail on Sat (7/23). I was coming down from Outpost Camp and she was heading up. I was using my poles with the freak flags and as we were about to pass on the trail Akichow asked if those were freak flags.

We stopped and introduced each other by our board names and chatted for a few minutes.

It was a great weekend to be at the portal, as the weather was perfect, the smoke from the fire eased up (can't say it was clear but definitely improved from previous days), and several folks that post were around the store.

Hey Wazzu, great to meet you! I loved spotting your freak flags, and proudly flew mine at the summit. Thanks for the extra you-know-what on the trail. It remained intact for some later adventure.

Akichow,

Glad to hear you made it up and down in good shape. Maybe we will meet again on a trail somewhere.

Akichiow, congrats on the summit! It was a pleasure meeting you!

All that and I forgot to get my flags from Joe... demmit! ;-) Guess I'll have to get them this winter (insert innocent look here)..

I ended up with the rolls of freak flag tape...so when we meet again, I'll be sure to give them to you...

Cool deal Wazzu!!! ;-)