Tag: hangingwithward

Hanging With Ward–May, 2024–Mt. Charleston

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Day 6 of this edition of Hanging With Ward ended well after midnight with me handing over the driving to Kerry Ward somewhere in the vicinity of Beaver, Utah. Kerry finished the drive to Saint George where we crashed once again at the home of Kerry Sherman. We spent a couple of hours in the morning drying and cleaning gear.

Gear cleanup

Kerry Sherman once again proved that he is indeed the “Host with the Most” by whipping together a very nice breakfast of scrambled eggs, fried potatoes, and tortillas.

Kerry Sherman is The Host With The Most!!

Once we had eaten our fill it was time to load up the car and hit the road back to Las Vegas. The drive back was fast and easy! This was Sunday of a three day weekend and there were not many people on the road, at least in the morning!

Loaded up and ready for the road!

We spent the afternoon enjoying our luxury accommodations at the Waldorf Astoria by lounging around in the pool area. There are cabańas lining the pool area, and the lads tried to camp out in one. They were very quickly informed that they were for rentals. How much was the rental? Five hundred dollars. They declined, and the deck chairs were free.

Lounging! In the background you can see one of the $500/day cabanas!

Max’s son George was in Las Vegas on a pre-graduation excursion/celebration with several of his buddies, and he and one of his friends joined us at Sushi Neko for our second all-you-can-eat sushi excursion for this trip. I personally don’t eat that much, so all you can eat is not usually a good deal, but Kerry, Max, and the young fellows can really pack it in.

Max had a flight out that evening, so we dropped him off at the airport. I was very impressed by the ease of access at Harry Reid International Airport! I got a lot of practice as on this trip I did two pickup’s and three dropoffs. Once I learned how to avoid the Strip on exits and approaches it turned out that our location at the Waldorf was extremely convenient!! I got kudos from Chris on my driving ability. He thought I must have been a rally driver, which was significant praise as for many years he and his brother co-owned a rally car in Australia. I had to let him know that it was just my years of delivering pizzas for Domino’s in Michigan that gave me my training.

Kerry and Chris at Mt. Charleston trailhead

Since the rafting excursion had been cut short we still had another day, and Kerry had a big item on his bucket list. Mount Charleston is about 40 miles from Las Vegas, and at 11,916 feet is a worthy peak to bag. The next morning we were up early and I dropped off Kerry and Chris at the trailhead at about 6:40 am. Some of the trails from this location were closed, but the trail up to Mt. Charleston had just opened on Friday. That early in the morning the area was virtually deserted.

First leg

This hike was also significant for “peak-bagging Hardwick”. They would be able to also do Mt. Griffith, and these two peaks would put Chris at 350 peaks on his lifetime list. His goal is 1000. Chris is amazing man with big goals, and that makes him a perfect adventure companion for Kerry. Last year the two of them spent a month driving around southwest Africa in Thor, Chris’s Land Cruiser, and this July they will explore west Africa for a couple of weeks before Kerry splits off to Ethiopia.

Even though it was Memorial Day, it was not long before they encountered their first snow!

One Memorial Day many years ago I decided to hike by myself to the summit of Mt. Baden Powell in the local mountains. The trail up from Vincent Gap is one of my favorite training routes. It is short, only 4 miles one way, but intense as it gains almost 3,000 feet in that time.

Kerry found a small treasure

About half-way up the trail disappeared in the snow, and as Kerry said in the video I opted to bypass the switchbacks and just go straight up. Going up a mountain is an example of a convergent process–if you just keep going up you will reach the peak. There were footprints going up, so I followed them and reached the top after a short but very intensive climb. I was all by myself on a beautiful, snow-covered peak and it was wonderful!

More snow near the ridge

Then I started to think about going down. My plan had been to follow my footprints back down, but there were all kinds of footprints heading in all kinds of directions. I realized that going down is a divergent process. There are many ways to go down, and a lot of them will kill you! About the time I was starting to fear for my life, a group of hikers who were actually prepared–long pants, jackets, crampons, ice axes, and maps–reached the summit. I was able to go down with them and was spared being the subject of a lost hiker story.

View of route to Mt Charleston from Griffith Peak

By about 9:15 they had summited Griffith Peak and Chris was one peak closer to his milestone of 350 peaks. They were about 2 miles from Mt. Charleston, and the route traveled along the ridge between the two summits. Some of the terrain between the two peaks was relatively flat, snow-free, and fast and they were able to actually do some running.

Running the ridge

Part of the route passed through a forest of dead trees. It looked like at some time there had been a fire and the trees never recovered. The remains were very weathered and there were no signs of new growth.

Through the dead forest

Shortly before 11 they were on the final approach to the summit. There was considerable snow on the route and Kerry was able to point out one of the dangers hikers must be aware of when traversing snow areas. Beware the cornice!!

Beware the cornice!!

As they approached the summit they began to notice some very interesting artifacts! Large pieces of twisted metal and cables that appeared to be the remnants of a plane crash.

Wreckage from a 1955 crash of a secret flight out of Burbank, headed for the SkunkWorks

The wreckage was from the crash of a C-54 cargo plane that was being used to ferry workers from Burbank to the top secret Skunkworks at Area 51 in Nevada. On a stormy night in November, 1955, the plane did not make it over the ridge between the Griffith and Charleston peaks. Check here for a nice account of the incident.

By 11:30 they had achieved Chris’s summit number 350, and Kerry engaged in his usual shenanigans. When I picked them up after the hike Chris had shown me his photos, and I saw the picture below.

I expressed surprise that Chris did not have a picture of Kerry standing on top of that tower. My first opportunity to Hang With Ward had been on an 11 day excursion to Iceland, and I knew that Kerry does not pass up an opportunity to scale any heights he encounters! I should have known that Chris had been designated to take the money shot, but with Kerry’s camera. Been there, done that, and I note that Chris’s shots had met the high standards of the Kerry Ward Adventure Photo school and did not require a do-over like my first attempt did.

Kerry doing Kerry

The trip back down was a bit more challenging than they expected. The trail had to cross some avalanche slopes that had been well-shaded and still held substantial amounts of unstable snow! Even using the “correct” route down can pose significant risk, so significant care is required.

Traversing an avalanche slope

In an earlier video Kerry had referenced traversing “properly angled” snow, and this is an instance of having to traverse very improperly angled snow! One slip, and you are going to fall a long, long way. Below we see Chris (who is a very experience mountaineer) using proper techniques for crossing such patches.

Chris Hardwick using proper technique

The Dynamic Duo were not really properly prepared for such conditions, and were lacking the most important tools in the mountaineers quiver, ice axes! Ideally they would have had a pair of ice axes so they could use them as Chris does in the video above. Chris at all times maintains three points of contact as he moves across and uses his very makeshift ice axe substitutes to dig into the slope.

You use what you can find

I am happy to report that despite the extreme danger they survived the descent!

Shortly after 2 I got word that they were close to the end and would be emerging from a different trailhead. I posted up as close to the trailhead as I could and waited for them. Before 3:30 Kerry emerged. He said Chris was lagging a bit behind, but he was short of the 20 miles he wanted for the day. He ran on down the road heading back for Vegas while I waited for Chris.

Bringing it home

Chris arrived in short order and gave me the lowdown on the day while we killed time to allow Kerry to get far enough ahead to log his 20 miles. I hit that pretty much on the head, and soon we were on our way back to negotiate the nightmare of driving in Vegas on a holiday! Kerry was happy, however, as we got to take one more pass by the Bellagio fountains as they were in full eruption mode.

Bellagio Fountains

We were back at the Waldorf Astoria just after 4:30, and Chris was able to shower and pack his gear before we made another airport run to drop him for his flight. Kerry, Danielle, and I went to a Dim Sum restaurant, Xiao Long Dumplings, for our final meal of this Las Vegas excursion. We were up early on Tuesday to drop off Danielle at the airport, and then Kerry and I headed back to LA. Happily, it was one of the smoothest drives back I have ever done, and up until we got into the LA metropolitan area I don’t think that my speed went below 80 for more than a couple of miles!

Time for Dim Sum

Hanging With Ward–May, 2024–Escalante Day 1

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On Thursday, 5/2024 we had another early start. We woke well before 5 am at Kerry Sherman’s basement in Santa Clara, and saw that we had been joined during the night by Max Simmons. Max had flown into Las Vegas and then taken a shuttle up to Saint George, arriving after midnight. We packed up gear for the next phase of the adventure, and started on our way to Escalante and the Grand Staircase–Escalante National Monument. The plan was for them to hike down to the Escalante River, spend a couple of days exploring slot canyons, and then inflate their pack rafts and float down the Escalante River for a couple of days. My role was to drop them off and then fetch them four days later.

When we got to Cedar City we had a choice. There is a mountain range between Cedar City and Escalante. There are three routes, two which bypass the range on the north and south. We opted for the more scenic route that goes over the top even though it is marginally slower. The summit of the mountain range is over 11,350 feet, and we got to see some snow on the way across.

Just after 11 am we arrived at the Escalante Visitor Center to get the necessary permits and information about the state of the river. The rangers indicated that the river flow was kind of low, and while it is possible to float some sections of the river there would be a lot of places where the rafts would need to be dragged or portaged.

The next stop was Escalante Outfitters, which is my favorite hangout in this area. They have coffee, great sandwiches, and really good pizzas. The lads bought sandwiches and a couple of pizzas, some of which they ate then, and the rest they packed along for later. We then headed down the Hole In The Rock road for the 28 mile drive to the Egypt 1 trailhead.

At the trailhead we met up with friends Bobby and Audrey. After some clowning around and organization of packs the sojourners were off just before 1:30 pm. The plan was to make the 4.7 mile hike down to the Escalante River, cross the river to Neon Canyon, and hike up the canyon to the Golden Cathedral. They would set up a camp at the GC, and then hike up out of the canyon and upstream to a drop in place for the slot portion of the canyon.

The hike down to the river went quickly, and just after 3 pm they entered the lower portion of Neon Canyon and started to make their way up to the Golden Cathedral (GC) which they reached just before 4 pm. The Golden Cathedral is a rock formation about half way up the canyon. There is a hole in the ceiling of the formation that is at the end of the technical slot portion of the canyon. The highlight of a Neon Canyon excursion is to rappel through the hole after descending the technical portion.

The Golden Cathedral

When they began to set up their campsite they discovered a possible problem. Chris Hardwick had a two person tent, and Max Simmons had rented a three person tent. When assembling gear at Kerry Sherman’s house that morning a decision had been made to cut down on weight by not bringing along rainflys for the tents. Chris had left his back there and had his tent sans rainfly. Max, however, not being familiar with his gear, had inadvertently brought along the rainfly and had left his tent in Saint George.

The very meager campsite

Just before 5 pm they made their way up to the canyon rim and headed up canyon to a point where they could drop into the technical portion of the canyon. That’s where the real fun begins!!

On the canyon rim

There are a number of factors that make a slot canyon technical. They are very narrow, prone to flash floods, and are often choked with debris like entire trees that have been washed down. There are places where the canyon descends abruptly and ropes are required to rappel down. Sections may be flooded and require swimming to get through them. Neon has all of those features and you can see some in the slideshow below.

Sometimes there are faster methods than a rappel to get down…

Just before 7:30 pm they reached the final rappel down into the Golden Cathedral.

Setting up the drop into the Golden Cathedral
Kerry descending into the Golden Cathedral

Once they reached the Golden Cathedral there was enough open sky that Kerry could get a message out to me. He said that they were making a change in the plan. Instead of rafting down the Escalante they were going to do ChopRock canyon the next day and then come back out to the Egypt 1 trailhead. Kerry Sherman had taken a small group up to float the San Rafael River earlier that day, and there had been discussion of doing that instead of the Escalante. The lack of flow, combined with the lack of tent capacity had tilted the scales in that direction. The new plan was for me to pick them up the next evening (Friday) and then make a 4.5 hour drive up to the Swinging Bridge on the San Rafael River where we would post up for the night and put in the river Saturday morning.

Sleep? Who Needs Sleep!, Sunday, August 20, 2018

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When last we spoke it was Wednesday, and I was in Utah waiting for Kerry Ward and his intrepid band of canyoneers–Sam Edwards, Sam’s 13 year old son Max, and Kerry Sherman–to make the most challenging slot canyon descent in Zion Canyon National Park.

At the Trailhead
At Lava Point–Kerry Sherman, Max and Sam Edwards, and Kerry Ward

The target was Heaps Canyon. Heaps feeds the Emerald Pools, one of the most accessible and popular features of the canyon. It is so challenging that the first descent of the canyon was not even made until 1982. It is a full-featured canyoneering expedition requiring serious gear–wetsuits, long ropes, harnesses, slings, and rappelling hardware–and features numerous rappels, deep potholes that turn into keepers when not full of water, and culminates in a 280 foot free rappel to the upper Emerald Pool.

Entry to Heaps
The approach to Heaps Canyon

I had dropped off the canyon crew at Lava Point at about 8 am. Sam told me that I could expect them to finish between 4 and 6 pm, which was more than a little bit optimistic given that the CanyoneeringUSA.com guide to Heaps says that the descent can take from 12-20 hours. The expedition began with an 8 mile hike just to get into the canyon, and I had heard from Kerry Ward about 10:30 that they had reached the mouth of the canyon in very good time.

Later that afternoon I explored the park a bit and found that the trail up to Emerald Pools was closed, so around 5 I headed down to the Visitor Center where I would wait for them. As the day wore on I noticed some serious cloud buildup north of the canyon. This was a cause for great concern as one of the dangers of any slot canyon trip is the possibility of flash flooding. Sure enough, by around 6 the skies had darkened, thunder and lightning had commenced, and light rain was falling at the Visitor Center.

EUP by www78 on Flickr Edit
Final rappel sequence for Heaps Canyon. The second rappel is 280 feet. Image from Flickr www78.

As 8 pm and darkness approached I began to worry in earnest. There are a lot of things that can go wrong in a descent like this, and I had visions of them dropping their long rope and not being able to make the final descent. That would not be a huge problem under normal circumstances as there would be a lot of visitors to the Emerald Pools who could be notified and seek help. The trail closure nixed that possibility!

I was waiting at the shuttle stop as shuttle after shuttle appeared with no canyoneers. I noticed a very worried looking gentleman who was also anxiously watching shuttles. I found out that he and his wife and daughter had been hiking in the Narrows, had become separated, and they had been unable to locate the daughter. The gathering storms were also feeding his anxiety.

Sam Takes a Leap
Entering the canyon. Most folks rappel down, but that’s too slow for Sam.

Finally, just before 8 I received a text from Kerry W.  They had successfully exited the canyon, were hiking down the closed trail, and would soon be on a shuttle heading down to the VC! About 5 minutes later my co-worrier got a call from the rangers that his daughter had been located at the last shuttle stop before the Narrows (the Temple of Sinawava) and was on a shuttle down to the VC.

Heaps Narrows
In the narrows.

When she arrived she was very angry with her parents, and I wondered why. After becoming separated the parents had come out of the Narrows. They didn’t find the daughter at the shuttle stop, assumed that the daughter (who had been behind them in the Narrows) had gotten on a shuttle and gone back to their prearranged rendezvous at their car at the VC.

Finders Keepers
My fears of them losing a rope proved unfounded. They actually returned with about 600 feet of rope that had been lost/abandoned by other groups.

They took the shuttle down, didn’t find her, and made a fatal mistake–they got in the car and went looking for her, moving the car to a different location. My guess is that the daughter had come down after they moved the car, didn’t find it, and took the shuttle back up to where she had last seen her parents and where she had been waiting anxiously for them until the rangers canvassed the location. Kind of a comedy of errors!!

Final Rap Setup
Sam setting up the last rappel. Getting late, but still light out!

The shuttle with the canyon crew finally arrived about 9, and we all headed to Springdale for a well-earned dinner. Then it was back to St. George, where we arrived at Sam’s at 10:30. No rest, however, when hanging with Ward, as Kerry and I were headed back to LA! I drove the first leg to Primm, Nevada, Kerry took over until Barstow, and then I drove the last leg to the Morgan Castle in the Hollywood Hills. I dropped Kerry there, headed back to Long Beach, and got home at 5 am, which is when I usually get up!

My Costume
Me in costume at Versailles with a couple of new friends.

I had a lot to do, so after I slept for a couple of hours I got up, went to my 11 am Pilates class at Pilates X, and then it was off to my costume fitting at Bianca’s Historic Costuming! I had been invited to a costume party Friday at the Morgan Castle. The theme was “Let them Eat Cake Party at Versailles”. The Morgan’s are serious costume partiers, and I am costume challenged so had decided to seek professional help. Bianca and her husband Peter expeditiously fitted me with a great period costume.

I had a decent nights sleep, was up at 5 as usual, worked out, took a Pilates class, had a nap, and then drove up to the Morgan Castle in the Hollywood Hills for the epic costume party. A little after 1 am I managed to extricate Kerry Ward from the party–not a trivial task as he is traditionally the life of any party he goes to–and I drove him up to Big Bear where he planned to rendezvous with his friend Dax Orion Hock.

Party scene by Baxter Zappa
Dancers at the party–photo by Baxter Zappa

Dax, along with his wife Sarah, is a world champion swing dancer, and they are the owners of the Lindy Loft in downtown Los Angeles. About a year ago he expressed an interest in doing an ultra marathon. Since then Kerry has been mentoring him in that endeavor, and he finally felt that he was ready for his first 100 miler. Dax had started the Kodiak Big Bear 100 ultra at 8 am on Friday, and Kerry wanted to meet him at the Sugarloaf aid station to pace him through the last 30 miles.

Dax was faster than expected, and we left the party a little later than planned, so we missed Dax on his first pass through Sugarloaf. Kerry grabbed a bit of sleep in my car while I watched for Dax. When Dax arrived just about at dawn they were off for the last 20 miles of the race. Dax finished at about 11 am for a total time of 27 hours and was first among all male non-professional runners, a pretty spectacular result for a first timer!

Then it was the long slow drive home. Mid day traffic on I-10 was a whole lot worse than middle of the night traffic, but eventually I dropped off Kerry at the Morgan Castle and made it back to Long Beach just after 5 pm. Between Tuesday morning at 5 am when I got up and Saturday at 5 pm, a span of 108 hours, I had gotten a total of 13 hours of sleep. I will be getting some needed rest over the next few day. No rest for Ward, though. He was off today for a job Monday in Charlotte, NC, then back to Vancouver where he will gear up for the long drive to Burning Man!