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kaholatingtong
Trad climber
The fake McCoy from nevernever land.
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I pee a perimeter around my area. The bears can smell I mean business and leave me alone .YMMV.
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High Fructose Corn Spirit
Gym climber
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Hi NutAgain,
Curious, (1) what's your thinking on Farquhar as opposed to others? (2) From the maps, it looks like it offers cool ridges, a semi traverse even, and maybe some fun fifth (for a later trip?) in addition to awesome views. (3) When would you be going, this fall?
If it's just for two or three days during Indian Summer like weather, why not just a day pack stuffed with goodies? In that terrain, I don't think I'd be worrying about bears at all. Alone, pretty much just shifting talus and cardiac arrest. (And yellow jackets, lol.)
I'm jealous. Have fun.
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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A can of bear spray weighs what, 4 ounces? 🙄
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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Mebbe you’ve been buying the chink knockoff brands?
About half the stuff on Amazon now is fake.
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Gary
Social climber
Desolation Basin, Calif.
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Carry a can. A fed bear is a dead bear. Talk to a ranger, they hate shooting bears. They should make the dopes who are too lazy to carry a can in the parks shoot the bears.
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High Fructose Corn Spirit
Gym climber
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Obviously a trip in this time of year, with or without an Indian Summer, would mean shorter days and longer (colder) nights. That would give me second thoughts about such a trip for more than a day with just a day pack.
All this talk about bears (black) at the location NutAgain posts about? Why? The odds, it seems to me, are just as good bumping into rattle snakes. Pretty negligible.
..
P.S.
Curious if anyone has ever seen, or even heard about, a black bear up in the Iceberg Lake area of Mt Whitney? Where's Cragman, lol!
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Roots
Mountain climber
Redmond, Oregon
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Ursack...REI even sells them now. UL!
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fear
Ice climber
hartford, ct
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If a bear gets a hold of your Ursack filled with food it's going to chew and smash said Ursack, its contents, and likely carry it far away if you're not tethering it down with something unchewable like kevlar cord. A better selling point is keeping out rodents/birds from your hanging sack.
So if bears are around, still hang the Ursack away from where they can reach.
And on bear spray... it's only a matter of time until you spray yourself, which sucks really badly, so... note the wind.
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August West
Trad climber
Where the wind blows strange
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kevlar bear bag will add 8 ounces
https://www.ursack.com/
I"m a believer in these things also. They don't add that much weight. They will keep squirrels and other rodents out of your food. If you are worried that they aren't 100% bear-proof, you can still combine it with any other ideas such as hanging it from a tree.
Yes, you want to make sure that the bear can't carry the bag off.
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fear
Ice climber
hartford, ct
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Mebbe you’ve been buying the chink knockoff brands?
About half the stuff on Amazon now is fake.
It's real stuff... to be effective there has to be a huge volume of stuff sprayed out at significant velocities to hit something 20-30 feet away which is no small feat. Unfortunately that chemical and propellant weighs quite a bit.
FWIW, waiting for a charging bear to get within 30 feet is not a good time and 30 feet is about 1/4 second in bear speed. Firearm backups, if possible, are always a good thing.
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Reeotch
climber
4 Corners Area
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Naps???
You worry too much.
And, sleep too much. Just bring more caffeine and a can of bear spray if you are still scared of a little black bear.
Sack Up!
Now grizzly country, that's a whole different issue . . .
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Lorenzo
Trad climber
Portland Oregon
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I pee a perimeter around my area. The bears can smell I mean business and leave me alone .YMMV.
I was wondering why all the campsites smell like pee...
Keeps me away, too.
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seano
Mountain climber
none
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I'm not studly enough to just bang it out with non-stop motion,... I don't know you, but think you sell yourself short. del cross's figures of of 18 miles and 7k gain sound about right, in which case you'll be done in 13 hours if you manage 1k gain/hr on the way up, 2 mph on the way down, and 1.5 hours of stops. I've only taken cat-naps after being awake for something like 28 hours, and even then they were 10 minutes lying semi-conscious on a rock, not real sleep, so I probably would have noticed a bear approaching.
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Bargainhunter
climber
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Answer: A.
No bear is going to attack you to get the GORP, Cliff bar, orange, etc. in your stuff sack pillow.
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JLP
Social climber
The internet
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Fuk this napping bear bait thing, this thread is full of advice from the weak.
A few bars, a few caffeinated gu, a few qts of water in a hydration pack. Start an hour before sunrise and hike until 3pm max, then turn around and hike home. Bonus if you make it. If not, then repeat until fitness improves and you summit.
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NutAgain!
Trad climber
South Pasadena, CA
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Topic Author's Reply - Oct 9, 2018 - 05:19pm PT
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Start an hour before sunrise and hike until 3pm max, then turn around and hike home. Bonus if you make it. If not, then repeat until fitness improves and you summit.
This sounds like the most sensible advice. If I can persuade myself to follow it ;)
I’m pretty committed to heading out this weekend, but keeping an eye on the weather too. I’m not set on destination... getting kind of excited looking at a loop around Tinemaha to Split Mountain to Bolton Brown to Birch... that would be good research for future ski trips in the area. It would probably take more time in my present physical condition, but might be doable. Well below freezing on the peaks so any precipitation I have to consider seriously.
Still evaluating options.
There’s a 4th class ridge on Gardiner that looks pretty excellent.
Whatever I do, even if my body craps out far short of my aspirations, will still be some good days in the hills.
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Bargainhunter
climber
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I read Bob Burd's car to car ascent in a day of Black Kaweah and my eyes bulged out of my head. Then I read Leor Pantilat cut another 4.5 hours off his time and and scooped the FKT at 15.5 hours. Holy sh#t. That's a LONG way in and a LONG way up and LONG way down and out. 15 hours? WTF! Rumor has it that Bob Burd hates camping, hence he does all of his peak bagging in a day.
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limpingcrab
Trad climber
the middle of CA
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Not advice but just my experiences up in that area: I’ve slept with food many times in that region and only once had a bear wake me up,, but that was at the popular Charlotte creek campsite.
I bet you can dayhike Farquhar without a nap. It’s a nice steady climb with good trails most of the way.
If you’re in Kings this weekend and see a dude with a wife and two little blond kids come say hi!
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