"This was a group training hike for our Baker/Adams trip later this summer. We backpacked in to Horton Lake the first day & relaxed. We started up the mountain at 2am with a group of 10. It was bitter cold, so a couple of our group headed back a couple hours into the climb. 8 of us continued on at varying paces. The snow wasn't great and there was a lot of exposed, loose rock, which slowed our progress. We hit a saddle far west of the main summit & slowly made our way across the jagged ridge towards the summit proper, but by the time we got close at 9am, group decision was made to turn back without a summit, since we still had to pack up, hike out and drive back to Vegas that day. We were only about 230 linear feet from the summit with 130 feet to gain. I wasn't happy with the decision to turn back, but I obliged. It was definitely doable." — Kevin • Apr 17, 2021

"Day 1 of Eastern Sierra backcountry skiing trip. After some exciting 4WDing we started out on the way late side (only 1 of the 4 of us was a morper aka morning person). At a fast clip (too fast for day 1!) we skinned up the firm, unending slopes to the right of the main gully, the defining feature of the lower slopes of Basin. Overcast skies kept us cool but the altitude started to kick my ass. A couple hrs in and I started falling behind. Nearing the Basin I finally fell apart. Heartbeat in the head etc. I bailed out on a rock and watched my friends zigzagging up toward the shoulder of South Basin. A few min later 1 friend bailed too and skied down to pass out on the rock. Then another. Finally the last of our party turned around at the ridge faced with blasting winds and fast-approaching storm clouds. We all struck out on the summit. But the ski down the Main Gully was great... thousands of feet of vert and we managed to ride it almost all the way back to the car. Back in Bishop we chugged dozens of huge Gatorades and started resting up for day 2..." — scott • Apr 20, 2011