Progress: 0.0 miles - stayed in Lone Pine, trying to figure out what is up with the weather
This morning Chewie arrived in Lone Pine to my relief. I'm glad that he made his way down the mountain rather than continuing on. I was glad to see him, but my good mood was quickly dampened when we got a phone call from Tucker, who had seen an orthopedist in Los Angeles. His foot, which had been giving him problems, has a stress fracture, and he can't hike for at least 4 weeks.
A theme today was the confusion and frustration experienced by all the hikers in Lone Pine about how to handle the bad weather. No one has made it over Forester Pass in 4 days, and the snow is supposed to continue through Friday. Mountain Goat, Klutz, BLT, Par 3, Redwood, Firecracker, Tejas, Chewie and I spent many hours discussing possible contingencies. Some hikers wanted to wait it out, some wanted to go up to northern CA and then southbound back to Lone Pine, through the Sierra. It is really difficult to make these sorts of decisions because so little can be known about the conditions on the mountain and what the weather will be like going forward. The stakes are high because the passes can be very dangerous.
I found myself needing to take self-imposed breaks from thinking about the hiking plan. I went back to the Chinese restaurant and had a delicious meal of Kung Pao Beef. Chewie and I decided to make some planning decisions in the morning.
The snow and clouds up above the mountains obscured our view of Whitney.
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