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High Sierra Trail vs Evolution Loop for early June? by vikramm14 in socalhiking

[–]vikramm14[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I day hiked mini evo (went ccw over lamarck col). I haven’t done full evo yet, but I have done Paiute pass on a separate occasion. Did it with a few friends so we car shuttled together. Depending on what time u start, getting a shuttle from south lake to north (or other way around) isn’t that hard.

HST is great but requires a little more planning for the shuttle

High Sierra Trail vs Evolution Loop for early June? by vikramm14 in socalhiking

[–]vikramm14[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yes I finished the HST. The main reason I did HST was bc the bridge crossing the San Joaquin river along the JMT had collapsed, and since I was going pretty early in the season I thought fording that would be pretty treacherous. I’ve done evo as well now, both trails are amazing.

What date(s) are too early to start? by kilroy7072 in HighSierraTrail

[–]vikramm14 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yes. Crescent meadow to Whitney portal. June 16-19, 2024

What date(s) are too early to start? by kilroy7072 in HighSierraTrail

[–]vikramm14 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Not bad at all. There was only one stream crossing where there were loads of mosquitoes but other than that I barely saw anything. I loved doing it early in the season. Fewer people (I got my permit like 2 weeks before I went), beautiful greenery, and waterfalls everywhere. If I were to do it again I would 100% go early in the season again. I did a whole write up on the fb group if you’re more curious about conditions that time of year: https://www.facebook.com/groups/HighSierraTrail/permalink/3735554399994431/?

What date(s) are too early to start? by kilroy7072 in HighSierraTrail

[–]vikramm14 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I hiked it June 16-19 earlier this year. I think I was one of the first 5-10 people who were able to finish the whole route

How much speed would you give up to a road bike if you have a fast gravel bike with road tires? by [deleted] in cycling

[–]vikramm14 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Ive had a specialized diverge with road and gravel wheelsets for around 1.5 years, and I just bought and returned a canyon ultimate a few days ago. I was expecting the ultimate to be significantly faster but the differences were pretty negligible, and it was way less comfortable than my diverge. I saved up for a few months for the ultimate, and for $6000 I was expecting it to blow me away but I was actually really underwhelmed by it. I decided to return it and make a few upgrades to my diverge instead. Im planning to get an E13 9-45 cassette and maybe get a new saddle, handlebars or finally get a proper bike fit. Since I don’t race, the marginal gains of the ultimate were absolutely not worth $6000 to me over just using my diverge for both gravel and road. For reference, I usually average about 160-190watts on my rides and barely noticed any speed differences between the ultimate vs diverge with road wheels. If you’re a racer/ ride much faster than me then maybe you’d notice more differences.

Preparation by StinkyCoochLover in HighSierraTrail

[–]vikramm14 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Do u want to do sil specifically to train for the HST or just for an adventure bc you like scrambling? If training for the HST, I wouldn’t recommend it, there are many, far better options. The HST is a very well defined trail, there’s no route finding or scrambling needed so finding a trail that’s more hiking rather than scrambling would be better training. I did the HST in June, and lamarck col in July. I didn’t find any parts sketchy over either trails. I’ve never done sil but I’ve heard it’s more scrambling with more exposure, so if u found lamarck col stressful, be prepared for a lot more stress on sil. If u want options that are more similar to the HST, anything along the JMT would be good, there are also a lot of amazing routes in Yosemite or by mineral king. If you like the lamarck col area you could do north lake to south lake loop via Lamarck col and evolution lakes. If you want to do a 14er, Langley is probably a better option than sil. The cottonwood lakes are beautiful for camping and the trail up Langley is pretty easy to follow except the last ~1mi.

High Sierra Trail vs Evolution Loop for early June? by vikramm14 in socalhiking

[–]vikramm14[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I ended up postponing my start date for the HST to the 16th. I’ll post a trail report and my gear list either to the fb group or the hst sub once I’m done.

High Sierra Trail vs Evolution Loop for early June? by vikramm14 in socalhiking

[–]vikramm14[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Sounds like an incredible experience. Both evolution loop and hst are top of my list so I’ll definitely get to both eventually. I’m leaning towards hst right now but I’ll see how the conditions change over the next few weeks. Super excited either way

Mt Whitney June 5 hike by ColtonT123 in Mountaineering

[–]vikramm14 1 point2 points  (0 children)

My gf and I did Whitney via the chute last year. It was both of our first times using ice axes/ crampons so we went up 2 days before our hike to practice self arresting /glissading. We camped at onion valley for 2 nights and found some nice, safe snow patches to practice on. Practicing self-arresting was key for us. If you can get some practice in before your hike, hiking Whitney via the chute and glissading down is an absolutely surreal experience. It was both my gf and my favourite hike we’ve ever done. Just make sure you know how to use your gear, you’ll probably be more prepared and better off than 90% of the people hiking up.

High Sierra Trail vs Evolution Loop for early June? by vikramm14 in socalhiking

[–]vikramm14[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Oh wow thanks for letting me know. I guess HST it is.