The Great Adventure

I seem to have gone full circle. Having lost all hope of going to Grand Teton and Yellowstone and then investigated Yosemite and The High Sierra, I now have the choice of either, well at least Grand Teton as Yellowstone is not offered by Wilderness Horizons Expeditions.

To be honest, before I discovered Wilderness Horizons offerring, I was on the verge of booking the Yosemite and The High Sierra trip even though it was not exactly what I was looking for.

In particular the campsite in Yosemite  at  Tuolumne Meadows whilst very scenic and at 8,600ft, was very much of a compromise. As will be apparent from the map to the right, it is near a road and also caters for the dreaded Recreational Vehicles (RV).

The second part of the trip where we head south to The High Sierra to climb Mount Whitney is more of the type of trek I had in mind. However reading around Mount Whitney seems to be treated a bit like Ben Nevis is in the UK - as the respective countries highest mountain, a trophy to be "bagged", rather than a mountain renowned for its beauty.

KE's route, apart from the last few miles, avoids the main "tourist" highway (if you can call a 14,500ft mountain this) and approaches it from a southerly direction rather than coming in via the nearest trail head, the Whitney portal, to the North East.

I had a number of concerns with this aspect of the trip. Firstly, whilst KE have planned the holiday such that there is plenty of time for acclimatisation, hence the choice of Tuolumne Meadows rather than one of the lower campsites in the Yosemite Valley (4,000ft), it is still at an altitude of over 14,000ft with the attendant risk of altitude sickness. That I would have taken in my stride as part of the risk of trekking, however frankly having looked at pictures and other peoples descriptions of their Whitney Ascent I thought the landscape in the main rather barren and moon like, interesting in parts but otherwise bland.

The offering from Wilderness Horizons was much more in keeping with what I was looking for - 10 days away from the world completely out in the back country.

I have now had a response to my initial contact email from Paul Knight its owner to say that they do have space and as a "Limey" I am very welcome to come aboard. I'm not sure how many  bookings (if any) he currently has but it runs on a minimum of one - which is not quite what I would be looking for, but what a refreshing change from KE. I would quite like to meet some home grown yanks, which would make a change from mixing with my own kin.

The schedule information provided is quite basic, but is sufficient to identify a number of the sites and locations mentioned in KE's version of the trip.  Again most of the trek seems to occur in the Jedediah Smith Wilderness to the west of Grand Teton NP. This is apparently because the National Parks do not allow any form of advertising of guided trips into the Parks. The average daily mileage is about 6/8 miles with altitude gain of roughly 1500ft per day and a maximum altitude of about 11,000ft. Click here for a more detailed map (opens pdf file).

 I was aware that I was booking directly with an American firm of whom I had no independent validation as to their technical competence. Previously I have emailed a number of guides working out of Jackson Hole to see if they could provide me with any details of firms offering trekking trips. One guide in particular Jim Williams was very helpful.

I seem to have hit the jackpot with Jim as he is described as the guides guide and is renowned in having guided clients safely up the highest peaks on all seven continents all within a 12 month period. As well as running his own guiding company Professional Mountain Guides he also works for Exum Mountain Guides one of the top guide companies in North American.

To quote Jim's summary of the proposed trek with Wilderness Horizon " The trip looks good but you should be aware that this trip is just to the West of the Grand Teton National Park. It skirts the boundary when it gets to Alaska basin and Death Canyon Shelf Area ... other than that it will be a good backpacking trip I am sure. More after I speak with the folks"

Whilst my gut feeling is that Wilderness Horizons Expeditions is absolutely fine, as Jim has offered, you can't get better than a professional view on a firm from a guide with contacts.  It is very likely that as soon as Jim gives me the nod I shall be booking this trip. Lets hope its third time lucky as its only 6 weeks away, I have a lot to do and I need a break!