Temperature...

Hey,

One thing I realized I haven't talked much about, is the weather. If you recall, I awoke to frost at Shira 1. From that point on, of course, the temps kept dropping. Last night, a bowl of soapy water (that I washed my feet and socks in) froze solid, as did a bowl of cooking water (full o salt, oil, etc). The night was very cold and a couple layers of wool in the bivy and 0-degree F sleeping bag was not enough. I got pretty chilly. Tonight, I will be sleeping in all my wool and I'll keep the down jacket available. I'm also going to keep the vapor barrier in the bag with me. I know that setup had me toasty in colder situations on the JMT.

During the day, the temp hovers a bit below freezing at 14k ft and above. I don't have a thermometer, but water left out in the shade or under cloud cover turns to ice pretty quickly, but that same ice, moved into the brutal sun melts just as quickly. What's that mean re temp? Well, since it is cloudy 90% of the time, it means its damn cold, right up until you pull on all your layers. Then the sun comes out and makes you sweat buckets!

Speaking of which, of course, I'm sun burnt. A little on my face and on the backs of my hands. And my lower lip. Though I can't tell if that's actual sun or just freezing wind burnt...

Joel