I had met Sean a year ago, and we had started having conversations about our firms working together. Finding out he and his business partner, Matt, were hikers, I invited them on a Sierra day hike. Matt flew into Ontario, and we drove up together and stayed at Tom’s Place. It was pretty spartan, but we all got a good night sleep.
We got on the trail about 30 minutes before first light in crisp temps. As always, the alpine glow from the sunrise in the Sierras was spectacular. Matt and Sean had never been to the Series, so seeing their reaction to an experience I have grown to cherish over many seasons was fun. We made great time to the first like, took a break, then climbed steeper up to a board ridgeline. All of us, including me, started feeling occasional dizziness as we passed 13,000 feet. When the summit came into view, we were a little fatigued, and there was 800 feet of steep scrambling still ahead of us.
All of us, including me, started feeling occasional dizziness as we passed 13,000 feet.
We took a short break, ate, and started the final ascent. Sean had done mountaineering earlier in life, but it had been a while. I watched him struggle a bit near the summit, but he did fantastic for a guy who had not been hiking at high altitude regularly. Matt, being a flatlander, also did fantastic. From the summit, we had an amazing view of Mount Darwin directly across a deep drainage and the big mountains of the Sierra’s interior that live in Evolution Basin.
We drove back to Ontario that night and parted ways the next day. I know a lot of folks who “do business” on the golf course. I like “doing business” with new patterns in the Sierras a lot better. You really get to know people well when you suffer together.
Elevation Profile
