Tom Grundy's Sierra Challenge 2021 Page

Another year, another Sierra Challenge. This year featured another assortment of long dayhikes to obscure peaks. You can read the details and see maps and get the final stats sheet from Bob's page here: Bob's 2021 Sierra Challenge Page.
This was my 10th Sierra Challenge, although some years I didn't do all the days. Previous Challenge pages can be seen here (some less complete than others): 2011, 2012, 2013 (just one big day), 2014, 2015 (7 days), 2017, 2018, 2019, and 2020.

summit cookie time (Day 1)

links to individual day pages

with a star if it is mostly done

For gear I used mostly a pair of Salomon sense-ride 3 shoes for longer days with Adidas Skychasers on day 1 and Salomon Speedcross on day 3. The Adidas sole didn't hold up very well although they scrambled a bit better than either Salomon. After about day 4 the Skychasers and Speedcross felt too tight. If any shoe company wants to test out a shoe on the Challenge, lets talk - it is a perfect situation to test it. I later realized that the speedcross was slowly filling with sand between the surface layer and the goretex layer. This pushed against my foot in painful ways. I used my blue MacPac backpack - it was a little big, but nice to be able to put everything in it including a helmet when needed. It also has handy pockets on the hip belt and sides so I can get things without taking it off. A downside of the mesh pockets is that things get a lot more dusty, especially on the mule pounded trails. For food I had sandwiches plus a mix of bars and snacks and summit cookies. I had a water bladder and a small bottle that usually started out with some sort of caffeinated beverage but switched to flavored electrolyte later in the day. The water supply this year was a little iffier with the dry conditions and almost no snow. I didn't always guess when the last water supply would be and often carried too much or not enough. If the location was more remote I just drank the water straight but for less remote areas I planned ahead and carried water. I also carried my Pentax K-3 on all days strapped to my chest with a Cotton Carrier. This works quite well for all but the hardest scrambling and climbing. I used Leki trekking poles which helped a lot when I got tired and stumbly and for stream crossings although the tips wore out enough on day 8 that I didn't use them for the descent (saving them for a fix before they broke). I used work gloves with some fingertips cut off to help prevent sunburn and also somewhat protected my thumbs from the pole straps and palms from sharp rocks. For a few days I was able to communicate with Iris using a handheld radio (she was fishing). I used a Moto PowerG phone for gps location with preloaded tracks and offline maps and sometimes satellite images - mostly with Peakbagger. Usually that worked fine. I also tracked with Strava - which is generous with elevation gain when going slowly in the mountains. I wore slowly wearing out Prana stretch Zion pants most days, long sleeve shirts (often Columbia fishing gear with omni-shade and or Omni-freeze technology), and a new Tilley Hat (the old one is falling apart). In general the challenge is hard on everything.

This year I came in first for the Green Jersey (over 50) second for the Yellow - to Clement who earned it by going up a different chute to get Son of Split and 3rd for the Polka Dot - King of the Mountain Jersey with 21 peaks behind Chris with 26 and Clement with 31. I also tied or maybe won the Aqua Jersey with 12 swims, we didn't keep such good records of that. My only real goal going in was to do all 10 Challenge peaks and to do a few good bonus peaks.

Davis Lakes Peak on day 1

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