So here come the details, but first, a little rationale. Between a growing family and growing businesses, we have tried to figure out the best way to handle the responsibility of organizing the Seven Summits hikes again for this year. We thought we were going to be able to pull it off with the smaller, reservation-only hikes and by organizing a team of leaders to make guiding the groups hikes easier. Well, it’s just not happening (nobody else has their schedule open to lead a full season of hikes either), and now the first hike is only a couple weeks away and we’re already having problems that is creating family and business tension, which we’re simply not going to deal with. It’s been fun these past several years to go hiking with you all, but now it’s time for us to step back as the protective parents and let the Seven Summits of Big Bear continue to live on as an on-your-own challenge instead of an organized hike program.

Here’s how it will work:

• We will keep the hike dates posted as a suggested build-up toward the harder hikes at the end. If you want to show up on those days and times, there may be other people to hike with, but there will be NOBODY IN CHARGE and any groups that form will be considered informal and coincidental.
• We will continue to maintain orienteering punches at the top of all the peaks except San Gorgonio, which for whatever reason seems to be the black hole of orienteering punches, and for which a photo of yourself at the top will suffice as evidence of your accomplishment.
• Punchcards are now available on the website to download, print, and take to each peak to get stamped. REMEMBER YOUR PUNCHCARDS — we will ask to see your completed punchcard in order to receive your finisher’s patch.
• 2012 T-shirts are available for $30 and will be mailed to you via USPS; proceeds go to pay for the ongoing replacement cost of lost/damaged orienteering punches as well as the now yearly (as of last year) finishers patches that are FREE to anyone who completes the Seven Summits and submits their filled-out punchcard.
• Obviously with no organized hikes and leaders, there is NO reservation system anymore and no need to fill out waivers (we hate waivers anyway)
• You can submit a scanned image of your completed punchcard and photo of yourself at the top of San Gorgonio by email to heatherdevito22@gmail.com and we’ll mail you one of the prized finisher’s patches.
• We suggest using the comments section for each hike on the www.SevenSummitsOfBigBear.org website to post info about when you’re going to be hiking and find potential hiking buddies. If you subscribe to the blog, you can opt to have new comments emailed to you, so that you may stay abreast of the conversation.
• You should email us (heatherdevito22@gmail.com) if/when you find that there is no orienteering punch where you expected it. Each year some of the punches disappear, and we’ll call some of our active buddies and ask someone to go check and possibly install a replacement punch. In the event that you just missed it (which means someone went up there and verified that it’s actually there after you reported it missing), you will have to go and do it again in order for that hike to count toward your seven.

GRAY’S PEAK is CLOSED TO EVERYONE UNTIL JUNE 15^th, per the local ranger district. You are not allowed in the area on lower Grout Bay trail or Gray’s Peak trail until after the 15th of June due to the Eagle habitat which this year is home to a baby Eagle born there this Spring. We changed the suggested hike date to June 30th.

And finally, orienteering punches are confirmed up on 4 of the 6 peaks which will have punches this year (i.e. not San G). Gray’s Peak does not have a punch yet due to not being allowed in the area but will be up within a few days of June 15th. Nobody has checked Delamar Mountain yet. There is a good chance this is still there from last year (not too many people make their way up there so it probably has not been disturbed), but it has not been confirmed yet this year. We should have the word on that within the next week or two.

Thanks for taking the time to read through this. We apologize for the disappointment, but hopefully this helps make the program easy enough to manage that it’s available for hikers year after year. I’m sure over time there will even be some people who turn it into some kind of competition – who can do them all the fastest, or all in one day, or whatever other crazy ideas people have. We just want to encourage you to get out and hike, and there’s never been a more compelling reason than to bag the seven highest peaks and feel the satisfaction of extraordinary accomplishment. Good luck.

– Heather and Ted Devito

The 2012 Seven Summits group hike program is going to be a little different than in years past due to overwhelming numbers of hikers on a few of last year’s hikes (largely due to some off-the-mountain press we’ll be avoiding this time around). While you can still go and hike the peaks on your own, we are implementing a reservation system for the group hikes and limiting the number of participants on the hikes we are actually guiding. This is for everyone’s safety, to minimize environmental impact, and to preserve an enjoyable hike experience for everyone. There will be 30 slots allotted on each hike. We will ask that each hiker sign a waiver when participating on our group hikes, you should fill out in advance and bring to the hike to save time. The waiver can be downloaded here.

Reservations can be made for one hike at a time by calling Mountain Fitness Center 909-866-7020 or at the previous hike. Each hike opens up to take reservation on the day of the previous hike, which gives priority for reservations to anyone on the hike that day. This idea is that this system will give priority to those who are committed to making each hike and sticking to it the whole summer.

If you have completed the Seven Summits hikes with us before and have done any of these hikes more than 5 times and feel comfortable with the navigation to the summit and back, please let us know if you are interested in becoming a hike leader by emailing heather at heatherdevito22@gmail.com

NO RESERVATIONS for the hikes will be taken by email or personal calls, you MUST call Mountain Fitness Center during opening hours to be added to the list.  Thanks for understanding.

The 2012 hike dates are as follows:

1. June 2- Grays Peak » Moved to June 30 due to Eagle habitat
2. June 16- Betha Peak
3. July 14- Gold Mtn
4. July 28- Delamar Mtn
5. Aug 11- Butler Peak
6. Aug 25- Sugarloaf Mtn
7. Sept 15- San Gorgonio

Reservations for Gray’s Peak will start on May 1 and can be done by calling 909-866-7020. Remember we are only taking reservations for the immediately upcoming hike and not for the whole summer at once.

We have started the process of getting finishers patches for all of you who have completed all the summits this year and would like a patch.  I will begin accumulating names of each person that has completed all the summits.  We will be placing the order on Nov 1, so get those summits done and send me your information to make sure you get your finishers patch. Please send the following via email to heatherdevito22@gmail.com and put “Seven Summit finisher” in the subject line.

1- first and last name and age

2- picture of your completed punchcard AND/OR photo’s from the summits.

3- mailing address of where you want your patch(s) sent

Think that is it for now, thanks again for all the fun times this hiking season and we hope to see you again next year.

Part of the 6am crew at the summit

The Seven Summits crew took on San Gorgonio in large numbers last Saturday. They came from different trailheads, started at different times, but in the end the goal of summiting San Gorgonio was accomplished! To the left is a partial group photo of the crew that hiked from South Fork trailhead at 6am, took the Dry Lake route and summited around 1:00pm. This group included Robin and Rick, an engaged couple completing the Seven Summits together for the 2nd year in a row! The weather was beautiful and summit packed with hikers getting in their high altitude “high” before the summer ends.

Other groups were the 7am crew that included 13 year old Marshall who accomplished climbing all the Seven Summits this summer! Way to go Marshall! The majority of this group went up via Dry Lake, but came down via Dollar lake for a nice loop. There was also a crew that braved the cold nights and opted to spend the weekend camping at Dry Lake and summiting on Saturday. Nice job ladies! A few other groups opted for different routes to the summit, including Nat Cohen and his crew coming at it via Fish Creek.

Everyone had a great day and were treated to breathing taking views of Southern California from the highest peak in the area. Congrats to all who took on the challenge of climbing 11,499 feet, you made us proud!

Group hike to Sugarloaf on 9/3/11

Group had a great hike to Sugarloaf, most were getting ready for the big climb up to San Gorgonio. Thanks to everyone who made it, nice work.

The highest peak in the immediate Big Bear Valley will test your strength and stamina, but will provide some great views on the way up. Punch will stay up for a few more weeks, so if you didn’t make it up yet, get on up there!

1) Have hiked at least 5 of the Seven Summits this year

2) Have hiked at least 2 of the summits with the group this year

3) Have hiked either Butler Peak or Sugarloaf  Mtn in UNDER 5 hours this year

If you meet all of these requirements and think you are ready for the 24 miles roundtrip and some serious elevation climbing, then please send an email to Heather at heatherdevito22@gmail.com

Spots will be given on a first come, first serve basis to those who qualify. If there is more than one member to your group, all members must meet the above requirements. Please write the full name of each qualified person interested in joining the hike.

We’ve done most of our navigating with map and compass and did something wrong with the GPS we used when we did the route in June. That means we still don’t have the exact mileage, but we think our estimates are pretty close. Ted’s got plans to go on Wednesday with Grayson’s GPS, but if you plan on hiking Bulter Peak earlier than our group hike on Aug 13th AND have a GPS that can track your hike, please send us the mileage and track (would be soooo cool to start having GPS tracks available on this site…).

Please pay attention to the hike details for a crucial turn off the singletrack and on to the fireroad that you don’t want to miss. Also parking will be delicate at the entrance to Hanna Flats Campground, so please try to carpool if you can and park off to the sides of the road. When you’re parking, think of FIRETRUCKS, not just nimble jeeps, being able to get around your vehicle, and that’s not to mention the normal Saturday vehicle traffic that will be going by… What’s an extra 50 yards on an 11 mile hike to park your vehicle respectfully? Remember to also have your adventure pass visible.

See you up there!