I did this 11,611' peak in the southern Sierras with a micro influencer I'd met online.
The influencer - let's call her "Soraya Montenegro" - arranged to meet me at the Cottonwood Pass campground. I actually got there on time but didn't see her so started driving around. I ran into her as she was pulling into the lot, and the first thing she said to me was, "you're going the wrong way". So, it didn't start well.
Then, she was faster than me and acclimated. My only recent trip above 10k was doing Baldy from the Notch a couple weeks before. My slowness and huffing and puffing caused some conflict. I don't mind hiking with others who are slower than me, but some people are just that way. Also, since then I've lost over 30 pounds and I'm currently (Spring 2025) doing treadmill intervals where I briefly jog at a 15% grade.
Eventually we made it up the moderately-sloped approach trail, briefly turned onto the PCT, and then began an offtrail portion to the peak. That portion isn't that difficult, just a little steep. Route-finding wasn't a major issue.
Soraya had, of course, gone on to the summit area (but not the actual summit, see below) ahead of me. I still had to gain another 50' or so and, as I looked up, I saw her running back and forth. "WTF is she doing??" I puzzled. Those of you who are more familiar with influencers - especially if you've visited "those" sites - will probably have figured it out. Up to that point I was innocent as a wee bairn.
I made it to the summit area and immediately spotted and went for the actual summit: a boulder about 8' high. As I was climbing up it, Soraya screeched "No climbing! It's dangerous!" I was already on top of the boulder and I attempted to calm her down. I offered to help her up but she refused. So, I signed the register for both of us, even though only one of us got the actual peak. (The Sierra Club says you can claim a peak without getting the summit block, but I disagree.)
While I was doing all that, she had kept running back and forth and the mystery was solved: she was using a tripod and a phone timer to shoot selfies. She'd look at the last shot and set the timer, and then run to the viewpoint. Then, she'd do her best Stevie Nicks impersonation, throwing her shawl in the air in action poses against the back drop of the Sierras.
After downclimbing the boulder - without even the offer of a spot from Soraya - I offered to shoot a few pics of her. Not that I wanted to enable what she was doing, but that's just what is done. Another slight came as the result of that: she had started to go through the pics and said, "at least one or two of these are usually OK". I don't think she was referring to the ones I shot.
She had a signal so not only was she able to post her creations, she made a video chat with a friend.
Needless to say, I looked askance at all of this, and I think she'd picked up on that. I wondered who exactly is the audience for such pics. Women looking for a role model and finding the opposite? Men who think they have a chance but will never? I'm all for doing non-invasive stunts like carrying along an inflatable sheep and taking pics of it on a summit (the fact that I started to do that after Trail Peak is just a coincidence).
However, this influencer stuff smacks of exploitation. If the goal is to look at pictures of pretty girls, why not just shoot the pics on a couch, a bed, or in a not-so-cheap apartment in Chatsworth? If the goal is to look at pictures of mountains, why is there a bimbo in the foreground of each and every shot? If the goal is to get corporate sponsorships (almost always from small corporations), that at least I can understand. Sure, you become a corporate whore, but at least there's a reason for the madness.
Also, I didn't like the idea of bringing the internet along with you on hikes. Not just a video call, but posting to "the 'Gram"? That's a bridge too far.
As we were leaving, Soraya went ahead and waited in the parking lot. I was just grateful for the time alone. After she thankfully cleared off, I drove to Bishop and thence to Yosemite.
