Okay, so I'm not convinced that I'm into mountaineering. I've never been all that interested in summiting big peaks, but finally, Brandon convinced me to give it a go on Mt. Baker.
The short write-up is that I didn't love it. In fact, I'm not sure I even remotely liked it.
First, we had to walk a mile carrying our skis on our shoulders b/c the road wasn't yet cleared up to the trailhead. I can't even walk through a ski resort parking lot with my skis on my shoulder without it being a seriously uncoordinated and near-injury effort.
Then, we skinned -sort of- in the forest. Mostly, we had to pick up our skis b/c there were a lot of exposed trees, logs, etc. And the 'snow' was more dirt than snow. Anyway, the rhythm of skinning never really got started.
Next, we had to up a gully. I HATE gullies! I slipped and slid, got nervous, and cursed.
So then, we took our skis off and boot-packed. It looked like we would just need to boot-pack a little ways, just to that top that you can see...and then as soon as you get to that top, you have to go further...and so on for quite some time.
These big black thunderhead rain clouds were chasing our tails the whole way. We finally arrived at a good camp site on the glacier. The wind howled while we set up the tent. It howled so hard as to make relaxing impossible.
Then we went to bed with the intent of getting up at 4am to summit. Hmmm...I HATE 4am, but anyway. At 4am, it was a complete downpour and the summit was shrouded in clouds. 5am, same story. 6am, 7am, same story. 8am, we packed up, had breakfast, and went down, leaving me wondering what was the point of all of this misery?!?
The short write-up is that I didn't love it. In fact, I'm not sure I even remotely liked it.
First, we had to walk a mile carrying our skis on our shoulders b/c the road wasn't yet cleared up to the trailhead. I can't even walk through a ski resort parking lot with my skis on my shoulder without it being a seriously uncoordinated and near-injury effort.
Then, we skinned -sort of- in the forest. Mostly, we had to pick up our skis b/c there were a lot of exposed trees, logs, etc. And the 'snow' was more dirt than snow. Anyway, the rhythm of skinning never really got started.
Next, we had to up a gully. I HATE gullies! I slipped and slid, got nervous, and cursed.
So then, we took our skis off and boot-packed. It looked like we would just need to boot-pack a little ways, just to that top that you can see...and then as soon as you get to that top, you have to go further...and so on for quite some time.
These big black thunderhead rain clouds were chasing our tails the whole way. We finally arrived at a good camp site on the glacier. The wind howled while we set up the tent. It howled so hard as to make relaxing impossible.
Then we went to bed with the intent of getting up at 4am to summit. Hmmm...I HATE 4am, but anyway. At 4am, it was a complete downpour and the summit was shrouded in clouds. 5am, same story. 6am, 7am, same story. 8am, we packed up, had breakfast, and went down, leaving me wondering what was the point of all of this misery?!?
The first sign of trouble...carrying my skis right out of the truck!
Mt. Baker
Boot-packing...
Still boot-packing.
The summit is to our right, completely covered in clouds.
We wished we had brought our ice tools...
The view from the bottom.
Clouds moved in as we crossed Snow Lake...
