A Climb Story:
What a great time we had on the Mountain. Even though we didn't summit, which was probably best b/c the winds were blowing like crazy, our adventure was a fantastic & memorable one. Our trip to Muir was as perfect as possible, gorgeous sunny skies and good company. Except for the helicopters that kept flying overhead, reminding us that a mountain rescue was underway! Earlier that morning, an RMI guided group went into a crevasse. Fortunately the weather was perfect and allowed for them to be safely removed from the Mtn.
Lights were out that night around 6 PM, although I don't think I got more than about 2 minutes of sleep. I wasn't really nervous, just excited and not very tired. I did get up around dusk to use the portopotty and saw a beautiful view of the last light on the far west. Stunning. The wind had picked up considerably at this point, only to get stronger over the next couple of hours.
They got us up by 1 AM and we were roped up and on the trail by 2 AM. One of my favorite memories was seeing the lights from the groups ahead of us, slowly trekking up Cathedral Rocks. It was beautiful.
Here we are around 12,300 feet, our high point for this trip.
The winds were unrelenting, knocking us over a couple of times even. We saw Little Tahoma's silhouette as we made our way across Ingraham's. WOW! The guides took us up Ingrahams instead of Disappointment, and we spent the next two hours enjoying the sunrise and weaving our way in & out of some crazy ass crevasses. I was starting to feel a little queesy around 12k' and I also had a minor headache. We stopped to break at 12,300' and the winds were very fierce. It was getting pretty miserable, but we wanted to keep going anyways. I mean, hell, we were just 2.5 hours from the top!
However, the mountain had other plans for us that day, and amidst the growing whiteout, our guides called off the trip and turned us around. Definitely a good move, b/c the weather got increasingly worse, and we were thankful to make it down to Muir at what would've been our summit time. Oh well, the mountain will probably be there the next time we return.
Getting down from Muir SUCKED! It was like taking a hike in a blizzard. Paradise never looked so good. The rest of the day was spent working on a few beers and vino, enjoying dinner and playing Pictionary until we were exhausted and ready for bed. All in all, quite the memorable day.
I have a feeling that the girls & I will be heading back for another summit attempt.