My good friend Tracy Wilson was my rope leader. Tracy was my inspiration for joining 3 Summits - this year marks her third climb with the group, and first time as rope leader. (she completed her second IronMan Triathlon a couple of weeks before the climb. Get it Tracy).
Thats Mary on the right, Leigh in the middle. Glad to be at Muir, ready to drop the heavy packs. Leigh shared my red tent with me. I felt a mild headache when we reached camp. My headache turned into sinus and chest congestion and shortness of breath mid-way through the night. By the end of the next day, my body acclimatized to the altitude and my breathing returned to usual.
High winds greeted us on Saturday morning. The original plan was to take a day hike up to Ingraham Flats for practice with the ropes and self-arrest. Due to the cold temps, we spent the day relaxing and eating in our tents and congregating in the leaders' tent. Alex reviewed tying knots with a few of us. Abi assumed water duty and boiled snow for the team's water supply.
Twilight on Saturday; we napped for a couple hours before 12 AM wake-up call. Target departure from camp was 1 AM for summit push. We left about 1:30 AM; headlamps on. A trail of glowing bodies lined up for hundreds of feet could be seen from camp as other teams started up the mountain ahead of us. The scene was reminiscent of planes circling the sky awaiting an open runway at an international airport. The moon was nearly full and provided a brilliant light to view the mountains and valleys below us.
Sunrise. Our team made it to the top of Disappointment Cleaver, and across a traverse on the side of the mountain before turning around due to high winds and visible descending grey storm clouds. (the picture above was taken minutes before we turned around). We felt strong, physically, and none of us experienced ill effects from the elevation. Our rope team was solid. Tracy did an excellent job of keeping us mentally strong. Soon after we started our descent, the winds picked up and pushed me into the side of the mountain. I panicked, and froze. I stopped moving. There was a team behind us also trying to get down the mountain. I paused for probably ten, twenty seconds, It felt like an hour. Tracy moved into a self-arrest position against the mountain to emphasize her point, and hollered compassionately at me "its solid! You have to keep moving!" I snapped out of my mental paralysis and followed her the rest of the way down the mountain. Our altitude at the highest was approximately 12,700 feet. Originally I thought we made it past 13,000 feet and later was corrected.
Some shots of the hike from Muir to Paradise.
The group - Tracy, me, Mary. Leigh, Deb, Jesse, Leslie (Seattle locals). Alex and Abi drove in from Wyoming. Kevin and David flew in from Colorado. John drove over from the Olympic Peninsula.
No summit this time. Enhanced mental agility, flexibility, and endurance. I felt satisfied with our accomplishment, even though the stated goal wasn't reached. We stopped in Ashford for group lunch before parting to our respective destinations.
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