Devil's Basin

Snow camping outing with Boe Alps team, the Morteneers.  We hiked in to Devil's Basin, our base camp for the weekend.  Left our cars at the trailhead at 6:45 AM (just south of Verlot Ranger Station, off the Mountain Loop Highway) and arrived to camp at 12:30 PM.

After setting up camp and eating a bit, we geared up and headed towards our summit objective for the day, Devil's Thumb.  The first part of the climb was a flat traverse through a short valley.  While we were kicking steps, a couple of mini avalanches fell just behind us where we had walked.  We continued towards a gully, where we headed more or less straight up to the summit.  We reached the top of one very steep and exposed section.  I was in the lead at that section, and ended up nearly cresting a cornice.  The reality of my error terrified me, and I took a pause and waited on the slope for the rest of the team to catch up and pass me.  I ended up feeling more panicked and shaky than I initially realized, and asked my instructors to help me get to where the rest of the team reached.  My lead instructor tied a rope around my waist, somewhat of a makeshift belay, and pulled me forwards until I reached everyone else.

From that vantage point, the instructors set up several fixed lines, and half of our team made the summit.  Three of us stayed behind.  After my scare I was mentally and emotionally exhausted and decided it would be unsafe for me to continue.  When I considered continuing, I felt my eyes well with tears and my breathing became rapid and shallow.  I had had enough.    Two of my teammates were concerned about daylight (we reached the ridge at 3:45, and by 6:15 there were still four team members to go).  The three of us, plus one instructor headed back to base camp around 7:15 PM, and hit the valley just after the sun set.  The entire team made it back to camp by 9:45 PM.  We sat around our kitchen carved out of snow for a couple of hours and boiled water for dinner and the next day.

On Sunday morning, we woke up around 7:15 AM.  The instructors taught us how to set up a Z pulley system for crevasse rescue.  Each student had the opportunity to practice the skills.  Then one of our instructors gave us a demonstration of how to dig avalanche pits and evaluate the snow layers for avalanche risk.  We broke down camp and headed towards the trailhead at 1:35.  We made it to the cars at 4:35 PM.  Overall, a fun weekend.  I found limits I wasn't aware I had, and felt deeply humbled by the patience and responsiveness of my team when I reached out for help.  Our team felt cohesive throughout the trip, and we created more memories together.