We woke up around 0530h Friday morning with the sun beginning to warm the tent as it made it's way above the clouds and across the sky. About a thousand feet below us a thick cloud layer billowed out from the mountain, covering up everything below, and giving Ingraham Flats a magical feel. Above there was nothing but blue sky, and with this beautiful view to wake up to none of us were too enthusiastic to leave camp that day, and took our team getting ready. I think it's safe to say that we would have been pretty content to just stay there another day, enjoying the view, and relaxing on the sun in the glacier - unfortunately our planes' all left at 0600h sharp the next morning, so we needed to get off the mountain some time that day...Not wanting to carry down more than we
had to, we went ahead and made a breakfast fit for champions - using up the remainder of our freeze-dried meals, including a tasty cheescake dessert of Sharon's! Slowly packing up, we took our last pictures of the area, re-hydrated, and tried to keep from leaving too soon. Sarah, a guide from Alpine Ascents Intl. came up to our camp looking for a lighter for their stoves, and it was great to talk to her about her experiences as a guide, especially because she typically does at least one trip a year to Alaska to climb Denali (and I, of course, am from Alaska... though have unfortunately yet to climb Denali - perhaps next spring, anyone interested?). We had fun chatting about Alaska, skiing in the Tetons (where she spends most of the year), etc., and she invited us to come check out their guide/meal tent which they share with one of the other guide services (each group rotates their days on the mountain, and thus who gets to use the tent). I eventually made it down there to check it out, and it was pretty slick - they had 8 MSR whisperlights set up in two groups of 4, on top of which sat two large pots. This allowed them to make a enough water at a time for their meals for their entire group - it was great! The tent was floorless and dugout to allow people to stand inside, and their were seats dug out all the way around. She was a great gal too, and reminded me of some of my favourite friends b
ack home (for those from Alyeska, she reminded me of a young Alex Von Wichman). Anyhow, once again, I digress... bottom line - mountain people rock, and I miss spending more time in the hills...
had to, we went ahead and made a breakfast fit for champions - using up the remainder of our freeze-dried meals, including a tasty cheescake dessert of Sharon's! Slowly packing up, we took our last pictures of the area, re-hydrated, and tried to keep from leaving too soon. Sarah, a guide from Alpine Ascents Intl. came up to our camp looking for a lighter for their stoves, and it was great to talk to her about her experiences as a guide, especially because she typically does at least one trip a year to Alaska to climb Denali (and I, of course, am from Alaska... though have unfortunately yet to climb Denali - perhaps next spring, anyone interested?). We had fun chatting about Alaska, skiing in the Tetons (where she spends most of the year), etc., and she invited us to come check out their guide/meal tent which they share with one of the other guide services (each group rotates their days on the mountain, and thus who gets to use the tent). I eventually made it down there to check it out, and it was pretty slick - they had 8 MSR whisperlights set up in two groups of 4, on top of which sat two large pots. This allowed them to make a enough water at a time for their meals for their entire group - it was great! The tent was floorless and dugout to allow people to stand inside, and their were seats dug out all the way around. She was a great gal too, and reminded me of some of my favourite friends b
Eventually, probably around 0830 or 0900 we began making our way off the glacier, past the Cathedral gap bowling alleys, down the scree of the Cathedral Gap, and across Cowlitz Glacier to Camp Muir. As we descended, the cloud layer below us began to burn off, and by the time we had arrived at Muir, there were only spotty clouds left that soon also broke up. Muir was packed with people hoping to make it up over the weekend, and we were happy that we had decided to do our trip during the week, and spent two of our nights at Ingraham Flats instead of Muir. After chatting with some people about the route ahead, we made our way down the snowfield, boot-skiing and glissading our way down on our own, until we met up again at Pebble Creek. Dan and Amy had mentioned they might come up and meet us here, but not seeing them we re-hydrated at the creek and continued down.
On the way down, I found myself doing something that I seem to always do when leaving the alpine. I searched for every inch of snow possible to boot-ski, and really just wanted to be on my own, relishing these last moments on the mountain, and listening to the silenc
e of the hills. I took off ahead of the group in spurts, boot skiing, hiking back up, and boot skiing again at times, but normally just trying to stay out of talking earshot, and on the snow. It's sad to have to return to reality and everyday life, and it's during these moments that I wonder why I have chosen the academic route instead of sticking to the hills. I sensed that Sharon must have felt a similar sadness to the thought of leaving the mountain, and as Brian and Michelle walked ahead to the parking lot, her and I fell farther behind enjoying these final moments in heaven.
e of the hills. I took off ahead of the group in spurts, boot skiing, hiking back up, and boot skiing again at times, but normally just trying to stay out of talking earshot, and on the snow. It's sad to have to return to reality and everyday life, and it's during these moments that I wonder why I have chosen the academic route instead of sticking to the hills. I sensed that Sharon must have felt a similar sadness to the thought of leaving the mountain, and as Brian and Michelle walked ahead to the parking lot, her and I fell farther behind enjoying these final moments in heaven.We were met in the parking lot by Dan and Amy whom had just come up from below, sporting left-over steak goodies from the previous evening's dinne
r, and a wide variety of brews that they'd picked up during the previous days after their hikes around the Snow Lake area, Tatoosh Range, and Box Canyon. We hung around the parking lot for a while, sharing our adventures, and then eventually packed up around 1630h and made our way back to Seattle, only stopping for dinner along the way. We got to Seattle late, and only had time to pack and clean up, before catching about 2 hours of sleep, and heading to the airport first thing... I on my way to Alaska, Michelle on her way to an adventure race in Nevada, and the rest on their way back to San Diego.
r, and a wide variety of brews that they'd picked up during the previous days after their hikes around the Snow Lake area, Tatoosh Range, and Box Canyon. We hung around the parking lot for a while, sharing our adventures, and then eventually packed up around 1630h and made our way back to Seattle, only stopping for dinner along the way. We got to Seattle late, and only had time to pack and clean up, before catching about 2 hours of sleep, and heading to the airport first thing... I on my way to Alaska, Michelle on her way to an adventure race in Nevada, and the rest on their way back to San Diego.
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