Straight out of a Horror Flick

This past weekend we went camping at the base of Mt. Rainier, Wa. At approximately 14,400 ft it is the tallest mountain (volcano) in the continental US.

It is quite an unbelievable place. Last summer we stayed on the south side of the mountain and hiked around the vastly popular Paradise area (read: over-crowded). This is the point where most climbers planning to summit Rainier begin their expedition. This trip we decided to explore a different area of Rainier and camp somewhere a little more remote. So we packed up our camping gear and the dogs and headed out to a little known rustic camping area (Summit Creek) in the Grifford Pinchot National Forest. The area is well off the highway and not clearly marked; which was great because our group of 11 & 3 dogs were pretty much the only ones there.

Maddie & Mika.

We took a pretty sweet 6 mile hike up to Crystal Lakes right near the Sunrise viewing area (which we also visited) on the Northern side of the mountain. Check out the gorgeous view from this Alpine lake:

Bunce & R took a frigid swim out to explore this tiny island:

After spending an awesome afternoon hiking & swimming we returned back to camp and experience a scene that was practically straight out of a horror flick. At the dirt road entrance that leads to our camp a sketchy fake looking ambulence was parked. A large shirtless man was sitting in the front seat. From the dirt road turnoff it is about 3 miles back through the woods to where we were camping and we had left J. Moose at the campsite with the three dogs since she had broken her foot rock climbing last week. We were a bit worried when we saw the ambulence, but it got even sketchier as we drove back to our site. Walking along the side of the road was this middle aged guy in a white shirt and hunting vest with blood all over his arms and face. He seriously looked like he had just killed something or ... someone. A bit of panic overtook us as we sped up to get back to camp, only to find that she and the dogs were gone. Oh Shit.

We get out of our cars and just kind of look around at each other absolutely speechless. Just then we hear some barking and the three dogs come running out of the woods; followed by J. Thank God! She had not seen the creepy, bloody guy and was alright. Then two police cars come flying up the dirt road and zip right past our campsite. At that moment we were all pretty sure that we had just seen a murderer.

About 30 minutes later the police vehicles come back down the road and we flag them down to tell them about the suspicious, bloody, creepster we saw. Turns out he was not a murderer; but some guy who was camping with his buddies that all got drunk, beat him up, pushed him off of a cliff, stole his car and drove off. Oh that is MUCH better than an ax murderer! (note the sarcasm) Sounds like that guy has some winner friends. The police officers ensured us that the situation was taken care of and that we would be safe where we were. Thankfully our group consisted of about 8 guys and three really big dogs, otherwise I don't think I would have been able to sleep that night.

Anyway, we rounded out the night with the usual campfire cooking, drinking, & awesomeness.

Super delicious Washington sweet corn.

All in all a great weekend. Oh yeah and I am super thankful that my friends aren't the kind that get drunk, beat each other up and drive away.

The Breakthrough

Over 4th of July weekend, I headed out of town to do a little bit of fear conquering with a few friends. As I have mentioned climbing is quite terrifying to me. I did not comprehend how people could actually enjoy this sport; until I built up the courage to try it again this weekend.
This is a picture of my first route of the trip. It was a challenging 5-8 to 5-9 rated route. When my turn to climb approached I began to tremble with fear; my whole body was shaking as I started to ascent. Gradually I became more confident as I was able to make good holds and moves upwards...that is until I got stuck. After failing at making the neccessary maneuver to get to the next point and falling a few times, I lost all my confidence and I was just spent. I bribed my belayer a beer to let me down (ha!). Although I did not make it to the top, I felt much better about this climb than my previous trip.

The next climb that we did was on an outcropping called "XY Rock". As you can see from the picture below, the name is quite fitting. This is a very different kind of climb than others I have done. It is a crack climb, that utilizes a fist anchor technique. This is when you place your hand in the crack and make a fist and use it as an anchor as you pull yourself upwards. It is definitely a heavy strength move, but it is very stable, which makes climbing a bit less terrifying. On this route, I was able to successfully make it to the top without falling. A sense of relief flooded my body as my feet hit the ground after completing the climb. My whole body had been trembling the entire time as I was ascending. I still was not sold on the sport at this point.

After we had all tried the X route, the more experienced climbers decided to tackle the much more difficult Y route. They had a blast working this crack as they enjoyed the challenge it posed. I still thought they were crazy and was working up the courage to try a different approach on the X crack. When it was my turn to go, I felt a bit less nervous than usual. I got up on the rock and all of a sudden it clicked; I no longer felt scared. I felt sure-footed and confident. Each move I made was swift and calculated; I could not believe how quickly I had reached the top. It was absolutely exhilarating. Finally, I understood why my friends enjoyed climbing so much. For the first time I felt the thrill of victory as I conquered my fear and made the rock my bitch. That is right, my bitch!

On a side note, I came back from climbing completely sore, covered in scratches and bruises...oh yeah and I was absolutely coated with dirt and grime from head to toe...it was just like I was a kid again! Awesome.

Here I am making a sweet move on the X crack.

So Much For Being Fearless

Rock climbing is truly awesome. However, it scares the living crap out of me...and I only found this out after I was already up & climbing. I honestly don't think I have ever physically felt "fear" before in my whole life until this experience. I've jumped off of cliffs, bungee jumped, skied some ridiculous cliffs & terrain, done a whole bunch of other crazy stuff and nothing has ever compared to my experience with rock climbing.

I am not afraid of heights or falling for that matter. But rock climbing is both a physical & mental challenge. You have to be strong enough to hold yourself to the rockface and pull yourself up higher. Mentally you need to be calculating your next move and willing your body to trust your fingers and toes that are clinging to the holds.

I started my first climb ever (pictured here) with excitement and enthusiasm; it was only when I got about halfway up that I realized how difficult this sport really is. Seriously, the people I was climbing with made it look so easy...I thought "hey, I am in good shape, I will be able to just fly right on up to the top!" I was dead wrong.

My hands and legs were fatigued within a few minutes; muscles I didn't even know I had ached in misery. As my body seemed to begin to fail, so did my demeanor. I suddenly began to lose faith in my capability to make it to the top. Moreover, I began struggling to find the right holds to progress upwards. Fortunately, I was able to make it to the top of this climb, but once my feet hit the ground my gut was telling me not to go back up.

We moved from this route (a respectible 5-8 on the climbing scale) to a more difficult route (5-9) that required more arm strength than the previous. When it was my turn to make the climb, my arms & legs began to tremble. A little less than halfway up the face I hit a spot where I had difficulty making the reach. As I was trying to secure my hold and move upward, I lost my grip and fell. I did not find the falling to be scary or unsettling, but slowly as I kept trying to stick the hold (it was my only reachable option to move onwards) my stomach began tying into tight nots. Sharp quivers ran down my spine as I continued unsuccesfully to secure my position on the rockface; my body began a cold sweat. After falling about 5 more times, (each time I became more reluctant to restart) I suddenly burst inexplicably into tears. I had to get down, ASAP.





Once lowered to the ground, I had no words to explain the anxiety I felt to my worried friends. I had no rational explanation for how my body physically turned against me. All I could think was, "wow, that is what fear feels like," and that I did not want to go back up climbing, EVER. Although I had an uncomfortable experience, I enjoyed being out there and watching my friends tackle the wall with skill and expertise. I longed to be able to climb with such confidence and calmness as they seemed to exude. Only a few days later a few of my friends came and told me that what I felt physically is what they experience mentally in their heads as they climb.

Since that first trip, my friends have persisted on trying to get me back out there. I have continually declined the offer because I am too scared that I will breakdown again. However, this weekend, I finally agreed to take another stab at it...

I think I am going to be sick. Haha.

Adventure Part 2

So the two "adventurers" hiked along the ridge, we strapped on our gear and started carving a sweet powder stash still naive to our tragic mistake. It was a steep, tree-filled line that was well worth the hike....until, BAM! I am close-lined by a bent over sapling, hidden under the snow. 

Face down, with one leg caught on the sapling up over my head, I start to panic. A searing pain shoots up from my ankle. CRAP.  A sense of calm washes over me as I hear SB charging back up through the deep snow to help me.   I do a one handed push up (which under normal circumstances I can hardly do a two handed girl push up, adrenaline is a powerful thing) and reach back to try to release my binding; only to fail miserably - stupid expert level DIM setting. I try once more and by an act of god the binding finally to releases, just as SB arrives.  Thankfully I am ok and he does not have to fashion a sled out of his snowboard to get me down to the bottom.  That and a helicopter rescue just wasn't in the budget for this month.

Crisis averted, SB & KP go back to shredding some serious powder.  So worth the nearly broken ankle.  All is awesome, until we run into some tele-skiers who so kindly inform us that we are in fact dumb-asses and are NOT in Ski Bowl and are actually quite a ways away (especially sans skins & tele bindings).  But not to worry, if we keep going down there is a big chance that we will run into either Mirror Lake or the highway at some point.  Nice.

I turn to SB and say, "well we better start enjoying the nature, or we are toast." (this is based on a prior discussion that occurred earlier in the day where an outdoor survival tv show talked about how most people who survive being lost in the woods took time to enjoy the wilderness..and by damn, we were going to survive. Yay nature!) After a bit more shredding and nature enjoying we successfully made it to Mirror Lake.  There we are informed by a group of snowshoers that the highway is another 2 miles down a narrow switch-back trail and that we could probably hitch hike back to the resort from the trailhead.

Halfway down the trail we run into a nice couple on their way back down.  They sympathize with our stupidity and offer us a ride in their pickup at the bottom. SCORE.  They tell us to just wait for them at the trailhead.  Ten minutes later we run into another group of snowshoers coming up the trail who ask us if we had a pickup parked down below....because, um, it's about to get towed.  Shoot, there goes our ride.  But alas, SB & KP are fighters. We decide to storm down the rest of the trail and try to rescue the car of the people rescuing us - no matter what.

As you can see from the celebratory picture above, we totally made it.  Followed shortly after (seriously, they hauled ass down the trail once they got word their car was about to get towed) by the awesome people with the pickup.  We save the car, hop in the back, and get dropped off right at the base of Ski Bowl, 5 feet from the lift.

Oh yeah, and the whole epic tale only lasted about 2 hours.  We had time to do another run before we were supposed to meet the rest of the TC ski crew for beers. What an adventure.

The End.

Intermission

Just a little slice of heaven...

Timberline @ Mt. Hood, Oregon

Windows 2 - Breckenridge, Colorado

Honeycomb Caynon - Solitude, Utah

Word of the Day: Adventure

"Adventure is my trigger word; once it has been uttered, there is no turning back." - SB

It was slightly past 8am when the TC ski crew assembled. The car was littered with skis, rockstar energy drinks, snow gear, and tired/hungover, yet happy passengers. It was setting up to be a perfect slope-side day; even though the crew had gotten a late start.

The destination was Mt. Hood, Oregon; home of Mt. Hood Meadows & the infamous Timberline (its lodge served as the setting for "The Shining") ski resorts. Unfortunately, the entire population of Portland must of woke up and thought to themselves, "hey, what a great day for shredding," because Meadows was at max capacity and closed down. Instead of heading another 30 minutes up and around the mountain to Timberline, the TC crew opted to hit up a more local & low key hill right near by. This is where the word "adventure" turned a normal ski day into an awesome tale.

Now, you see, when you hike up to an area and see a sign that says something along the lines of "Danger, you are going into backcountry full of avalanches, peril, and places where no one can hear you scream and no one will be able to save you unless you can afford to charter a helicopter," think twice before entering. Also, double check your map.

SB: "Yo, did you read that sign?"
KP: "Yeah, something about snow and things like that. Don't worry, that just means the terrian is sick over there!"
SB: "Do you think it leads out to a lift at the bottom?"
KP: "Well, there are a bunch of tracks headed this way and I think I see another skier over there, so it definitely must."
SB: "Are you sure?"
KP: "Come on, it will be an ADVENTURE."
SB: "Damn, that's it, we're going."


See the red circle and the arrow going outside of the ski area? That is where KP & SB decided was the best place to catch some sick powder. Clearly NOT in the ski area and clearly does NOT lead down to a lift.






But, they had not figured it out....yet. (To be continued)