14, 179 ft.
It was one the craziest, most exhausting, exhilarating, & scary adventures of my life.
(and the fact that this is FALSE summit just reinforces the insane nature of this peak)
Pre - hike feelings: this is going to be crazy. I'm slightly terrified.
The girls were waaaay outnumbered among these beastly dads & my brothers but Megan and I kept up!
The trek: Bunny Flats --> Horse Camp --> Hidden Valley --> West Face
Day 1 / 4.5 miles / 40 lb packs
CONQUERED.
My feelings at that point: I can totally do this! So ready to climb the summit the next day.
Base camp.
Seth set up the tent while I offered moral support ;)
Love this brother of mine.
We woke up at 3am after about 2 hours of sleep thanks to the ridiculous wind storm. Adrenaline fueled us in those dark hours of the morning; putting on crampons & ice axes, helmets, headlamps, & packing food and water. We set out at about 4am.
Let's crush this.
...or not.
Here's the story:
Mountain - 1. Christine - 0. We scaled the first steep ridge by 5:30am. Even in 20 degrees we were working a sweat so I took my ultra warm gloves off -- bad move. The group had successfully reached a rock ledge to rest but with limited space on the ledge, I sat down on what looked like a secure spot on the snow/ice. Immediately I lost traction and started sliding. Self-arrest with the ice axe didn't go down well and since I didn't have my leash on, I lost the axe. It was pure ice, nothing to grip or grab, just me gaining speed flying down the ridge. I don't remember voices yelling but I do remember knowing I was going to be okay. After sliding about 1000 feet my crampons finally stopped me. YOU HAVE TO BE KIDDING ME I JUST HIKED THAT RIDGE FOR THE PAST HOUR AND A HALF AND NOW I'M BACK AT SQUARE ONE. I guess adrenaline was going wild because all I could think about was summiting the flipping mountain. I stood up and realized my hands were bloody and my ski pants were torn up from my crampons. My hero of a dad slid down after me but cut his arms in the process. Long story short (lol) we made up for lost elevation and climbed to about 11,200 feet but as I sat down to rest, the adrenaline had subsided and I felt like I was going to puke thinking about falling again. Soooo I spent 7 hours with my rock friends while my beastly bros, dad & the crew summited this insane mountain.
I nearly froze to death for about the first 2 hours before the sun hit the side of the mountain....
So I entertained myself taking pics on self timer,
& was almost burned alive once the sun DID come out because I didn't have sunscreen with me!! But I got to reflect on how blessed I am to only have some cuts and bruises from a super dangerous situation.
Plus the glissade down (imagine a snowslide that feels like powdered sugar) was totally rad and made up for the misadventure.
Props to the crew for making it to the summit!
The trek back to the trailhead from base camp with our packs was kind of the worst.
Get me to the car -- like now.
But it was beautiful too :)
I'll be back for you Shasta!
In all,
I am grateful for hands, my dad and brothers, furry eskimo hats, the power of prayer,
and especially mountains -- they are my refuge and sanctuary.
I feel like God knew that mountains would be an important part of my life, so he put me in Oregon & surrounded me with family and friends who love them too.
"As you reach the summit of that mountain, you realize there are higher mountains behind it. And so it is for us. As we elevate ourselves intellectually, spiritually, and in character building ways, we will encounter new and exciting challenges and opportunities that we had not seen before."
-- President Worthen, BYU
I'm getting really, really excited to climb my next mountain.
7 days!
