Volcano Trip!

Well the trip started out on Wednesday the 6th of June, 2012.  I was dropped off at the airport at 6 am and was in Billings MT by 10am.  I hung around and saw some friends that evening, Shawn and I packed the car.
The following morning, we were off.  A long drive brought us to stay in Oregon for the night.  Friday morning we headed back into WA with a drive down the Columbia River.  I had done little research on Mt Adams.  All I really knew was that it can be done in a day or two and should be a good warm up.  After talking to the ranger she told us several things.  One, she said we needed snowshoes.  - I didnt agree with this due to the cold weather so after a bit of debate we ignored it.  Two a winter storm is coming in for the weekend and it may get nasty.  We figured worst comes to worst we hike out.  So we ignore that.  Three, the last 4 miles or road is snow packed and that will add a total of 8 miles to the round trip.  We said well, lets give it a shot.  We made it to where the road closed and packed up.   We met an interesting guy from Seattle, originally from the UK.  His pack made ours look small.  He had some radio equipment with him, not sure why.  He took off before us.  We ran into him about 4 miles up the road.  We told him we planned on getting as high as we can.  We pushed on.

We set up camp just below treeline.  We werent aware of all the avalanche danger so we made sure we were in an area that was safe from slides.  We set up the tent and hunkered in.  The area was ravaged by high winds.  It was going to be a long miserable night.

We woke up in the morning and the wind began to blow.  We decided to abandond the summit attempt.  Weather was moving in and we didn't want to burn ourselves out for the real mission, Mt Rainier.  We packed up and headed out.  We figured we would be back sometime and we need to focus on our main objective. 

Then we were off to the Beach.  Our rest day was to be spent at the beach.  Which changed when we got there and it was dead.  Oh Well, off to Olympia.  We stayd there the night, and went to a gear shop the following morning to work some bugs out of our gear.  We wrapped up there quickly and headed off to Rainier.  Rented some Avi Beacons in Ashford.  Got some Beta from other climbers then headed to the trailhead to scope it out.  This is when we made the call to abandond Liberty Ridge and climb the Emmons Glacier.  We ran into a little cinnimon colored black bear at the trailhead when we were checking it out but then we realized we could not legally camp at that trailhead so we backtracked to a legal campground (where I blogged "Car Camping") 

That night my thoughts raced, tomorrow was our first day.  We were sleeping in comfort but some of these comforts would be gone tomorrow.  We packed our bags and repacked them making sure we have the gear to be comfortable for up to 5 days.  Our packs were heavy but it would be worth it if we are in it for the long haul. We get up and take off early.  We get over and get our climbing permits.  A 6 man team was heading up Liberty Ridge.  They were sure about it.  We told them summiting had become our priority and because of recent weather and poor forcasts, we decided to change our objective.  We headed off on the trail, we had about 6 miles to go but they were a tough 6 miles with 70lb packs.  We sucked it up and pushed through and did some postholing.  

We even almost got lost near the end.  Some quick navigation skills made us realize we were right on track.

We finally get to camp after I nearly drop my shovel into a Crevasse.  We set up a sturdy camp because it may be home for the next 5 days.  We have a great view of the mountain.

The hike to camp Sherman is an expedition on its own.  Not an easy hike but alot of people go up there for a few days just to hang out, wear crazy colors and grow a beard with no intention of even attempting the summit.  

So 1 day passes where snow is blowing all over the mountain.  The following day is supposed to be our window.  The weathers not getting any better they say.  So we eat, sleep, drink, repeat.  Until 11:30 PM.  We get up, and get ready.  The wind is blowing.  HARD.  but the skies are clear.  All we can do is hope the wind dies down and we leave camp at 1:30 AM following a group we had been hanging with.  We began.  After an hour of hiking you could see all the headlamps from the guided trips starting to head up.  You keep going.  You have to set a pace.  Your pace is faster in the begining because you're at a lower elevation.  My pace at this level is I am breathing as I walk.  you get the timing down.  You are on a rope team so you cant hear anyone else.  you try and get the same pace to keep from tugging anyone.  You take a few steps as you breath in and out.  You look around at viscious topography like Ice falls and giant cravasses.  You hear your breath.  For me the best way to describe it is like being on the moon.  And honestly, you kind of black out.  Your body shuts off, the pain and misery that is 40-60 mph winds go away and your filled with something else.  You step and breathe and step and breathe.  you hear every breath like you have an astronauts helmet on.  You think intensly about every step you take and every axe placement.  Before you know it the sun is coming up.  Just in time too all of your finger tips are numb.  The sunrise was one of the most amazing things I have ever seen.  it was definitely an alien experience.  

 Right about then a single man shows up behind me.  Harlan was in a group of 3, which one got sick and the other 2 went down.  He pushed on ahead of us.  I offered up a spot on shawn and my rope since we had pleanty of rope, he said maybe on the way down.  We were about at 12,500 feet.  3,000 feet from camp and lmost 2,000 feet from the summit.  A few hundred feet later, the party in front of us turned around.  The wind was too much for them and they felt it was too dangerous to go on.  We disagreed.  The wind wasn't getting worse.  It wasn't adding to avalanche conditions....  We pushed on.  We dug in the mountain at about 12,800 ft.  Myself, Shawn and Harlan talked.  We learned that Harlan had to be at work that night at 9:30PM.  He was a paramedic in Portland.  He had 2 days off so he thought he'd go climb Rainier.  After about an hour we realized the wind wasn't dying down.  By this time I realize my water was all frozen.  I stick my bottle in my jacket to hope it melts.  It never really does.  We take off for the top.  We make it about another 1000 feet and dig in again.  Harlan asked if either of us were thinking of turning around because of the wind.  Shawn said NO we are not turning around.  The top is right there.   We discussed the weather again.  No snow was on the horizen.  We pushed on.  We summited at 10:06am.  It was surreal.  WIth the wind it may as well been mount Everest.

The Hike up was easy.  I mean it was not nearly as taxing as I thought it would be.  But I did train harder for this than anything I have ever done in my life.  Actually I dont know if I knew what to expect.  It was my first time at the mountain.  It was the first time I had seen it.  All I know was photos and what I read.  It was not the same as I am sure you can imagine.  I need a few of these mountaineering expeditions before I can really learn to embrace an alpine climbing style.  Anyway we got off the top quickly.  No one had any water.  we did our best to drink the last drops and pushed down.  It took 4 hours to get down.  It was a long day.  When we got to camp we were pretty tired.  Harlan took a 1 hour nap before he skied down to his car.  We talked to some rangers and they said we were the only team to summit that day on any route.  except for a ranger team that summited later.  Shawn and I drank water and ate food and slept till the next day when we hiked out.  The adventure was over.  We ran into the guys who were doing liberty on the way out.  They got to the bottom of the ridge and watched slides come off of it for 3 days before they hiked out.   We hoped our friends had better luck later in the week but they did not.  Fred and Andrea did try another route and Board down it, Andrea became the first woman to have a snowboard decent on that route.  All in all we had a blast.

That day we stayed Ashford at the climbers lodge.  It was great.  Had alot of Fun, then to Seattle, then back to Billings then back to denver to the Heat.  Where I began thinking about what I got out of this and what I will do next to challange myself.