6 miles of hiking • 4500' elevation gain •
New moon and a very dark and quiet morning on the mountain. Clear until about 7am but windy.
Feeling strong at the Hogsback, but I was alone and a little scared by the looks of the traverse to the Old Chute. One rope team crossed it, but two other groups turned back here. I decided that was enough for me. I'll have to summit another day( or year).
Comments
jon
June 8, 2013
This isn't letting me edit my comments, but also, that roped team ended up turning around as well. By the way, did you see the guy wearing jeans and sneakers, while carrying a wooden ice axe from what must have been the early 1900's?
Jen
June 9, 2013
Ha ha I remember when that old geezer passed me just before reaching the Hogsback. That ice axe and little daypack was hoot, you should have seen his steel and leather crampons. He was wearing lugsole boots though, not sneakers. As I turned back down, he was heading for the Pearly Gates. I'll bet he made it just fine. Posted a picture of our ol timey mountaineer for ya.
jon
June 8, 2013
Jen, I was in the first of those two groups that turned around.
The high traverse was in fairly bad shape as we moved across it. At a couple points, I couldn't securely kick or anchor into the snow, and being unroped, we were worried not only about getting though it, but also the returning across it after another hour or so of warming up. Not to mention that the wind gusts weren't helping.
After that, we returned to the Hogsback and chatted with that roped team and they decided to go low around the hot rocks and then up. Since that lenticular cloud was starting to build around the same time, we waited and watched out of worry of getting caught halfway up the chute in the windy, bad weather.
Too bad the conditions didn't work out for a summit, but it was still a fantastic Friday morning with some awesome views!