girlclimber

The first posts were made last night around 11 PM though...

You geek!

And the little flashing envelope is driving me crazy, saying I have unread messages that I can't access!

OH!!!

So sad

Winning

Yikes! That sucks, but sounds like you learned a good lesson. "You will do foolish things, but do them with enthusiasm! " Take it easy (not like you have a choice ) and then get back out there

What?? Who's heading to Rainier this weekend?! Oh, I am!

Hmm, are you sure you don't mean the Hodder ? I must admit Kane Hodder has some excellent tunes, you guys should check 'em out

Lol, I think Minxie has me beat. 2747 posts, AND she's a mod!

Oh minx, it's only because all the other girls are jealous. You know how we can be

It's true, boys

I'll do it if you will, cracked!

My dad and I were considering of the same plan. This thread has gotten many replies but almost none has to do with the subject . So no one on the site has done it??

Wow! What I learned from this thread is that I don't spray nearly enough!! And that actually was the funniest thing I've seen in the past thirty days, along with Dru's picture of Distel scaling a sausage

Hooray for freezing your ass off!!!

Thanks for all your comments! I felt so much better after writing down what we'd experienced and then reading the responses. I admit to being amazed by compliments regarding my writing. CBS is correct that I think I'm no good at it. I find it impossible to be objective when it comes to what I've written, so I can never tell whether it sucks or not. Anyway - now that a bit of time has passed, I have a much greater appreciation for this trip and what it taught me. And thank you guys for being part of the aftermath of the adventure

Okay kiddies, the TR is finally up. Don't say I didn't warn ya

Climb: Mt. Rainier-Gib Ledges Attempt Date of Climb: 3/12/2004 Trip Report: Let me first preface this by saying I absolutely hate writing. The only reasons I am typing this report are because some of you have requested it and the fact that I love you all very much. So! Rainier in winter. I figured that would be the next challenge after topping out for the ninth time last summer. Unfortunately the weather made it a big challenge indeed. The only great window was in mid February, when my dad (who is my main climbing partner) couldn’t go. I kept training and hoping. Then, a month later, on Wednesday, I realized the opportunity I had been waiting for was here. Friday and Saturday looked to be the best days. My dad told me with disappointment that being shorthanded at work meant taking Friday off wasn’t an option. Well, I was damned if I was going to sit through another break in the weather when I there was a chance I could climb. CC.COM to the rescue! I found only one other person who was serious about an attempt and whose schedule allowed for it. So AaronB became my partner for the weekend. Climbing with someone you’ve never met is always a risk, but I can’t help but wonder what Aaron was thinking when I met him in Eatonville with my mom in tow (I’m 19 and still live at home for those of you lucky enough not to have met me). A quick transfer of gear and we were on our way. We arrived at sunny Paradise with the mountain in full view. After a bit of repacking and gear-fiddling we left the parking lot at 11 AM. It soon clouded in and a stiff breeze began to blow, coating us in frost. At the bottom of Pan Point we ran into a descending RMI group who had turned back the day before at 13,000 feet due to ‘moderate’ avalanche hazard. We continued in low visibility up to around 8,000 feet where the sunshine made its return. It was warm with surprisingly little wind until the last slope before Anvil Rock. There we ran into a headwind and gusts blew strongly enough to knock us off balance while pelting us with ice chunks. All part of the fun! Sometimes it looked like this: Other times it looked like this: The slog took 5.5 hours, a time with which I was thoroughly unimpressed given the amazing snow conditions - hard sastrugi with no post holing above Alta Vista. The shelter was empty except for my little snowman, who has stood guard there since late October. We set about organizing gear, melting water, and discussing the next day. Crawled into the sleeping bags around 8 and were drifting off to sleep when a light flashed against the wall. Then we saw it again. I jumped out of my sleeping bag, jammed my boots on and ran three steps to the door. Kicking it open, I saw a headlamp attached to a guy attached to skis. I was so shocked I blurted out, “Where did you come from??” And so Dave and Adam joined the party. Naturally they fired up the stoves and all the laughter and talking made it hard to sleep. Around ten o’ clock things began to quiet down. I was all for an early start, but we pushed back our wakeup time to 1:30 AM, still an ungodly hour by any measure. I was up before the alarm and headed out to check conditions. Perfectly calm, 20 degrees, with the stars out in force. None were visible near the summit, but I couldn’t tell if it was due to clouds in the sky or a cap on the mountain. After lazily brewing up and eating a bite, we headed out at 3 AM. Firm snow made for good cramponing, but we weren’t moving as quickly as I would have liked. We followed the first rock ridge to its end, where we had to traverse a snow slope/gully to access the main Cowlitz Cleaver. On the way up to Muir Aaron had noticed an avalanche had cut loose lower on the slope, so that was of some concern. Crossing one at a time we made it safely to the rocks and pushed on. Alternating between rock and snow made it hard to develop a rhythm, and I began to have serious doubts about our chances of summitting. At the Beehive, we stopped to discuss options. The pace was just too sluggish for me to maintain for the rest of the climb, and I knew it would only slow more as we got higher. It had taken us an hour and twenty minutes to reach a point 800 feet above camp. Gaining only 600 feet an hour is just too damn slow IMO. That, combined with iffy weather and the lack of 100% confidence in my partner, led me to pull the plug. Aaron didn’t argue, for which I was grateful. I was so disappointed I felt like crying, but I sucked it up to focus on the descent. We returned to Muir without incident and told Adam and Dave what we’d found. They headed up at close to 6 AM, which seemed pretty late to me. After resting a bit we packed and got outta there. Dave and Adam at the base of the Beehive: Maybe I’m taking it way too seriously, because it was an agonizing defeat for me though I know the summit is not the most important thing. I could take a lesson from Aaron, who was just happy to be up on the mountain in beautiful conditions (btw Aaron thanks for taking the chance of climbing with a total stranger). This is the first climb on which I personally made the call to retreat, so the doubt and “what -ifs” are a new thing for me. But I learned so much more by failing, there’s no way I’d call it a bad decision. There’s always next winter, eh?

The trip sucked, but I'm finally able to speak of it so I'll post a report tomorrow.

Classic Shrub!

I would, but Scotty's a tease. He didn't send anything! And, guys, is "girlclimber" so hard to spell?

Great idea, chucKy baby! I'm down with it all, this site is not the place to take yourself seriously

breasts, sehr gut