Josh Lewis

Thanks! I appreciate it! We will have to take extra cation in the future on that.

Did it? We wondered as we were heading down if it was going to. So did you place it back on the same spot?

Currently we need more people to attend this.

Here is the facebook page on it: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=123546207692078

For kicks. I figured I would admit that I've almost climbed Mount Adams.

Trip: Mount Adams - Pikers Peak Date: 8/26/2008 I been wanting to go to Mount Adams for many years, and even had plans but they never really worked out due to my mother having a very busy life and money issues and of coarse us all being prepared. But fortunatly for me and my brother, an oppertunity arose when Mark Straub, one of my friends mentioned he wanting to go, and that his dad would be taking us. Unfortunatly Adam could'nt go do to knee problems, so my brother went in his place. Atfirst my other brother would'nt let him go, which really frusterated me and disappoined me because if he could'nt go, I could'nt go because of liability issues and such. But thank goodness my mother stepped in and convinced my brother into letting him go, the reason I would'nt have been able to in the first place is becuase of my other brother who is Handicaped who needs some one to help him. Also we had to rent some mountaineering boots, which were $30 per pair. I pack all my gear, and was about to pack extra water but Mark tells me he has a purifier and that it is fine. So on the Night of August 25 we head out to Mount Adams. I could'nt help but be so exited.... and had to wait a long time due to it being 300 miles away and strangly as it sounds, we had to go from Seattle to Oregon and then back into Washington to access Mount Adams. When we were close, we got some what lost but found a ranger station but it was night so it was closed and we read the signs for directions and got our passes, and I could see Mount Adams as a dark shadow from the slight moon light. We drove up to the parking lot, which the road was better than I thought, although at parts its best to go slow due to some what rough roads, not because its dangerous but because its hard on your car. At the parking lot, there were plenty of spots to choose from, although most were taken up, it was a nice forested area to spend the night in. I slept good as I always do in the Mountains, and woke up to some nice breakfast pancakes but no syrup to add on it, but hey, they were great anways! I could see part of Mount Adams though the trees, and it looked as though there had been a light dusting of snow, which to me is a good thing! One thing that still bothers me to this day is when we were about to head out, Mark said do you have enough water, and I said thats what your purifier is for and he said "You guys are screwed" and that really made me feel almost uncomfortable.... to start the trip like that? Oh well, some times it's best to let things like that go and move on. We stated the hike out nice a flat like along this unmaintained jeep road, and through the forest some views broke out, and Mark was upset at me for taking some photos. Perhaps I was a little irresponsible with the sense of taking photos, but I cought up and all and was not too over carried away as I normally am. Evenually it became more trail like, and it split up into Two groups. Mark and Dan (Dan is Mark's Dad) and I was with Michael (which is my brother) and as usual Dan and Mark are the faster ones. But to me, to rush is not my game, I come to the mountains to enjoy them, and go at my own pace, and truly enjoy the scenery and the wildlife. But I still could'nt help put feel weird that Mark is already getting upset with me. As we go up, it gets hot, so we find a good spot to stop and eat. At this point, Mark is way ahead, and soon we got to the first snow. Because some of it is fresh from a few nights ago, we were able to scope it into my water bottle for later, and refresh our selfs. As we hike up, it startes to get late, but we finally arrive at lunch counter. At Lunch Couter, at first we cannot find Mark, but a waving figure in the distance waved us over and sure enough it was them. At this point, I could feel the altitude have its toll on me, I was dizzy and exausted, but fortunatly had some headache medicine. We were above the snow, and near a small creek, which turns out was my only way of getting water, at this point it was 9,000-9,500 feet. Mark and Dan drank from it and said it was fine. At first I was worried about there being parisites and such, but there was hardly any vegitation at this altitude so I hoped for the best and we all drank from the creek. We set up camp, I relaxed a bit and has some beans and took a bunch of photos of the view, it was awesome! It was as if being on the planet Mars, there were some much rock, but hardly any to no vegitation for a long ways around. And above was the scramble which we would wake up at 3:00 A.M. to go up to the false summit and attempt the true summit. As we went to sleep, the wind picked up. http://www.joshklewis.com/images/hiking/mount_adams_sunset_panorama.jpg http://www.joshklewis.com/images/hiking/mount_saint_helens_panorama.jpg I slept great for the amount of time that we slept which was'nt that much, but enough to keep me going until the rest of the next day. I did not have a head ache to my suprise. We woke before we originally planned and the wind was howling a lot, causing me to worry a bit, but it was mostly clear as I look out the cold tent, unfortunatl because our tent is weak from a broken poll, it dipped inward, so we had to take down the tent mostly so that it does'nt blow away during the accent which we would be leaving a majority of our gear at base camp. While I was going out to get some water for the trip before we left, as I came back, it turns out while my brother was taking down the tent, a rock which was on a rock pile shielding our tent fell over onto his finger, which sprained it, and at the time we were worried that it was broken. This worried me, not only could it have endangerd the trip, but I was a bit concernded about it, but my brother decided we would atleast attempt to make it to the false summit regardless of his finger. Thanks goodness I thought to myself. And we packed up our gear, and I had three layers of shirts, and the moon was shining, enough light to make the scramble possible without a headlamp. At first my brother kept falling behind because he kept having some trouble arranging his gear or something like that, and Dan was getting upset because he kept ignoring us, and would fall behind without communicating, and he was listening to music, which we made him take off. The accent at first was'nt as bad as I thought it would be. I mean it was some what tiring, but nothing of the extreme. It kept going up and up, and I could see lots of headlamps below, we took the boulder route, while the other climbers below took the icy snow route. As I went up, I would be careful of rocks, because at some parts it got loose, and after all this going up I down layered so that I would'nt over heat. Later I could start to see some blue and other colors in the sky as the sun started to come up, but it was a while before that. By this point, Mark and Dan separated from us, but not by too much, because we could see them in front of us. The scamlbe up was so exhilarating, it was something so diffrent from anything I have ever done, yet It's felt like i have done it before. I even did'nt take photos until the false summit because I was so consentrating on making it up. It eventually got less boulder like and more of a icy rock, and once again the altitude started having its effects on me, not just on my breathing, but also my brain. I could see the deep firy reds and the ridges that were coming into view. What a beauty I thought to myself. I kept going and going, and soon could see the false summit above glowing from the Alpen Glow, and soon the sun finally rose. I watched as my brother walked by me, and he stood right were the sun was, and glowed as if he were some legend and looked like a professional climber, it was a classic moment, but at the same time he did not know because he was going by. I was to exausted out of my mind to take any photos. Evenaully I gradually felt my self get weaker and weaker, and it soon began to feel as though we were crawling up the mountain. We were on icy rock, which was'nt a very good combination, and we did not have crampons. It felt like those guys in the book who climb those big mountains and are just crawling at the end from being so tired, and could not feel any feeling exept the desire to summit, the burning ambition. We got to a point were the wind picked up incredibly and we were so close to the false summit, yet I felt as though I could not make it, my energy so critcally low, and I was gasping for breath, but I managed to pull through and make it to the false summit. The summit view was incredible, you could see half way from Oregon and down through Eastern Washington, and so many ridges upon ridges, it was magnificent! The false summit was no exeption to the heavy winds, they were so intense, I could hardly breath when facing the wind, and it almost knocked me off balance, so I went out, touched the False summit rock, snapped a few photos, and headed down 20 feet were the winds were much nicer behind this rock, and just rested. After a long time of resting and eating as much as I could, which was'nt as much as I wanted to because my hands felt like they were so cold. At this point Dan mentioned that it was too dangerous to make it to the summit, which was a wise dissision, due to it being dangerously windy, and we did not have crampons and the ice on the summit was very icy and one of those situation you might not want to be caught in. So he started to head down with Mark, and we stayed up for a while longer. I just kept starring at the summit. "It's so close, just a thousand feet or so, and I would be there". I was very tempted to attempt it, but not only is it dangerous, but Dan would not be pleased to find out that either something go bad, or us spending extra time up there. The reason we could'nt wait for the snow to melt which I gladly would wait, but Dan had work the next day, and it was a 5 hour drive, and he had hardly any sleep within the past few days, and it was a long ways down. The way down was also difficult. I thought it would be a nice easy glissade down, Mark after all mentioned "It's one of the best glissades in the Cascades" which I believe him, but it depends on the time of year. The way down was tought, it was very slippery, and I would have to take great cation in each step, and below was very steep, so no mistakes would be pleasant, although it was'nt deadly as long as you try to do all that you can from tumbling, which if you don't catch your fall, thats another story. The sensation of it. It made me in ways sort of scared, because I'm always getting myself into sitiations like these. Evenaully as we went down, me crawling would send down boulders or snow balls and even if I was way off to the side, as luck is with me, they go flying at the people below even though I wonder how is that possible.... they are way off to my self, but its a mini dip which attracts all of it. As carefully as possible I go down, which is painfully slow, and again a very loose rock would slide from under me, and I would yell out rock, and the climbers below would have to move out of the way once again. It was frusterating to have this keep happending, and the climbers must have thought "how irresposible of that kid" even though I was trying to be very catious. Eventually when I could take it no more of crawling, I attempted to cross the icy steep snow field. As I was crossing it, I was kicking in my steeps, and evenually half way across they would'nt quite step in. I was very nervous and dizzy by this point, and was wondering what to do. Either way was difficult, so I attempted to go back to the original side that I was on, but having to slowly get back across because of the intense steepness, and eventually one of the climber guys come up and say "were's the rest of your group"? I pointed way down the mountain, and he says "I would'nt go climbing with them again if I were you" and he made sure I got across safely. It's nice to know that there are people up in these hills that care for other people. I evenually cought up with my brother who was waiting a little ways below, and Mark and Dan were way down, but it did'nt matter. And evenually after crawling down, we got off the ict rock and it was back to normal rock, but I noticed it was also difficult, so the ice field to my left became a bit less steep. (although very scary if you did not have an ice axe, and a bit scary even with one) I decided to go down the icy slope, and I would have to ice axe arrest every 30 feet or so because I would gain a crazy amount of speed. I would'nt do a standard arrest, but would have it were it was under my right arm were it would catch me, so that it would'nt be as annoying to stop go, stop go. The ice would scrape against me and was very uncomfortable, and would hurt, but it was the easiest way down, and evenually we finally got to the bottom of the scramble part. After this, we returned to lunch counter which we packed up our gear, and Mark caught there tent out of reaction because the wind was blowing away. It was a good catch, or else we would have had to go chasing after it. The way down after this for a while was much easier, and unfortunatly on the last easy snow field, I ripped my good pair of pants, which is a bummer, but it was hard ice after all. We all hiked down as a group, and Dan would ask me "Is this the way?" and I would tell him yes, because I remembered it. And after a while, it ws a little bit questionable, and at one point Mark said "You really don't know were your going do you?" and I said the trail is right there, but unfortunatly he did not believe me. To be honest, we should have looked at the map at this point, but instead, Mark insisted on going West, even though I was pretty sure it was the wrong way. I told him "I don't think this is the way" but he said to me "Why should I believe you, you got us losted!" And at this point we were truely off trail. I was carefully following him though the fields of flowers, but I was slow because I was trying not to damage the fragile plants and stepping on dirt as much as possible. Mark and Dan eventually started to become very frusterated with me! Even though I was the guy trying to help, but some how my opinion was'nt valid. "It's not what we don't know thats the problem, but it's what we know for sure that just ain't so" -Mark Twain The main problem was a storm was coming in, we were lost... sort of.... and Dan had work, so we had to evenually go back up the ridge. My brother wanted to find the right way, so he went off back to were we were, and Mark and Dan called out back for him, yet he did not responde. At this point they were very angry at me and my brother, and thought he was ignoring them and that he would be listening to his ipod even though he was not, and I was sure he was'nt. Mark even began crying to me that the whole thing was all my fault and that I'm so irresponsible. At this point I was very dizzy, but could'nt help feeling very strange that I knew were to go, but no one believed me, it felt very unfair. I saw a road below us, which I pointed out if things were bad, but Mark did'nt believe me until we got on the road home. Eventually we got back on the trail above after travelling aways up. Then we asked this one group of hikers which way the trail was, and they pointed toward were I originally wanted us to go, but Mark said to them it was the wrong way, but they convinced us. "Told ya Mark" I said, but he said back "Oh yeah, you just want to get all the credit of knowing were to go even though you got us lost!" This made me very angry and I yelled out to him "Ok fine, I'm the most irresposible, stupid person ever, and that perhaps I'm not a good friend" this came out because I was feeling bad for something that was'nt something I should have. Mark's dad nicely stepped in and said that I was'nt and fort of fixed the conflict and made it so that there was no more agueing. I could still feel Mark's anger, and could see the expression on his face of the intense anger he has towards me. I began to feel very sad. I was not sad that we were lost or any of that, but that one of my best friends was angry at me for something I'm not resposible for... that in a sense even if it was me, I could almost get the feeling that he would never have the heart to ever forgive me, and that perhaps he would not want to go hiking with me anymore. I felt this great deal of separation from him. It made me feel absolutly awesful that one of my only friends who loves mountains would some how no longer enjoy my company. Wether this was his acual feelings or not, this was how I was thinking at the time. I told him and Dan I was sorry as we were walking toward the car. To be honest to this day, I was sorry that Dan and Mark had to go through that, but I am not sorry that it had to do with me. It feels strange to think in this sense becasue I don't have a reason to be sorry for what I did, exept that perhaps I should have had the courage to step up to Mark and Dan and tell them and talk it though, but instead I was sorta silent, and just heard about how terrible I am for what I so called did. As for my brother, he was missing ever since he split up earier, so we yelled out his name all around and called home on a cell phone which fortunatly got range, and told mom if he wants to know were we are, were at the car. And a few minutes later after telling a few guys, word was going around, and someone had found him. He was ahead of us, and found the trail much sooner than when we did. They guy who told me not to go climbing with this group near the false summit cought up with us, and told Dan and Mark about how I was having trouble and such, which in a way seemed kinda funny. But the rest the walk down was just very tiring and quiet and my feet hurt due to a few rocks in my boots, but finally we get to the trailhead. Another crazy hiking adventure as I like to say. All in all, even though it was crazieness, it was all worth the while! Special Thanks to Mark and Dan for taking me here, I'm quite appreciative of it, weather it was getting lost or not, when it comes down to it being able to go to the mountains, to me it's always worth it!

You were on Glacier Peak?

"Adventure isn’t hanging on a rope off the side of a mountain. Adventure is an attitude that we must apply to the day to day obstacles of life -- facing new challenges, seizing new opportunities, testing our resources against the unknown and in the process, discovering our own unique potential" -John Amatt After just doing a 30 mile backpacking trip, Collin invited me to go climb Mount Baker. "The fun does not stop here" I laughed as I was getting my gear ready. Michael and I checked the forecast which looked very nice, and we even checked the satilite thing on noaa's forecast which also looked good. The next morning Collin picks Michael and I up from my house. Before leaving we practiced z-pulley (we already knew it, but wanted to refresh on it). Then we head over to the Heliotrope Trailhead of Mount Baker. Last time I was there, I had to walk the road to the trailhead. At the trailhead it was time to get ready for adventure. When we started hiking, I already felt my blisters from the previous trip. :shakehead: I instantly thought "This is gonna get epic real fast", but then I loosened my boot and it suddenly got a lot nicer on my feet. From here I had the opposite thoughts, "this trip is going to be as casual as it gets". We passed a few water falls, got a nice view of the Baker Seracs, and to my amazement were already at the Coleman Glacier. Going up the slope for me was fun, as we kept walking, a helocopter flew over, I guess they don't call it heliotrope ridge for nothing. :lol: After this we crossed the mostly flat section and were already at base camp, in total it probably only took 3-4 hours (with us taking our time). At Camp the place was nice, it was not cold, had an interesting spot I call "The Window" because you could take photos through a narrow rock pass of the Twin Sisters. Michael and I hiked up to Point 7200 to get a good view of Colfax Peak, I could see now that clouds were rolling in. I figured they were just passing clouds. Once we got back to base camp we cooked some food, boiled up some water, and I had a talk with a guide. They said they just climbed the North Ridge which I want to do some day, but plan on having practice ice climbs before then. Collin whipped out his cigar (he rarely ever smokes) and we got a photo for my cover of "The J-Team". After this we watched the sunset and went to bed. Fortunatley we kept waking up in the night because we did not have an alarm. At 3:30 a.m. or so we decided it was finally time to wake up and get climbing. We decided to put Michael on lead because he has never gotten a chance at it. As we go up, we pass a 2 person rope team which was nice to know we were not the only ones going up. As we climbed up, there was some faint morning light coming through, but at the same time there was some clouds coming in from the West. I started to wonder at this point if they would interfer with the views above. Once it was dark blue out, I loved the atmosphere of the place, it's almost like I imaged misty days in the mountains, crevasses to the left, dark mist to the right. As more mist rolled in, the view of the mountain was out, we were now in fog. For some reason the expression comes to mind "Who flipped the switch?". As we took a break the other team passed us, and I could hear dripping noises of the crevasse near by. It sounded like music, I was impressed by how nice it sounded. Then we preceeded on to the pass. From here there were some winds that started to come about. As we went further, the winds got heavier as we gained more altitude. I eventually had to layer up in everything I had because it was just getting to cold. Earlier it rained a little, but now I could see that it began to snow. "This could be bitter sweet" I thought as we went up, I liked the feeling of the place, but at the same time I wanted to be able to complete this route. The winds started getting even heavier, and I became quite cold, my hands were starting to go numb as well as my feet. We reached a giant flat zone which I knew exactly where we were. We were close to the summit. Stopped in front of us was the other team, and they had no idea where to go. The boot path was gone, our tracks we starting to blow away. One of the guys mentioned he had a gps which made me feel better. I knew from last year where the summit was. I found a snow shelter which was a hint that I was going the right way, then I found the faded tracks from the Easton Glacier route, and soon found the mound that was the summit. When we reached the summit, we did not stay long, perhaps 2 minutes? The winds were at least 70+ miles an hour, and we were getting pelted with ice which was painful. This was the second worse conditions I have seen in my mountaineering. We tried to get off of the summit area as fast as possible. We were following the other group which it seemed as though it were the right direction, but we still were too far south. As we descended, we found a crevasse that cut across the path. "I don't remember this!" we all were thinking. I instantly realized this was the Easton Glacier trail, which if followed we would be on a completely diffrent side of the mountain. I asked the other group to check there gps. Unfortunately the gps ran out of power. "Typical situation" I thought as I fortunately knew the general direction in which to head towards. We traversed going North which was working out, but there was some some what deep snow involved. We passed a crevasse or two, but my main concern was I did not like how the slope was softening up. Fortunately we found the trail, as we went down, the winds were less, and eventually I could feel my hands well again. From here on out we hiked through the fog to our camp site. From here we packed up fast, and headed down. As we were passing some small crevasses Collin decides it would be fun to see if he could fit in one. We all get ready to catch him, but they were to small. Then we met some guys that were heading up, and I tell them it was snowing. "Have you checked the calandar lately? It's July incase you did not know" they cracked up joking to me. After this there was a steep section which was excellant for glissading down. Must have dropped almost a thousand feet in a minute. From here we ran down the trail, and I just so happened to see Priscilla which was nice to see her again. As we were running down, I tripped and fell. As I got up a moment later, I had noticed that I ripped my climbing pants! :rant: Oh well I guess I can always sue them. At the trailhead Michael showed Collin some photos of the trip and then we headed home. The next day I wondered where my camera was, turns out it went missing! I looked all over the house, Michael checked all his gear, Collin checked his car, nowhere to be found. The last place it was remembered being seen was the trailhead of Mount Baker (although it's possible we thought we viewed photos at the trailhead and it could be further up on the mountain). Besides that part, it was a fun trip. Thanks Collin for taking us, I had a blast up there! Thanks Michael for leading. Unfortunatley because of the camera loss, that also means photo loss. For Collin's trip report, click here. Here is a link to more photos: http://hikrs.com/photo?func=viewcategory&catid=76

No skis although I would like to someday. Saw some guy with skis climbing up.

“Far better is it to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checked by failure...than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy much nor suffer much, because they live in a gray twilight that knows not victory nor defeat.” -Theodore Roosevelt "... the most luxuriant and the most extravagantly beautiful of all the alpine gardens I ever beheld in all my mountain-top wonderings." -John Muir "I consider mountains like this a success when you overcome something." -Michael Lewis "We try to go and Climb Rainier, with hoping that there is not much to fear We walk along the compact snow, which each step it kicked in with our toe We struggle on with all our might, as we travel on though the night The rocks that are on the wall above, lets just hope they don't fall The view just gets better and better, as the sky gets redder and redder As I start to get real cold, I think to myself this is getting old As we reach the top the air is thin, but at least then we win!" -My Adventure up Rainier This trip was something I had been wanting to do for years, I would day dream at school wanting to go up. I've had people ask me time and time again "so your a climber... have you climbed Rainier?" and I would always have to tell them I did not. Last year I was finally given "opportunities to climb Rainier, but it never worked out. I had two attemps which one of them was a wrecking experience Broken Dreams (aka Mount Rainier Attempt) which brought me into a major conflict which I called The Cold Conflict. I recovered some after this, and in late August had my Mount Rainier Attempt II which had its ups and downs. After this it was a long before I would have another whirl at it. Bad weather, transportation issues, and avalanche danger made getting the the trip hard to pull off, until came July. Pre Day 1: The trip idea sparked when Adam from Colorado wanted to climb Rainier and we spoke over the phone about the trip. Bill Rogers wanted to jump in on the trip, plus it would help us with transportation and it's always nice to have an extra person on the rope team. We decided to meet Bill in Tacoma in the late Afternoon, getting there was more of a hassle than I had expected. There was some getting to the bus station drama (I'll spare you the details) :embarassedlaugh: . From South Lynnwood we took many buses, and it kept stripping our cash because they raised the price and transfers did not work with other buses. :rant: (Perhaps it's time I start biking everywhere?). Once we got to Tacoma we met with Bill and headed to Paradise. Mount Rainier still had some clouds swirling around it which gave it a beautiful look, and the sunset was very nice. Day 1: The next morning we woke up around 7 a.m. and wondered "how are we going to find Adam?". I told him I would be wearing a orange helmet and blue coat just incase. We saw a car parked right next to us and the license plate said Colorado, and sure enough it was Adam. From here we got the permit deal all figured out and we hit the trail. The hike up to Camp Muir was much easier (all those adventures paid off) than in the past. I met the osat while I was up there, which was good to know we had plenty of other people around just incase anything went wrong. At Camp Muir Adam and I waited for Bill and Michael to catch up. Once they got to camp, there was a debate on whether we should stay at Camp Muir or go to Ingraham Flats. We stuck to our original plans and headed for the Flats. Once we crossed the Cowlitz Glacier, things started to get more interesting. Just after passing a spot, a few seconds later rocks fell where we just were! Once past the pass, we could see Little Tahoma and our route up the mountain. Soon we were at Ingraham Flats, and set up camp. I was a little surprised at how cold it was up at 11,000 feet in July. It was now very late in the day, so we had to cook our food, boiled our water, and get to sleep as soon as possible. It was neat seeing crevasse fields a little ways below our camp. To my amazement even though it was cold, I slept quite well. Day 2: I woke up around 2 or so, which Adam now agreed to wake up. Many climbing parties had already passed by us in the night while we slept in a little. "I slept well" I told Adam. "Good for you Goldilocks" he replied which I found it amusing. Now it was time to wake up to the problem that was neglected... could Bill summit? Bill had a slow pace going up, Adam did not want Bill heading up with us because he worried it might ruin our chances of summating. He did not want to tell Bill that the could not, and perhaps hoped for another way. I felt like I was in the middle of the tension. "What to do, what do do" I thought to myself as I was walking back and forth trying to make up my mind. Eventually I decided I wanted Bill to at least have a chance, I remembered what it was like myself last year when I was not given a chance, and sure enough I believe I made a good call here. As we headed up onto the Disappointment Cleaver, I believe I hear more rocks fall in the distance which had me a little concerned, suddenly I was hit with a spell of the umpa lumpas, and started rhyming in my head (as seen at the Start of the trip report). Bill was using a flash light which was running low on power, I found out real quick that this was starting to look bad for Bill. I used my headlamp to help him find holds and such as we scrambled up this one rock section. Eventually things got a little nicer for me, until we reached 12,000 feet. There were some issues that went on (don't worry not conflict ) and as I sat there waiting for about 40 or so minutes, I was becoming extremely cold. As I watched the faint glow in the horizon and I kept getting hit with the winds, I was shivering a lot. Eventually Bill had to decide to turn around here, it was a unglaciated spot, and he got associated with another team that was going down, and from here on it was the three of us. We still had communications because we had three radios total. Although the rock fall danger was now out of the way, now we had to traverse around crevasses. The air was starting to feel thinner, although I was still in high spirits that I would be fine on the summit. As the morning colors came on, the sun rose which was firey red. As I climbed, a song came to mind Broken Wings. I was to into the climb to take photographs (plus Adam seemed very much not wanting to stop). As the sun got onto us, the temperature rose, and my heat became itchy from the helmet. I went a while with trying to ignore it, but eventually it became too much for me, so I paused, and took it off. This was a big mistake, I some how dropped it, and it went tumbling down the hill, and we all thought it was gone for sure, but I decided for entertainment reasons I would watch it roll away. It just so happen to be rolling in the boot path which I watched with amazement, and then suddenly it stopped! We were all amazed. From here, I had to unclip from the rope, dash over a few hundred feet (the lightest wind could have blown it down the mountain) and I hurryingly grabbed it. Then I went back up and reclipped back in. Going to the summit seemed to go on and on, when we got to what Adam thought would be the summit, he said "What! There's more?". I laughed in my head because I knew there was still more even after getting to Columbia Crest, but I did not say anything because I did not want to discourage our team. After pushing on up to the Crater, we get shielded from the winds which was a relief, and we take a break. From here I carry only my camera and ice axe for the last 1/3 or so mile to the summit. I was amazed to find out that there was a little slope to the Crater walk, and we had to take a few breaks in the short distance (perhaps the thin air had an effect). When we get near the summit, for the last 20-30 feet Michael and I race to the summit which proved to be a bad idea, immediately I got a headache. Then we stopped on the summit. Victory was Ours! The winds on the summit would never let up, so we only spent 10-15 minutes on the summit, which part of that time was resting. Adam was getting cold, so we had to take a few photos, and get ready for the decent. The way down was easier than I had worried it would be. We would head down 1,000 or so feet in little time, when going up it would take so much longer to go up. It was amazing how much harder the last 3,500 feet of the mountain was compared to below. Adam finally confessed that it would not be wise to do it as a single day trip (we earlier talked on the way up Camp Muir and he believed it would be doable in a single day). Once the snow thawed a lot, we got to the usual plunging in the snow. Once back at camp, we were able to pack up our tent and get ready for the rest of the distance. From Camp I saw major rock fall come off of Gibraltar Rock. When heading towards Camp Muir there was some more rock that fell right in front of me. "The Mountain is out to get me" I thought as I carefully descended through the rock section. Fortunately we made it safe to Camp Muir. It was neat to see how much warmer Camp Muir was compared to Ingraham Flats, now it was acually warm out. The rest of the way down there was much slush which was no good for sit glissades, but great for run glissades. Even though the way down took a long time, it was not as bad as I had feared. Soon we reached the parking lot. As I waited for Bill and Michael, I was so tired that I slept on the side walk for perhaps an hour or so until they arrived. From here Bill drove us to Tacoma, which was not the end of our adventure, it was bus time. As I was riding one of the busses home, there were no more available seats, so the only place for me was standing next to the door. As the bus drove, I would nearly fall on the floor with my heavy pack and would have to hold on to railings. At one point when the bus really jerked, I fell on the door, the door partly opened, and I pulled myself out of there as fast as I could. "Wooo, that was a close one. Is the bus going to create more dangers for me than Rainier?". Michael Tired out from all the adventure and Bussing. Then on the way to Lynnwood I happened to meet another guy who I met on Mount Pilchuck on the 4th of July. He was the first person to introduce me to the card game Hearts. Sometimes it's a small world after all. Once we got to East Lynnwood, we had to walk a ways up and down a big hill until we reached the last bus. When we got home it was very late at night. I slept for 14 hours that night. But I made up for it by going on another backpacking trip soon after. This was a very fun adventure, there were some things learned, and met a new person. Bill seemed pleased that we got him to 12,000 feet, although I could come with him when he retrys this mountain. After this trip I was glad to have made it, someone once told me that I could not make it. That was far from true, I was also told that this would be 10 times harder than the hardest thing I have ever done, which was also not true. Jolly Mountain still kicked my butt more than Rainier. But after all the struggle for Rainier, Victory is Ours! Special Thanks To Bill for driving, Adam for providing the rope, and Michael for carrying the tent. Click Here to see Michael's trip report on this trip. More photos of this trip can be seen here: http://www.hikrs.com/photo?func=viewcategory&catid=75

I was wondering if anyone was wanting to climb Mount Baker via Coleman Deming route. I am avalible after tommorow until the end of this month. I climbed Baker twice, I climbed it this route a few days ago, but would like to do it in nicer weather (we were in a fog storm) and see if I left my camera at the base camp. Conditions were good (not so much weather that day). I also have my brother who could come along to make it a three person team. And yes I am in very good shape right now.

I am Missing my small point and shoot camera at the Heliotrope Trailhead at Mount Baker. It is a Canon and is light blue, and has a black case, it's fairly small. I'm pretty sure we had it atleast at the trailhead before heading home, although it could also be at the base of the Coleman Glacier. If anyone finds it, please let me know.

Within the next few days I got more stories to share, I been climbing so much that I have not had time to post the stories, today I was on Baker, a few days ago Summited Rainier, and some other backback trips here and there.

"In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks." -John Muir "Me and Pavel like to Travel Glacier Peak is not for the weak, but a trip of hard endurance As we slog through the snow, we say again "here we go" As I sweat and soak my garmets, I see I am in a land of Marmots The mice at camp come to steal in attempts to get a nice meal That night we slept quite well, and by morning I felt quite right Over the snowy pass we go, not a single blade of grass By now I feel quite tired, but at the same quite wired... for the adventure that is As we travel for hours to the top, I see around we are surrounded by rock towers We soon reach the top, and are over joyed and hop Going down was quite tiring, but atleast by camp the stove was firing The food gave me what I need, to finish the deed Getting back was quite long, but alteast nothing went wrong. I had such a blast, that I wish it had not been so fast." -Glacier Peak Adventure More can be seen here .

It was certainly a fun adventure, but that last summit block felt scary for me. I don't think you had horrible cramps, got your foot stuck, and crampon fall off. You mentioned something about me kicking in extra on the way down from the summit block... well yeah, it's my life on the line, would you not do a lot to protect yourself? Although you saw some of the dangers on there, I think you don't know all the cliffs all around there as I do because I've been close to the summit in clear weather. What made the slope feel dangerous was the unstable snow, the rock was a bit wet as well, Michael also recalls it being one of the scariest things he has ever done. Any friend I asked about this trip told me they would have bailed, most mountaineers would agree. I feel much safer rock climbing, and feel safer going up steeper, but more stable snow. The potential danger is what had me scared, plus the footing was not so great which is why I kicked in more. When you told me to high dagger my ice axe, that would not have been a good move. It's great on steep solid slopes, but not for loose snow. I'm certainly no sailor, and I don't intend to be one.

I feel bad for having so many photos in the trip report, some of them did not even load. Should I take some of them out?

"There are old Mountaineers, there are bold mountaineers, but no bold and old mountaineers." -Ed Viesturs "A sense of uncertainty that is potentially fatal is what makes climbing an adventure. Anything less is just working out" - Jim Bridwell "I refuse to believe in a risk free society where the thrill of living is traded for the safety of existence." -Nick Ienatsch This was my most intense adventure yet. When heading out to the mountains, most of the time I put a decent amount of reason into what I'm getting myself into, but every now and then I get over my head, this time it was all the way. This took place June 30 - July 1, 2010 After just climbing Mount Hood, I check my email at home, sure enough another trip invite. As always, most adventures are too good to pass up, this one was no exception. The plan was originally to climb Mount Baker, but I looked into the forecast which was not looking so great, there was a potential chance we could get lost on the Easton or the Colemen depending on what route. Then it dawned on me that Sahale would be the perfect choice, it had a easy to follow ridge, so even if the weather looked bad we would be able to go down with little difficulty. Bill drove all the way from Oregon to pick me up as well as Michael. We had to sort out a lot of gear, go to REI to buy more perlon and then it was time to head out. I was still a bit tired from the previous trip, but the idea of adventure had me beckoned. At the trail head we tried to figure out a good place to camp, the trailhead said no camping. So the idea was brought up to Camp up on the mountain. The down side was I did not bring a sleeping bag (I did not bring it because the plan was to sleep at the parking lot, and for some reason mine disappeared at home). The sunset was quite nice with Jburg looming above and had a light dusting of snow on it. Walking to the pass for me was tiring, especially with the heavy load in my pack, there was some snow we encountered as we were heading up. As we neared the pass I had to break out my ice axe due to some steep slopes below. At the pass we were all tired by that point so we decided to set up camp here. Unlike last time though, we took time to find a camp site that would have as little impact on the enviroment, we found a nice dirt area that had a trail that led to it. Once we were ready to go to bed, looking out at the moon had a very creepy appearance, it almost looked like a nightmare the way the clouds came in and gave the moon a almost swirl appearance with the trees and the mountains as dark shadows. I suppose this was a foreshadowing of what was to come. Michael let me use his sleeping bad, while he slept in his warm clothes although he said it was a cold night for him. The next morning there were clouds all around, it was just like I had imagined it, clear day before and storm coming in, the only diffrence was I was not alone. We headed out going up Sahale Arm taking the strait up path (the trail was barried in snow so we decided it would be best to follow the foot prints). On Sahale Arm the place had a excitingness to it, the clouds were rolling in thicker yet the sun made an appearance through the clouds making some of the peaks glow. In such a place like this I could once again say to myself "What a beautiful world" because every angle you look around, you are surrounded by natural wonders. We only saw one other person the entire trip which he did not summit, he told us it was a bit icy above, and once he left, we knew we now were the only ones on the mountain. Once we got to the bottom of the glacier we roped up, and I now was on lead. We were now heading into a white out, Bill fortunately had a gps (it's mostly for back tracking, it's not very good when it comes to finding your way up mountains). The fog became quite dense, I could only see a few feet in front of me, and when ever I would look without my glacier glasses it would be even less, although sometimes I could see a distance high point. After passing the steep section of the glacier and the more gentle slope, I was plunging my ice axe which fell through the snow, to my amazement it was a hidden crevasse, I dug around it and sure enough it cut across, so I figured a way to get over it. From here the slope began to steeped a lot, and the snow was compact making kicking in steps harder. Going up was slow going, I would have to kick 10-15 times per step, although I might have digged them more than needed, but I wanted my team to feel comfortable on the steep slope. It went on for over an hour (Michael says it porbably took 2 hours) which had drained a lot of energy from me, and I was becoming dehydrated. My fingers were becoming quite cold, my middle finger on my left hand as well as a few other fingers were becoming numb, I had to beat them together to get the motion and feeling back. Soon we reached the ridge which was corniced. Getting on to it was tricky because I did not want to put me or my team in danger, there was some rock above it, so I traversed below the rock and did a rock climbing/ difficult scramble move to get onto it. From here we unroped, Bill decided he was going to try to figure a way to the summit. It looked bad, I realized this was the same ridge I was on last time I was here, but there was not much I could do by this point. Bill soon turned around because the exposure of the South West ridge. Bill said "Were turning around" and we started to head down, I down climbed a diffrent way off the ridge because I did not want to deal with the cornice, after all it was a long ways down. Bill decided to traverse the bottom of the summit block, slowly I wondered if there was still a chance of us summiting. We reached the South East side which is the standard route for climbing to the top. The snow slope was a bit steep, I would not have minded except for what was below. We reached an interesting little snow ledge which I decided if I'm going for it, I'm taking off my pack. Things got much scarier from here. Bill climbed over some rocks which involved a rock climbing move, during late summer you could have easily avoided this, but the slope to the side was covered in a snow, which a fall could be potentially fatal. As I headed up the snow slope I became more and more uneasy. If Bill was not leading I would have turned around, if it were not Sahale my favorite mountain I would have turned around, but the mountain still beckoned me. I found out real quick that there was some choss (loose rock) and the rock as wet. After getting over the rock I got onto the snow slope, using the rock as extra support. I even did some hand jams and such to make myself more secure. With my ice axe I would always make sure it was fully plunged in, and make my steps nicely kicked it, yet it did not feel like enough. Part of this was that the snow was becoming less stable due to the faint sunlight coming through. This was some of the most nightmarish climbing I have ever done. As I went up, I suddenly got a terrible cramp, I would lean onto my ice axe and just pray that it would some how go away, and it did. The cramps made kicking in much harder, so now I would have to take smaller steps, I could not drink any water because I had left my pack behind. I would take a grab from the snow and eat it, I didn't care if it had dirt or whatever, I needed water, and I needed it now! I kept carefully climbing up, and then suddenly my crampon got caught on my butt as I kicked to high. "This is not good" I thought as I tried to get it off. One hand was holding the axe, and the other was holding the rock. I had to do some wierd wedging with my leg, it took a few minutes, but I some how managed to get it out. What a relief! As I was approaching the last 20 or so feet from the summit, I realized that the snow was a partial cornice, and I saw a repel sling which means people repel off this, not something you want to down climb, espesically in these conditions. I know a lot of climbers would be fine going up and down this on a nice day when dry, but the conditions are what made it scary, plus the exposure. Getting to the summit was interesting, I crawled between the cornice and the rock, grabbed on to the rock just short of the summit, and another rock. As I pushed off the snow, it broke loose... Thank goodness I had my hands well on the rocks, I pulled myself up as fast as possible and thankfully Bill cleared away some of the snow on the summit. I was quite happy to have reached the summit, but I was at the same time fearful of what I went through and what I had left to do. The summit is very narrow and has room for only a few people, it had snow on it, so I had to get good footing just to sit down. Michael was below, and he got 2 feet from the summit, but decided it was not worth taking the risk, I encouraged him not to go up the last few feet. If you want to be technical about it, I did not touch the rock that was 10 feet away and was perhaps a foot higher, but I stood above it, which I think it's fair to say "we all summited". The way down had me concerned, now the snow was softer, and down climbing steep scary slopes to be difficult. If I were roped up I would have no problem going fast (although chances of falling would still be great), but when your life is at risk, I will take as much time as I need to go down safely. But not too much time because of the snow softening up. Across from us I could see the ridge from the Quien Sabe route which was corniced but glowing with intensity (it was about 15 or so feet away from us, we could not see much beyong 20 feet). According to Michael there were flutings that ran past the summit cornice, getting off the summit rock was a challenge, my foot instantly fell through a snow hole with rocks below it. It took about 5 minutes for me to get it out. From here I got back into the scrawl section between the cornice and the rock (which was narrow). From here I got back to kicking steps in, and the usual cramps would return, and I was forced to lean on my ice axe and wait for the pain to go away. Never had I ever felt this much on the edge. I fell though yet another snow hole with one foot, getting it out was difficult, and then I would kick in steps as though my life depended on it. I began to get the feeling like the odds were against me going down, after the trip I asked Michael and he said the same thing. As I was taking a large step down and kicking in, one of my crampons fall off. Michael looked up, and knew this could be bad. I instantly felt like a character from a book of some crazy climbing story. I had to reach down in such a way (I did not want to get a cramp here, and I had to make sure I was stable) that I would have one hand holding the slope, and the other hand reach down to get it to make sure it does not fully fall off. But then I realized my right hand was leached to my ice axe which contributed to the problem. Eventually I managed a way to get it to my hand, I carefully tied it to my ice axe leash and then was able to continue down climbing. It was wierd having the crampon attached to my axe, but what other choice did I have? My left foot placement now had to be more cautious than ever. When I finally got to a ok standing place, I rested a moment, and then looked up and thought "I should take a picture of this", it seems so strange, but then I figured I'm on a safe enough spot, and how often will I see this steep section? I put myself in little danger taking the photo. From here the down climb to the packs was not too bad, although there was a rock move I had to carefully get off of. From here I grabbed my pack, drank some water (although I was low on water by this point). We now traversed down to the lower summit block area, and headed over to our old tracks for the decend. As we were travelling along, Bill Slipped. He went down the slope, ice axe arrested, but started to dissappear through the fog, I felled out "Billlllllll!", fortunately he managed to stop after a ways down. The slope now was much more unstable, which I was thankful we left the summit when we did. Michael and I traversed back to our old foot prints. We then started down climbing which with the nice steps that were kicked it, it was fine going down. Once we reached Bill we headed down to the glacier. At the glacier we passed the crevasse, which we glissaded past to have as little of wieght on the snow as possible, I had a few plunges right before it that had me a bit concerned. The white out ruined our glissade, we could hardly see a few feet in front of us, we had our tracks, but we did not want to loose them. Near the bottom of the glacier we were able to see the bumps which meant it was safe enough to glissade. We had originally planned to study up more on z-pulley, but Bill did not feel like it, Michael was tired, and I was very cold from the wet conditions. Although getting down Sahale Arm was not that difficult, there were some times were it became so wide that it felt out of place. We had some more fun glissades although they were cold. The Decent to Cascade Pass was a little tricky, now it was raining making the foot prints harder to see, although still visible. According to Bill's GPS we were off route, so we headed to the right, which was not acually the right way, I suppose the clouds had created some interferance. Going down the steep woods in slushy snow was not my version of fun, this was the only time turning the trip that I broke out my ice tool (I did not use it easier on the summit because I left it with the pack) and I still had to take caution on the slope. After getting past the logs at the bottom, I did a test ice axe arrest which did not work very well until I reached the bottom and swung my tool which worked like a charm, but probably would not have worked above. Soon we found the camp, I was miserably cold, most of my clothes were soaked (although the inside of my jacket some how remained dry) and my pack was soaked. Bill talked about sleeping here, but there was no way I would want to do that, as it was, I feared getting hypothermia, I was shivering a lot, and much of my body heat was lost through my legs due to thin pants. The heavy mist that rolled in plus the wind made it even colder, packing things became difficult with cold hands. We packed the tent and headed down to the car. It felt like a long time going down, switching back down the pass, some areas of the trail were flat and I started to wonder "did they purposely make this longer?". By the time we reached the car I was so glad and we rested, and drank water, and Bill had a few remaining cookies. This was the most scary adventure I have endured. On the ride home I said to myself "This is No Country for Bold men". Thanks Bill for leading the way at the top, you were an excellant mountaineer, also thanks for driving us to Sahale for free and being good company. Thanks Michael for helping kick steps on the way down, lending your sleeping bag, and carrying the tent. It's not always good to be bold in the mountains, sometimes there are times when you should say no. As for the Cascade Pass deal, had we slept higher up, we would have been much worser off, the weather was terrible above Sahale Arm. My perspective on steep slopes have changed in the past week, my friend Mark once told me "Steep snow climbs are not that safe because it is usually unprotectible" and now I see what he means. In the future I do not plan on doing this kind of mountaineering. But in all it was a good learning experience.

Well theres a good explanation. First off, in one of your photos in the chute I could see some nice looking steps. Second it was when we were the only ones for a short time the wind blew hard and perhaps rattled the ice above which was why it was falling. It was not too bad of ice fall, but enough to keep me very alert. Also the photo looks like it was taken in slightly later day which the slope might have been a little easier to manage.

Trip: Outrageous Times - A Success on Mount Hood and Mount Saint Helens "I can't have the adventure of a life time just once!" -Josh Lewis "Somewhere between the bottom of the climb and the summit is the answer to the mystery why we climb." -Greg Child. "It's just Mount Hood" -Bearqueeen Who Came: Eastking, nartreb (Dave), Michael Lewis, and I Trip Took Place: Sunday June 27, 2010 - Tuesday June 29, 2010 : 3 Days This trip proved to be a success in many ways, and was a fun experience. There were it's fun times, and it's rough times but over all an outrageous trip. The Plan was originally to climb Mount Rainier, but the forecast to the North was not looking to great. One of my fears of the trip were that Dave would not want me on the trip because of our previous encounter on the interwebs. Fortunately in person he was a very nice guy. Day 1: At first me and Michael were wondering how we would get to the Hotel in Kirkland, so we decided biking 20 miles would be our best option, the bus in Snohomish county does not run on Sunday's anymore. The Night before we would have to go I email Joanna about my plans and she said "You nut! what time you need to be at the hotel?" which this was a turning point, hurray now I don't have to tire myself before the trip! She drove us to the hotel. The drive was long but had some scenery, as we were driving up the road towards Mount Hood, Michael saw an avalanche which already was raising concern, but fortunately it was on a diffrent route from what we were doing. At the parking lot we tried to get as much sleep as possible. I woke up around sunset and knew I would not be able to get anymore sleep so I enjoyed the scenery, and took some photos. Day 2: At 10:00 p.m. I spoke with a guide for a while which he was nice and had some good info. At 10:30 p.m. everyone was awake and everyone got ready for the climb. As we were heading out, Dave threw up, which raised concerns. I suppose he drank too much water, and he mentioned he was still feeling the jet lag (he came all the way from the East Coast for this trip). As we were heading up the climb had a nice feeling to it, the moon was shining bright lighting up the snow, I did not even have to use my head lamp because it was so bright. As we pushed on up the mountain the only time I used my headlamp was to get my crampons on. The city lights below reminded me of the fires on Mount Baker, which both looked like Christmas lights (although the one on Baker looked even cooler). At around 8,500 feet Dave was really not feeling well, which I guess a mix of things contributed to this. Eastking did a noble thing here, because we all had radios he let Michael and I continue, and he went back down with Dave. That deserves major kudos! Now that it was just Michael and I we headed up at a fast pace, we wanted to reach the summit around sunrise to reduce ice fall danger. Above looked so big, Crater Rock seemed like the summit in itself, and eventually I realized why in the 1800's they thought Mount Hood was 17,000 feet, because the illusion of the surrounding rocks all around and ice make it look huge. And then of course we passed through the famous Mount Hood fumaroles which smelled like Rotten Eggs, although I peronally thought Mount Baker's was worse (although the time of year might have a effect on that). At first I could not find our route and was starting to wonder where to go, but then a few seconds later I spotted the Hogsback in front of us. We asked a climber guy which route was best, the old chute, or the Hogsback? He said we could go either way, but the Hogsback would have the bergschrund which we would have to jump over unroped. "Forget that!" so we went down the lower path. It seemed wierd having active volcanoe vents to the side of you being on route. The Morning light was finally starting to come out, and then we reached the old Chute. We put on our helmets, and break out our the Aztars (We each carried one ice tool and one ice axe this way we would be safe going up). At first going up wasn't too bad, but then the wind picked up which is when my thoughts about this section changed. I had been looking forward to this part of the trip, but now started to dread it. Ice started tumbling down the face which raised concerns, the slope was getting steeper, and the ice was less than ideal, it was rotten ice, so each tool placement had to be good. As I was heading up the slope I was distracted by the Scenery around, Mount Hood had a beautiful shadow that had some reds and pinks above it. As I was taking pictures, I get pelted with a chunck of ice. "Awwww!!" I nearly swore at that moment because it hurt a lot (incase you don't know me, I have sweared very little in my life, here I did not). Ice falling hurts more than I had expected, the pain of it hurt for a few days after the trip. More ice was falling down the face and I had to do a stunt to avoid it, missing me by inches. As we carried on, it began to feel like ice climbing, stick in one tool, take a step up, place in ice axe, take another step. My friend Mark was not kidding that in ice climbing your hands get very cold. My fingers were starting to go numb which raised some concern as I was climbing. I was amazed to see Michael continueing, this was certainly not the place for the average hiker. Near the end of the old chute, we had avoided the right chute which looked slightly easier but more ice fall danger, I was worried that we might have picked the wrong chute. As I was next to the ridge, I asked Michael "Does it look good?" and he shook his head no. When I topped out, I almost said "I understand if you want to turn around, this has been a fun trip" but then I noticed a boot path that travelled on the narrow ridge. To my amazement it was a thin cornice, perhaps 2 feet wide, cliffs on either side. We saw the summit a few hundred feet ahead and decided to go for it. I did a sit walk by this point because I wanted my ice axe plunged in all the way. There was little room for error here. Once past the cornice, the rest of the way was relatively safe. Soon Michael and I were on the roof of Oregon! http://hikrs.com/host/Panoramas/Hood%20Summit%20Panorama.jpg The wind was blowing a lot, making me too cold to take out the tripod I had carried all the way up the mountain. Some of the fumes from below rose up and the same old stench returned. Atleast I was able to see much of Southern Washington and Oregon. With the mist rising over the summit I was able to change the top of the shadow of the mountain which was quite interesting. We could not spend too much time up there because we did not want the ice fall danger to be very high during the descent. After all they say 80% of mountaineering accidents are on the way down. Down climbing the chute required a deal of concentration. To my amazement there was less ice fall even though it was "warmer" out. Below us I could see the avalanche that had happened on the car ride in. I attempted to self belay with my ice axe, but that proved to be dangerous because the axe would only go in a few inches. Fortunately there was slightly more of a boot path as we went down thanks to other climbers who went up, but it still reminded me of rock climbing because every step I would have to find the slight foot hold (it was by no means nicely kicked in steps). I would have my head down as I was down climbing which felt strange because everything looked upside down. After spending much time kicking in steps and getting down I was out of the most dangerous part. Once again I got pelted by another large chunck of ice in the other leg, which this time hurt almost just as much but not as much of a reaction because I suppose I was accustom to the drama of it. I saw the climbing guide I had spoken to at the parking lot which was cool, but it felt strange telling a guide "Shouldn't you be wearing your helmet here?". I hope he did so after I told him. Once I got down to the bottom of the Hogsback, I waited a while for Michael. Once we got down out of the crator, I called the rest of the way "The green zone". The glissade was not so great, I took off my crampons expecting a nice glissade but instead it was icy and painful. I decided to slowly go down. Michael and I became quite tired, so we radio Eastking and let him know we wanted to take a nap. On the ice I was amazed at how fast I fell asleep, 20 minutes later Michael wakes me up and says we should go. Later in the day when the snow finally softens up, we get to the gentle slope where they made all the climbers go to the left of the ski place. Now glissades were impossible, which was sad. The rest of the way down was fine, and I found a lense cap. At the trailhead Dave drove us over to our next destination which was Mount Saint Helens. I slept the whole car ride until it was permit time which was at some house, but atleast they gave me free water. At the trailhead of St. Helens the weather looked iffy, Eastking gave me some water, and Dave let me use his stove to cook up some food, I was now ready for the next adventure. That night was cold because I cracked the window in the car, and I did not want to wake up Dave for the keys (everyone else was sleeping in a tent). At 5 a.m. we woke up and were ready to climb. Day 3: It was neat that we started out getting above the clouds. Mount Hood rose above them which had me slightly drooling in my mind. (I would love to go back, even though I just did it). There were a few nice flowers on the way up. As we leave the woods, we break out our crampons due to icy snow. The surrounding clouds added a interesting atmosphere, especially with the sun coming through the clouds. Dave was feeling much better on this Mountain and was doing well. As we looked out South it was interesting to see the clouds almost perfectly cover Washington but not Oregon, I guess they don't call it Washington for nothing. I will admit I was feeling a bit weak at first but once we took a snack break I was feeling much better. There were some winds as we went up. Mount Adams showed an appearance through the clouds which had us all impressed. The rest of the way up to the summit was a nice walk up, but still had a mountainous feeling. At the crator rim, there were cornices all around. Mount Rainier was in view, but looked like bad weather on the mountain. Mount Saint Helens was having steam rising from inside the crator which had me a little surprised on how active it still was. (I know there was some activity a few years back but still it was neat). Cascadeclimbers could not load the rest of the photos due to exceeding the limit. Heading to the summit was interesting, we traversed below the cornice ridge and there were a few large cracks. When approaching the summit we took much caution, we did not touch the highest part of the top cornice, but our heads were above it, and we were higher than the summit rock as it was (due to how much snow there was on the summit). On the way down we waited for the slope to melt out a bit, and then started on a awesome glissade. It would be too much on my thin pants so I did a run glissade, which I got amazing speed. Everyone looked as me as if I were a marithon runner. It was crazy to see someone glissade in cotton jeams. But they get style points from me. Then the rest of the way down there were some awesome sit glissades. :agree: Soon we reached the bottom. Dave drove us all the way home which was a very nice favor, we were 20 miles out of his way. This was an outrageous adventure (you would have had to have been there to know) and we made it home safely. The next day I set out to climb Sahale Mountain... http://www.hikrs.com/image/josh_1/mount_hood_and_mount_saint_helens_69/img_5693_20100703_1507551259.jpg http://www.hikrs.com/image/josh_1/mount_hood_and_mount_saint_helens_69/img_5694_20100703_1931964794.jpg http://www.hikrs.com/image/josh_1/mount_hood_and_mount_saint_helens_69/img_5695_20100703_1320166951.jpg http://www.hikrs.com/image/josh_1/mount_hood_and_mount_saint_helens_69/img_5696_20100703_1932560103.jpg http://www.hikrs.com/image/josh_1/mount_hood_and_mount_saint_helens_69/img_5702_20100703_1502518898.jpg http://www.hikrs.com/image/josh_1/mount_hood_and_mount_saint_helens_69/img_5703_20100703_1078394032.jpg http://www.hikrs.com/image/josh_1/mount_hood_and_mount_saint_helens_69/img_5704_20100703_1808977089.jpg http://www.hikrs.com/image/josh_1/mount_hood_and_mount_saint_helens_69/img_5705_20100703_1814569611.jpg http://www.hikrs.com/image/josh_1/mount_hood_and_mount_saint_helens_69/img_5706_20100703_1641968364.jpg http://www.hikrs.com/image/josh_1/mount_hood_and_mount_saint_helens_69/img_5707_20100703_1911827263.jpg Major Kudos to Dave for driving us, and not charging much gas money, you were a great guy! Also Kudos to Eastking for organizing the trip and letting Michael and I summit Mount Hood. Kudos to Michael for leading the top part of the old chute and buying the luxurious food! To see photos in gallery mode, click here.

I might have, but was a bit tired. At one point I might have taken a small nap as I was waiting for my partners to catch up, I was running on 1 hour of sleep, so minor details like that would be hard for me to remember.

I wish, I have a friend who wants to climb it. And yes I summited.

Trip: Vesper Peak - Date: 6/12/2010 Trip Report: Trip Stats: Distance: 9 miles Elevation Gain: 3,900 Feet Time: 7 Hours? Who Came: summithound (Zach), Matt, and I Summithound from nwhikers invited me to go with on Vesper Peak, although I have already summited three times, it would be fun to go for another round. Before the trip, the night before I went to a youth group party, played alot of running around games, biked home, and then got 1 hour of sleep. The trip started out with the usual drama, I get some of the stuff ready the night before, but not everything. I set the alarm so I have some time to pack a few more items in the morning. When I wake up, bam! I can't find some of my essentials. My mom cleaned my room, which if you lived at my house you would know what that means, good luck finding your gear! Before I left for the trip Zach sent me a message saying: "Having been up there a few times already, I assume you have all the necessary gear but as a friendly reminder don't forget sunscreen and sun glasses. " And sure enough even though I packed the sunscreen the night before, my sunglasses were no where to be found, and then my ice axe! I ran franticly though the house trying to find it, fortunately Michael lets me borrow him. I really need to get a lock for my room "I thought to myself as I was running out the door". Getting to the trailhead it was a nice day of weather, although there was a report of high avalanche danger above 6,000 feet. If the conditions were unsafe, I would have bailed. The start of the hike we went at a decent pace. Once we got to the river, it was a little more than I had expected, so the crossing took some time to figure out. Jumping across the last boulder section would have been to dangerous, we did not want to get our feet soaked, so we went a little up hill to find a decent crossing. (Thanks Matt for letting me borrow a ski poll on that part.) Then we got to the uphill part which was on the lower face of Morning Star Mountain. As always, it had a tropical feeling to the place with the heat and moisure. Getting into Wirlz Basin was a relief from the heat, plus I always love the sharp looking peaks towering above. The place looked nearly as snowy as it was when I was there in winter time (although minus the side avalanche and fresh snow). At the part when there was snow, once again I got to kick in some nice steps although Matt would kick in some steps as well. Once we got into the sun, I had to squint as much as I could, sometimes covering most of my view with my hands, and at other times closing my eyes to prevent snow blindness. A skier came by and seemed concerned but I told him I would be alright. Going up to the pass was fun with the snow slope, I always love steep snow, there is something about it that makes me want to go to the mountains, and being the guy kicking in the steps makes it even more fun. From here we travered along the bottom of Sperry, which had a few posthole spots as it usually does. :lol: Then we headed up to the summit which was a little tiring, but had good views, which made up for the lack of views during my winter accent. We stayed a long time on the summit, eating, talking, and enjoying ourselves. There was an unusual amount of lady bugs up there. Then it was time for the decent. Going down was a blast for me, it's amazing how much speed you can get while going down. After my first glassade, on my second I created a snow slide which there was snow all around making the "sssssssssssssssss" noise with other little slabs. My quote comes to mind "How do you like your avalanches? I like them slabby!", but I made sure there was no real danger at the scene, although some people heading up gave me a look like I was crazy for riding on the snow slide. Then when there was another snow slope I did a super fast run glassade. A moment ago I remember being above Sperry, and then now I looked in suprise at how far down I made it in such little time. If I were solo I bet I could have made it to the parking lot in an hour from the summit. After waiting a while my team caught up and then at Headlee Pass it was part two. Although it was a good glassade, I had to slow down near the end to prevent myself from flying into some rocks below. But then I got to glassade the rest of the basin. From here I took a mini nap on some rocks until my partners caught up. My 1 hour of sleep was finally catching up to me. The rest of the way went fine getting to the car. Special Thanks to Zach for inviting me, and driving me, also the photos of this trip report were taken by him as well. Matt was also great on the trip. Hope to go on a trip with you guys soon.

Trip: Snowboarding Adventure - Date: 12/28/2010 Trip Report: "To this day, after this trip I have never snowboarded the same, now I take more cation in my boarding" This is trip took place December 27, 2009. After living through the adventures a few days before "Prairie Mountain Adventure" and "Between Two Perils", the day after I went for a snowboarding trip. Most of the trips having there scares but this one had an event in particular that was worrysome for me, in ways more than the other ones. During this time of my life I called it "Living in Outragous Times" because the days of adventure felt like it would never end. It would be one thriller after the next, until this trip, then things took a turn for a while. Me, my friend Sean, and Cameran head up to Steven's Pass to go snowboarding once again. It had only been one week since we went snowboarding, and this would be a record for the amount of mountain trips I have ever had in one week. As we were heading up to Stevens Pass we were so excited to get back to snowboarding. When we hit the slope it was a bit icy so when snowboarding I had to be careful although it was not too bad. Evenually as we were snowboarding we decide on Big Chief hill which for some reason I sorta got a little over the top on my speed and my friend saw that (most the time snowboarding I am not going super fast because it is dangerous). It was so thrilling going down so fast, there are few activities that can compare with this. Part of my motivation was seeing others speed, although I never went as fast as those who go super fast downhill. He told me to slow it down some which I listened to but after that hill we went up Hogsback to Haggen. At the time I figured "It's just Haggen although was slightly annoyed because I don't like flat areas very much, espeically when things are icy, but Sean kept insisting I do it. After the flat zone zone we get onto Dasey which things go bad for me from here. I will confess I was going a little faster than I should have, but not too fast like I see of others. The sign said "Go with the Flow" and my thoughts were "Ha! I am Flow". One could say I got what was coming. As I was going I some how triped over ice that had a bump. When I fell, it was on my side, and falling on ice/snow rather than softer snow hurts a lot. For a while I just layed there in pain wondering how I was. The first few seconds it happened I felt a serge of pain through that spot, and I worried about internal bleeding or damaging any internal origins. I have taken some nasty falls in the past where I was scared I injuried something, but this time, it had me worried for a long time. I must have been laying in the snow for about 15 minutes, fortunately a nice person comes to me and asks if I am ok, I tell them "I hope so". I check out the damage, fortunately no outside damaged, but my side hurt very much, so I was recommended to see the medical place below. The guy checked me out, he could not see any visible damage, so he gave me an ice pack and I waited for a while waiting hoping it was minor. Fortunately it was not terrible, but as I go back to the lodge, I had to miss out on snowboarding. After well over an hour, mabe two hours of recovery I feel well enough to snowboard again, although was at first affraid to do so, and it still would be painful just walking around. When back to Snowboarding I at first took it slow, but my friends convinced me into going a little faster. The evening was beautiful, with very nice colors from the sunset but like most mountain trips we had to leave not too long after dark. The damage did not seem extreme but I tell you what, for the next day I was worried about internal bleeding and from that point on I made up my mind not to go fast on icy slopes which this changed my perspective of snowboarding speed perhaps forever. This happened about 6 months ago, and even in recent times have had that same spot hurt when hit there, or sleeping to hard on it. Incase anyone was wondering, most of the photos were of Glacier Peak.

Feck sent me a pm of what the freshie section is for. So next I'll know better.

Is this considered a bad post on cc?