PaulO Posted October 23, 2005 Share Posted October 23, 2005 (edited) Climb: Middle Sister-Obsidian Trail to Renfrew Glacier Date of Climb: 10/22/2005 Trip Report: Thought I'd take advantage of what may be the end of the nice fall weather to take a walk up the Middle Sister Saturday. Left Portland at 3am and started up the Obsidian Trail before daybreak. It was an absolutely AWESOME perfect day. Summer conditions except no dust, mosquitos or people. I was set for a leisurely stroll but for one thing. My climbing boots I was wearing (expecting to have to use my crampons) sometimes hurt my feet and I had brought along everything EXCEPT something to treat blisters with. And this time they REALLY hurt. Before I had went a mile I was limping along in pain with blisters on both ankles. Something to do with the way I was walking then made my toes sore also which made the descent awful. Oh well. The creeks are dry up to the PCT. It was beautiful and WARMER up high (with little wind) than many summer days. The glacier was mostly ice on the way up so I used the crampons to the ridge. The snow patch 3/4 of the way up the ridge was mostly gone except the upper part which had a nice boot track and very minor exposure, icy but crampons made it easy. I saw three people heading down as I was crawling up. Had the summit to myself. VERY slow with sore feet. Gosh, I remember the 8 hr car to car we used to do... anyways limped out in the dark. At least I brought a light this time Spent most of the night wandering out of there after dark with my wife one time without a light, not good. All in all it was a great end of summer season trip, sore feet and all. Some pictures: Gear Notes: ax and crampons wish I had better boots Edited October 24, 2005 by PaulO Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chad_A Posted October 24, 2005 Share Posted October 24, 2005 Oh, Jesus! I've had blisters like that before; not fun! Good for you for finishing it out. Thanks for the pics and the TR! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
magellan Posted October 24, 2005 Share Posted October 24, 2005 Paul, you might try some tape back there, and going with a dual layer of synthetic socks. The liner sock will rub against the outer sock and not your heel. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulO Posted October 24, 2005 Author Share Posted October 24, 2005 (edited) Thanks. I found duct tape works great for that purpose (if you remember it) Edited October 24, 2005 by PaulO Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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