scot'teryx Posted March 6, 2002 Share Posted March 6, 2002 Sunday March 3 Left lot at 5am after sleeping in the back of the rodeo. TotheTop and sverdina bivied in the cold parking lot. AT 515am I wanted to take a poop but they locked the damn door on the bathroom near the registration doo-hickey. Damnit!Started skinning up (first time for me using randonnee skis) and go to the top of the palmer rather uneventfully. There was some wind, but it was kinda warm, so it was okay. After almost getting run over by a snowcat, we took the skis off above the palmer lift and put on the crampons as it was real icy. Wound up stashing our skis 500 feet above the lift and then went for crater rock. TotheTop and sverdina speed off as my wife and I kept a steady pace. The heat, the sulphur, and the altitude made me a little queasy a few times, but we made it to the hogsback and then started up. The route was in good shape, and I am not sure why many people leave so early for a summit on hood when it comes to the s side route, except to maybe see the sunrise? The sun was beating down on us, and the SPF50 was slabbed on our faces. We watched some big time gapping go on from here on out. Some older guy had taken off from the hogsback and worked his way above the Devils Kitchen and then up towards the Steel Cliffs like he was going to solo it or something? He made his way back to us, and then I saw the gaper reveal his gear. Chest harness, harnesss, ice screws, and 4 pickets. What's so weird is that he was alone.....?? Hmmmmm. The hogsback was quite direct, and there were no switchbacks as some images on summitpost have shown, and the pearly gates were in great shape. Once at the summit (11:15am) we ran into all these other folks that have posted that they summitted. Kinda funny that none of us even asked each other if we were posters on this site. Anyway, we then witnessed the guy with track shoes and 1 inch spikes get up top and blurt out, "2 hours 40 minutes". Good for you I thought, but going down is gonna suck in those lame shoes. On the descent I watched him struggle on the ice in the pearly gates and down the hogsback, and down past the devils kitchen. Ignorance is Bliss I guess. Incredibly sunny day, and I don't think that even spring time can get better conditions than what we witnessed. Once we got back down to the skis I was in for a real treat as we only wore Koflacks to go with the randonnee setup. Big mistake. The crusty yukiness of the snow, and the no-ankle support of the boots made for a hasty ski down. After falling down repeated times, I finally carried my skis down to the top of the palmer where sverdina asked me how it was, and I said it sucked. AFter getting back on the skis and falling a few more times I got the hang of it as I sped down the palmer run and back to the car lickety split just in time to catch up with Bill (tothetop). Pretty worn out, and was excited to drive all the way back home Best place to eat after long day :::::::::IZZYS SALAD AND PIZZA BAR. Yummy! Some pictures are posted on summitpost.com Summitpost Images Good to see all those CC's up on the summit! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maurice Posted March 6, 2002 Share Posted March 6, 2002 Nice pics, interesting to see all the exposed rock up high since I was up there in January. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CraigA Posted March 7, 2002 Share Posted March 7, 2002 Nice pictures. We should climb sometime and maybe I could finally have an IN-FOCUS picture of myself on a mountain. My climb partners are either blind or don't know how to operate a camera Well done. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scot'teryx Posted March 8, 2002 Author Share Posted March 8, 2002 quote: Originally posted by CraigA: Nice pictures. We should climb sometime and maybe I could finally have an IN-FOCUS picture of myself on a mountain. My climb partners are either blind or don't know how to operate a camera Well done. No problem, I am always the fucking bitch designated to take the pictures. I even had the video camera on hood as well so I had 2 different things to manage other than myself.Let me know whatcha got in mind? [ 03-08-2002: Message edited by: scot'teryx ] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.