yikes Posted March 22, 2011 Share Posted March 22, 2011 Trip: Dragontail Peak - Serpentine Arete Date: 7/20/2008 Trip Report: Given the recent antic TR's of late I was reminded of my own mini-epic. I suspect that I stand little chance of winning the March-TR-a-thon but hopefully I can make someone chuckle. I met up with Rafael_H for the first time at the Kirkland P&R around 4am. He hopped in my Celica and we arrived at the TH around 6am, at the lake by 8:30 and on the summit by 6:30pm. Not a blazing fast ascent but reasonable. We had a bluebird day and despite being pretty fired I enjoyed the summit. Rafael on the summit. Me (Jason) on the summit. Gratuitous panorama #1 Gratuitous panorama #2 We descended to Aasgard and beyond without a hitch but the trail was long and I was slow. We arrived back at the car around 12am. Looking forward to the snacks I'd stash in the car I felt around in my back pocket for the key... Then my front pocket... Then more excitedly I unzipped the front pocket of my pack... and finally frantically dumped it's contents on the parking lot and searched by headlight. I knew I had the key. It was the only key on the ring. I felt my back pocket again and nearly got sick when I poked my finger through a hole in the bottom. Apparently I'd rubbed a hole in the pocket and lost the key somewhere on route or trail. I slowly turned to the 6ft+ Armenian machine whom I'd met only hours ago and confessed. I didn't have any adrenalin left to flee the scene so I just prepared for the whallop. I didn't come and I slowly opened my eyes. Apparently Rafael didn't have the adrenalin left to get pissed or he is just a really patient soul. Knowing that the lady's were expecting us back, and fearing that my girlfriend would unleash the SAR, we decided that we needed to go to town that night. Neither of us had cell coverage at the TH. Of course, according to Murphy's law, that night there happened to not be anyone sleeping at the TH either. So, I stashed my pack and we started walking down the road. At Bridge Creek campground I started walking around knocking on tents and finally woke a Brit who kindly offered to drive us to town. I rented Rafael and I a room and we phoned the lady's. After the free breakfast the next morning, I was still at a loss. The towing company will not tow a car if you don't have the registration, which I left in Seattle along with my spare key. I rented a car from Wenatchee and drove us back to Seattle. The next day my girl and I were getting ready to drive back to L-town and pick up the car and return the rental. The phone rang. I could barely make it out through the static but it was a girl with a English accent saying something about a key and a hotel. Sure enough when we got back to L-town and returned the the car, I found this letter on the windshield. As it turned out, the group of Oxford students that had found my key when crossing the bridge at Mountaineer's Creek, were guided our very same Brit rescuer, a Major in the British Army. Moral of story: Always bring a spare key for your partner or be sure to know a Royal Dragoon Guardsman! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spionin Posted March 23, 2011 Share Posted March 23, 2011 wow nice!! love the comment about 6ft+ Armenian machine! hi Raf! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JayB Posted March 23, 2011 Share Posted March 23, 2011 Awesome. Love the panos and the story. Tacked a 600mile RT onto a long day of climbing under similar circumstances way back when. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OlympicMtnBoy Posted March 23, 2011 Share Posted March 23, 2011 Hehe, reminds me of finding someone's car keys in the dirty gully on the last pitch of Town Crier/Green Dragon. I forget who but they got them back through this site. Amazing how the little things still sometime make it home. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alex Posted March 23, 2011 Share Posted March 23, 2011 "Apparently Rafael didn't have the adrenalin left to get pissed or he is just a really patient soul." Rafael is a regular partner of mine, he is a really patient soul. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rad Posted March 23, 2011 Share Posted March 23, 2011 Cool note, though hard to read. Glad you found it. A few years back I went for a June jaunt up the SE couloir on SEWS with a friend. He was wearing (gulp) shorts over polypro, and had tucked his truck key into the fold inside his shorts. On the descent, we had a super fun glissade. Neither of us had waterproof pants, so we got cold and wet and were eager to open our beers and turn on the heat in my friend's truck at the Blue Lake TH. We got there and found that the key had fallen out of my friend's pouch. It was lost somewhere on the mountain and likely rests there to this day. We broke his passenger window, which had been left cracked open, getting into the truck but still weren't able to jump start the thing (I don't remember why he thought we could). So we gave up and tried to hitch. Eventually we flagged down a truck and a friendly but sketchy dude gave us a lift to Sedro Wooley. We stopped along the way to call my gf (now wife), who met us in SW and transported us back to Sea. The next day my friend had to ask his GF to drive him all the way up to the Blue Lake TH to fetch the truck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ivan Posted March 23, 2011 Share Posted March 23, 2011 amazing how many folks haven't figured out that a magnetic stowaway key container costs like 5$ and saves your ass at least once a year! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yikes Posted March 23, 2011 Author Share Posted March 23, 2011 (edited) Never mind, I'm embarrassed that I got sucked into this. Edited March 23, 2011 by yikes Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rad Posted March 23, 2011 Share Posted March 23, 2011 Never mind, I'm embarrassed that I got sucked into this. Nobody's laughing at you. I liked your story. Just ignore that remark. Ivan is the king of epics and loves to bare his imperfect and smelly soul to the cc.com community - just read some of his TRs. We all make mistakes. The key is to avoid killing ourselves or repeating them! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yikes Posted March 23, 2011 Author Share Posted March 23, 2011 Thanks Rad. For the record, I meant that I was embarrassed for responding to Ivan not posting the TR. I'm familiar with Ivan's approach. 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.