Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Back on the Summit

It has been a while since our son Jake has stood on top of a volcanic peak in the Cascade Mountains, but this is, in fact, his third time on the summit of Mt. Adams in Central Washington. It was eleven years ago this month Jake and his sister Jill summited Mt Rainier, after taking extensive training with The Mountaineers. It had been a dream goal of Jill's for a long time and having the two of them achieve it together was very special. They climbed several more peaks together, including a very cloudy and windy summit of Mt Adams, before Jill relocated to Colorado. Summit of Mt Rainier, August 1999. Jake went on to climb more mountains, but lately he has taken less involved hikes in his beloved mountains. Then this summer friends of his asked him to lead them on a climb up Mt Adams. So he started training when he could on weekends to be in shape. Last Friday, August 13th, he loaded up Gus The Bus. Gus has been handed down through family members for quite a while now and still likes to go on adventures with his current owner. Then he collected Greg and Laurie. Laurie was a classmate of Jake's in middle school through high school as well as being the daughter of a friend and brief teacher colleague of mine. Greg was a college and post college roommate of Jake's. Needless to say Jake was the catalyst in bringing this couple together. Laurie was not known as the athletic type until she attended Boot Camp for Brides prior to her wedding four years ago. Now there's no stopping her. She has climbed Mt Rainier, has run a marathon and is training for another, and she and Greg just returned from hiking to Machu Picchu in the Andes. For Greg this was a first time experience at mountain climbing. On Friday they set up camp at Taklakh Lake, at the foot of Mt Adams. They prepared for the climb with views of the mountain and some relaxing beverages. Saturday morning they drove Gus to the trail head, and loaded up with their packs for spending a night on the mountain, they set off up the trail.
Resting along the way.
The trail head is at 5600 feet elevation. It took them four hours to hike to Lunchcounter, at about 9000 feet, the overnight base camp.
It was still warm at this elevation.
They enjoyed the sunset on the mountain, and then prepared for a sunrise start to the summit.
They took a break at Piker's Point, the false summit, at 11,300 feet.
Ta-dah! Laurie and Greg at the summit.
And then Jake stands atop Mt Adams for his third time.
His altimeter watch shows 12,260 feet just below the summit, and the time is 9:49 AM.
The weather was so mild and the view so spectacular that they stayed on the mountain top for about half an hour.
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Then they descended. This way.
For 2000 feet they glissaded down the mountain through this glissade trough. To glissade is to slide on your butt, ice ax at the ready to make any necessary course corrections. Laurie said it was the best part!
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It took them the rest of the day to get back to the trail head and drive Gus out of the mountains and back to Seattle. Success all around!
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I want to thank Laurie for the photos which she took and so kindly allowed me to use. I don't usually have a trip of Jake's so well documented. And thanks to facebook, I even got some updates along the way.

16 comments:

  1. What an amazing adventure! The photos are spectacular; Gus the Bus is a real sport; the climbers have my admiration. It must have been a truly "awesome" experience. I seldom use the word "awesome," because it has lost real meaning, but it's fitting here.

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  2. Wonderful! Although I don't have the stamina for such a hike, I admire people who do.

    That slide downhill on their butts reminded me of the times I used to slide downhill on cardboard when I was a kid. Fun!

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  3. That is awesome! How marvelous to be able to do that, see that and enjoy it with friends at the same time! I'm so glad Laurie took so many marvelous pictures for you to share with us! Fantastic! Thanks for the adventure!

    Sylvia

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  4. That's quite an accomplishment and I admire those that can do it. As for me, I'll stick to maintained trails.

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  5. What an experience! I have such admiration for Laurie who has learned to love all this climbing. I think I'd like the sliding down part best too.

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  6. A well put-together story Linda. It's good to see younger folk doing these kind of activities. Well done you all. - Dave

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  7. I am in awe of the accomplishment that you described so well for us. Wow!

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  8. what an adventure and sliding down sounds cold...lol!

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  9. Wow, this is a great story, Linda, and it's really wonderful to have it all with pictures. When I was younger and living in Colorado, I would climb the Fourteeners (there are 52 mountains in Colorado with 14,000 feet elevation or higher) and managed to "bag" 26 of them before skydiving took me in another direction. I have wonderful memories of peak moments, which came alive when I enjoyed your post!!! Thanks and congratulations to everyone!

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  10. This was just flat out delightful. Thank you so much for sharing it with us. :) I'm grinning.

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  11. Glissading looks like so much fun! I think that would be my favorite, too. Had to chuckle at sitting in the snow in shorts!
    How wonderful that your children could share in this adventure.

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  12. Another exciting Reeder event. I love Gus the Bus. Such a good experience for those climbers, and for us who can only read about such things.

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  13. Spectacular!!! and now? I wanna hear more about Machu Piichu!!!! That place amazes me even more!

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  14. This is so incredible. The photos are spectacular. My son and your children certainly have something in common. I don't know exactly which mountain Jon is on right now. He doesn't like to give me too much information until they get back. I wonder why.

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  15. Wow! I am in awe of the great trip/climb the three took. What a challenge. How nice that you've shared this experience with us. I would love to slide down the mountain...and I love Gus the Bus!

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  16. A very nice documentation of a trip up Mt Adams. When I went, you won't believe it, I didn't have my sleeping bag, and it was late that we started, and very windy.
    I can't believe to this day that I managed to get out without my bag. I thought it was packed. So I was up all night, which was good because the sunrise was beautiful.

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