Shut Down

It was dark when I woke up on Saturday morning, and only the thought of climbing some ice motivated me to get out of my big, warm bed....its been months since I have swung my tools, placed a screw, or flaked out my ropes. After many cups of coffee, Lynn and I headed out to the Glen Alps parking lot, with the hopes of climbing O'Malley Falls.

Little did we know that as soon as we left the safety of the trees the wind would smack us down and make us cry for face masks and goggles.

Self Portrait with Lynn in the Background

 

We took our approach skis and wore our mountaineering boots. On the beautifully flat, groomed snow, I felt like a skier....as soon as I entered the land of tundra bumps, rocks, and a trail I couldn't pizza pie on, I started having spectacular wipe outs. At one point I got turtled, rolled around this way and that,but couldn't stand up to save my life, until I took my pack off...I think Lynn really enjoyed the show, because usually she's eating shit on skis, and I'm laughing. So eventually we both ditched our skis and continued down the valley.

Stormy Day

 

The farther we headed back the worse the weather and trail got. It started snowing, and kept blowing harder, and gusting even harder. Our faces started freezing, eyes squinting, and of course the trail disappeared underneath wind drifts...but we kept going....Lynn and I have the knack for enduring ridiculous conditions together...I think most people would have the good sense to turn around, but somehow our enthusiasm powers us through horrible terrain.

The Moment of Clarity

 

About three hours into our approach to the falls we started stopping, turning our backs to the wind, to give our faces a break, and started questioning the worthiness of our objective. In the end it was deemed not worthy enough for the suffering involved. With face masks and goggles it would have been much more pleasant, and next time it will be in my arsenal.