Isaac Whatever

Now I understand why people were using ice axes and neoprene suits on our previous visit to this crag. It gets steep.

We got a late start and arrived at around 2 in the afternoon. The weather was nearly perfect (a bit warm), and we made good progress.

Less than a mile in, we met a guy walking out. He was wearing a helmet. And gloves. Just walking down the path. We said nothing as he passed. Then we started laughing. Austin said, "I hope we don't find a bike on the path. I hope he was just wearing a helmet to go hiking!"

The trail started getting technical after an hour or so. Meltwater was running down the trail, undercutting the snow and making everything slippery. Streams were flooding, crossing was messy, but not dangerous.

Then we started hitting snowfields. We lost the real trail and started following a pair of footprints. Austin got impatient and headed straight up a snow-covered slope, and we lost the footprints. I found a garter snake surrounded by snow, and gave him a ride to a warm stump. As the slope steepened even more we headed left and found the footprints again, using them as a stair.

We spent a long time commenting on the odd choices of whoever made the tracks, who we referred to as 'The Three-Legged Man'. He kept running straight at trees and holes. Still, it was less work to follow the tracks than to make our own.

About an hour from the top we came to the bottom of a long open slope. We followed the tracks up, making short switchbacks. Looking down was scary. Out of the trees you could really feel the height. We slogged on up.

Near the top of the slope we ran into the Three-Legged Man, and his son. They had only made it a few hundred yards higher before turning around. We headed up as they glissaded down. We got up to the crag and climbed up high enough to see that it was a false summit before settling in for a quick snack and rest.

It's amazing how relaxing a precarious perch on a warm rock can be after a long time standing in snow.

Then we headed down, getting slightly lost, but striding easily on a cushion of snow. When we finally hit solid ground again it was a shock, almost like getting off of a trampoline. The ground seemed unnecessarily hard.

Then we found a snow-covered road, followed it back to the path, and headed the rest of the way down.

A great hike, but we didn't beat the mountain.