What goes up....Must come down

I climbed a mountain last week. And I'm not talking about a metaphorical mountain either....a REAL mountain...Mount Adams to be exact.

Here is a semi-detailed account of my trip......

I trekked up Mt. Adams with my peers from my Leadership and Hardiness class at Gonzaga - and let me tell you - it was truly a test of my "hardiness" as an individual.

The trip began on Thursday, July 26th. I drove down to Trout Lake and met everyone at the Colds Springs campground. There were over 20 of us participating in the climb as well as a few volunteer guides (previous course participants). It was great to meet everyone as I had only talked to them previously on the phone or online. We didn't spend much time hanging out though as we needed to set up camp and get to sleep.

Friday morning, after a rough night of sleeping, we distributed gear and packed up our backpacks. I was so proud of myself as I had the smallest pack of my entire team of 6. I spent a lot of time researching equipment before the trip. Everything I purchased was small and light weight. I counted every ounce as I knew it would eventually be strapped to my back. I think my pack ended up weighing between 28-30 pounds - which was not that bad!

Our hike began at around 8:30 in the morning and about 5300 feet in elevation. Our goal for Friday was to reach base camp AKA Lunch Counter at 9000 feet by that afternoon. We knew it was going to be hard but I had no idea that it was going to take us so long to get there! I wasn't expecting to have to trek across so much snow! It ended up being about 10% dirt and 90% snow. It was just one giant snow hill after another and it ultimately took us a little over 7 hours to get to base camp.

Once we arrived at base camp, we quickly set up our tents, found some fresh water in a stream nearby, cooked up some tasty (sarcasm) dehydrated meals and took to our tents. I was told that it would be hard to sleep that night. Apparently insomnia is a common side effect of altitude adjustment. I live at sea level so I assumed I'd be greatly affected. Thankfully it wasn't that bad and between the ibuprofen and ear plugs I was able to get a few hours of sleep! I needed it too because as hard as the first day was, the second day was going to be even harder!

Saturday morning arrived with an early wake up call - sun was rising around 4:30AM. We slid on our cold weather clothes, packed only the essentials in our backpacks and donned our crampons for the summit push. At this point, I was really excited to start the next part of our adventure however camping at the bottom of the GIANT and STEEP false summit was intimidating. I wasn't sure if I was going to make it - but I knew I had to try.

I spent the next 3 hours focusing solely on putting ONE STEP IN FRONT OF THE OTHER. I tried not to focus on how much higher I still had to climb. Occasionally I would look back and down to see what I had accomplished but I mainly looked down at my feet. The steepness of the climb along with the altitude made for a very slow going trek. I literally took one breath for every step and making it to the false summit was such a great feeling. That was .... until I had a peak at the REAL summit....which was just another giant snowy hill. Thankfully I was prepared for this otherwise it would have been such a demoralizing experience.
After a brief break, we headed up the next and last hill climb. It was another slow trek but after about 1.5 hours I finally made it to the top. All I could think about as I walked my last few steps was how lucky I was to have the opportunity to do something like this. My thoughts flashed to my husband and son and the tears started flowing as I made it to flat ground on the summit of Mt. Adams - at 12,276 feet!

And then the true challenge began.....as what goes up....must come down. Have I mentioned my fear of going down steep hills? I hate it. I once tried downhill mountain biking. I was just fine on the nice gradual slopes but once things got steep I froze up. While biking I froze so bad I rode my bike right off a small cliff (by cliff I mean a 15 foot drop...but still terrifying!). And now, I'm finding myself on top of a mountain and the only expedient way down is glissading! What is glissading? Well it's basically bobsledding but without the bobsled. You find an already cut glisade chute, you plop your butt down and slide down the mountain. My first attempt at glissading from the top of the mountain was pretty disastrous. I tried to quell my fear but once I started sliding and picking up speed and freaked out. I ended up rolling out of the chute and trying to walk down the mountain. By this time, the snow was getting hard to walk in and my team was WAY ahead of me. Thankfully I eventually caught up to my team at the false summit. I almost chose to walk down that part of the mountain too however one of my team mates convinced me that the glissade chute was much safer than walking down. The incline was so steep I'd likely fall - it was better to have a controlled slide than a topple down the hill. This same team mate (bless his heart) helped me get down. He sat behind me and grabbed a hold of the ties on my pack. Whenever we we going too fast he would dig his heels in and slow us down. It was such a relief and I am so thankful for his help!

Glissade chute at left of picture (top of false summit)....

Once we made it back to base camp, we quickly ate some lunch and packed up. I thought the hardest part of the trip was over. I pictured a nice downhill walk back to the trail head. What I wasn't anticipating was the post-adrenaline exhaustion and the wet, slushy, dangerously slippery snow. Unfortunately this ended up being the hardest part of the trip for me. It was excruciating and I cried most of the last couple of miles (I don't handle things very well when I'm tired). All in all it took us another 5 grueling hours to get back to the trail head - making it a 13 hour day. Seeing the trail head and our original campsite was almost as exciting as making it to the summit! I quickly (well as fast I could walk by that time), made it to my car, threw my pack down and called my husband for a much needed congratulatory pick-me-up!

Well that's about it - now that the trip is over, I can honestly say that I pushed myself harder than I ever have and I never would have made it without the awesome group of individuals I was with (and the support of my husband at home). It was an amazing experience - one that I will always appreciate and never forget.