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I was beat. I looked at my watch and saw it was nearly 2:30pm. We’d been hiking uphill, fighting the cold and the wind and the blowing snow since 8am.
I remember reading about accidents on mountains in books and news articles. It usually wasn’t one mistake or bad decision that gets you in trouble, but rather a series of them. I had told Dave before he took off to go looking for the trail again that I didn’t want to keep compounding our situation by making more bad decisions. We’d already gone off trail and gotten lost in a white out in our rush to get down the mountain, we didn’t need to make the situation even worse.
As I stood there in the waist deep snow watching Dave attempt to traverse across the mountain in an attempt to find the trail we’d lost, I thought back to how the day had progressed up to this point…
———-
We’d gotten a late start. We’d set all of our gear our the night before. Thinking back, we should have packed up the bags the night before, and only left our clothes out to be put on. Although we got up at 5:45, by the time we got cleaned up, ate breakfast and got all dressed and packed out, it was already 7am. For some reason, everything seemed to take forever.
At the trailhead, we discovered that in our rush to pack that morning, we’d forgotten two important things: Dave’s mittens and our trail map. Since we were already running late, we decided to make due with what we had brought with us.
Dave would wear his liner gloves and my Marmot technical gloves. Along with some hand warmers, it should be enough to keep his hands warm. And since we we’d already studied the route and saw that it only required two different trails, we decided to forgo to map. Besides, we were told there would be so many people (including guides) on the mountain that day, we could easy follow someone else or ask directions.
We double-checked the items we did end up bringing with us and loaded them into my backpack:
- Down jackets
- Ski goggles
- hand warmers
- food (granola bars and shot blocks – 2 of each for both of us)
- 2 nalgene bottles full of water in insulators
- Headlamps
- Mountaineering axes
- Crampons
- Cameras
- Balaclavas and extra hats
This in addition to the clothes I was wearing which included my Arc’teryx base layer, my Patagonia fleece, my REI shell pants, my Arc’teryx Alpha shell jacket, wool hat, wool expedition socks, Vasque mountaineering boots and my Mountain Hardware Masherbrum mittens (Dave had a similar setup, minus the mittens).
We signed into the guestbook at the visitor center, did one last check of what we had and set off onto the could trail.
On the way up the first part of the route, on the Tuckerman Ravine trail, we saw numerous other hikers out that morning. Most people we talked to, like us, were planning to head to the summit that day. By the time we got to the start of the Lion Head trail, we were surrounded by no less than 20 other hikers doing the same thing.
This was a common place to stop for most people to pause, put on crampons, adjust packs and set off for the more treacherous part of the hike/climb to come. We stopped to do the same and get a quick bite to eat and drink.
I looked at my watch and saw that it was barely 9am. We were making great time! The sun was even coming out! What a great day this was turning out to be!
After we threw on our crampons and started off on the Lionhead trail we noticed the terrain almost immediately got steeper and more difficult. Within 15 minutes we were going nearly vertical up an extremely steep trail that was a lot of fun. I had actually wondered earlier if I was even going to need my ice axe for any part of this climb.
By about 11am we reached the top of the Lionhead trail and though the sun was still out we could see a weather system moving in. Our pace had also slowed considerably.
“Weird” I thought to myself. ”It’s supposed to be nice up here today. Hopefully it just passes us by”
The wind had picked up quite a bit and by the time we got to the lip of the Tuckerman Ravine it felt like we were in a hurricane. Though I could still see the summit off in the distance, visibility was dropping.
By noon, as we trudged slowly up a massive boulder field, I look upwards and saw that the summit was no longer visible. We should still make out the trail with the kearns and marker wands, but our destination was now obscured.
This is the first time that I felt a little something inside of me. I don’t know if it was dread or what, but I quickly wrote it off. I mean, we came here looking for the bad weather experience, right? And as the wind continued to howl I knew we had found it. In spades.
Every step was getting tougher. It wasn’t just the hike up that was wearing me down. The sub zero temps made my lungs burn and the wind punished me, even when I stood still. We were in the middle of a full on assault, and we kept hiking into it.
By 1:30pm I noticed an object in the near distance that looked man made. It was a railing, covered in sideways icicles. I walked a few more feet and saw a building. We had made it to the top.
After about 20 minutes of walking around, checking stuff out and taking a couple of pictures next to the summit sign, we were ready to get down. The wind, gusting up to 80mph, was merciless and we were both really getting tired. We weren’t getting cold yet, but we knew the longer we stood still the colder we’d get. Plus, the idea of heading down quickly and getting some beer and pizza sounded really good.
So down we went. Quick. Too quick. The conditions on the mountain had continued to deteriorate and we were now in a full on whiteout. I could barely make out Dave’s bright green jacket 20ft in front of me. We just kept heading straight down the field of rocks and boulders until we stopped in the middle of a snow field. This didn’t look familiar.
We turned east and walked through the snow for a few minutes, looking for some evidence of the trail. We couldn’t have missed it by that much, right? And where were the other hikers? Had the weather turned all them around?
We stopped again. No luck. Nothing looked familiar and we couldn’t see any major landmarks. We turned around and saw that our tracks were almost completely washed away by the blowing wind and and snow.
Uh oh.
I looked at Dave and I saw in his eyes a reflection of my own panic. The weather was deterioating further and every minute that ticked by brought us closer to sunset.
Sunset would be very bad. Like, never get off the mountain kind of bad.
We talked for a minute or two, and discussed the situation. No use in panicking, we agreed. It was only going to make things worse. Though we were both really worn out, we decided to head back up the mountain a little bit and try to see if we could find a trail or some kind of landmark. And after about 10 minutes, we saw what looked like a sign post sticking up! We rushed over to it and brushed the snow off
“<- TUCKERMAN RAVINE TRAIL ->”
OK, that helped, but not much. We were on a trail, but which part? Part of the Tuckerman Ravine trail leads up to the summit, which is not where we wanted to go. The other side gets closed after heavy snow fall due to avalanche danger. Somewhere along the trail was a turn off that would take us safely down the mountain. But where? Had we gone too far? Not far enough? We were already in really deep snow and completely worn out.
Choosing the wrong direction could either put us in an avalanche zone with a 1500 drop off or send us trudging back up the mountain while it got dark.
Dave started walking. ”I think the trail’s this way” and headed back up the mountain.
I gave him 30 minutes. If he didn’t find it by then, we’d have to make another decision about what we were going to do.
I looked around and tried to think of what our other options were:
-We could try to work our way down the Tuckerman Ravine. It was dangerous, but people have done it before.
We could also work our way back up to the summit and start our decent all over again. We’d be tired, but it would give us a good chance of getting back on track, if we could get back up there and down before dark.
-That last option, one I didn’t want to think about, was digging a whole and in the snow and bivouacking down until the weather broke. I knew it would get really cold that night, but it would be better than falling down the Tuckerman Ravine in the dark.
Then I started to think of my wife, at home. Probably watching TV on our couch. I was supposed to call her this evening when I got off the mountain. She was already worried about me. If I didn’t call her tonight, she’d be a complete mess. I hate it when she worries about me. Imagine how upset she’d be if…
I stopped myself. No way that’s happening tonight. I could not stay up here tonight. We’d HAVE to find a way down, no matter what. Even if we had to hike all the way back up to the top 5 times and crawl down at midnight, we were not going to be stranded here!
I had worked my way into quite a pep talk! Just then I remembered. I had downloaded a copy of the map on my iPhone to study. I had brought my phone with me, just in case of an emergency. I didn’t get service, but I had a copy of that map still on here. I pulled out my phone and with my liner gloves, I was able to scroll and zoom to the part of the map were on.
I looked around to try to and orient myself to a landmark with little luck. I thought we were right above the Tuckerman Ravine, but I couldn’t be sure. And just then, the weather lifted for a few moments and, off in the distance, I could make out the unmistakable shape of the Lionhead.
We couldn’t be that far off course! Dave had to be headed in the right direction. I started walking towards him. I was ready to grab Dave, shake him and yell “we’re going to live! We’ll make it off….” What was he waving his arms like that for?
I heard him yell ”I found the trail! Its right here. We were only off by about 100ft!”.
Oh right. Well, nevermind the speech. I guess we’ll just walk down then.
And sure enough, the trail was right there. And just as we got there the weather broke for a few more moments and I could see the rock formations on the Lionhead directly ahead in the distance. We walked down slowly and got back down to the tree line. The weather, which had been pounding the summit finally eased.
The setting sun came back out again to greet us as we quickly walked the lower half of the trail and finally dropped below the mountains just as we reached the trailhead and car.
We unloaded the gear into the rental car, turned the heater up to full blast and drank a bottle of slushy water I’d left behind.
“What’d you think?” I asked Dave.
“That was not as easy as I thought it would be.”
“Me either.”
“Ready for a beer?”
“Dear god yes. Let’s go”
As we set off down the road to head back to down, we both got quiet in our thoughts. I thought about calling my wife and how good it would be to hear her voice. I thought about how different the whole experience was from I pictured it. But mostly I thought about all the stories I’ve read of people who have died on mountains and how real it all seemed to me now.
Now to our credit, we did stop making bad decisions at a critical juncture. Though we were only a 100ft or so off-course, we could have easily made the situation far worse if we had continued to make bad decisions. I stopped our descent, Dave made the sacrifice of heading back up and because of the that we were able to find our way back on-course after losing about an hour or so of time.
But I saw firsthand how easy a serious of seemingly small errors can compound and snowball into disaster. Coupled with a lack of humility, we were actually pretty lucky to have made it off as easy as we did.
Mountains, especially ones as fierce as Mount Washington, demand your respect. It doesn’t matter how fancy your shell is, or how good of shape you’re in or how shiny your new crampons are. If you don’t respect that mountain, it can punish you. Sometimes with severe consequences.
This time, we walked away with a free lesson.
“I think we’re in big trouble”
That’s all I could think as Dave and I looked around in the storm that had changed the weather to complete white out conditions.
We were lost. Bad. And completely worn out. We had spent so much energy rushing our way to the top, we had very little strength left in out bodies. It was obvious that we had missed a turn somewhere. In our rush to get back below the tree line we had somehow gone right past our turn. We were now on a completely unfamiliar part of the mountain and it would be getting dark soon.
Nighttime on that mountain could spell a death sentence. It was -2 degrees with gale force winds and the temperature was dropping. If we didn’t get back on course soon, we could be stuck out here all night. Without a tent or bivy sack, without a stove or sleeping bag. A night out here would be disastrous.
If only we could see more than 100 ft in front of us, we could tell which way to go. I was pretty sure we had gone too far west, but how far? If we wandered too far west, we risked heading down the Tuckerman Ravine. Over 1500 ft of near sheer drop off. Going back east meant going back up hill and trudging through waist deep snow. Our legs were so already spent, we could barely walk as it was.
I looked over at Dave. He was just as exhausted as I was. “I have no idea where we are man. This is bad.” We stopped for a few minutes to discuss the situation. We couldn’t stand here long. As soon as you stop moving, you get cold. Plus, we were losing daylight.
Dave decided to head up and east to scout out a new route. Meanwhile, I’d look at the map and try and orient ourselves. I could look as my compass and see our direction, but I couldn’t find a big enough object to use to direct ourselves. We had to find a way back down soon…..
It was Thursday afternoon and I was on the train heading to new york where I’d meet Dave who was up already up there for the day. He was going to grab me a couple of slices of NYC pizza, hop on the train and we’d roll the rest of the way up to Boston where we’d grab our rental that was waiting for us.
We got to Boston around midnight and I was immediately glad we decided to rent a 4×4. It was snowing like crazy. A weak weather system had gotten hung up on the east coast and was just sitting there, dumping snow all over New England. By the time we got the car and left the rental car office, it was nearly a full on blizzard.
A drive that was supposed to take a bit under 3 hours ended up taking nearly 4 and a half and by the time we arrived in Jackson, NH at the Synnott Mountain Guides Bunkhouse at 4:45am, we were thrashed. We quietly made our way inside to the one room house that featured several beds where other climbers were already passed out. With headlamps on, we found a free mattress and couch to crash out on, which we did almost immediately.
3 and half hours later, our guide Joe came in the door looking for us. We had booked an all day ice climbing class with Synnott Guides, and he was ready to get going. There were no blinds or curtains in the little house we had flopped in on the night before so the bright morning sunlight was reflecting off all that new snow and right through our window. Looked like getting up was our only option anyways.
So we threw on some clothes, test fit our climbing gear and set out for one of the many ice climbing destinations around Mt Washington. After a quick stop at the local Eastern Mountain Sports for a few last minute items and a second stop for a giant cup of McDonald’s coffee, we were at the trailhead, starting the 45 minute hike to Champney Falls.
We got to the falls, which was already covered with other climbers, and setup a top rope anchor. Our guide, who knew we were both rock climbers, took a very hands off approach to teaching us to climb. He helped us get our crampons on and basically just threw us on a wall with ice tools. 10 minutes later Dave and I had both top roped a 30 foot class 4 route.
During the way, our guide would take time to critique our technique or form. Showing us how to get better crampon purchase in the ice or the sound a tool should make when it gets a good stick. By the end of the day we were doing a 60ft class 4 plus route with relative ease.
While ice climbing is obviously a different animal from rock climbing, many of the same principals apply. Smooth, balanced movements are preferred, using your feet to climb instead of your arms, visualizing your route, remembering to breathe… All key if you want to have successful and enjoyable route.
We both had a blast and by the time we hiked back to the car we felt like the day had opened up new climbing avenues for both us. Too bad there’s not much in the way of ice climbing in Virginia!
We left and headed out to the gear store so Dave could get boots and crampons for the next day’s hike up Mount Washington. Afterward we stopped a local dive bar for some well deserved greasy food and ice cold brewskis, and discussed our big adventure the next day.
After dinner we checked into our accommodations at the Nereledge Inn, local B&B that caters specifically to climbers. Steve, the owner, gave us a big, clean room with two comfy beds and promised to have a breakfast ready for us when we were heading out at 6am the next morning.
After we got unpacked, we wandered downstairs to hang out in the common area where there was a TV and a wood fired stove where we met two older guys playing chess. We struck up a conversation and found that they had both been on some pretty seriously climbs, including several winter summits of mt Washington, a 5 week long climb up Denali and even a couple of Himalayan peaks! They told us we’d have a blast on our climb the next day, but to take care to not underestimate the weather on the mountain.
After enjoying several beers and listening to stories and wisdom from newly found friends, we retired to our room. We got in bed around 9:30pm and set the alarm for 5:45am the next day. When we awoke, it’d be time to head off the mountain for the highlight of our little weekend adventure.
To be continued…..
Our second stab at a trip to Mt Washington is only two short days away. On thursday afternoon I’ll be on the train heading towards New York where my good friend Dave will be waiting to join me as we continue on up to Boston to get our rental car. Since our trip has changed from last year, in both the activities (we’re taking an all day ice climbing class on Friday) and the mode of transportation (not flying), I’ve had to adjust what gear I’ll be hauling up with me this time.
I’ve researched the message boards and various outfitters to see what they recommend to bring. I broke down my clothes and gears by my needs for the weekend into three categories, though there is some crossover:
1. Ice climbing – Being outside on the ice all day, I’ll need breathable layers that’ll keep me warm, without turning into a sauna. Also, I’ll finally get a chance to try out my crampons I bought last year.
2. Mt. Washington climb – They don’t call it the home of the world’s worst weather for nothing. Sub zero temps and 100mph winds are commonplace as you approach the summit. I’ll need plenty of layers I can add as we go higher, as well as goggles and other extreme cold weather gear.
3. Travel/Lounging clothes – While I’m sitting on the train and chilling out at the motel at night, I’ll want to be comfortable. Additionally, I may want to go out to a local pub and not look like I just got done climbing a mountain.
So with all this in mind, here’s what I finally settled on:
Luggage and bags – Here’s what I’ll be packing all my gear into
- REI Adventure Cargo duffel bag- For hauling all my stuff from home, through the train station and to the base of the mountain
- Black Diamond 40L Alpine bag – On the train I’ll carry my ipad, magazines and other stuff for the trip up there, on the mountain it’ll carry all of our gear.
Clothes – Outerwear and layers
- Arc’teryx Alpha shell – I’ll pretty much wear this the entire time I’m up in New Hampshire. With its Goretex Pro fabric, its warm enough to wear by itself around town and capable of protecting my from that ferocious wind at the summit
- REI insulated snow pants – I’ll wear these over my base layer to keep my legs warm and dry
- Patagonia down jacket – Unless there’s a blizzard, I’ll likely be wearing this as my outer layer around the base of the mountain. It’s tremendously warm, breathable and lightweight
- Patagonia – I’ll wear this under the down layer and around the lodge to keep warm and dry and add another layer of insulation
- Patagonia Capaline 3 baselayer top – This thin base layer zips down with I need a little bit of cooling but zips all way up the neck when I need to keep out the drafty cold
- REI base layer long undies – These aren’t just a great base layer for the legs, they’re a fashion statement around the lodge (with boots of course)
- Patogonia fleece hat – Even if we don’t summit, I can totally look like I climb Mt Fitzroy… bro
- Outdoor Research balaclava – Great for keeping your neck, ears and face warm and doubles as a great ninja mask!
- Two or three pairs of REI wool socks – Probably just one pair for each day
- Wool expedition socks – For wearing up the summit or if we get bored and decide to put on a sock play on the train
- Liner gloves and liner socks – Socks will help prevent blisters on my feet and the liner gloves will protect my hands in case I have to take my mittens off.
- Mountain Hardware Masherbrum Mittens – This mittens are LEGIT. They’re almost as big as boxing gloves and stuffed full of warm insulation. I’ll keep these on for most of the trip up the mountain
- Marmot insulated gloves – Backups for the mittens and also for use while ice climbing
- Vasque Mountaineering boots – I’ll finally get the chance to wear these somewhere outside of my neighborhood. It’s nice that they include built in gaiters
- Other stuff? I’ll be packing a couple of t-shirts, a pair of hiking pants for walking around and of course some extra undies
Gear (climbing and otherwise)
- 2 Naglene bottles – both with insulating sleeves to keep from freezing
- Headlamp with extra batteries – Because you never know. If we get stuck out after dark I don’t want to rely on moonlight to get us back down
- Black diamond crampons – for traction on the ice and the misc climbs we’ll be doing
- Camp ice axe – Typical mountaineering axe
- Ice axe leash – Don’t want to lose your ice axe right!?
- Rope and carabiners – while we won’t be doing any technical climbing, it’s probably a good idea to carry a length of rope, just in case
- Julbo glacier glasses – Keeps the sun/wind out of my eyes when we’re heading up the mountain
- Ski goggles – see above
Misc
- Snacks – nothing that needs to be cooked and stuff that won’t freeze on the mountain. Most of our meals will be at the in town, we just need to have enough food to keep our energy up when we’re hiking
- First aid kit – Small with just a few things
- Compass with signal mirror – The trails are well marked, but again, you never know
- Cameras – I’ll be hauling along my Canon t2i, the GoPro and a point and shoot for pictures/video of the trip.
- Chapstick and sunscreen
- Books and magazines, ipad for the train and probably my laptop
That should probably about cover it. I’m still figuring out if I need to load the kitchen sink, but I’ll make that a game time decision. Seriously though, this may look like a lot of stuff (ok, it IS a lot of stuff), but I want to be sure we have everything we need to ensure this adventure is successful, fun and safe.
Happy trails!
Last year, I had made a plan with a couple of friends to travel to the home the of the “worlds worst weather”, Mt Washington in New Hampshire. A bit of bad weather cancelled our travel plans at the last minute and we couldn’t manage to coordinate on another weekend to head up. We promised ourselves we would find a way to get up there, even if it wasn’t that year. Well, here we are in 2012 and me and my buddy Dave and I decided to take another stab at it this month.
This time, instead of relying on the airlines, which are more sensitive to inclement weather, we’re going to take the slower and more scenic means of travel, the train. We’ll be heading on old Amtrak Northeast Regional on a Thursday evening and heading back on Sunday night. It’ll take a lot longer than flying, but we’ll be able to read, watch movies and relax the whole way. And since Amtrak offers free WiFi now, I may even be able to get some work done.
Since the hike up Mt Washington will only take about 8 hours and we’ll have 3 days to fill, we decided to take the opportunity to expand our climbing skills and take an ice climbing class through Synnott Mountain Guides on Friday. I’ve never done ice climbing before and I’m looking forward to the chance to learn something new.
We’re still hammering out the details, but we’re looking trying to get our summit hike/climb in on Saturday morning, which will leave us with the rest of the day and all day Sunday to do whatever we want. Worst case scenario, if the weather is too bad on Saturday to make it to the top, we can try to do a summit attempt on Sunday morning and be back down in time to get on the train before it leaves.
I’m excited to have the first big adventure of 2012 only a couple of weeks away. I’ll be sure to write up more about our itinerary, gear selection and, of course, a trip report when it’s all done. Who knows, there might even be a video!
Have a great weekend and happy trails!
I got bored this past Saturday evening, so while the wife and her friend watched the last Harry Potter movie in the basement, I recut and remixed the footage from our Seneca Rocks trip.
I learned a lot from my first attempt at making a video and I’m more satisfied with the new one. I can’t to get out and shoot more video with my GoPro!!
Happy trails!
Before our little climbing adventure weekend out to seneca rocks last week, I went out and purchased a GoPro Hero HD camera from REI. This little video camera, which includes shock and waterproof cases and a helmet mount, is an inexpensive way to get pretty high quality video. The idea was to shoot video of us climbing using the GoPro, and shoot other video around the camp site and what not with our Canon Rebel t2i. I’d then get home, copy all the videos to my Macbook and edit it all into a sweet video using Final Cut Pro.
Problems? Well for one I’ve never really shot videos before, so I really had no idea what kind of shot selections I needed to look for. I also ran out of both memory cards and batteries before the weekend was over, so I missed out on a lot of really cool shots that should have made it into the video.
Oh yeah, I also never used Final Cut Pro before. I think it’s funny that I just assumed I could come home and instantly know how to use a professional grade piece of software.
But, despite all this, I still managed to slap together this little video. Let me know what you think and hopefully the next one will be better:
Seneca Rawks! from Outside Brian on Vimeo.
Happy trails!
“The very basic core of a man’s living spirit is his passion for adventure. The joy of life comes from our encounters with new experiences, and hence there is no greater joy than to have an endlessly changing horizon, for each day to have a new and different sun. If you want to get more out of life, you must lose your inclination for monotonous security and adopt a helter-skelter style of life that will at first appear to you to be crazy. But once you become accustomed to such a life you will see its full meaning and its incredible beauty.”
― Jon Krakauer, Into the Wild
If you are the kind of person who pursues adventure, sooner or later you’re going to be tested. Your adventurous spirit will be put to the test and you will question whether or not it would have been a better idea to take up stamp collecting instead. You’ll have to take a step you’ve never taken before. A step that takes you outside of your warm and happy comfort zone and thrusts you into the unknown. if you’re that kind of person, you’ll have some of these moments.
If you ever aspire to be a person who climbs outdoors, you will probably have many of these moments.
Climb with safe people, be a safe climber, and ensure all your protection is properly in place and you’re probably more likely to die in a car accident on the way home. That’s logical. But logic has a way of disappearing when you’re clinging to a rock 500ft in the air. And if you were logical, you wouldn’t be up there in the first place!
You stand there, visualizing the route you’ll take to the next ledge, trying to control your breathing and slow your heart rate down. But it’s hard when you look down and see 75ft tall trees below that look so small they could fit in your pocket. Sure is a long way down…. maybe you’ve climbed high enough for the day…
Matt, Dave and I have been planning this trip for weeks. Matt, my climbing buddy mentor, is a west coast transplant with some big wall credentials. He’d been pushing us to take a trip out to the Rocks since we started climbing together in the gym last spring, and Dave and I were more than happy to oblige. The idea was to take the 3 hour drive out to Seneca Rocks in West Virginia on a Friday morning, setup at the camp ground across the road. Then, ideally, we’d have a couple days of climbing on the numerous routes all over the rocks there.
Seneca who? Purchased by the federal government in 1969, Seneca Rocks is one of the best-known landmarks in West Virginia. These rocks have long been noted as a scenic attraction and are popular with rock climbers.
The rocks are a magnificent formation rising nearly 900 feet above the North Fork River. Eastern West Virginia contains many such formations of the white/gray Tuscarora quartzite. Seneca Rocks and nearby Champe Rocks are among the most imposing examples. The quartzite is approximately 250 feet thick and is located primarily on exposed ridges as caprock or exposed crags. The rock is composed of fine grains of sand that were laid down approximately 440 million years ago, in an extensive sheet at the edge of ancient ocean. Years of geologic activity followed, as the ocean was slowly destroyed and the underlying rock uplifted and folded. Millions of years of erosion stripped away the overlaying rock and left remnants of the arching folds in formations such as Seneca Rocks.
The town of Seneca itself, across the street from the Rocks, is what I always imaged what a little climbing town would look like. The town center consists of 5 buildings; an abandoned garage, 2 general stores (with restaurants built in) and two climbing stores/guide services. There’s also a small campground right across the street that’s close enough to allow you to walk right up to the mountain. What more do you need, right?!
So we pulled into the campground on Friday afternoon, setup our tents and headed over to the Rocks to hike around and check out some routes. It was a little late to actually do any climbing, but at least we could scout out some spots we read about in the guidebook and be ready to get going first thing in the morning.
The rock formations are impressive to say the least, especially if you’re an east coaster like myself. Like a set of jagged teeth ripping into the sky, they’re as frightening as they are beautiful. Matt was as giddy as a little kid on Christmas, Dave and I were quiet. “Are we going to really climb that thing?” I whispered to him. “I dunno man….”
But Matt’s confidence was infectious. We hiked back to the campsite, got a big fire going, and cooked up a huge gourmet campfire meal of chicken tika masala, palak paneer and white rice (which surprisingly turned out pretty well). After dinner was finished and we’d enjoyed a few nips of whiskey and some delicious pumpkin beers, we headed off to our tents to rest up for the next day.
Morning sun came and we awoke to frost covered tents and bite of a cold November morning. After downing some cheap breakfast sandwiches from the general store and a few cups of coffee, we set off for our first day on the mountain.
We started off at about 11am on the eastern side of the south ridge on a relatively easy route that would take us through 4 pitches of airy climbing to the top of the middle of the ridge known as the Gunsight Notch. From there, we’d take another 2 pitch route all the way to the summit. Matt, the only one with real outdoor experience would lead the climb. Since this was a traditional or “Trad” climb, he’d also be setting the protection (in the form of spring loaded cams and nuts) in the wall as he went up. Dave and I would follow, one at a time, each on a separate rope.
It was slow going all the way up, for a number of reasons. First, Matt took a lot of time to explain to us what he was doing so we’d pick up some knowledge of lead climbing. Secondly, because there we’re three of us, we had to stop and wait each time for all the climbers to get to the same anchor point before we could continue. Lastly, Dave and I were both a little nervous (read A LOT NERVOUS) and it took us a little while to get our climbing rythym going.
But aside from being a little slow, everything was going pretty well. Then we got to the ledge half way up the route. That tiny little ledge we had to anchor in on. It was barely the side of small table and the dropoff below was at least 250ft. We each had to stand up, manuever around the other climbers and then sideways climb across a little wall with nothing below us but air. It was a little puckering to say the least.
I watched as Matt fearlessly traversed across it, set in a piece of protection and continued on his way up. A few minutes later, he called down and told me I was on belay and I could start coming up. I stood up, wiped off my sweaty palms and dug deep into my chalk bag to get a good coating of white powder. I wondered if there was an easy way for me to downclimb from here. I scanned the surrounding rock and decided the easiest way, unfortunately, was going to have to be up. Just had to get past this one piece and it all would be easy after that.
So I took one last tug on the rope, double checked my knot and took a deep breath as I stepped away from the ledge. I slowed worked from hold to hold, taking only a brief moment to glance down at the air below. The final move involved reaching across a chimney and planting my foot in a little crack in the rock. Boom, in the rock and I was across. I let out a sigh. It had taken about 3 seconds for me to cross, I felt like i’d been up there for a year.
“You made that look easy” Dave’s words of encouragement entered my brain. I was already moving up the chimney and heading back up towards Matt.
I had just crossed some kind of a threshold. Anxiety was gone and its place was calm and serenity. It was as though someone hit a switch inside of me. I felt transformed.
After about 4 total hours of grunting up the route, we finally emerged on the top of the Gunsight notch with its spectacular view of the valley below and the true summit less that 100 vertical feet above. Even though it was getting a little late, summited wouldn’t be much of a problem. Unfortunately, we got stuck in a traffic jam behind another group of climbers who were taking the same route as us. Rather than spend time looking for another route and attempting a risky late day summit, we decided to rappel down do some top roped climbing down near the foot of the Rock.
We didn’t hit our goal of reaching the summit, but we still had a pretty awesome day of climbing. We hiked back down to the car, drove over to one of the two restaurants in town and enjoyed some hot pizza washed down with ice cold Breckenridge Beer.
The next morning, we loaded up our gear again and headed back to try and get on top of the summit before we had to head home. Once again, fueled by cheap breakfast sandwiches and dark coffee, we decided to take a more direct route on the western face of the ridge known as Old Man’s Route. This four pitch climb was pretty easy, relatively quick (especially since Matt didn’t have to spend as much time babysitting Dave and I) and got us to the lower summit in about 2 hours.
Once up there, we walked a short traverse to the true summit, a 6 foot wide fin of rock rising almost 900ft in the air with sheer drop offs on either side. It was frightening, breathtaking and awe-inspiring all at the same time.
After taking a couple of quick pictures and signing the guidebook, we headed back to the lower summit, anchored in and took a 200ft rappel off of the western face of the Rock. It was one last thrill of the day. Since we didn’t have a rope long enough for a 200ft rappel, we tied two ropes together (which actually works) and used them both to get us down to the bottom of the western wall in minutes. Once down at the bottom we tied up the ropes and hiked back down to the campsite to pack up the tents and enjoy one last celebratory beer.
As I sipped my beer and stuff the poles of my tent away in the bag, I looked up at the giant piece of quartzite that we had just summited, towering off in the distance. I briefly thought of how different it looked now that I had stood on top of it. No longer menacing, but now looking purely majestic in the light of the setting sun. I tried to think of what next adventure could be, but my mind quickly turned to hurrying home and settling in for a nice quiet evening in front of the TV with my wife. I’ve had enough adventure to fill my spirit for a while.
Dave driving to the rocks. We're running late as usual.
Whoops! We forgot the kitchen sink!
View of the rocks from the campsite
Matt making the fire go
Dave trying to fix his little chair
Campfire coffee!
It's a little chilly out
The gear and the beer!
Hold on little carabiner!!
Matt doing some belaying
View of the rocks. We summited the right hand side of the notch in the middle (The Gunsight notch).
Another view
Dave and Matt looking strong for a second day of climbing
Yours truly standing on the fin of Seneca Rocks.
Dave used this opportunity to Tebow on the top of the rock.
I made it down in one piece! My wife will be so pleased.
Dave being Dave.
Matt. Climb leader extraordinaire!
So what’s the next big thing? In the near term: NOTHING. I’m taking a couple of months off of adventuring to catch up on the household stuff, work and just relaxing. But don’t worry, it’ll also give me plenty of time to check out new gear, do write ups and reviews and do some other smaller adventures and trips. Also, it’ll give me time to put together THE VIDEO from this trip. That’s right, I bit the bullet and bought myself a helmet cam and recorded all kinds of cool footage from the trip. I should hopefully have that up within the next week or so, once I figure out how to use Final Cut Pro! In the meantime, I posted a short little raw teaser from the trip below.
Happy trails!!!
WATCH THE TEASER VIDEO HERE:
A few months back my buddy Mike had suggested putting a team of people together to do the event (you don’t really compete in Tough Mudder, as the only real goal is finishing in one piece). Team Mud, Sweat and Beers. It seemed a fitting team name for the masochistic endurance event known as the “Tough Mudder”. We had joked that the name should really emphasize the Beers part, since that was what we were best at.
We’d organized group training sessions, organized shared food, rented a big vacation house at the resort where the event was being held. We even had a huge keg party planned for after the event. It almost seemed like less of a challenge and more of a vacation. That was until we woke up the morning of the race and waited outside in the cold fall air for everything to begin.
What is this thing all about? From the front page of the “Tough Mudder” website:
“Tough Mudder is not your average lame-ass mud run or spirit-crushing ‘endurance’ road race. Our 10-12 mile obstacle courses are designed by British Special Forces to test all around strength, stamina, mental grit, and camaraderie. Forget finish times. Simply completing a Tough Mudder is a badge of honor. With the best obstacles and the most innovative courses, it’s no surprise that Tough Mudder has ten times more participants than any other mud run and half a million participants globally. Tough Mudder has raised over two million dollars for the Wounded Warrior Project. WARNING: Tough Mudder is 3-4 times longer and MUCH TOUGHER than a typical mud run such as Warrior Dash. On average, only 78% of participants finish the event. Only those in reasonably strong physical condition should enter
Now, I’ve done my fair share of endurance events. Between triathlons, trail and road races, I’ve probably competed in over 50 events. But this was different. Maybe it was the waiver that read something like “You will likely get hurt by anything from an obstacle, to another participant or maybe even wildlife. If you get die, it’s not our fault”. Or perhaps it was the fact that they insisted on writing your bib number on your forehead like we were some wounded soldiers being triaged. Did I mention the keg toss competition (which I did)? Whatever it was, there was a different sort of energy than any other race I’ve ever been to.
And that theme carried on after the race started. As we ran everywhere there were signs encouraging you to toughen up, or stop whining, or if it’s not tough enough, they’ll gladly supply you with a backpack full of bricks. One, at the 3 mile mark, even joked that if you were doing the Warrior Dash you’d be done by now.
Any encouragement was welcome. This event had a lot of suck in it. From running up and down monster hills (did I mention it was situated on a ski resort?) to the seemingly endless amounts of cold water, mud and even ice (yes, ice) to the bone jarring falls and slides that sent one of us to the emergency room for stitches, saying it wasn’t easy would be an understatement.
And it wasn’t just the physical stuff. Physically, for me, it wasn’t overly challenging. Credit it to the parallel marathon and rock climbing training I’ve been doing for the last few months. Not saying the physical part was easy, because it wasn’t. But the mental part was far more difficult.
Submerging my entire body in a 30ft long dumpster full of ice water was pretty rough. Just getting your body to do anything afterward is next to impossible. Dragging my cold, wet self up a double black diamond ski slope was the definition of misery. And this was only 1/3 of the way through the race! But, as the old saying goes; That which has no cost, also has no value.
And over the next 5 hours, that value because apparent. As the day progressed, the tighter our team became. The more adversity we faced, the more we circled our wagons.
People got injured. Muscles were pulled. Blood mixed with the sand and mud. As the hours got longer, fatigue set in.
So did the determination. So did the grit. Jaws tightened. Fists clenched. As the end neared, the comradery increased. We all faced a common enemy. And that enemy would be defeated as soon as we all crossed the finish line.
“Looking good girl!” “Keep it up buddy!” “We’re almost there, no quitting now!”
And as the final obstacle was cleared, a lovely little gem called “Electroshock Therapy”, we circled the wagons one final time. We linked up, arm in arm and cheered as we all crossed the finish line together.
Later that evening, as we shared food and drink and laughs about our various wounds, we also shared the pride of what we accomplished together.
15 people started and 15 people finished. Today we had earned the most important part of our name; Team Mud, Sweat and Beers.
Enjoying a roaring fire and good company the evening before the race
Loading up the carbs with a big group pasta dinner!
- 7am morning of the race. As usual, i’m the only one not ready to go yet.
Just your average morning keg tossing. Great way to warm up!
And we're off!
This is not as fun as it looks
Yes, that's ice water. Also not pleasant
Hills. So. Many. Hills.
Running up a giant skate ramp. Much hillarity ensued on this obstacle.
One last huddle
9 miles done. Finish line ahead.
This is the kind of stuff duct tape is made for. Closing gaping wounds
finished and drinking beer. Glorious, glorious beer.
Thanks to everyone on Team Mud, Sweat and Beers. It was humbling to be a part of a such a tough, awesome and fun group of people. And special thanks our photographers/sherpas/cheerleaders/house mothers, Missy and my lovely wife. Happy trails!
The plan was simple. We’d fly from Jamaica to Las Vegas, spend a night there, then drive out first thing in the morning to the Grand Canyon. We’d get there, hike down into the canyon, spend a night at a lodge on the South Rim, and then continue our journey to Sedona, AZ. There was even an REI on the way! This was going to be easy right?
Well, after leaving Vegas in the late morning and making quick stop to grab some last minute stuff at the REI in Henderson, NV (just outside of Vegas) we made it to the south rim of the Grand Canyon in about 5 hours or so. Upon arriving at the Grand Canyon village, I was surprised to see how built up it all was. I mean, I knew we’d be staying in a lodge on the Rim and I knew there’d be restaurants and what not there, but I guess I thought it would be less built up.
No matter, we checked into the lodge, I dropped my bags off at the cabin went to go park the rental car while the wife unpacked. I parked right by the rim and took a quick stroll over to the edge to have my first look.
I just stood there for a minute or too just staring off into the depths of the canyon in awe of it all. I suddenly felt about as small as I ever have in my life. There’s no way to describe how insignificant one feels when the look at something like the Grand Canyon for the first time. Like other massive natural wonders that have been dug out, built up or shaped over millions of years, there’s nothing you can do other than stand there and gawk. Saying it was breathtaking would be cliché, but it wouldn’t be far from the truth.
I rushed back to the cabin to tell the wife what I had just seen. I was thinking of some poetic and dramatic way to describe it for her and when I walked in I said “WOW. This thing is really f**king big!”. Ok, not the most poetic, but pretty accurate I’d say.
Because it was so late in the afternoon and it was still kind of overcast and drizzling, we decided to take a few minutes to hike around the rim, take some pictures and then head over to have dinner at one of the lodge’s restaurants. We would have to save any real hiking for the next day, assuming the weather cleared.
Well, that night we enjoyed a nice steak dinner, a few glasses of Sam Adams Octoberfest and crashed out in our cabin hoping for clear skies in the morning.
When we woke the next morning at 6am for breakfast, we were not disappointed:
Our plan was to hike down the Bright Angel trail near out cabin to the Indian Garden, rest and then turn around and be back before 1pm. The Indian Garden is a small oasis and campground along the Bright Angel trail about a mile and a half or so from the Colorado River. Its lush greenery and shady trees provide a stark contrast to the desert landscape of the rest of the canyon. It gets its name because, as you probably guessed, it used to be a popular place for native people to grow crops.
Because it was the tail end of monsoon season, severe thunderstorms are common in the afternoon and you really don’t want to be stuck on a canyon wall when that’s happening. So we tried to hurry and do the entire 9 mile trail in about 6 hours.
So we filled out Nalgene bottles and started the hike down
Fresh canyon water. mmmmm...
The wife, enjoying the views as we begin our descent
Just a giant hole in the wall
Down at the Indian Gardern
"Hey, nice ass!"
One last look as we head back up to the south rim
We made great time getting to the Garden, covering 4.5 miles and about 4500 feet in elevation drop in about 2.5 hours. At around 10am the temps in the Garden were around 80 degrees so we thought it best to turn around and head back up as quickly as possible, to avoid the peak sun and heat that was already starting to beat down on us.
We were about a mile into the return trip when the sky suddenly turned black. The air had turned cool and a light rain began to fall. I had hoped that it was just a light storm coming through that cool us off and quickly pass. That’s when the hail started.
Being exposed on a canyon trail in the middle of a hail storm, with the nearest shelter almost a mile away, is not as fun as it sounds. Okay, it’s not fun at all. We got pelted and pummeled by hail the size gum balls. All we could do was hug the wall of the canyon and try and shield ourselves from the hail with as best we could with rain shells and garbage bags.
And it kept coming too. Wave after wave of storms would hit us, separated by minutes of blue skies, each worse than the one before it. At one point had to take shelter under a small cliff and watch as it turned into muddy waterfall in front of us.
And the thunder and lightning. Wow. You’ve never experienced thunder until you’ve felt it through the cliffs of solid rock and echo up canyon walls. If we weren’t awe stuck before, we sure were now!
Oh yeah, and when it rains in the Grand Canyon, a lot of weird stuff happens. Stuff like trails turning into rivers. And canyon walls turning into raging waterfalls plunging hundreds of feet down below. I would have taken more pictures, but I was trying really hard to focus on not being swept to our early demise.
But, after crossing some newly made rivers and waterfalls, traversing the landslides that wiped out some of the trail and slogging up the soggy trail, we finally made it back to the top, right as the strongest wave of storms was about to hit. PHEW!!
Hard to tell here, but that's a river. Of mud.
Yah, that river/waterfall wasn't there before.
Lessons learned here:
1. Always pack better rain gear if you’re going to hike during monsoon season. A garbage bag and a mesh baseball cap won’t do. (funny that my wife, who picked up a nice rain shell and a wide-brimmed at REI was better prepared than I was!)
2. Leave earlier. We didn’t get hiking till almost 8am. We should have left at 5:30am like we originally planned. Though not as common as in the afternoon, monsoon storms can pop up as early as 11am (such as in our case)
3. Hail hurts:
Pack better rain gear. Dummy.
4. Even though we got soaked and pelted with hail, I’d still do it all over again. The hike in the canyon was epic. Even the wife, who’s not as big on hiking as I am, loved it. The giant thunderstorms, while frightening, were also incredible to witness. And oh yeah, checked another thing off the bucket list!
Once back at the lodge we dried off, changed clothes and jumped back in the rental to make the two hour drive to Sedona which, believe it or no, was even more beautiful than the Grand Canyon. But that’s a story for another day.
Till then, stay day and happy trails!
“Here in Jamaica, there is no such thing as a problem…” our tour guide informed us. “There are no problems, just situations.”
As I finished my third Red Stripe beer and tossed the bottle in the recycle bin, and looked out over the sun setting on the ocean behind my wife I, I thought to myself ‘this is my kinda place’.
We originally had this idea that after we got married in September, we’d spend a two week long honeymoon in Hawaii. We’d travel around the islands, see volcanoes, lay on black sand beaches and eat pineapples right off the tree. Then we got deep into our wedding planning. And work stuff happened. And suddenly we had no time to plan any kind of a honeymoon.
We thought about just winging it. Buying plane tickets and booking the rest of it when we got there. That plan had some appeal. What is more romantic and adventurous than just showing up on a tropical island with only a suitcase full of clothes and two weeks of possibilities.
But when the stresses that come with a wedding; out of town guests and seating charts and relatives who have last minute meltdowns… Well, sometimes you need play it safe. Because while jaunting off to a tropical island with no itinerary is exciting, there’s something to be said for not having yet another thing to worry about. So yeah, we played it safe. At least for the first part of our honeymoon. So we booked a week long stay at Sandals in Jamaica and went back to our wedding planning madness.
And after the wedding was all wrapped up we found ourselves on a beach in the middle of a small and not so exciting resort drinking fruity frozen drinks out of plastic cups. It wasn’t exactly what I had pictured a luxury resort being like. But sitting there, watching the clear Caribbean waters wash up on the sand and polishing off my third cocktail of the morning, I didn’t really have much to complain about.
Rather than give you the play-by-play of the entire weekend, I thought better to spare you that and instead offer up a list of things I learned in Jamaica that might help you should ever decide to visit. And you should. Jamaica is a beautiful place with a friendly and culturally rich people who are waiting for you to come see their island:
- We are not resort people. You might be and that’s okay, but we are not. It was nice for the first day or two, but after that we were ready to scale the walls to escape. Some people may think and all-inclusive resort is relaxing, to me it felt like a prison with frozen drinks.
- Eat the food the local food. The food at the resort was okay, but when I’m in Jamaica I don’t want eat Thai food. I want Jerk chicken and patties and rice and peas. Luckily we got out of the resort enough to actually try some of the real stuff. Here’s a tip, if you’re in Montego Bay, ask someone to take you to Scotchies. You won’t regret it.
- Speaking of Montego Bay, don’t stay there. After doing a day trip to Negril, we say how much more it had to offer.
- Speaking of Negril. If you don’t watch the sun set from the cliffs of Negril, you didn’t get out enough. Stop at one of the many bars and watch (or join) the cliff divers and enjoy some Red Stripes as you watch the sun disappear into the sea. (Rick’s Cafe is a good place to start)
- Get Jamaican dollars and use those. American dollars are great for tips, but if you’re buying stuff, use the local currency or a credit card. You won’t get taken on the exchange rate that way.
- Buy a REAL wood carving. You’ll see all kinds of street dealers and souvenir shops selling wood carvings. Pass those up and go to a shop that makes them in house. You’ll get a legitimate carving hand crafted by a true artist, not some phony piece of junk that came from China.
- Enjoy the mountains. Whether you’re a hiker, a mountain biker or just someone who’s looking for an adventure, you’ll find it in the Blue Mountains. Rising up about 7000ft from sea level, it’s where they grow the famous Blue Mountain coffee. Hire a guide service to take you up there and you’ll likely get to see a coffee plantation, citrus groves and the occasional exotic bird and herd of goats. Plus, you’ll probably get some pretty spectacular views at the top.
- Talk to the people. You’ll be surprised at how friendly and warm the people of Jamaica are. They love telling you all about their culture, their island and even about their personal lives. It’s humbling to see how happy and content these people are, especially considering the hardships many of them have had to face in their lifetime (Jamaica is one of the most impoverished countries in the western hemisphere. The average Jamaican earns about 1/20th of what the average American earns).
- Margaritaville. Ok, this isn’t Key West, but there’s still a place here called Margaritaville. If you’re feeling a little homesick or if you’re just looking for a way to waste an entire day drinking and playing in the water, this is a good spot. Imagine a sports bar with open walls facing the ocean. Then imagine it has a giant slide that takes you right from the bar into the ocean where there are giant water toys waiting to be jumped on. It’s like a Caribbean Chuckie Cheese in the water (and no kids!).
With so many places to still see, I doubt I’ll be seeing Jamaica again very soon. But despite being marooned at the Frozen Drink Clink (aka Sandals), it’s on my short list of places to see again.
Pictures!
Scotchies! It may not look like much, but it was the best food we had in country.
Jerk chicken, jerk pork, peas and rice and the ever present Red Stripe
NOM NOM NOM!
Chilin' with "Dr. Quality". The man who made my little skeleton wood carving and taught me the fine art of haggling with his wife!
The wife enjoying the sunset in Negril
One last beer before the sun dips away...
On a coffee plantation on top of the Blue Mountains
Coffee beans!! (Yes, I ate one - it tasted like coffee)
Margaritaville!!
Last night on the resort. So sick of fruity cocktails and Red Stripe so I switched to straight scotch. It was a good choice. My wife was still enjoying them though...
But we aren’t done yet! Next up, Honeymoon Part Deux: The Southwest Tour. I’ll tell you all about the second leg of our honeymoon as we traveled through Las Vegas, the Grand Canyon and Sedona! Till then, happy trails!
