NWOutdoorGrrl

Over the last 11 years, I’ve learned that one simple phrase will ensure you a place on just about any winter adventure: “I like step kicking in deep snow.” And that’s how I got on yesterday’s trip up Norse Peak.

We left the TH at 9 a.m. and followed a meandering snow-covered trail up the mountain for an hour or so. Pretty soon, the slopes opened up and we got our step-kicking mojo going, taking turns as needed. A long and fairly exhausting 3 hours later, we arrived at a saddle on the wind-scoured ridge northwest of Norse Peak. After a short food break, Rena and I took over the step-kicking duties and got the team to a broad, open shoulder. Only a short, steep bump and ice-covered rocks stood between us and the summit!

Three of our team members opted to stay behind, while the remaining six of us pushed on. I was really tired and tempted to stay behind, but sometimes you’ve just got want the summit more than you want anything else that day. Remembering my failure on West Granite the previous weekend, I didn’t want to turn back twice in a row. Five hours after we left the cars we were on the summit.

We sipped tea, had some sandwiches, snapped some pictures, then retreated to gather up the rest of our team members. All I can say is thank goodness going down is so much quicker and easier than pushing your way up through deep snow. We arrived back at the cars only 2 1/2 hours after leaving the summit. All-in-all a good day in the mountains!

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John, Nick, Monica, Hiddeko, Vasko, Burke, and I battled thigh-deep snow on our attempted ascent of West Granite today (aka the Tusk o’ Granite). We made it to within about 500′ of the summit, but cold, driving snow, really challenging snow conditions, and exhaustion  sent us back downhill with our tail between our legs. Sigh… Next time!

Seattle has had some wacky weather lately. Today’s freezing rain was simply amazing. When was the last time you saw icicles on airplanes? No wonder so many flights were cancelled.

I met Lisa and Mark at the climbing gym tonight. I thought climbers – of all people – wouldn’t be scared of a little snow. Turns out, we were the only people climbing. Not having to wait to get on a single rope was luxurious to say the least.

We have an old Minolta film camera and set of lenses on permanent loan from my dad. A small adapter ring was all it took to mount the lenses on Nick’s GF1. The marriage of old technology and new is incredible. Simply incredible.