triyoda - Nov 16, 2020 11:41 pm - Hasn't voted
The mountain will still be thereYou aren't a real mountaineer until you've had to make the hard call to turn back when you've got a lot invested in a climb.
Page Type: | Trip Report |
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Lat/Lon: | 45.16306°N / 109.80771°W |
Date Climbed/Hiked: | Sep 5, 2020 |
Strange experience on Granite (more on that later). I approached via Sky Top and packed out via Aero Lakes. Low water and low snow. Stream crossings were easy and there was no snow in the finger or the crux. I didn't see a single mosquito the entire trip (which blows my mind).
Just want to add some details to all the great trip reports and climbers logs:
My "surreal" experience. Got to camp at Sky Top, grabbed some lunch and set up my tent. Weather was PERFECT and I knew it would be one of those rare days where you could be on the mountain all afternoon. Wanted to avoid the rush in the morning if I could, and was feeling pretty good so I decided to summit then, leaving camp at 2pm. An hour or so later, as I enterred the snow finger, a young guy with a sat phone told me that a huge rock slide had just occurred on the East face. Sure enough, soon after the choppers started coming. Halfway through the finger the second to the last group made an unsuccessful attempt because the group above them kicked a rock the "size of a mini fridge" past them in the Ramp. I'm thinking "woah". Met the last pair of climbers at the base of the slab--they made it, but one guy was hurting bad from a broken bone is his foot. This made me the last one on the southwest side.
The whole way up the choppers are flying in and out. I'm making steady progress, but slower than I'd hoped. (took me two hours to get to the start of the ramp.). At one point a chopper stopped and hovered above me for what seemed like an eternity. I'm thinking about the rock slide, the "mini fridge" comment, the guy with the broken foot, my slow progress, will it be dark before I get back down through the scramble on the snow finger??? Why is this chopper hovering above me? Can they shut a mountain down???..... But I press on.
I'm through all the rope sections. Yes!! But then, for a second time, a chopper hovers above me just as I'm coming out on the part that leads to the summit ridge. I'm def the only person on the mountain. The last person that day. I've done lots of solos but there have always been lots of other peope. Never been "the only one". With everything that happened and with this second chopper now, I got this ovewhelming feeling that I was somewhere I shouldn't be. I'd made the most difficult part and anything after that was just pushing my luck. So I decided that turning around at the point was the thing to do. I know...so close, right??!! So you can call it unsuccessful if you'd like, but I'm ok with it.
You aren't a real mountaineer until you've had to make the hard call to turn back when you've got a lot invested in a climb.
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