After disintegrating into the TOF on Friday night (Doug thought I was going to fall asleep in my french fries!), I awoke to a quiet Portal around 0600. I had arranged with my friends to meet around 0700 (so I thought
) so I rousted myself out of bed and started transferring gear to a lighter pack. No ice axe and crampons today. We were headed to Gambler's Special Peak above Lower Boy Scout Lake.
A few notes from the day:
1.) Tom Gossett arrived just after 7, so we hung out at the Store until Doug Sr had the coffee ready. A benevolent stranger asked if we cared to partake in a bit of
pancake ... ummm...
WOOHOO ! The rest of the
Gang rolled in around 0800 and we headed out somewhere in the vicinity of 0900. This was supposed to be a 'light' day, and I was fairly gimpy (sore hip muscles) from the marathon of Friday!
2.) Most of the gang headed up the old trail to the NF junction, but TomG and I strolled the new one, gradually letting my sore legs warm up. I love this section of the trail, actually, with its views of the South Fork Cascade, Thor, and Whitney above. After reaching the NF and tanking up, we headed up the NF trail, staying on the north side. We had two fresh recruits with us, Karen and Jim, who did great on the
skinny ledge to nowhere and the Elephant Ear!
3.) The day was all about taking our time. We stopped at the
waterfall below the E-ledges, the
waterfall below LBSL, then again at
LBSL before making the right turn up the slopes to the north. From where we went, I think I like DougSr's idea of staying on the slabs near the waterfall to avoid the loose stuff. We kept
scrambling up and up, reaching the stream in time for lunch and a final tank-up before hitting the sand dune over our heads.
4.) The
south slopes are loose. Luckily, some clouds came in to keep the ascent relatively cool instead of baking in the sun. On the way up there aren't near enough big, stable rocks to jump on, and you can't trust ANY of them. I had the
slab of the day let go, smelled the gunpowder of granite friction, and yelled, terrified, to the group below me. It stopped, fortunately, after only about 10 feet, and Cori got a great shot of it with her poles. Good thing I had the case of beer back at the Store: this was definitely the rock of the day.
5.) Once gaining the ridge, we were treated to gorgeous views into
Hogback Canyon . The cliffs here were
fractured and cracked at almost 90 degree angles, and we could see the storm clouds looming over the Passes to the north of Williamson. A short scramble along the
ridge brought us all to the
summit , where we could gaze at the faces of Carrilon, The Clever (I mean
Cleaver ), and Tunnaborra.
6.) After a nice
rest and
nap on the summit, we started back down, Bob Huey and I
flying along the scree ski slalom course to the base of the chute. I mean, 10 minutes, tops, here people! We waited at another trailside
meadow (DANGER! I could've spent HOURS here!!), spread out on a table rock listening to the waterfall along the Carrilon Drainage. Five of us headed back to the Store, after seeing the final three descending the chute.
7.) Back at the Store, I jumped in line for the shower and got my
party dress on! Doug and Earlene had made a fantastic pasta dinner (mmm... wine sauce! Doug, I want the recipie!!) and we all gathered inside to eat. It was perfect: good friends, good food and drink, and good times!
A few other moments from the day:
Rest of the
pics are here.
The readers/overseers of this board indulge me much, so if you would give me one more opportunity. One of the greatest gifts one can ever receive is the love of others. My friends, thank you so much for being with me this past weekend, the trips before, and, I hope, many, many more to come. To the Portal Crew, thanks for letting me find yet another home to come to at the end of long days. And to the rest, Linda Ellerbee said:
"I think laughter may be a form of courage ... as humans we sometimes stand tall and look into the sun and laugh, and I think we are never more brave than when we do that."
Thanks for all the laughter and love, y'all.
From the luckiest girl in the world: Climb hard, be safe!
-L