Friday, July 30, 2010

Mt. Adams Attempt

Ryan and I made an attempt on Mt. Adams throughout the day on July 24. We drove out of Seattle the day before, sat in way too much traffic, and finally made it to the trailhead parking lot around 11:30pm. After 3 hours of sleep, we began to get ready and finally set out at just before 3:30 at around 5600'. The trail was easy-going for the first mile, and we both felt pretty good. The moon was a beautiful bright amber and hovered just above the horizon. By 4:30 we had reached snow at just above 6500', and decided to put on the crampons at just above 7000'. The sun came up and cast Adams' shadow across the skyline, which was impressive, and stayed out for the entire day. It felt like the temperatures never dropped below 80 degrees! Just above 10,000' I started to feel the onset of altitude-related issues, and once we topped out on Piker's Peak at 11,600' at around 9:45, I decided to turn myself around due to nausea, dizziness, and general altitude problems. Just wasn't my day, and I'm more comfortable knowing it wasn't a physical issue but something that no matter how hard you try sometimes it just happens. I'll be back, but probably not until next year!


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