The Second Tallest

This last weekend Matthew and I climbed Mt. Adams with our friends Alex, Liz and Steve. Alex and Liz are this super outdoorsy couple and have been trying to convince Matthew and I (mostly me) to do more hiking with them for awhile. We did some training hikes with them and I swore to them that I wasn't going to hike the entire mountain, but when I start something, I have to finish it!

Mt. Adams is the second tallest mountain in the state of Washington. I think Matthew and I have a thing for the second tallest mountain everywhere we live, because we have also hiked Mt. Timpanogos which is the second tallest mountain in the Wasatch Range in Utah.

We left Thursday night and headed towards Vancouver, WA to stay the night at Liz's mom's house. She was so generous and welcoming. On the way down we stopped for a bite to eat at a place called Burgerville, which serves fresh, local and sustainable food. It was really good. The Clarks amaze me with their awareness and dedication to supporting local business and living according to their food beliefs. It makes me realize how much I don't pay attention and don't have an opinion. I think I am too lazy and too afraid about what others think, but they help me to understand. I don't know if I am at a point where I can completely change my habits, but I like to learn more.

We decided to hike it in two days so that we could enjoy and not feel rushed. This I think was mostly for my sake because although I am in much better shape now then I was a year ago, I continue to be a slow hiker. I'm not sure that will ever change, but lucky for me I have some friends that for the most part don't mind and will take breaks to let me catch up!

After the hike we all decided that there are two types of fun, fun type 1 and fun type 2.  Fun type 1 is where you are having fun while participating, you enjoy every moment. Fun type 2 is where while you are doing something you don't like it, it's painful, scary and uncomfortable, but after it's all over you still somehow enjoyed yourself and like it. I would describe day one as fun type 1. It was beautiful and unique; we got to hike on the snow with our cool new micro-spikes, enjoy the sunset and see the milky way.

Pre-hike Breakfast:

Liz's mom was so excited to have us she bought 4 or 5 dozen eggs. Alex cooked some up and decided to create a leaning tower of eggshells(21 in total).

First view of Mt. Adams. We hiked up the snow on the right side

As we were driving we saw Bambi and his friend

From front to back: Alex, Liz, Steve, Matthew

Lots of pretty flowers

View of Mt. Hood upper left and Mount St. Helens upper right

There were quite a few of these markers along this valley. Liz and Alex said that the last time they hiked here it was covered in snow.

Bring on the snow!

Micro Spikes!

I thought it was cool to see the snow melting away from the rocks like this

Liz and Alex were always having to wait for us, but they were so patient

More Fun in the Snow:

Alex's attempt at a snow angel

The Lunch Counter:

Alex raises his hands to signal that we made it

Elton John and the Maroon Sunglasses:

Alex wearing Liz's sunglasses

The two pictures above are the exact same picture with one exception. The one on the left is through normal eyes and the one on the right is through Liz's sunglasses. "Everything is prettier through Liz's sunglasses."

The moon over Mt. Hood

 Day two was definitely fun type 2. Don't get me wrong, it was still beautiful and full of hiking on snow, but it was also steep...very steep. It wasn't so much that the steepness was physically hard that bothered me as it was psychologically hard. I enjoyed the majority of it, but there were moments where I literally cried because I was so afraid I would slip and fall to my doom. (I know dramatic, but I'm a wuss)

Journey to the False Summit:

Beautiful sunrise and one of many pics attempting to show the incline

The two pictures above represent the before and after the hardest part of this hike for me. I know that the picture on the left makes it look like I am really tense, but I wasn't. That's just my cheesy smile. What the picture on the left does show is where I had a breakdown. There is a person climbing on the ice/rocks above me and Alex. That is approximately where I had a great big lump in my throat and tears streaming down my face. It came over me suddenly and uncontrollably. I was very embarrassed about it, especially when other hikers were passing me. However, despite my meltdown, I pushed through and made it past the icy, slippery rocks!

The False Summit:

Above Left: The start of one of the chutes going down from the false summit. At some points it was 5 to 6 feet deep and you couldn't see anything around you while you were sitting. Very steep and very scary! Right: One depiction of a great view from the false summit.

The view of and our journey to the summit:

Glaciers:

The view from the top:

Mt. Hood                                           Mt. Rainier

We did it! We're hardcore!

Headed down:

Upper Left: Me in the big chute. Despite the smile I am terrified and telling Alex (pictured in green) to be quite! Upper Right: A more accurate depiction of what I looked like going down the chute; I would self arrest every two feet because I was so scared of loosing control. By the end it wasn't so steep and I didn't stop nearly as often.

We didn't take nearly as many photos going back down because we were sliding down and the view is just the same, but I do regret not getting some glissading shots of everyone. The pictures we do have are thanks to Matthew. We did however get a couple of videos.

Matthew glissading. He goes on forever. I stopped the video because I thought he was at the bottom, but the I realized he was still going! The snow is a little deceiving.

So this was my one moment of bravery, well at least at first. Alex and Matthew had already made it down this last glissade and Liz was supposed to go next, but got scared. So I decided that if she saw me (the wuss) go first, she would be able to do it. Well, the snow chute had another idea! When it flipped me over my ice axe just flung right out of my hand. I remember seeing it tumbling next to me in the snow and thinking, "Please don't hit me! Please don't hit me!" Well, it hit me. Luckily I was wearing several layers and only the broad end hit me, so I got  away with a small scratch, a nice bruise and more hardcore points!

Despite my fears and giving Alex a hard time, I really had a good time. I told him that I would go on a portion of the hike again, but never to the top. With a few days of healing time, I have thought I might give the top at least one more shot!