RAM
08-15-2010, 11:22 AM
There is no doubt that Aaron has gotten stronger in the outdoors, but perhaps
more gratifying is his new found passion for the aesthetic delights of camping
"high" in the Cascade's. There is 19 solid hours of daylight, so the joys of the
"campsite with a view" is there for the taking. He has been privileged to
experience the rarest of experiences of "being above the clouds" just a few
times. Wer only get to see this every 3 years or so. On the last morning of the
trip, we were blessed with just such an event......But there is more to this
story.
Mt. Fury is a difficult, coveted and remote peak. Ziff had gotten skunked years
ago do to avalanche danger and was back for another crack at it. Stevee and
Aaron were new to the area. I had climbed the peak with The Melon 6 years
earlier.
We awoke, on the Luna-Fury ridge to rain, inside of a cloud. We waited and
waited and waited. The clouds seemed to be a little thinner? Wishful thinking?
Sucker hole?
We decided to wander toward the peak (11 AM). The route is very complex and
without viability, it was very unlikely to play out with a summit. Much time was
spent sleuthing out the route.
Finally we got to the glacier and the 2,000 feet of straight forward snow and
ice to the summit. Straight forward if you can see that is. Ice falls, crevasses
dotted the landscape abreast steep snow. On went the crampons, down came the
clouds. It drizzled, it rained. Then it sorta poured. Ziff led around crevasses
and icefalls, up a steep icy nose. We were standing, roped up when we heard a
massive cracking sound far above us. It was like an explosion.
Now we were hyper alert, looking from the white snow up into the white cloud
with all of 75 feet of visibility. Time passed. Perhaps 30 seconds. THEN OUT OF
THE WHITE THEY CAME! Round, blue chunks of ice. About 5 of them with diameters
from 1 to 5 feet, coming right at us on the side of our hill. They were moving
at perhaps 40 miles (?) per hour. Just enough time to see them and step left a
few feet for some of us, step right a few feet for some of us. They were nearly
silent but for an odd sloshing sound against the snow as they rocketed by. It
was over as fast as it began. We continued to eye the slope. Ziff turned and
said..."I'm outta here!" No one argued.
It was a long way back to camp, with much up and down on hard, dangerous
terrain. There was great disappointment. On the way I encountered one of the ice
balls that had flown by us. It was so blue. It was so hard my ax couldn't dent
it with a full swing. Getting hit by one of those? Yikes!
There is another mountain on the ridge and it was 1,300 feet above and on the
other side of our camp from Fury. I hit the tarp at 7 PM and never broke stride
on my way up. I WAS gonna summit something that day! Aaron and Stevee caught and
passed me on the loose class 3-4 slopes and we summited Luna Peak at 8:30 PM, in
a full cloud. Down for dinner in the fading light.
It was the next morning, that offered its little miracle. Aaron went out to
relieve himself and woke the rest of us up. For hours we soaked in the view,
even noting a rainbow on the top of a cloud, BELOW us! We couldn't afford to
dally too long as we had a long way home. We dropped into the clouds, descended
2,500 vertical feet of steep snow, then 2,500 vertical feet of thick bushwhack,
a difficult river crossing, followed by 11 miles of trail, then the boat taxi
and finally a mile of uphill (800 feet gain) back to the cars. The 5 day North
Picket trip was in the books. I wonder if Ziff will go after Fury again? Will I?
The pictures, at last. Enjoy!!
http://picasaweb.google.com/aramv14/MtFuryJuly2010#
more gratifying is his new found passion for the aesthetic delights of camping
"high" in the Cascade's. There is 19 solid hours of daylight, so the joys of the
"campsite with a view" is there for the taking. He has been privileged to
experience the rarest of experiences of "being above the clouds" just a few
times. Wer only get to see this every 3 years or so. On the last morning of the
trip, we were blessed with just such an event......But there is more to this
story.
Mt. Fury is a difficult, coveted and remote peak. Ziff had gotten skunked years
ago do to avalanche danger and was back for another crack at it. Stevee and
Aaron were new to the area. I had climbed the peak with The Melon 6 years
earlier.
We awoke, on the Luna-Fury ridge to rain, inside of a cloud. We waited and
waited and waited. The clouds seemed to be a little thinner? Wishful thinking?
Sucker hole?
We decided to wander toward the peak (11 AM). The route is very complex and
without viability, it was very unlikely to play out with a summit. Much time was
spent sleuthing out the route.
Finally we got to the glacier and the 2,000 feet of straight forward snow and
ice to the summit. Straight forward if you can see that is. Ice falls, crevasses
dotted the landscape abreast steep snow. On went the crampons, down came the
clouds. It drizzled, it rained. Then it sorta poured. Ziff led around crevasses
and icefalls, up a steep icy nose. We were standing, roped up when we heard a
massive cracking sound far above us. It was like an explosion.
Now we were hyper alert, looking from the white snow up into the white cloud
with all of 75 feet of visibility. Time passed. Perhaps 30 seconds. THEN OUT OF
THE WHITE THEY CAME! Round, blue chunks of ice. About 5 of them with diameters
from 1 to 5 feet, coming right at us on the side of our hill. They were moving
at perhaps 40 miles (?) per hour. Just enough time to see them and step left a
few feet for some of us, step right a few feet for some of us. They were nearly
silent but for an odd sloshing sound against the snow as they rocketed by. It
was over as fast as it began. We continued to eye the slope. Ziff turned and
said..."I'm outta here!" No one argued.
It was a long way back to camp, with much up and down on hard, dangerous
terrain. There was great disappointment. On the way I encountered one of the ice
balls that had flown by us. It was so blue. It was so hard my ax couldn't dent
it with a full swing. Getting hit by one of those? Yikes!
There is another mountain on the ridge and it was 1,300 feet above and on the
other side of our camp from Fury. I hit the tarp at 7 PM and never broke stride
on my way up. I WAS gonna summit something that day! Aaron and Stevee caught and
passed me on the loose class 3-4 slopes and we summited Luna Peak at 8:30 PM, in
a full cloud. Down for dinner in the fading light.
It was the next morning, that offered its little miracle. Aaron went out to
relieve himself and woke the rest of us up. For hours we soaked in the view,
even noting a rainbow on the top of a cloud, BELOW us! We couldn't afford to
dally too long as we had a long way home. We dropped into the clouds, descended
2,500 vertical feet of steep snow, then 2,500 vertical feet of thick bushwhack,
a difficult river crossing, followed by 11 miles of trail, then the boat taxi
and finally a mile of uphill (800 feet gain) back to the cars. The 5 day North
Picket trip was in the books. I wonder if Ziff will go after Fury again? Will I?
The pictures, at last. Enjoy!!
http://picasaweb.google.com/aramv14/MtFuryJuly2010#