Mountaineering Update
Haven't blogged in a while, but have been training.
Here is a short synopsis of what I've been up to on my weekends since the last entry...
6 May: Attempted the Rattlesnake Mountain East Peak (true summit). Turned around maybe 1000 ft vertical past the Ledge due to miserable rain and the fact that we were taking it easy since it was J's first hike back after a lengthy bout with a stomach ailment.
15 May: Attempted Turtlehead Peak in Red Rock Canyon. Turned around about 500 ft shy of the summit because we had a flight to catch.
20 May: Summitted Mt. Si (4167 ft), including the Haystack scramble. Here is the GPS track and corresponding Elevation Profile. (Disclaimer: Do not use these for navigation. I am not responsible for anything you do. Period.)
29 May: Hiked to Van Trump Park in Mt. Rainier National Park from the Comet Falls trailhead. Much of the route was through snow, and it was satisfying to be hiking in the shadow of our eventual goal.
3 June: Attempted Eagle Peak in Mt. Rainier National Park (~5700 ft). Reached 5200 ft before losing the trail in intermittent snow. Decided not to continue to avoid trampling the underbrush since we were not able to maintain a route on snow.
4 June: Took the RMI climbing school in preparation for our August summit climb. Learned a lot, had a great time, and really enjoyed myself.
Also, I picked up Mountaineering, The Freedom of the Hills. It's the textbook on all things mountaineering. But it also has great information for hiking and just general outdoors knowledge. Literally everything you need to know is in there. I've been devouring my copy since I got it.
Well, there it is. About halfway from those first hikes in March to the summit climb in August... and I'm feeling great about it. Looking forward to every hike, and happy with the way things are going.