6.07.2005

Tim's Bachelor Party....NW style

The plan started as an attempt to climb Mt. Rainier. But as weather forcasts looked less appealing, we decided to try for Mt. Baker by starting the climb friday night and hoping to be off the mountain by late sat. morning, and beating the weather. After getting all eight of us (Tim, Brock, Nick, John, Doug, Justin, Steve and myself) out of seattle, gased up, last minute supplies, and a hearty dinner we found ourselves at the trail around 11 pm with clear skies. We were headed uphill into the darkness before midnight. We charged up the trail and found ourselves at snow in no time at all, and geared up with boots, skis and skins. As we enjoyed skinning under the stars we could see the storm approaching...rather quickly. Eventually we found ourselves at the bottom of the glacier with clouds about to swallow us, so we threw all our clothes on, hunkered down in a rocky shelter and had a little discussion. We came to the conclusion to kick around for a bit, watch the sunset, and ski back down avoiding white-out conditions on the glacier. While the conditions were far from good, it still felt good to be making some turns and the snow ran out all to soon (except maybe for nick :) As we made it back to the trailhead our decision making skills were put to the test again to come up with plan C. So we ate and slept on the matter. Eventually a peak in the N. Cascades was choosen and while a few headed home, the rest rallied over to camp and go for that "hike" on Sunday. Several more pitstops, food, camp, sleep, and we wake to what else....rain. It would be no hiking or climbing and back to city it was. A few headed for the rock gym determined to climb something while everyone else would head for their respective homes. All said is was a good send off for Timmy. See ya all in a couple weeks.

See all my trip photos here: http://www.kodakgallery.com/Slideshow.jsp?mode=fromshare&conn_speed=1&Uc=8taz4t1r.33scjo0j&Uy=o6knek&Ux=1

6.01.2005

Kayaking Exploits

Its been awhile since I have posted here because I have been busy on numerous projects including a new kayak specific blog to keep track of all the river-related adventures. You can view this blog at www.therangelife.blogspot.com
It is being run by two other friends as well, so that should provide plenty of content to check out. I just returned from a trip in week long kayaking trip in Wyoming that you can read about there....hope you enjoy.