Another postcard view of Boston Basin.
John showed up around 5:00. I got up early enough that I was able to take Maisie around the block beforehand, and we headed out in his shiny Subaru Outback (the official northwest climbing vehicle.) Headed north, and after a stop at a store, stopped at the Ranger office to register. It was 7:00, and the ranger was just raising the flag.
Turns out the Ranger knew about the helicopter story connected with John’s bivouac on Johannesburg two years ago. Turns out the congressman was Norm Dicks "I want a helicopter in the AIR!" Dicks allegedly shouted over the phone to the ranger station. Brushes with greatness.
At the trailhead was a pickup truck filled with packs, and two people asleep in it, and on the ground another guy sleeping in a bivvy sack. They woke up while we were still there; turns out they’d gotten back at 11:00 the night before from the West ridge of Forbidden. It became obvious shortly what a feat that was, coming out in that trail with the avalanched trees littering it. The guy in the sleeping bag had a wool hat on, and still had his headlamp on that.
We got to the trailhead around 8:00, and were hiking by about 8:20. We went pretty fast, we did the first thousand feet (to 4200’) by 8:45. There were indeed a lot of trees to climb over, four different avalanches, the worst at least 20 yards long.
John just got a new camera, a Canon Rebel with a Quaternay lens, and spent a lot of time messing with it. Well, not a lot of time, but each time he wanted to use it, he had to stop, take off his pack, pull it out, and so forth. I guess that's what its like for people who climb with me. It’s quite a light camera. I like it.
It was tedious going up the col to the base of the climb. We had to take crampons off and back on three different times, I think. Once up there, it was terribly windy. I put on my jacket, and really wished for pants. It was cold.
The climb itself wasn’t particularly difficult. John said it was probably 5.0; it seemed quite similar to my Chair Peak outing. I could probably have done it unroped. Frankly, it was less dramatic than I’d hoped.
We ran into two guys up near the summit, both named James. They’re also cc.com folks, and John had corresponded with them.
We finished, and rappelled down, and headed down the col again, out of rock shoes and into boots and crampons.
We discussed a bit heading up and tagging Sahali, and maybe even Boston (where I haven't been before) just to keep the annual peak total up, but decided that we'd get home after midnight if we did that, and headed down instead.
On the hike down Boston Basin, we chatted with the other guys.
On the hike out on the trail, I stopped at the last stream we crossed and filled my small Nalgene bottle with water, and dumped it over my head. It was so shockingly cold, despite the discomfort of the warmth and humidity, that I could hardly bear it. "I think I just stopped my heart" I said to John, only half joking.
We got to the car, and discovered that all the insects had been hanging out at the trailhead. Lots of biting black flies; I got out of my boots and changed clothes in record time. John was in long pants, so it didn’t bother him so much.
Turns out that Colin’s car was parked right next to us, a beat-up white Hyundai with a Jaguar hood ornament. There were rock shoes, route books, and so forth, laying around in the back of the car.
So we headed out, and had dinner at a restaurant called Buffalo Run, in Marblemount (?) It was nice enough, buffalo burgers outside. The waitress was a way-too-peppy girl, who I guess was bored or something. She was quite cute, and flirtatious as anything. Unfortunately, I didn’t have the energy for that, but John acquited himself admirably.
About the time we finished up, the two James’ came in and sat at our table, and ordered burgers too.
The drive home was pretty pleasant, chatting about stuff. We switched drivers at Arlington. It sure is nice to be able to share driving; it’s just a treat! Particularly after doing Hood with Michael, I really value someone to share the driving tasks.
Got home about 11:00. Maisie seemed pretty happy to see me, and we went out in the street and threw her rock for a while. I went in before she wanted to. My knee was sore, so after showering and otherwise getting ready for bed, I dug out the heating pad and wrapped the knee in it.
The next day it still felt pretty bad, and after bicycling in to work, I went and saw my doctor (the benefits of working at a clinic.) It's a strained lateral-colateral ligament. Stay off it -- no climbing, no bicyling, ice twice a day, and push Advil.
Equipment notes: As a result of this climb, I decided I need to replace my crampons. Badly. The ones I was climbing in are old strap-type crampons. John uses those aluminum Stubai crampons, and Dan has something similar. So I stopped by PMS the following weekend and sprung for a pair of them, with the optional anti-balling plates. Now, I just need to use them before winter, to justify the expense.
Also, I got copies of John's photos back, and compared to mine, they look like they came from a magazine (my scanner sucks, and that's why some of these photos are tinged red.) He used a polarizing filter, I guess that's part of it, but looking at the photos side-by-side, they're just much sharper than mine. I want to blame the Bartells printing, and I guess I should take some of the negatives to a pro lab to see. Otherwise, I guess I need to do something about that 28-200 lens. Or maybe, about the camera.