Today I climbed a mountain.

Last night at about 10, Stacy called me and asked if I wanted to join her (and her climbing partner) on a hike today. “Of course,” says I. This morning we met and she loaded me up with gear. Michael, Stacy, and I set out to climb Mt. Ellinor. Washington’s closest neighbor, she is a popular hike with a summit at 5944 feet. The hike was 6 miles round trip, elevation gain 3200 feet. About a third of the way up we began the ascent of the avalanche chute, during which there was a moment I thought my legs were going to give out. At some point I decided that I had faith in my crampons and wanted to lead the way…there was a parent-aged couple ahead of us that had created some good tracks, but it was still slow going. I was first to reach the summit and the three of us set in to devour our lunches. As we ate, I looked over and saw mamma and baby mountain goat coming along several feet below us (picture to come). The couple that had blazed the trail in the beginning thanked me for my tracks when they reached the top. After my high on the summit, I realized that, inevitably, I was going to have to loose about 3200 feet in elevation. We began behind Kathryn and Jim (the couple) and attempted to find the trail- a trail that was covered with snow. We were switch-backing our way down when we decided that the best way down was a huge snow chute. Not the one we climbed up, but still daunting. I was determined that it was, indeed, NOT the best way down. Kathryn was incredibly understanding, and had me look her in the eye and listen when she said it was “not that bad.” She showed me how to walk down; jab my heel in with a straight leg. As I slowly got the hang of walking down a snow-cliff-monster-the world is out to get me-hill, I discovered it wasn’t so bad, and that I actually had some control. It was encouraging to know that even the experienced climbers slipped every now and then, for I had a couple that nearly scared the shi* out of me. Michael was encouraging the whole time, making sure that I wasn’t going to determindly camp out on the mountain until the snow melted. I had mastered the walking just in time for them to throw another task at me: glissading. “You’re telling me I have to sit on my butt, slide down this mountain, and make myself stop before I ram into that tree? Yeah…okay.” So I did it.

And it was sweet.

It was perhaps the coolest, most exhilarating experience I have had. I was able to brake and had waves of snow shooting around me as I made my little mark on the mountain. After I sucked it up and took my first steps down the mountain, I was able to relax and completely revel in the fact that I was on the greatest sledding hill I had ever been on. We eventually found our way out of the snow (thanks to Stacy’s knowledge of the trail and Jim’s GPS) and back to the lower, more gradual, trail. As my knee began to forgive me and my muscles began to relax I thought back to what I had just done. And it was awesome. I don’t know if I have summit fever, but I definitely have some sort of bug. I came back and immediately wanted to tell everyone, so that is what I am doing! Stacy and I are now planning potential future hikes and I am still thinking about today. It scares me to think about doing that again, but at the same time the feeling of confidence and strength at the end is so completely worth it. I know I am with people who know what they are doing and have given me the gear I need, so I am excited to climb again!

*these pictures are from Stacy’s camera, but I have pictures of my own that I will have on my computer in a few days…