Highest I've Ever Been

Hey guys! Sorry it's been a little while since I posted! Between working and climbing, I don't have a ton of down time to write to y'all. I am also in the middle of a really good book and it is so hard for me to put it down. So two weekends ago, Aaron, Jim, and I made the trip back out to Leavenworth to do a full-day adventure climb. I'm just going to toss some names out at you and see what you think of our day. Serpentine Ridge, Dragontail Peak, Aasgard Pass. Makes us sound pretty hardcore, right? You know, maybe my high school classmates were onto something when they voted me "Most Likely To Climb Mount Everest." I love mountains.

Mountains are the cathedrals where I practice my religion. -Anatouli Boukreev

So that Friday night, instead of driving out to Leavenworth, we hung out with my Starbucks coworkers at Ron's house. Ron has been going to our Starbucks for quite some time and he is always a smiling face and talks with us. So he invited us to his house for a Santa Maria style BBQ cooked by Sydney, her boyfriend, Derek, and Sam. First of all, it was absolutely delicious. Secondly, Ron has a beautiful house and an even more beautiful view of Mount Rainier, Lake Union, and the city. Thirdly, Ron is the smartest person I've ever met. He has a M.D. and a Ph.D. So we all hung out, had a few drinks, ate yummy food, and played Cards Against Humanity. Unfortunately, I had opened that morning and wasn't able to nap so we left rather early so I could sleep for almost 10 hours.

Saturday, we met up with Jim and drove out to Leavenworth. We did a short bouldering session at the Sword Boulders. Jim and I worked on a V2 (I <3 Jugs) with a "delicate top-out." From the ground, I was like, "Dude. Those holds are huge. The top-out won't be a problem." I'll cut to the chase and just tell you: I will never underestimate a top-out again. It was slightly overhung and tilted sideways so gravity was pulling a strange way so the big holds weren't very good! Also, there was one pretty big move for me and I wasn't sticking it consistently. So, Aaron "worked" it with us and came up with a heel-hook which turned out to be crucial for me easily sticking that move. **Did you notice that on two of my climbs heel hooks were key?** Anyways, then came the top-out. I got up there and discovered it was indeed delicate. My hands were sweating so I started to downclimb a bit and Aaron shouted at me to not give up (which I was just trying to get into a stable position to wipe my hands off) and then I did some magical thing with my left foot to propel me to the top of the boulder and crawl over the lip. Apparently yelling at me makes me send problems. I'll have to make sure he does it more often. 

Delicate top-out indeed I <3 Jugs.

Then we moved to a V7, Off the Couch, for Aaron to work. After figuring out the beta - and using liquid chalk - he sent it! The boys played around on some scary looking slab stuff for awhile and then we went to The Sword (V3). Let me put the height of this climb into perspective: "An old-school 5.11 toprope climb that is now a highball classic." I made it a few hard moves off the ground but I didn't have to worry about topping out the highball because the crux shut. me. down. Then we set up camp, ate, prepared our packs, and crashed early.

Off the Couch (V7)

Sunday at 4 am came very quickly. We ate breakfast, drank some desperately need caffeine, and drove to the trailhead. We started the 5 mile, 2000 ft gain hike to Colchuck Lake at 5 am. We ditched some stuff at the lake and then started the adventure to the base of Serpentine Ridge. We gained a lot more elevation (yay rest step!) before we got to the climb. We roped up, tossed our climbing shoes on, and started the 4th class scramble simul-climbing. Most of the route was low 5th class, 4th class, and then 3rd class stuff to the summit. There were 3 true pitches: 1 5.8 and 2 5.7 pitches which we cruised through pretty easily. Jim ended up taking a lead fall but fared with only a few good scratches and maybe some bruises. Thankfully he was okay and we were able to finish the climb. Awhile later, we reached the summit!!! From the summit of Dragontail Peak, we had a pretty view of the Enchantments, Colchuck Lake, Mount Stuart, and Mount Rainier. It was the highest I've ever been: 8,842 feet :)  

Colchuck Lake as seen from nearing the bass of Serpentine Ridge.

The descent was a little more involved since it involved a snowfield to cross. As many of you may remember, I don't do so well going down in the snow... BUT this time I didn't even wipe out once on the hardest part of the descent! Yes, I was slow but I don't even care. Later on the descent as we were closing in on Aasgard, I totally wiped out hard on flat snow (does it count if Jim or Aaron didn't see it?). Anyways, we made it to Aasgard Pass and hiked down the knee torturer. We descended 2000 feet in 0.5 mile. I'm very glad we didn't hike up that pass. Very glad. We grabbed our stuff from the lake and made the quickest beeline to the truck as we were capable of. It was officially the longest day of hiking/climbing/adventuring I have been on. It was 14ish hours I believe. The second longest was Snake Dike on Half Dome in Yosemite. Both were incredible days.

Partway up Serpentine Ridge! Looking beautiful Washington!

Almost to the summit! Just a long third class ways away!

We were only a little tired when we got home. I mean, my legs were only a little sore the next day. I was only slightly tempted to drive the 4 blocks to work but I didn't. I walked on the most beautiful flat, even ground ever. Anyways, I'll write soon to tell  y'all about this past weekend. Guess where I was this time? You'll never guess!

View over the Enchantments with Mount Rainier in the background as seen from the summit of Dragontail Peak!

The usually "prominent snowfield" on the descent from Dragontail Peak to Aasgard Pass.

Dragontail Peak.

Lovin' Me Some Leavenworth

Hi everyone! So this weekend I disappeared into the mountains. Not surprised? This time our destination was Icicle Creek Canyon in Leavenworth. I don't know if I mentioned this before but Leavenworth is a quaint Bavarian town. I'll post a picture of the town in winter - I really want to go back there around Christmas because it has to be beautiful. At first it kind of threw me off and I didn't like it but it is working it's way into my heart. 

Leavenworth, WA

So Friday after work, we packed the truck and left for Leavenworth. I tried so hard to stay awake during the drive but I fell asleep. We got to our parking spot and crawled in back, read our books for awhile, and I passed out hard. I slept through other cars pulling up, people talking rather loudly, and all the wind making strange sounds outside.

Icicle Creek

Saturday we woke up to a beautiful view of Icicle Creek and whatever peaks that were to the west beyond Pearly Gates. We packed our packs and started the hike to the Pearly Gates. Creek crossing should be a sport. Wet logs and rocks are not the easiest thing to stay balanced on with a pack on your back tossing your equilibrium off. Nobody got a wet hiney after multiple crossings of the creek. We even had a nice little bushwhack to get on the path again. Once we got to the Pearly Gates, we picked a 5.8 to warm up on and we couldn't have picked a better one! We started off on Loaves of Fun (5.8) and it was actually my favorite climb of the day. I even have a picture - the only picture I took whilst we were there.

Start of Loaves of Fun. Maybe I'll make this my first 5.8 trad lead :)

Then the plan was to do a 5.10d sport climb into a 5.9 crack climb. Well Fear No Evil (5.10d) was one heck of a climb. Who doesn't love a 5.10d slab sport climb?!  It was probably one of the hardest 5.10 slabs I've climbed in a long time and I can't say i was extremely fond of it. But we made it to the top and decided the crack we wanted to do was too dirty and we rappelled to go to better crack climbs. We did the first pitch of Cloud 9 (5.8) with ease and then cruised on up No Room for Squares (5.8). 

We headed into Leavenworth for a beer at Icicle Brewing and snacks. We wanted to fuel up for a quick bouldering session at the Egg Boulders. I worked Weather Report (V3/4). Oh baby was that a reachy one. After I figured out how to get off the ground, I could stick the first move most of the time but just could not make the bump to the better hold!! Therefore, I just tried pinching with all my might as I brought my left foot up to a small foot-chip to try and gun for the next hold. Let's just say I need to go back and finish it. In the meantime, Aaron gave Dark Hollow (V5) a few go's and sent it. Then we walked to the other side of the boulder so I could do Carlisle (V2+) but we aren't exactly sure if it was the climb or not. So we will call it Megan's Variation of Carlisle. Anyways, it started on an undercling and then I shot my left hand out to grab this side-pull pinch hold and then got my right hand on a big flat hold. Gravity was strange at this point because my body really wanted to come flying off to the right no matter if my right hand was on or not. So I fought gravity and sent it! YAY!

Drugstore Cowboy. A fun heel-hook leads you to this position. I usually don't like the first move of problems but that is totally not the case for this problem. The first move adds so much to the problem because the starting holds are shallow pockets and totally different than the overhanging jugs fighting gravity during an awkward topout.

Sunday, we went to Mad Meadows for a morning session on Drugstore Cowboy (V3) and Peephole (V10). After a few warm-up go's on Drugstore Cowboy (and key beta from Aaron), I started giving it burns from the start. The key beta was a heel-hook way off the the right of the start holds which made the small pockets feel amazing. Anyways, you walk your hands up the rail jug and then do some interesting footwork so you're kind of parallel to the ground. Then comes the awkward and tricky top-out. I worked the top sequence over and over and over until my triceps felt like they were going to fall off. I just could NOT find something that worked for me. Then I gave it a few more burns from the beginning and I have the sequence dialed in to get me to the top-out but still no send. Next time, when I'm fresh, I will - I WILL - send that problem! I promise.

Meeting His Family...

I sit writing this in my home timezone: central! It's been almost a full 7 months since I have been in CST. I have spent the majority of 2015 in Pacific and a little in Mountain Time and the first week or so in Eastern Time. I got my timezone bases covered for awhile now! As many of you know, I hopped on a plane and jetted back to the Midwest for the Fourth of July. What some of you may not know is that I spent it in Byron, MN with Aaron and meeting the Wait side of the family. I remember everyone's names and who belongs to who. Read up.

Roxanne and Chuck are Aaron's mom and dad and his sister is Kelly. Chuck's sister is Ellen who is married to Mark and has two daughters, Margit and Betsy (who I did not meet), and a son Matt. Chuck's brother is Mike who is married to Beth and has a daughter, Emily, and a son, Eric. Chuck's parents are Dorris and David. And no, Aaron is not sitting next to me to ensure I get this right. 

So, I barely slept on the plane but have no fear, I took a few naps throughout the day on Friday. So we got picked up from the airport by Aaron's parents and made our way to Byron. I took a nap as soon as we got there before I met the family. After my nap, I wandered downstairs and ran into some of the family (before I had my coffee). I took a walk with Beth in the morning, played birdie/badminton before lunch, ate an enormous plateful of food, took a nap, went to the Oxbow zoo, went to a Honkers baseball game and saw fireworks at the end of the game!

Saturday, I took another walk with Roxanne and Beth in the morning. Chuck cooked another wonderful lunch of steak and salmon. The Wait family also decided I needed to get my Star Wars education finally. We started with Episode 4 and I fell asleep during it. Hey, Aaron is still dating me so it musn't have been too big of a deal that I wasn't into it :) In the evening, we went to a parade in a nearby city. I managed to get some popsicles which was pretty nifty. Aaron and I grabbed some Subway for dinner and then headed over to the church to watch the fireworks. We played frisbee with the cousins before we enjoyed the fireworks. All the fresh air left me tired and I crashed hard that night.

Sunday, most people had to leave for home. In the morning, Beth, Mike and Erica started the drive back to Ohio. The rest of us played hearts before lunch. Then we said goodbye to Ellen, Mark, Matt, and Margit as they started the drive back to Iowa or South Dakota?? for school. Then it was Aaron, Emily, Roxanne, Chuck, Dorris, David, and I left. To be totally honest, I don't entirely remembered what we did Sunday evening but I do know it involved more good food stretching my stomach to the max!

Then came Monday. David and Dorris left early in the morning. The rest of us had dinner with Roxanne's parents at a restaurant called Honkers. Emily had Thanksgiving for lunch. No seriously, Thanksgiving was literally on her plate. In the afternoon, we played more cards, snacked, and then had to start packing our belongings back into suitcases. We dropped Emily off at the Rochester airport before heading to the Twin Cities for our flight. We said our goodbyes, checked in, jetted off back to Eastern Time, retrieved my car, drove home all before midnight. And the cherry on top of the huge, wonderful, amazing cake was that I didn't even need to work the next day :) Instead I hiked Mailbox Peak (9 miles roundtrip, 4000 foot gain). 

All in all, I had a wonderful Fourth of July weekend with the Wait family. They are all so sweet and extremely kind. Oh, and have I mentioned how great of a cook Roxanne is?! She went out of her way to make sure I had vegetarian, dairy free food to eat :) And Chuck sure knows how to run a grill!! Poor Aaron has to eat my cooking again. Moral of the story, I had a great weekend!

South Early Winter Spire

Hey hey hey! So I have some really big news to share with you. The only people who know are Aaron and I. I haven't even shared this with my brother or Anna!! Now you know I'm 100% serious about this. I'm just not exactly sure how to break the news to you because I'm so gosh darn excited!! Well... I guess I'll come out and say it.

I'm...

I'm...

I'm in love with Washington Pass. I mean look at this photo! It totally stole my heart and took me into it's lovely mountain slopes. It was so hard to leave but i will be back!

View from pitch 5 of Southwest Rib

Anyways... this past weekend, Aaron and I made the drive to Washington Pass near Mazama, WA. We drove up Thursday after work because I had Friday and Saturday off. We packed the truck with climbing and camping gear along with our bikes. We hid our bikes and locked them up in the woods and slept in our second home: The Tacoma.

Friday, we woke up early to beat the heat. It was a splendid and comfortable 103 - absolutely perfect for climbing. We got the climbing rack in order, stuffed our packs, put on our shoes and started the hike to South Early Winters Spire to climb SW Rib (5.8). We kind of lost the trail on the hill to find the base of the climb but nothing a little bushwhacking couldn't fix! Eventually we made it to the start of the climb and got situated when Mama Goat and Baby Goat strolled on by and stared us down. We cruised through some pitches, had a clif bar, turned around to soak in the view, and made our way to the summit. We were in the sun after about pitch 6 and it was HOT. Like North Carolina hot without the humidity. My forearms were the color of cooked lobster later that night even after sunscreen application! We found some meager shade on the summit and had lunch before packing up and downclimbing via the South Arete. By the way, Aaron and I climbed that route with Alex and Katie last summer to break me into alpine climbing and consequentially get me addicted. If you'd like to read about that, here is the link (http://lifeofmegan6.blogspot.com/2014/08/my-weekend-was-better-than-yours.html) and even back then I knew I was in paradise. We made the drive to Mazama for some cold drinks, ice cream, and sunscreen and then went back to the truck for dinner and sleeping.

May your trails be crooked, winding, lonesome, dangerous, leading to the most amazing view. May your mountains rise into and about the clouds. -Edward Abbey

Saturday, we woke up early because we had a tougher climb ahead of us. We were gunning for Direct East Buttress (5.9+ A0) where I had many firsts on that climb. We tossed our bags on our backs and started hiking up the gully which was a little further away than it appeared. We had a leg burner of a hike, then a traverse along the mountainside on loose terrain, up another leg burner, and through a tree to finally reach the base. We roped up and got at it. We were in the middle of pitch 2 and this guy just comes flying by. I'm like yeah go ahead, there's another belay up there. Well just as I was about to start climbing, I see his partner simul-climbing so that guy clearly didn't belay above me. (I later found out that the first guy placed 2 pieces and essentially cruised through the third pitch a 5.9+ layback with a roof without being belayed. Good for you man). Anyways, Aaron and I keep making our way through the pitches and the party below us is patient when I thought flailing through the 5.9+ layback was a good choice. Then came the aid pitches. Aaron taught me how to ascend the rope the night before so I think it went fairly well and I wasn't painstakingly slow. Once nearing the end of the pitch, there is a mandatory 5.10c traverse section. It took Aaron a little confidence building talk and convincing me that I could do it before I gathered all of my courage and pulled off the move. That was one of the scariest (and happiest) moments of my climbing life. Then we had one more aid pitch and then cruised then next few pitches to gain the summit!

South Early Winters Spire is the second spire from the right. The gully in the left middle is what we hiked up to get to the base of the climb on Saturday

Aaron was meeting a friend, Jim, for more climbing on Sunday but I had to race back to the city because I worked on Sunday. We quick ate dinner, tossed the stuff Aaron needed for the next time, and I took off for home and slept in the most amazingly comfortable bed I could ever dream of. I barely remembered to take a shower. That my friends is how you know you had a great weekend climbing in the northern Cascades.

Kiddo is in Town

Good day beautifuls! It is a roasty one again here in Seattle! Why don't we turn on the air conditioning you ask? We don't have AC! Yippee yahoo. So excited. At least it's not awful humid like NC :) Thank goodness for icecubes!

Anyways, two weeks ago my brother flew to Seattle for a week long visit! He landed at SeaTac in the late afternoon and one of my coworkers was sweet enough to cover my last half hour or so so I could go with Aaron to the light rail station and pick up my bro. We got Jayman from the station and headed back to our apartment to get him settled in. Aaron had to do a little more work from home so Jay and I hung outside by the lake for a little while before dinner. Around sunset, we went over to Gas Works Park to throw a Frisbee and snap some photos.

View from Gas Works Park. Sunsets are a beautiful way to end a great day.

 Thursday, Aaron went to work and Kiddo and I took a bike ride around downtown. Our first stop was the Public Market by the sound. There was a huge display of freshly caught fish (very appetizing to the vegetarian), tons of local artists, cherries, cherries, cherries, apples, and musicians. It was beautiful to see when all the action was going. I should also mention that the very first Starbuck's is right down there too so naturally we stopped by to see it but the line was insanely long so we didn't go get coffee!! We picked up a Father's Day gift for Papa from a local photographer of the Space Needle at night. Then we biked on over to the Space Needle/Seattle Center and had lunch in a museum.

Then came the weekend. That means mountain time.

I'll take this view to fall asleep to and wake up to. Beats a cement garden.

Friday, Aaron left in the morning to go hike in and set up camp at Melakwa Lake. After work, Jason and I headed out to the trailhead and hiked the 5 miles, 2300 foot gain to where Aaron set up camp. We relaxed and enjoyed a fire for the night. Then Saturday was the exciting day! We woke up, had breakfast, and then started the hike to the summit of Kaleetan Peak (2 miles, 1760 foot gain). We followed a steep trail, up to Point 5700, down and around another peak, and then a third class scramble to the summit. Kiddo was incredibly fond of that!! Just ask him! We got some summit selfies, ate some food, and then hiked back to camp. We tore down camp, packed our bags, and hiked back to the car. Enjoy these beautiful photos!

Point 5700 gives you this beautiful view of a cairn and Mount Rainier. Don't mountains make you feel like Earth is the most beautiful living canvas? 

Some other peaks piercing the sky.

The rest of the time he was here, I was working a lot so we went out to dinner a few times, and just chilled in the evenings. Sunday we took him to Kerry Park to get the beautiful view of Rainier and Space Needle at sunset while enjoying Molly Moon Ice Cream! We had a great time and I cannot wait to see my little brother again :)

Y'all know how tough of a decision I made when I decided to stop my graduate program and move to Seattle. I can say with 100% certainty that that was the absolute best decision I have ever made in my life. Yes, I am looking into Master's programs in Washington and am hoping to be back in a program in a year or so. But every weekend that Aaron and I disappear into the mountains, I am reminded that I live in one of the most beautiful places on Earth, the Pacific Northwest. My stresses fade, I don't have worries (besides that I don't have enough time to climb all the peaks and routes I want), and I am happy. I will never, forever, regret my decision to move to Seattle when I did. I love this place.

My guys right before they jumped in the ever so chilly lake!