Disappointment Cleaver

Hey hey hey! So many of you know that I was out on an adventure on Friday and Saturday with Aaron, Blair, and Camden. But do you know that the adventure involved hiking uphill for 8,900 feet over the course of 6.7 miles? This adventure is also called Mount Rainier. Yeah, that's right - the tallest mountain in Washington, second tallest in the lower 48, 17th tallest in the USA, and the 30th tallest in North America. Also, I just want to point out that although it is the 30th tallest mountain in NA - it is the FOURTH most prominent peak (base to summit height) in North America. Yes, I'm bragging. It's an accomplishment.

View from the parking lot. That folks, is 9000 feet worth of mountain you're looking at.

First of all, I need to thank my friend KC for trading shifts with me so I could hike Rainier on Friday and Saturday (it turned out she needed to trade shifts too)! On Thursday night, we packed the trucks and drove to Mount Rainier National Park. After a restful night of sleep, we woke up early to wait in line at the ranger station in hopes of getting climbing permits. There are needed for camping on Rainier or climbing above 10,000 feet. We were really hoping we could get a permit for camping at Ingraham Flats because it would help make our second day of hiking be a little easier. WE WERE IN LUCK - WE GOT THE PERMITS :) We went back to the truck and used our engineering skills to pack our packs with camping and mountaineering gear. We waited until the last minute to put our oh so comfortable mountaineering boots on and then left Paradise for a different paradise.

View from Camp Muir. You can clearly see Mount Adams in this photo. I promise that Mount Hood is in the picture too off to the right!

The two miles after leaving Paradise (5,420 feet) are the "easy part" where you have a paved or gravel trail to follow. Since we did it very late season, and it was a very low snowfall year, we didn't hit snow until about 7,300 feet right after Pebble Creek. Then comes Muir Snowfield where in the next two miles, you gain 2,700 feet. You just follow the bootpack. It's like walking up 225 flights of stairs (assuming 1 flight = 12 vertical feet). Now imagine that with a pack stuffed to the seams that's not exactly light. Now that is what I call a 'Buns/Thighs of Steel' workout! Anyways, it took us about 4 hours to make it to Camp Muir (10,080 feet). There we took a little break and got prepared for the next mile and 1,000 ft gain leg to Ingraham Flats. From Camp Muir, we had a beautiful view of Mount Adams, Mount Hood, and Mount Saint Helens! On the down side, I was starting to feel the elevation and was developing quite the headache. We hydrated and then got ready to trek to Ingraham Flats (11,100 feet). We took out our ice axes and roped up. 

And it goes on forever and ever and ever and ever...

**Okay, let me explain because I know most of y'all have no idea why we rope up while hiking. Getting from Camp Muir to Ingraham Flats involves crossing Cowlitz Glacier. It's good practice that while hiking on glaciers and steep/icy snowfields to be tied to one another. We do this because on glaciers there are big cracks called crevasses that can be small or big enough that you could fall in and have to be rescued out or worse. The theory is that if everyone is tied together and someone slips downhill or falls into a hole/crevasse there are other people (besides themselves) to use their ice axe as a way of stopping the fall. This involves jamming one end of the ice axe into the snow and leaning over it to put pressure on it so it digs into the snow and hopefully stops you from sliding or falling further (self-arresting). That is why we rope up.**

Crevasse

So we roped up and crossed Cowlitz Glacier to Cathedral Gap. There has been a lot of active rockfall in this area this season so we had to make sure we were moving fast to get out of the danger zone as fast as possible. Then we hike up a rocky section of Cathedral Gap to gain the Ingraham Glacier and shortly after we reached Ingragam Flats where we were camping. There are two things we started almost immediately: 1 - melting snow and 2 - digging out a flat section of snow for camp. I had the honor of melting snow while Aaron set up camp. Once we were in shade it got cold pretty quick. We crawled into the tent and made dinner in the tent to maximize our comfort. At 7:30, we went to bed. We had the alarm set for 12:03 am but I'm pretty sure we beat the alarm and woke up before it was technically Saturday. Why were we up so early? Well, the snow is more solid when it is colder so you try to hike the most dangerous part of the route when it is coldest - late night/early morning. This way, it is more likely that the crevasses aren't as open, snow bridges are solid, and snow is more stable. Anyways, we made breakfast in the tent and then started piling the layers on to keep warm until we started hiking. 

Little Tahoma Peak as seen from our campsite on Ingraham Flats.

Then came time to assemble gear. Have I ever mentioned how fun it is to put crampons (metal bear claws for your feet) on in the dark? I didn't even stab myself! We roped up again and had ice axes in hand. We ascend Ingraham Glacier, crossed the Bowling Alley (named for the boulders that go bowling for humans), and onto Disappointment Cleaver. Here we took off our crampons because crampons and rocks don't mix very well. We started the ascent up Disappoint Cleaver until we hit snow again and had to put our crampons on again. Then it is just a sloth trudging pace on Ingraham Glacier what feels like eternity. There were some huge crevasses that we had to cross but the park rangers had anchored ladders for us to cross. In the steep parts, there were also fixed ropes to hold onto or clip into for extra security. It was getting hard to breathe and at one point (maybe around 13,500 feet) I had to sit down and catch my breath. There was a lot of motivational pep talks from Aaron: "Come on Megan! You got this! We are almost there! Megan I know we are getting close now! I can see the summit from here!" Although I knew he was lying about being close, it kept me shuffling my feet forward and sucking wind as we traveled the Emmons Glacier to the crater. Once we reached the crater, we unroped and took off the crampons to cross the crater. You would think that being on relatively flat ground would feel like a breeze, right? Well, it is hard to breathe up there and the trek across the crater to the true summit was harder than expected. But anyways, I made it to the true summit of Mount Rainier at 6:10 am on Saturday morning. I DID IT. Look, even a picture to prove I was indeed there and didn't just sign my name in the register.

Getting my bear claws on!

And we were told not to take photos here because it was a danger zone where that could collapse and take us out. But I took one anyways. 

Then we reassembled our gear, and booked it down the mountain which is surprisingly difficult when it's hard to breathe! I mean, we were moving much more quickly but it wasn't a sprint or anything. Anyways, we got stuck behind a guided group so that took a little while but eventually we were able to pass them and cruise back down to camp. We took a short break, ate some food, and then packed up to get the hell down that mountain. Once we got to Camp Muir, we were essentially home free. We ran/slid/skied down Muir Snowfield. Yes, I did wipe out hard onto my bum with all four limbs in the air. I felt like a turtle with that big pack on my back. But please note that I did not wipe out or trip during the difficult part of the hike. Anyways, with very sore feet, hungry bellies, thirsty mouths, and mentally exhausted minds, we made it back to the truck. There is nothing, I repeat, nothing, better than taking off mountaineering boots after hiking Mount Rainier. It's the best feeling ever. Then I drove home while Aaron slept (lucky dude). Oh, and to guilt trip a little more, I had to get up at 5 am the next morning for work while they all got to sleep more. Don't worry, I caught up on sleep eventually. I discovered that I can sleep like a hibernating bear if required.

Cool snow/ice feature on the crater!

View from 14,410 feet!! 

So there is my story guys! Do you feel like you were on the summit with me? Did you join me in the sufferfest it truly was? Well, now everytime I see Mount Rainier I can rejoice in knowing that I have conquered the tallest mountain in Washington. Who wants to go again next weekend?!

Proof I was on the summit of Mount Rainier!!

Projects, Projects

Hi there. As y'all may have guessed, I was back in Leavenworth last weekend! Oh don't act so surprised! Where do you think I went? Rocklands? Patagonia? Fontainbleau? No sillies those are all on different continents! I mean, don't get me wrong, I'd love to spend a few months in each place but I guess I'll just have to settle for some of the best bouldering in the PNW in Leavenworth, WA. I really love that place. Especially because I was climbing with someone who has witnessed my climbing highs and lows earlier this year. Yup, you guessed it. Blair is in Washington with his buddy Camden! It's really good to see him again!

Blair on the Peephole (V10)

So last week Thursday, Blair and Camden rolled into Seattle and they crashed at our place. We didn't hang out with them (bad hosts!) because Amazon turned 20 and had Macklemore come to CenturyLink Field and give us a private concert!! **I was always told that dating a smart man was the way to go - I would advise a computer geek. They are smart, probably look good in glasses, get good jobs that throw cool concerts, and are slightly socially awkward.** Anyways, it was a good concert but we didn't stay for the whole thing because I was tired from opening and had to open the next day and we wanted to beat traffic out. It was a really fun time! Then on Friday, Blair and Camden left to meet up with their friend, Ben, in Leavenworth.

Aaron working out the upper moves on Peephole.

Saturday, Aaron and I were going to go to the Amazon picnic. Well, we didn't know there was going to be a Mariner's game (Safeco Field is right next to Century Link) and we got stuck in traffic for quite some time. So... we decided not to go and drive over to Leavenworth. Except, we didn't make it there as fast as we originally hoped. We were in Bellevue getting groceries for the weekend when we checked one of the tires' pressure because the warning light was on. Guess what we found!! There was a bolt in the front driver's side tire and was slowly leaking air. Aaron called a few places and we drove to Issaquah to an automotive repair shop to get his tire patched. About an hour or so later, we were back on the rode, caffeinated, and on our way to our third home (second being The Tacoma). 

Camden on Pimpsqueak (V9)

So, I'm going to start with my big exciting news first. Saturday we met up with Blair and Camden and went to Mad Meadows to work on Peephole and Drugstore Cowboy. Well, after we were warmed up, I started giving my project all I had. Then somewhere along the line, Blair did Drugstore Cowboy and did this beautiful kneebar and made the top out look incredibly less awkward than other people (you know who you are). So I tried the knee bar. It was the most secure knee bar ever. Anyways, I was still struggling a bit to get over the lip and I dropped. I took a rest and let the boys start working on Peephole. Then came the send go. It all started with the beautiful heelhook, an arm-stretcher to the jug undercling, another heel hook to gain the overhanging jugs, walk the feet up to get in a better position, a high heel to rock up on to get the bomber knee bar, a mantel, and a pushup to complete the topout. Yeah, that's right, I sent my proj.

Ben on Pimpsqueak!

After that, Aaron and Blair worked on the Peephole and made some good progress with working out the beta. I have some great photos of them - some funny, some intense ones. Then we went to Pimpsqueak (V9) for the guys to climb. I'll cut to the chase - Blair was so close to a send but didn't quite hit the 'thank god' hold. Pimpsqueak is a problem that climbs an arete on a roof. I know there are a lot of heelhooks involved, slopey holds for the right hand, and a pretty decent sidepull for the left hand while under the roof. Then you come out onto slopers and have to make a move to the 'thank god' hold, do some interesting footwork, and then top it out. I took so many photos, I could probably string them together to make a beta video. I like to document climbs. Plus, they look pretty awesome. Anyways, I got a bunch of photos of Aaron sending Pimpsqueak. Here are a few of the better ones so you can see what the climb was like.

Aaron on his way to a send of Pimpsqueak!!

Sunday, Blair, Camden, and Ben went to go do Hyper Space on the Snow Creek Wall. Since Aaron was on call, we had to stay in service and close to the truck so we could zip into Leavenworth if he got paged. Thankfully he didn't so we were able to spend most of the day climbing again. In the morning, we had a bouldering session for me. I mean, I needed to find a new project. We went to Forestland and I indeed found a project! I warmed up and then started trying to take down The Real Thing (V4) which is this beautiful crimpy problem. It has a great lefthand crimpy sidepull and a small pinch for startholds. The holds are good the whole way up and I worked the crux over and over and finally worked out some beta that may work for the next time I get on it. Then Aaron and I went over to the alphabet wall so he could work on his crack climbing skills. He climbed a few 5.10 cracks and absolutely crushed them! So that was our weekend in Leavenworth :)

Here I am working on The Real Thing (V4)

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!