Summit Day
We awoke at ~6 AM for summit day, and the sunrise did not disappoint. The entire silhouette of Mt. Adams could be seen as the sun rose behind the mountain.
Stanley’s then-friend had sent him a letter for him to open in the morning at basecamp. After having breakfast and coffee, Stanley opened it and read it aloud. The quote that stuck with me from this moment was “Continue to live the victorious life”. Hearing this while seeing the shadow the the huge mountain in front of us really made it sink in.
We geared up and headed up, and saw the first view of the hike towards Pikers Peak, at about 3 thousand vertical feet, and a 40% grade at some points, we had a lot to look forward to.
The path got steeper, and steeper as we moved up Pikers Peak.
We finally reached the top of Pikers Peak and rested. The air was getting pretty thin at this point, and I was feeling a little dizzy. With the thin air, on the steep parts, the pace was one step…three full breaths…one step… A much slower pace than day one. The view from the top of Pikers Peak was great, but we were anxious for the top at this point.
The altitude, steep slopes and deep snow slowed our pace considerably, and we hiked for 5 hours, and only traveled two miles as the crow flies. We soon found ourselves reaching the top around noon, right on time.The temperature dropped about 20 degrees instantly as we crested the peak and the wind picked up.
Pictures of the summit simply do not do it justice, however they are still impressive. The wind was accompanied by rapidly moving clouds at eye level that really added a unique effect. Upon reaching the top, our first utterance was “Continue to live the victorious life!”
After spending 30 minutes relishing our accomplishment and the amazing views, it was time to head back. Remember the couple with the ski’s and dog I mentioned earlier? We ended up switching places with the multiple times on the way up, and even began heading back down the mountain from the summit at the same time. Naturally, given our close timeline, we decided it had to be a race. Stanley and I on foot, them with their dog and Ski’s.
This, was one of the most anticipated parts of this hike for me. The mountain is steep enough to slide down on nothing but your rear, known as glissading. While great fun, there is also great risk, as at the steepest parts you can reach speeds in excess of 30 miles per hour and hit rocks and cliffs. Unfortunately climbers have been lost because of this. This was a nearly 4,000 ft sledding hill of doom.
While I was apprehensive, sizing up the situation, Stanley would have no such nonsense.
Since we were now engaged in a race with the skiers, we had to make a quick pace down. One problem, which way? The best plan we could come up with was to guess, based on the map. Turns out we have a pretty good sense of direction, because we saw familiar landmarks all the way down. I even found my trail mix that I forgot in the snow the day before on the way up! Our rapid descent technique was impressive.
Guess what, we beat the skiers back to the trail head! They arrived about 10 minutes after us. The hike was amazing, but we were exhausted. We had moved from summit to trail head in under 3 hours, and my ankles were swollen like crazy. It felt great to throw on some flip flops at the car and sit in a padded seat.
We took the south side of the Columbia River Gorge back towards Portland, and the fun and scenic views just kept coming. After the Gorge and Portland, we went into Seattle and visited a couple excellent pubs. Eventually we took the Bremerton Ferry back towards Stanley’s from Seattle. After arriving back at the cabin late, we celebrated with our real victory cigars and a couple glasses of scotch.
My amazing wife was kind enough to create a memory board of the trip as a gift, which is proudly displayed in my man cave.
Thanks for reading,
Tim Rabideau