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| Hiking | 8.30 Miles |
5,450 AEG |
| | Hiking | 8.30 Miles | 15 Hrs 30 Mns | | 0.54 mph |
| 5,450 ft AEG | | | | |
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| partners | | Great day for a 'hike'! The temps were unusually nice so we took advantage.
Going from 1 to 2 was a piece of cake. Coming down 2 was okay. We ended up on a pretty slow route but got through it eventually. I think it was here that I grabbed a rock to downclimb, believing my hands and feet were perfect but then suddenly realizing that they weren't as I lost my grip and fell about 7 feet or so into a tree that was behind me. Thank goodness for the tree. The terrain there wasn't steep but it still got my heart racing. Coming up 3 we made the mistake of going to the west of it instead of climbing up it dead on. Nearly went all the way around it and ended up coming up from the south side somehow. 3 to 4 was interesting. We got to add two extra "peaks" to the list. Hit 4 and then turned around right away so that we could lunch somewhere on the saddle. Got a little off course by going east a little too far but got back on track quickly. After coming back down 3, we snaked around the little divots and then headed east of 2. The route going up at the blackened tree or slightly after the ridge after it was pretty good. I got really scared at one point when Joe went up a steep flat rock wall and I realized 4-5 feet from the top that I couldn't do it. I'm no good with crack climbs and wasn't comfortable testing it out with a good 100 ft fall behind me. I was still having visions of my earlier fall fresh in my mind and my hands started to sweat. Joe offered to pull me up but I felt I was too low and didn't want both of us to end up over the edge somehow. Trying to remain calm, I took a few breaks and gave my hands a rest. Slowly downclimbed and at each new foothold, once I was in place, took another break to make sure I was still thinking straight and not trying to do anything too quickly. Eventually I got low enough to traverse to a section that had dirt and plants. I don't think I've ever loved those sharp holly bushes so much in my life. Ended up going a bit slower at this point, as I'd lost a little bit of confidence in my abilities. The traverse from 2 to 1 was good and we went right to the chute as the sun was beginning to set behind the White Tanks. An earlier statement I made regarding the chute still stands: it sucks! I don't like going down the chute and if I do a MLDV again I might just prefer a 4-3-2-1-2-3-4 instead just so I can avoid it! At the saddle we took a nice slow pace back to the car, took turns hallucinating various entities, and even had time for some good conversation. In the end, a successful trip but I think the next time I do a Motherlode, I'd like to hit it in 10 hours or less. Hmmm.. this next weekend's looking pretty nice.. yeah, right! |
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