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| Hiking | 9.78 Miles |
5,597 AEG |
| | Hiking | 9.78 Miles | 5 Hrs 57 Mns | | 1.64 mph |
| 5,597 ft AEG | | 15 LBS Pack | | |
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| no partners | | Got an early start and left Milwaukie at 0330 and was on trail by 0530. Already quite a few other cars in the parking lot- some of the people had even tent camped there in order to be on trail so early.
Forecast was for clear skies and weather in the 60s, I started out in just a t-shirt and pants. It was a bit chilly, but I warmed up fairly quickly. The trail was almost entirely snow covered from the very start. Last year I probably hiked for almost an hour before I hit snow, but this year it was immediate. There was enough that I could have put on the microspikes in the trailhead, but I decided to save them until I started the real climbing.
Knowing the route this year made things much easier, even with all the snow. I made decent time and passed quite a few other climbers. About halfway up the mountain I found a good set of fresh crampon tracks that cut a great path through the snow and ice. They were very easy to follow due to their distinctive pattern, and they followed a mostly straight line straight up the mountain (instead of needlessly zig zagging like so many of the other tracks did).
Made it to the summit in just under 4 hours. There were already 3 girls hanging out on the summit, and I arrived just behind the guy that was leaving all the crampon tracks. We all chatted for a bit- I learned the girls had started at 0330 to be the first ones on the summit (making me #5 for the day). I also thanked the crampon guy for leaving such a distinctive path of prints in the snow.
I left the summit shortly before the other, following a shallow glissade trail down the crest. The girls caught up with me a short while later and we leap frogged each other for a bit. Eventually I left them behind as I made my way to the lower slopes of the mountain. I really enjoyed watching the groups of tired climbers trudge their way uphill out of breath while I carelessly glissaded down with a smile on my face.
Had some extreme cramping in my legs on the way down that forced me to stop a couple times. It was severe enough that there were a couple of moments where I couldn't physically bend my legs at all and had to wait for a couple of minutes until the cramping subsided as I downed salt pills and water. And here I thought I had my cramping issues resolved, I guess I need to work harder on pre-hydrating... |
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