What a fun day! Me, Jun, his friend Devin, and my friend Jackson climbed Mt. Olympus this morning, and had a great time. I woke up 15 minutes before my alarm went off at 5:00, and only ended up getting 4 hours of sleep. We met at 6:00 and after the first 15 minutes or so it was clear that Jackson wasn't in the best shape. He hadn't worked out much since our climb of the Grand Teton was cancelled in August. Craig and Devin bounded ahead, while I stayed back with Jackson. This was his first time on the mountain, and I didn't want to leave him.
There was actually quite a lot of snow on the mountain, and luckily Craig and Devin had the tedious task of breaking the trail for us. The snow was deep in places, causing numerous post-holes, and this was one of the more difficult climbs I have ever had of Olympus. Above the saddle the trail became more technical, and we had to deal with a lot of icy rocks, and slippery snow. There were a few places that we really had to take care because a fall would have been bad.
In the chute we ran into Craig and Devin, and I snapped few pics. I took my time making my way up the gully so that Jackson could catch up to me. The final push was tough because I was breaking trail and my legs were getting tired. Climbing Oly in the winter is definitely a lot harder than a typical summer hike. We had to take care just below the summit because the rocks were very slippery and off of the rocks was a post-hole fest.
The mountain was as beautiful today as I have ever seen it. It was nice getting out of the smog in the valley, and fun hanging out with good friends. we had a great day. I'll try and post some pics later. | 