Monday, July 21, 2008

Three peaks in two weekends

My brother Brian was in town two weeks ago. Being the adventurous soul he is, he let me and Nick drag him up not one but two mountains in a day. Despite the fact that he’s been living in the flatlands of Williamsburg, VA for the last two years, he did great. We started with Guye Peak, which required a little four wheelin’ (hands and feet) to get up some of the snow slopes. Nothin’ stopped him; he even did a little glissading on the way down.

Snoqualmie Mountain proved to be the boys’ nemesis. Both of them stopped 500’ short of the summit and wouldn’t budge, even after I sprinted to the top in 15 minutes. Nick and Brian claim credit for climbing 1.8 peaks - not bad considering he racked up 4500 feet of elevation gain doing it.

On the way down, we stopped for a shower and water break - much needed on the hot day.

Guye Peak

Yes, snow in July. We’re not in Virginia anymore Toto.

Proud smiles on summit #1

This peak’s easy to identify!

Taking in the view of Source Lake basin on the way down

ahhhhh....

The next weekend (i.e. last Saturday), I led a rock climbing trip up Lundin, Snoqualmie’s sister peak a little further east. There were five of us due to some last-minute cancellations. We hiked back up Snoqualmie Mountain and over Cave Ridge to the blocky ridge that separates the two mountains. I was on the fence at the base of the climb about whether I had enough energy to continue. The odd number of climbers would have made the climbing really slow and awkward, so I sacrificed my summit for the boys. A good thing too since it took them considerably longer to make the summit than I expected. As a fifth wheel I would have added at least another hour to that portion of the trip.

Instead, I napped in the sun and listened to the clink-clink of gear as they made their way up. Here’s a few pictures of them on the ridge.

Do you see the climbers?