Every holiday I get together with Alexie, Curt and Greg for a hike and this time we had our sights set on White Chuck Mt. Located near Darrington, we were joined by 2 others, Adam and Raymond. The sky was filled with fog as we set out onto the trail near 10:00am. The first half of the route was simple with minimal elevation gain which we passed with no problems. The second half on the other hand would be steep and unforgiving. Today because of recent snow and rain the route up to rock slabs turned out to be very slippery. I was in the middle of the group and made some progress up the slope before stopping. Hiking up reminded me of a cat with no whiskers getting itself stuck in a tight spot since it had no alert system (whiskers) to tell it to stop before getting in a jam. Hiking up a steep slope isn't too bad, but the descent would prove to be very difficult. I had gained about 50 feet before I stopped to see how the progress was further ahead. Two of the three above were making decent progress, but the other including the remaining three of us were having second thoughts. We were thinking about how tough the decent would be and the risk included.
As a group we decided to stop and head back down. For me, I was in a tough spot and felt like the cat, how would I get out of this jam I had gotten myself into. I thought I would ascend a bit then traverse and try a descent in another spot. I slipped about 6 inches and that sent sheer panic through my body. A fall in my posotion could be fatal, and today was not a good day to die. Once I settled my nerves I regrouped and tried a different route. The others above me had caught up and passed me as I slowly downclimbed. I was very uncomfortable and made sure to let the others know how I felt. Finally after what seemed like forever (maybe 10 minutes actually) I was off the slabs and on my way back down.
I'm told that when dry, this route is rather safe and enjoyable, well today was not that day!!
1 comment:
cool photo
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