ALL The Volcanos

When I moved out here, my friend Justin Chen convinced me to take a mountaineering course with him. Little did I know the trajectory it would take the next 6 months of my life on…

It all started with Baker:

This was the final step in the basic mountaineering course (BMC) we took with the Skagit Alpine Club. This club reminded me fondly of OAR, with its volunteers teaching the course and the small community feeling. Shortly before we actually went out on this trip, my same friend Justin told me about a summit attempt Scott (a fellow BMC student) was planning for Mount Rainier. I said yes. Boy was I in for a surprise on Baker.

The biggest mistake I made was not drinking enough water. I’d eaten fairly well before and during the hike. But on the push up, I hadn’t had more than 500mL, partly because of altitude sickness making me not feel like doing that but also in large part due to my general aversion to drinking water. I’m trying to work on this but oddly I don’t feel a strong sense of thirst, even when I’m definitely thirsty or at least could use some water.

I knew after this that something had to change if I was going to actually have a shot at Rainier.

I trained by hiking at least once a week in the roughly 3 weeks leading up to the attempt on Rainier. I did Mailbox twice (both times finishing around 3am, ugh) and tried to bike to work every day. I also trained the stairmaster with weight a couple times at SBP across the street. This wasn’t some insane regiment but it was at least going to give me a good baseline and I could make even more difference by just eating better and drinking more water.

Ever since this period, I’ve developed noticeably better habits with eating enough protein/carbs (to have energy and maintain my body weight) and drinking water. I realized that it was much easier to just fix my bad habits in general than it was to try to force myself to do so on the trip itself (that doesn’t work at all!).

Thus, I was able to summit:

Unfortunately we didn’t get to the true summit (the Columbia Crest). So I’ll need to come back another day to do this :^)

2/5 done.

My friend Anton finally moved back to Seattle! We got drinks with friends and I mentioned to him that me and Teagan were going to attempt to hike Mount Adams. The south climb is just a steep snow hike, I said. Surprisingly enough, he was down! Even never having backpacked before, he dove head first into it. Teagan was also a total trooper. Her first experience with snow hiking was when we went up to Camp Muir to train for Adams. That was where I proposed the idea to do Adams; as we looked out to it from Muir. It was partly a joke but the more we thought about it the more plausible it seemed.

Thus:

3/5 down.

It was actually only at this point that I developed the desire to bag the rest of the volcanos. I realized that the only ones left were:

• Mount St. Helens - Similar to Adams, this one is just a snow hike. Tough but very doable and non-technical! Just need to get permits and NOT fall to my death by stepping out onto the snow cornices at the summit (rest in peace to the man that passed due to that)

• Glacier Peak - This one is a doozy. From what I’ve heard from SAC, its not horribly technical and at the right time of year you could skip the glaciers entirely. However, its got a helluva approach. Backpacking can be fun though!

So my goal is to hopefully finish these up before the start of next summer.

Wish me luck!