Mile 165.8 to 179.3 = 13.5 total, elevation 6379 start, 8137 end. Totals: 4220 total feet gained, 2428 descended, grade: 501 feet gained/lost per mile avg. High 61, low 42, dead calm winds.
Zach and I decided to get an early start so that we could hike over the frozen snow easily with our spikes. The problem is that it never got below freezing on the mountain, so we ended up hiking through a gigantic slushy.
This would end up being my hardest day of hiking yet. I had not planned on the temperatures staying above freezing throughout the night. The first few miles we’re hiked in the dark, with headlamps, and were uneventful. We ended up hitting snow around mile 168, which is Apache ridge. The 4 of us, Zach, Braden, Julia and myself decided to go over the top of the saddle instead of tempt fate with that dangerous ridge. There were multiple helicopter rescues in the last few days on that ridge.
As this hike went on, it began to get really serious! One wrong move and we would end up sliding off the edge, hundreds of feet below, hitting large boulders down at the bottom!
As you can see in the picture above, there were many very steep uphill grades. This was made harder by the fact that the snow was extremely “slushy”, so I would either loose a half step for every step up I took, posthole, which is sinking down to my knees, or just sink in a foot into the snow every time I try to take a step.
My feet got wet early on, but didn’’t get too cold because it was almost absurdly warm up in that snow, nearing the 60s. There was absolutely no wind, which made it much more bearable. We eventually found a campsite near mile 179 that was somewhat free of snow. I Became somewhat alarmed as I heard that a storm system was supposed to hit the area in 2 days. Tomorrow’s goal was to get completely off the mountain , but that goal was not attained as I become bogged down in the deep snow.
Stay safe my friend!