My Dad took my sister Darel, my brother Shea and Brent and me climbing this weekend. We summitted Mt. Hood at 7:30 yesterday morning. It's been awhile since I've climbed and somehow I forgot how painful it is-although it was a beautiful day to climb. It was very warm and there was hardly any wind. I climbed in only a fleece all the way and I usually freeze on climbs.
Riding up on the cat...
Riding up on the cat...
I got a chance to break in my mountaineering boots that Brent got me a few Christmases ago. I didn't have much use for them in Boston. My mom and Great-Grandma Phyl babysat the boys so Brent and I could climb. It was our first night away from them since they were born. A sane couple would probably plan a romantic get-away for their first night away from their kids, but climbing suited us just fine. We first climbed Hood together about 12 years ago. And we've each climbed it since then, but not together. So it was cool to climb again together. Brent was patient with me on the way down since I tend to get scared and go pretty slow. Although I feel pretty safe since my Dad is a very experienced climber and is very cautious, I still get a little wary when I look down on either side of me and see a very long way down of nothing but rock and ice.
Darel and me taking a break.
Sunrise.
It was especially neat to climb with Darel and Shea. Neither of them had climbed before and they both did really well. Shea didn't even seem tired at all. And Darel was impressively brave. The best part was glissading down the mountain on plastic. It is basically like extreme sledding. We had a blast racing each other down the mountain. It somewhat made up for the painful night of climbing as our noses drew closer to the steepening mountain and the smell of sulfer made us sick. We were very fortunate that nobody suffered much from altitude sickness. One large reason for the pleasant climb was that we took a cat up to the top of the chair lift which cut off about 3 hours of climbing. At first we thought it was cheating but as we climbed we decided there is no other way to climb a mountain! It was such a clear day that the views were truly breathtaking. Making it all the sweeter was being on the summit with so many members of my family.
Brent powered his way to the top with Coke. (Actually he just cracked one open to celebrate summitting.)
A look at the "Devil's kitchen" on the way down.
My Dad and me gearing up.
Goin' up.
14 comments:
You are awesome!!! Do you have two kiddie backpacks yet?!?
Oh my gosh so cool! I want to climb... I never have before, but it looks great. My first night away was not a romantic getaway either I was in the hospital pushing Navie out! and even then I only stayed 24 hours I have a hard time leaving my kids!!! Anyhow I got on your blog way excited to see the coast so you better update some more:) Yes we need to get together again it was lots of fun and it was fun to see you and Chelsea together... so much alike and so different also:)
What an adventure! I love the shot of the sunrise where you can see the shadow of the mountain.
That is soo cool! Great pics and you are one hot momma!
I am sooo excited you are coming to Bahhstan but we are leaving at 6am on August 2nd for Chicago...any chance to see you Friday night?
Hugs,
S
Wow- I'm way impressed! It's great you guys are closer to family now so you can do these things together. Congratulations!
-Shanna
I think you are nuts! j/k. It looks like something you'll remember the rest of your life and to do it with family makes it even cooler.
Tracy
Impressive. I haven't climbed anything for years. Mt. St. Helens when I was about 10 I think it was. I only made it because we had to if we wanted to go to Disneyland. My first time away from all of my kids was a few weeks ago. It was a nice break.
You are brave, and not just for leaving the boys, but for the climbing too. Haha. I haven't yet done the night away from Logan yet (he is a week younger than your boys though, so I guess I still have a week to be even), and sometimes the thought of it makes me nervous. Who knows why. You look great and I am glad to see you still as outdoorsy as ever. Makes me miss the old days. Check out Wendy's blog, she just had her baby!
D, you look amazing! Can't wait to see you next week. Miss you tons. ;)
That looks like so much fun!! You guys are just so adventurous!!
Wow! I love your post and your photos are amazing! What a great get-away...we can't wait to see you!
Kristin
Hey guys, so glad to hear from you. I can't believe how long it's been. Looks like you are having fun, having beautiful kids and climbing big things. We are diong great! Just kickin in Connecticut. We will be here for another year while Adrians finishing his last year in Med school......I mean art school.
I love your blog! I love the pictures of the boys! They are so handsome! Way to go on the climb. That is seriously impressive. Ray and I climbed a million years ago. One day I tell ya we will be back at it :)
Wow Darc. First off, you look incredible. I can't believe you pushed out those those boys several months back. You look amazing. Way to go climbing Mt. Hood. I remember you telling me in college about the first time you climbed it with Brent. We were actually camping at the base of Mt. Hood last weekend. I can't believe I was that close to you. Also, I the other girl was Sydney and I thought the boy was her boyfriend. How did Shae and Daryl get so big? Crazy. Your sister is beautiful. You all look so much alike!!! And your brother is so tall!!!!
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