AMTL part II: June 18, 2007

The rain came right at 3:15 again during the night. Not the little sprinkle we'd received the night before, but lasting longer and with more intensity it didn't promise good weather. The clouds didn't look promising either when I woke up, but I dressed quickly and scampered off to the toilet. Right when I returned to the tent the skies let loose with another volley of rain.

Half and hour later we had another reprieve and I wandered over to Joseph's tent to get his opinion. He offered that we could bail out to the eastern Cascades (Washington Pass) but couldn't promise that the weather would be better there. He recommended that I discuss the matter with Mike and we'd make the call.

I heard Mike moving in his tent when I walked over so I knew I wouldn't have to wake him up. We took little time to come to an agreement, we'd go down rather than attempt a climb with those clouds on the horizon. Joseph looked like we'd made a decision he agreed with when I told him what Mike and I had decided.

By 7 we were headed out of camp and back down the torturous climber's trail. Since I'd never located my missing hip belt buckle I'd spent some time fashioning a replacement out of climbing cord I threaded through each hipbelt and a taut-line hitch to cinch it all together. It seemed to be holding well enough. I had opted not to wear my rain coat and pants, but to rely on lighter more breathable layers. I figured it was a choice of soaking from the outside or soaking from the inside (perspiration) and choose to let the wet vegetation I had to push through hose me down. By the time I reached the road my pants were so soaked they were draining into my boots and my feet were deep sea diving in the resulting pool of water. I had also cooled down quit a bit and was feeling chilled. Now that I was at the road I pulled off the wet layers on my torso and put on drier clothes. Then I quickly set off down the road trying to warm up.

The cotton clothes waiting in the van where a wonderful feeling once I'd dried out. I also found a few packages of cookies to spread out on a plate and boiled a pot of water for cowboy style coffee. When Joseph and Mike reached the parking lot I was able to great them with a hot mug of coffee and a plate of snacks.

The rest of the day we just drove across US 20 over the Cascade Crest and to the Early Winters campground where we all immediately napped and attempted to dry out wet tents, sleeping bags and clothing. One last beer run to Mazama's general store fueled our planning session for the last day's objective: the Southwest Buttress of South Early Winters Spire.