AMTL part II: June 19, 2007

There were some high clouds threatening to damp our enthusiasm when we woke up. We did our test to ignore them while we drove to the Mazama general store for coffee and baked goods. At 7:30 am we left the Blue Lake trailhead and started up the nicely maintained trail to where we'd jump off on a climber's trail marked by cairns and downed trees.

Joseph considered the weather on the way up and changed our objective from the Southwest Buttress to the South Arete - an easier climb and one that would allow Mike and I the opportunity to lead. We'd also be able to leave behind one of the two ropes and some of the climbing gear at the base of the route.

We changed into climbing shoes and I paired down the rack to an assortment of cams and a small handful of stoppers. Joseph pointed out the route to me and I started climbing. The crux move of the whole route comes very soon and I fiddled with a small TCU to get a solid fit in a crack beneath an overhang. Hopefully protected against a ground fall if I should slip I moved left trusting my feet to smear and hold me while I balanced across.

I soon had another anchor by hitching a sling to a tree's stout root and climbed on. The rest of the climbing was easy and I reached a large ledge with a tree already slung as a rappel anchor. I clipped myself in and called for the others to climb up.

Joseph arrived first and as soon as Mike appeared rain began to fall. With only one pitch climbed, now we were going to have to rappel down and abandon the rest of the climb. Mike and I worked to pass the rope through the rappel anchor and I set off down the rope back to our packs.

Mike and Joseph followed down and we quickly crammed our gear away and hurried down the trail. Once on the regular trail I packed away my extra layers and decided to jog back to the van. For the first time on this trip I found myself with a relatively light pack, a trail in great condition and my running shoes on. It may not have been as rewarding as completing the climb, but the 2 mile jog through the woods and past other hikers was a great freeing moment to end the trip.

All that was left was to drive back to Bellingham, getting some more coffee on the way.