Extreme Beauty
Crystal Peak (13,852’ #84), Pacific Peak (13,950’ #62) and Atlantic Peak (13,841’ #90)
March 12, 2007.
Started at 6:50am.
Finished at 2:50pm.
It was insanely beautiful. The first mile was a well packed cross country ski run. Then put on the snowshoes to go across a big valley and up a small ravine before I was above timber line. That section took awhile as I was walking quite gingerly to (hopefully) stay above the crust. It worked most of the time - but when it didn’t I was down to my waist instantly! What fun.
Above timberline I didn’t have any more problems breaking through. Maybe a couple inches of new powder. I was in the shadow of Pacific until I crested the Pacific Crystal ridge, which helped keep me cool. I think the high for the day was about 58 degrees up top. Very minimal wind. From none at all to a few gusts when you were standing in the updraft. Mostly just very pleasant.
Left my pack and snowshoes on the ridge and headed up Crystal. Fun hiking with no load! Then pack for the pack and up Pacific. Would love to attempt that couloir sometime!!
Then across to Atlantic and down the West ridge. Was glad that there was no avalanche danger. Had there been, coming down that ridge would have been a nightmare. In several places I actually walked on the pinnacle of the ridge. But the snow in those places was perfect and I had no trouble.
The guide book said 8.5 miles. It took me 8 hours. And I got home in time to get worked over in Judo for two hours! This makes 47 of the top 100. Woo-Hoo!
REVELATION: In reading about God, especially in the Old Testament, we are told that no one can see the face of God and live. I had a glimmer of “why” on this hike. The beauty out there was just insane. There was even a time that I was so overwhelmed that I had to stop and close my eyes. It was literally too much. I am wondering if that’s the deal with God as well - his beauty is just so much that we simply can’t handle it.
Can’t wait for that resurrection body when I will see God face to face. Yeah!
March 12, 2007.
Started at 6:50am.
Finished at 2:50pm.
It was insanely beautiful. The first mile was a well packed cross country ski run. Then put on the snowshoes to go across a big valley and up a small ravine before I was above timber line. That section took awhile as I was walking quite gingerly to (hopefully) stay above the crust. It worked most of the time - but when it didn’t I was down to my waist instantly! What fun.
Above timberline I didn’t have any more problems breaking through. Maybe a couple inches of new powder. I was in the shadow of Pacific until I crested the Pacific Crystal ridge, which helped keep me cool. I think the high for the day was about 58 degrees up top. Very minimal wind. From none at all to a few gusts when you were standing in the updraft. Mostly just very pleasant.
Left my pack and snowshoes on the ridge and headed up Crystal. Fun hiking with no load! Then pack for the pack and up Pacific. Would love to attempt that couloir sometime!!
Then across to Atlantic and down the West ridge. Was glad that there was no avalanche danger. Had there been, coming down that ridge would have been a nightmare. In several places I actually walked on the pinnacle of the ridge. But the snow in those places was perfect and I had no trouble.
The guide book said 8.5 miles. It took me 8 hours. And I got home in time to get worked over in Judo for two hours! This makes 47 of the top 100. Woo-Hoo!
REVELATION: In reading about God, especially in the Old Testament, we are told that no one can see the face of God and live. I had a glimmer of “why” on this hike. The beauty out there was just insane. There was even a time that I was so overwhelmed that I had to stop and close my eyes. It was literally too much. I am wondering if that’s the deal with God as well - his beauty is just so much that we simply can’t handle it.
Can’t wait for that resurrection body when I will see God face to face. Yeah!
Check out http://wadedara.spaces.live.com/ to see all the beauty.
posted by Wade at 11:53 AM
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