Clown Yeti!: October 2012

The worst fire season in my experience has left me unfit and inflammed, but all that just ended. I packed up my ice gear and headed for the land of ogres and giants. At the trail head I drank a strong concoction prepared by extracting a certain "bean" with hot water. Cut with heavy wipping cream, this has been my favorite performance enhancer for over a decade now!

This face holds ice year round...some white glacial ice and several couloirs of black ice. I chose a route that I thought would allow the option of climbing ice or rock. I was treated to an alpine mess of moderate snow, WI III, and snowy class 3 rock with 4th class steps. Front pointing up a 45 degree 20 foot step of black ice with plenty of exposure proved to be the mental crux. This old ice gear works pretty good! Two hours and about 1,200 feet higher I was stopped by difficulties. I sat on a small ledge dumbfounded not only at the prospect of downclimbing the route, but also finding my way out the trailless canyon in the dark (I had optimistically planned on summiting in the late afternoon sun and walking down the standard trail in the dark). After accepting my situation I stood up only to see my cell phone fall from my pocked and accelerate seemingly without resistance. It hit a small ramp and cought hundreds of feet of air after which it landed on more steep snow and just kept on going. I sat back down...hmm. Well I suppose my cell phone had inproper gear and poor route finding skills. Heck! Two hours later I was back on the frozen scree of the cirque floor. Three hours later I was doing steam crossings and bushwackings in the dark. My weary mind, now free from ogres and giants, pondered local extraterestrial lore such as cattle mutalations and strange men in bussiness suits making mountain traverses on foot in the winter. Then there's all the wolf stories...devil wolves 'round these parts. They get big as horses from eating cattle. Finally, forest gave way to sage and stars.Yada Yada...then, safe in my truck, I got temporarily lost on the dirt roads driving home. The Norwand? Unclimbable!