Well TOO BAD. The camera died before I made it even halfway. But don't worry. I'll paint you a picture with words. After 8,500 feet, it was all snow and giant trees as seen in the picture below. I camped in this little clearing on a saddle. (Notice the extreme tip of Borah Peak peaking shyly from behind the tree-covered hump).
After 9,500 feet, it was still snow, but more sky and no trees. So picture a large field of white and a large field of blue, one of top of the other. This made the hike a bit challenging and eventually prevented me from reaching the top (it became hard to tell the difference between snow on top of rock and snow on top of blue sky). At 11,600 feet I turned around and came down. Although it was disappointing to hike this hill a third time in three years without reaching the top, this year's extra early ascent and the extensive snow field made it possible to glissade nearly to the bottom. For those of you unfamiliar with the activity, we find this illustrated guide to glissading From Mountaineering: The Freedom of the Hills .
I looked pretty much exactly like the guy in illustration C. Glissading is one of the supreme joys of mountaineering. It is a lot like sledding on ice without a sled on a 12,000 foot hill
as you move towards shear drops and scattered rock piles. I would go 50-100 feet at a time, stop, reposition myself on the slope to face the proper direction, and go again. This saves a lot of wear on the knees and saves time as well. When I got home, I looked like this:
A little wind-burned and tired, but well.
18 comments:
We will come with you next time! And take pictures of you smugly smiling like the guy in the picture.
I would like to learn to glissade. That looks like fun. I have never hiked up to Mt. Borah, maybe someday I will. You do some fun stuff.
This is your mother speaking... I don't know whether to kiss you for returning home safely or strangle you for climbing Mt. Borah alone! What were you thinking!!!???? Sorry this is the mother in me coming out Love you
Did you go alone? Sound like fun, I still have never climbed Borah despite having lived over half of my life in the state.
Afton saw your picture and said "he looks different, he needs to shave." She tells me to shave when I have a five o'clock shadow - so one a week.
You are brave. It inspires me to get out and do something daring.
We are planning a campout at Borah's base in mid to late June. We could have families camp at the bottom while any adventurous parents attempt the summit early the next morning. The summit should be easily reached by June (no snow or ice to block the way). All are welcome. If June is bad, we could do it in September.
I want to, I will check our schedules.
If you wanted to climb the highest peak in NH, you could have just taken the car. People all over the place have bumper stickers that say "This Car Climbed Mt. Washington". Isn't that convenient? All the joy of hiking without having to exercise.
The spot you camped is where we saw campers on one of our hikes. It is where I was talking about.
You did that ALONE? That is still not as crazy as walking across the Perrine Bridge catwalk in the rain, or at midnight.
Say that on a snow and ice-covered knife ridge at 11,600 feet. The drop on either side was considerably farther than the height of the Perrine Bridge, and there was no promise of an easy fall into the soft, cushy waters of the Snake;)
Wait...I thought you were taking a friend.
He had to drop out last second. I went alone.
Hey! I have that book! (left over from the days when I was young and brave.HA! I was never brave.) I can't believer you did that alone!!
Wendy is the brave one to let you go alone!
I wish I were that adventurous!
I echo your mom's sentiments....You did that alone!!!????!!! We moms have to stick together. That said, the slide down looks really fun! Doesn't your bottom get wet and sore?
Not when you wear the right pants.
So adventurous you are. I would like to be a little bird that sits on your shoulder and enjoys the hike without actually moving my legs...and when you approach those rocky cliffs on your way down I could just fly the right direction. It sounds amazing!
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