Down is Worse ~ Much Worse

Post #7 in the series...
 This photo was taken by Brin Morris, a very talented photographer who was part of the nine guys hiking with Mark and Sean. When I saw it afterwards, I told myself that Mark was looking out wondering where I was and if I was okay. He would soon find out!
As we neared the bottom of the 97 switchbacks, I looked up and saw a group of guys coming down behind us. The first one I recognized was in SIL, Sean. I started yelling his name!! Realizing it was me, he shouted to hang on. When he finally reached me, I burst into tears, told him it was the worst day of my life, harder than I ever imagined, my knee was hurt and I had failed. We didn't make it all the way to the top!! We came up short because of weather less than a mile out. Now, anyone who knows Sean will say he can be a pretty tough, demanding guy. He is also pretty smart at assessing a situation fast. He took a firm but gentle approach with me and said another guy was coming down with something to help my knee. What he said next was even more important. "Mark is behind us. He'll be here soon."
Not long afterwards, I saw two guys making their way down the switchbacks. It was a slow, but steady pace that could only be Mark. I sat on a rock and waited. When he finally got to me, I became racked with sobs and both sadness and relief. "Get me off this mountain!" A word of thanks to Mike Fergin, who was Mark's trekking buddy throughout the four days, as they kept the same pace. He came up to me, gave me a huge bear hug and held me tight for a little while. When he pulled away he looked at me and said, "Everything's going to be okay."
When I said we had failed at our final goal, Mark said, "I can't believe you made it that far! I never expected you to get up there. It was the right decision. Look at the mountain. It's being hit with really bad weather. You guys did awesome!"
By now my knee was swollen, aching with every step and I was moving very slowly. Mark decided to let Eric and Mike leave us behind and and go at their own pace to get back to Whitney Portal. He would stay behind and get Kim and me out. Little did I realize at that moment, it would be six hours later before we were back at the portal! My logical brain knew that we had gone over 10 miles up, so there had to be, after the switchbacks, about 7 miles to go. My crazed mind kept thinking it was only a short distance.
When people tell you downhill is worse than uphill, most people really don't listen. Let me tell you, IT IS WORSE!! It is made harder by these giant steps you have to take every so often to descend the mountain. Raising your knee, hundreds of times, is difficult under the best of conditions. With an injured knee, it is even worse. My husband would step down first, pause, turn around, reach for my arm, and help me down. He did this hundreds of times during that six hours! Kim silently stayed behind me, complaining very little. She would tell me later, she began to silently cry and just let the tears fall without telling us. Her water had run out, she was exhausted, and, she too, wanted off the damn mountain!
During these final hours, we would come upon other climbers and ask how much further. One would tell us four miles, we'd keep going and then, another person, further down the road told us 5.5 more miles! Each time I would start sobbing and say, "I can't do this!" Mark offered to pitch his tent and stay the night so we could start fresh tomorrow. The only thing I could think of that would be worse would be having to sleep and still walk off this mountain in the morning! "Get me out of here!"
Other people we encountered in those last miles were amazingly kind. "Is she hurt?" "Can we help?" "We have Advil." "Do you need food?" To all those nameless people out there last Monday, I say thank you and I apologize for being a blubbering idiot! This adventure taxed me more than anything I have ever done. The fear I felt, along with the sheer exhaustion turned me into a zombie.
To add insult to injury, I fell in the water once and was soaking wet for ages. I fell on rocks twice and had gravel in my already sore knees and scrapes up and down my legs. Actually, on the straight paths, Mark said I moved faster than his own pace, but those darn step downs were incredibly slow due to my knees. Where the right one had been the one initially injured at mile 2.5 (some17 hours before!), I had over compensated using the left knee so much, it was now hurting worse than the right! I was a mess! Mark kept me from just giving up and stopping completely. He had to have been exhausted himself, but he kept up his encouraging words. Plus, there was no other way out. You had to keep going.

Photos were the last thing on our mind at the time, so I had to find this photo on the internet to show you of, yet another, water crossing. Picture it filled with water, up to the top of highest logs and in complete darkness. After my last disaster of trying to unsteadily cross over water and falling, my kind husband just stepped right into the water and walked along side me holding my hand the entire way across.
We started this climb in the dark using headlamps and we would end it, some 21 hours later, in the dark using headlamps and that was when I noticed some interesting things in the woods...

Trail Crest ~ No Happy Trails

 Post #6 in the series...
After the grueling switchbacks, we made it to Trail Crest which is at 13,650 feet. This marked the final leg of the journey to the summit which was another 1.9 miles. This sounded easy in its distance. What we didn't realize is that it contained several sections with steep drop offs and difficult terrain. I probably drove Kim and Eric crazy for the last few hours because all I kept saying was, "I need to get to Mark." My husband had been with a group of nine guys for four days who came in from the south through Cottonwood Basin, making a gradual ascent up the mountain. My son-on-law had a great idea to carry a tie that we would each place on the Trail Crest sign. The plan was, whoever got there first, would wait as long as they could for the other group. If they decided to continue to the summit, that group would tie the ribbon as a signal to let us know they were already on their way up. When I turned the corner and saw the ribbon, I started crying...again!! They were nearby. Mark was going to be able to help me off this mountain. I felt renewed will and wanted to get there as quickly as we could. When we saw their backpacks piled to the side, I knew they would be coming down the main trail with us! I was as overjoyed as I could be after climbing for ten and a half hours!

We tied our ribbon as well so they would know we were there, just in case we missed them. Eric took the lead as it was becoming even steeper and more treacherous. At times, the trail was less than two feet wide. My body ached from fear and exhaustion. Just a little while longer to go. I needed to get to Mark. We made it through the rock towers and past the windows. Eric wanted us to appreciate the beauty around us. All I could think of was the edge of the mountain and how close we were to it. Just put one foot in front of the other. Keep going.
We had less than a mile to the summit, .8 of a mile to be exact, when Eric asked us to stop for a minute. I said, "No. Let's just keep going and get there." He said, "I want to take a picture in this spot." Kim and I both said we just wanted to keep going. Eric calmly said that the reason he wanted to take a picture right here was because our uphill journey was over. We were going no further!! What?!?! After all this time and effort?!?! This adventure had sucked most of the strength, energy and desire from my body!! We had to finish. He pointed out that we had run out of time and into weather. While we had been keeping our heads down watching the trail, he had been keeping his head up watching the clouds roll in. Afternoon thunderstorms during the summer months are a danger to all climbers. It is not only a concern at peaks, but also on exposed ridges. At that time, it was 10:45am. He said at the rate we were going, it would take us another hour and a half to reach the summit. That was much too late to have enough time to descend before the storm started. The words were coming out of his mouth, but all I could think of was that they were exactly the words my husband had said to me many times. He said you need to be going down off the mountain by 11:30am. We would never make it in time. Kim burst into tears and I followed. This was too much work to come up short. So close and yet so far! Robbed of our chance by something beyond our control ~ the damn weather!
AT first, I suggested the two continue without me. After all, my knee injury was slowing us down. They could possibly make it if I stayed behind. Eric would not hear of it. "No one gets left behind," he said. There was no changing his mind. Truth be told, he sacrificed his successful climb to the summit for us.
Very soon, his decision to turn back would prove the logical one. As we made our way down the same 97 switchbacks, it started to rain and hail on us. It made it easier to hide the tears rolling down our faces.
As the saying goes, "What goes up, must come down." We had 10.4 miles under our belts and the only way out would be another 10.4.
"I want Mark!!! I can't get off this mountain without him!"

99 Problems or 97 Switchbacks

Post #5 in the series...
 Little did we know, this would be the last photo of all four of us. As we made our way onto the 97 switchbacks, Kevin fell behind. He shouted for us to keep going. Later, we would learn he began vomiting on the trail (doesn't that sound like fun?!?!). Thanks to the kindness of strangers, he was helped back down to Trail Camp, given food and drink and a warm sleeping bag to rest until he felt well enough to continue his journey ALONE back to the Whitney Portal. He would not arrive there until 4:00pm! Again, he had to do this ALONE! Kevin's adventure had come to the end. He may have been the lucky one!

 A switchback, as defined in the dictionary is: a highway, as in a mountainous area, having many hairpin curves.These Mt. Whitney switchbacks are up a narrow granite buttress. It is unrelenting in its climb to the crest, gaining 1620 feet in 2.2 miles. What made our climb even more difficult was the fact that it was covered in most areas by ice from the previous night's storm! Kim led the way as I followed her, trying to step exactly where she had just stepped. She did everything possible to step on dirt & gravel, rather than ice. She didn't always succeed, slipping and sliding at times! Eric brought up the rear of our group, constantly calling out instructions on pole placement and stepping carefully. He was our biggest cheerleader ever! More about Eric later.
The switchbacks were the place where I first began to cry ~ sob really. I was more scared than I had even been in my life! I was climbing a slippery mountain just feet from falling thousands of feet. What part of this sounds fun?!?! I am not a daredevil. I don't bungee jump, climb out of airplanes or hang glide. I am fit and strong, but this made me feel scared and weak. Remember my knee problem? By now, it had become much worse and each step up made me wince in pain. There is a lot of stepping up when you are on a mountain. My knee let me know how unhappy it was to be there! 

A few words about Eric. I really didn't know him very well before the climb. He is the brother-in-law of Kevin and also of my dear friend, JoEllen (married to one of Jo's many sisters). Eric had done the climb before. Without his knowledge, we never would have made it. It wasn't just what he knew about the mountain, it was his unrelenting cheerfulness that kept us going. "You guys are doing great!" "Ladies, you are making fantastic time!" "We can do this!" "We are awesome!" "What a beautiful day!" He deemed himself the official, "Blow Smoke Up Your A** Leader". I would tell him later, he had a master's degree in blowing smoke! There is something about a person that can maintain a positive attitude under extremely negative conditions that either irritates the shit out of you, or keeps you from going stir crazy in these  terrible conditions. He handled our fears, our tears and our doubts with style and grace. Kim and I cannot thank him enough for this! Eric or DJ Rockslide (mountain name), we owe you one!!

Biggsuzi
 

Is No One Listening to Me?!?!?!

Post #4 in the series...
 After over six hours of darkness, we were rewarded with a spectacular sunrise. Kevin (BIL) had been watching the sky for something more than a sunrise. He kept seeing lightning in the distance. He said he was worried about it. He said he thought it wasn't a good idea to continue the climb. He wanted us to think about turning back. Eric, our 4th person on the crew, would not hear of it. He said it was early and when the sun rose, better weather would be the result. We two women silently trudged on.

 This photo says it all. The three of us are watching the colorful sunrise and Kevin is turned in the opposite direction staring at the occasional bolt of lightning he kept seeing. This is when he cried out, "Is no one listening to me?!?!" Looking back, I wish we had.

Although six hours had passed, we had only just begun this adventure!

12:17am The Cloak of Darkness

 And so begins the climb...in the dark....with headlamps on...

Post #3 in the series...
The darkness was a mixed blessing. We just kept looking down at the trail where we put one foot in front of the other. About two miles in, I said to Kim, "Do you realize that we are about two feet from the edge of the earth the whole time we are walking?!?!" I knew it would tough. I knew it would be a challenge. I had no idea, in the words of Kim, that it would be life threatening!!!! Make no mistake about it, people don't say they hiked Mt. Whitney. They say they climbed Mt. Whitney. You are forced to continually pick your legs up and over these HUGE steps made from rocks. It never ends. You are fighting your way through rocks, gravel and sometimes sand. Or, in our case, SNOW and ICE! Remember that little lightening storm from the night before? Well, it made this mountain even more treacherous.
About 2.5 miles into the climb, my right knee felt a weird twinge. I didn't say anything to the group for a while about it. I am a runner. I get weird aches and pains all the time while running. You just play through. You just keep going. This decision would haunt me well into the night. In retrospect, it would have been much better to tell the group about this pain as it got worse. I should never have attempted another 8.5 miles up to the summit, not to mention the simple fact, "What goes up, must come down!" No matter how far you go up the mountain, you must turn around and go back the same mileage. There is no other way!!!
Only fools rush in...and our crew, The Four Fools, continued on...
 

Poop Package - Musty Motel

 

Picked up our day permit and...what...excuse me... I'm sorry, did you say I am supposed to poop in this bag of chemicals?!?!?! I have trouble being regular at a five star hotel. What makes you think I could ever poop in this?!?!?!

 

 I say a silent prayer I never have to use it!

Checking into the Best Western Lone Pine was a stark wake up call. We are not in the OC anymore! I am no longer Susan, but must go by my mountain name, "Big Red" ~. Gulp!!

Our plan was to leave the motel at 11:30pm for the drive up to Whitney Portal (13 miles away) and be on the mountain at midnight. Yes, midnight. Or as my BIL said, "No one ever said they started too early. People just regret starting too late." These words would haunt me later.

About 7:00pm that night before our trek, thunder and lightening began all around us. No clouds in the sky, no moon. Rain drops the size of golf balls began to fall. It rained for 1.5 hours only to have the electricity go out. The air conditioning stopped. Let me tell you how quickly a Best Western begins to smell musty with no air! What is that chemical they use? Do they think it is hiding anything?!?! I began to become a ball of sweat. It was pitch back in the room and I couldn't even see my hand in front of my face. My friend, Kim, was trying to get some sleep, while I sat in the other bed unable to shut my eyes or my brain. Thank God for technology as I began to text my daughter. She continued to beg me not to go. She said it was too treacherous and dangerous. I told her, with as much false bravado that I could muster, "We'll be fine." She asked that I text as we left the musty motel. When I did, here is her text to me.

Little did I know as we drove off in the darkness, how happy I would be to arrive back at that musty motel.

You Were Supposed to Say "NO!"

As many know, we climbed Mt. Whitney this week. It was one of the hardest (worst) things I have ever done. I originally told my husband that, "We will never speak of this day again!!!", but after having a night or two to sleep on it, I find I must record, in detail, this entire event (ordeal).  So begins a series of posts, all Mt. Whitney relayed. Each will have it's own title that helps to set the tone.
Back in Oct of last year, my son-in-law, "Scout Leader One" himself, decided to rally the guys and plan a trip to hike for four days with the fifth day ending in the climb of Mt. Whitney. My brother-on-law hears of this and asks me if I would interested in trying to get into the lottery for the one day pass to climb the main trail, up and down, all in one day and meet them at the summit. Knowing that my husband had tried at least 5 times to win this lottery, I said, "Sure" because I never thought we'd get it. I could pull the, "Well, honey, I tried. We just didn't make it."
As you can see, we DID get in! No one was more surprised than my BIL. I have been running a ton, feeling like I am in the best shape of my life, and figured, we can do this. How bad can it be? Answer: worse than I ever thought possible!!
The final piece of the puzzle to this adventure was that I was supposed to confirm the reservation within two days of departure. Heck, it was on page three of the email. Who reads page three?!? Thank goodness (not really), Kevin saw this detail and called to tell me to confirm it or we'd lose our reservation.
So...the stars all aligned...1) I told Kevin "Yes" 2) We won the lottery 3) I confirmed the reservation
Strike three. we're in!!!