Mt Persis Snow Camping 4.16 - 4.17.11

The fourth team outing for Team Fuster Cluck was our overnight trip. The objective was to climb Mt Persis, camp near the summit, and do the traverse over to Mt Index before heading back the way we came. The avalanche conditions weren't stellar so we knew we'd have to make a call on the traverse Sunday morning. We met at the road off of Highway 2 just after 6:30 AM, to navigate to the trailhead as a team. We started along the drive, taking every left fork we came to until we hit the snow. We parked as far off to the side as possible and tried to mentally prepare ourselves for the rain outside pounding on the cars. I got ready without ever leaving Snow Pea and waited until the last moment to head out into the rain. For a brief moment I thought we might get to move to Stevens Pass and climb and camp there, but no - we were going to challenge the weather. After divying up the class gear - a couple ropes and 4 pickets - we hit the road.

After hiking along the road for a little bit we came to a bend with a gully next to it. First decision of the day - continue along the road and it's switchbacks, or head straight up the gully. Gully it was and up we went. It was mostly loose rock and mud but we were able to find a few snowy patches, thank goodness. I much rather be moving in the snow. We made it up the gully and back onto the road, so we started hiking along it to find the trail up. We came to the end of the road but didn't see a trail. We sent Curtis up what we thought could be the trail but it was a no go. We backtracked along the road until we found the small, unassuming climbers trail only noticeable due to a little dirt out on the road. Sara took the lead and started the team up through the trees. I had heard many stories of climbs up Mt Persis consisting of lots of bushwhacking - I know why. It was a constant chorus of 'tree' and 'branch' as we made our way up the ridge. We finally got above some trees to be treated to a view of clouds.

We made our way out of the densely forested area only to wind our way through big trees while we battled terrible weather - wind blowing rain and sleet sideways at us. There were several gusts of wind that knocked me, although I was able to stay on my feet. I had my hood up and my head down, trying to avoid the ice pellets being driven into the side of my face while following the boots in front of me. Despite the lousy weather, the team was in pretty high spirits. They seemed determined to make the summit and they were moving at a good speed. We were about to cross the boulder field, thankfully covered in snow, when I started feeling ill. It wasn't anything too bad, just a pit in my stomach, so I grabbed some fruit snacks and water and kept going. As I went, I started feeling worse - my stomach was very unhappy and I was stumbling - not good. After talking with Aaron, we determined I had to make a decision of continuing up or heading down. Due to the conditions (mostly the high wind), we had to make a decision on where to camp. From the reports, it seemed fairly clear we wouldn't be able to do the traverse and we weren't sure what sort of protection we could find for the whole team to camp in the spot we had picked near the Mt Persis summit. If the team decided to camp on Mt Persis I was going to continue up, just lagging behind. If they were going to camp at the pass, I was going to head down instead of finishing the last 800 vertical feet. The decision was made to camp at the pass so the only thing left was to figure out which other instructor was going to go down with me. David volunteered so we headed down.

The snow wasn't great so we tried following near our steps, sometimes having to go back down the steps. We both postholed a few times and I was very thankful for the dense tree section - go green belays! Instead of going down the gully we stuck to the road and hiked out until we met the cars. We figured the team would probably summit when we got back to the cars (about 1.5 hours after heading down) and that they'd take 2 - 3 hours to get down. We sat in David's car trying to stay warm (it was unexpectedly cold), eating, and chatting. Finally we saw Curtis, Steve, and Aaron N heading our way, and not too long after that the rest of the team trickled in. I heard that I missed fried chicken and oysters on the summit, but I was feeling better and was ready for the second part of our adventure - camping. We packed up the cars, still in our sopping wet gear, and headed for Stevens Pass. I was so glad I had several pairs of mittens with me since I was wringing water out of my first pair.

We parked across from the ski area and followed Aaron N. up Heather Ridge for about 15 minutes before we got to a nice area for camping. Everyone started stamping out their tent platforms and I grabbed my shovel to help Aaron N build a snow cave. Our team last year never made one and I missed this year's snow cave when I was in Texas, so I wanted to see/help build one. Aaron N, David, and I all took turns digging out the cave. I'd say I definitely had a size advantage. It was a little less awkward for me to fit in the cave and dig it out. We hit trees in two of our walls, the two directions we wanted to dig. It made the cave smell really good but also restricted the size. David hollowed out a little room for himself and Aaron N decided to sleep in the entry (despite his angry cold feet), so I then squeezed in with Aaron P and Emily in a 2 person tent. We sure were warm! Everytime someone tried to find something, we lost two more things in the process in the mess of 3 sleeping pads, 3 sleeping bags, 3 people, and their stuff. Snow was melting, water boiling, and people eating by time we finished with the snow cave so I didn't spend much time in the kitchen. Just long enough to eat, snap a few pictures, and get some warm water in my water bottle. Unfortunately it was leaking so I didn't end up putting it in my sleeping bag to warm my feet, but I did wrap my feet in my down jacket in my sleeping bag and stayed really warm - great idea from Aaron P.

We leisurely woke up in the morning since we didn't have a climb to do and started breaking down camp. The snow had really hardened over night and the snow walls were a pain to collapse. We needed some really good sandle-castle stomping bullies. Finally the vestibule pits were filled in and the snow walls were down, so we took a couple group pictures and headed out - all 10 minutes of the walk back to the cars. We were planning on stopping at the Sultan bakery for breakfast but it was packed so the Snow Pea crew found the Hitching Post in Monroe for some delicious breakfast before heading back to Seattle.