AlpineSummit
07-15-2005, 04:09 PM
I just love it when I knowingly make a poor decision and it turns out okay. You know, when that little voice says "You shouldn't" and you say "Oh, but I'm going to!"
Took the day off from work Wednesday and climbed Sawteeth, Pyramid and Gothics, just to work up a little sweat - and did I ever!
Anyway, no need for a trip report on this stuff - plain vanilla all the way - but I did have an interesting stay atop Gothics. The poor decision occured on Pyramid as we watched clouds rolling in that were obviously bringing rain to various small areas south of Pyramid. We were all set to head for Gothics anyway when thunder started banging off of the hills all around. Didn't see much lightening tho. So, I asked my newbie hiking partner if she was willing to risk it; she said "Yep, I'm game". I told her it was considered a bad idea but that I was still up for it; so was she. I just love people who will embrace poor judgement with enthusiasm!
So, we kwikly scale that big boy and high-five at the summit. The thunder is just banging off every mountain around us, (LOUD? you bet, ground-shaking explosions) there were about 15 different kinds of clouds in the sky - and we were bathed in sunlite! But only for about 3 min as a very dense sheet of low clouds moved directly over us and socked us in, the thunder just pounding away. I ask "Are you ok with this?" and get an affirmative answer; cool. So then I say that if lightening starts that we are just gonna immediately jump off the rock onto the scrub and lay straight out & low until it passes - Her eyes got a little wide at this, but she remained composed.
The rest is anti-climactic: we obviously survived and by the time we returned to Pyramid the thunder had abated and the clouds were on the way out. But it was so cool being on top of Gothics in a thick cloud with that thunder just going bananas all around us.
It sure wasn't smart, but it was a very interesting experience.
For any young'uns reading this (like YOU Tim!) this was poor judgement all the way and we may have gotten very lucky as I am unlikely to have been smart enuff to really know that the conditions were satisfactory. Don't follow my lead.
Took the day off from work Wednesday and climbed Sawteeth, Pyramid and Gothics, just to work up a little sweat - and did I ever!
Anyway, no need for a trip report on this stuff - plain vanilla all the way - but I did have an interesting stay atop Gothics. The poor decision occured on Pyramid as we watched clouds rolling in that were obviously bringing rain to various small areas south of Pyramid. We were all set to head for Gothics anyway when thunder started banging off of the hills all around. Didn't see much lightening tho. So, I asked my newbie hiking partner if she was willing to risk it; she said "Yep, I'm game". I told her it was considered a bad idea but that I was still up for it; so was she. I just love people who will embrace poor judgement with enthusiasm!
So, we kwikly scale that big boy and high-five at the summit. The thunder is just banging off every mountain around us, (LOUD? you bet, ground-shaking explosions) there were about 15 different kinds of clouds in the sky - and we were bathed in sunlite! But only for about 3 min as a very dense sheet of low clouds moved directly over us and socked us in, the thunder just pounding away. I ask "Are you ok with this?" and get an affirmative answer; cool. So then I say that if lightening starts that we are just gonna immediately jump off the rock onto the scrub and lay straight out & low until it passes - Her eyes got a little wide at this, but she remained composed.
The rest is anti-climactic: we obviously survived and by the time we returned to Pyramid the thunder had abated and the clouds were on the way out. But it was so cool being on top of Gothics in a thick cloud with that thunder just going bananas all around us.
It sure wasn't smart, but it was a very interesting experience.
For any young'uns reading this (like YOU Tim!) this was poor judgement all the way and we may have gotten very lucky as I am unlikely to have been smart enuff to really know that the conditions were satisfactory. Don't follow my lead.