New Level Of Respect

Dad's been busy off playing with grandpa and Anita is home super extra pregnant. It's those last few weeks when she is ready for the baby to come. She's not complaining but is worn down. We still don't have a name and since we don't know the sex we need to come up with two. It's been to much like work. Ella has a new kick bike. She learns balance on this but no pedaling skills. It took a bit of doing but she has it now. I think its better than the pedal bike for learning.

Adventure one was on Fathers Day, which we spent fishing in the Pacific. It wasn't a peaceful day on the Pacific, at least not in my book. Everyone in the boat got sick except grandpa, the two charters and two kids. I've been out on a few boats without a problem but this was no good. We fished hard and caught our limit of sea bass (rock fish) and 3 of 4 cod. We brought it home for a BBQ and was delicious. The deck hand cooking tip is to wrap fillets in bacon, and as Tate's pa says, "you could wrap a tire in bacon and it would be delicious." Riding in a boat had been easy up to this trip and it was really hard to enjoy, I had to focus hard on the task at hand and not being sick. The trip gave me some new respect for working on open water.

Yesterday adventure was to climb Mt Hood. We took a 25 min Snow Cat ride up to the top of the ski area at 2am to cut out 2-3 hrs of hiking. To catch the cat we left the house at 10:30pm Sat night after a short nap. Weather forecast was for clouds and partial snow. We went with Allen who is a very experienced climber and Hoo-Dee-Hoo (HDH) who has been up Hood 4 times. Allen has lots of stories about climbing in the Pacific NW including being on top of Hood one hr after Mt St Helen's blew.

This was a big adventure because it is not just a hike but a Climb, and a first for grandpa and me. It's not so easy and there are risks as this mountain claims a few lives every year. Weather is the biggest factor. For our climb we started with clear stary skies, but the clouds moved in before 5 am sun rise, and as a result no pictures of scenery.

At Crater rock sulfur gas vents from the volcano of Mt Hood. We stopped there to put on our crampons. I ate a ham sandwich that for some reason tasted more like an egg sandwich... From there we went up to the hogsback at 10,400 (800 ft from the top) when he and HDH turned back after a rest. This was more than 2/3 of the climb. Allen and I went on to about 30 ft from the top. The conditions weren't there, lots of climbers going up and down the narrow shoot that was the gate to the top and my lack of technical climbing skills turned us back.

I was on edge for the upper part of the climb on ~50 deg slope, if you slip and don't self arrest it's a long way down. We had rented Crampons, boots and Ice ax to keep us on the mountain. It is amazing how well those hold you to the snow. Its also amazing the real risk up there. Falling rocks, snow conditions that don't let the crampons bite, finding your way, other climbers, etc. Allen and HDH kept us safe and it was a good call to turn around so close to the top. With snow blowing around and covering tracks and semi white out conditions (visibility at 30-50 ft) it is easy to get off route. Allen and HDH would notice we are not quite in the right spot and use the GPS to find our way. It is a crucial piece of equipment to find your way back when you can't see and don't want to walk off a mountain cliff. Mountaineering would be an order of magnitude harder when compass and map were the primary tools.

Here are photos of the traditional post hike celebration of a safe trip. This volcano was much hard than another Anita and I climbed a few years back (Mt Kilimanjaro at 19,336ft).

Grandma and Grandpa will pull out of town and back to work Tue or Wed. We sure are going to miss them its been a great visit.