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Looking down from our bivy to the Valley below the morning of 28 May 2000. This, unbeknownst to us, was the day we'd come here for.
To be honest, if things hadn't worked out exactly as they did, with late starts, whiteouts, bivies en route... I don't know if we would have been able to accomplish what we set out to do on the mountain. Keep these in mind - we'll get to it. The Jeffs and myself had elected not to set our watches for an alpine start, essentially forgoing a chance for the summit. We decided that if someone was awake at 1am (we all were, thanks to the altitude and probably a little dehydration) and conditions were perfect, only then would we even contemplate going for the top. A little after 1am we heard Jeff H. through our tent wall. "Do you guys want to go for the summit?" "What's it look like out there?" Jeff K. asks. "Little cloudy." Silence. "What does Mike want to do?" Jeff H. inquires. Silence. I was of course pretending to be asleep. Jeff K. summed up my thoughts exactly, as there was no way I was rolling out of the bag without feeling like Superman (I didn't even feel like Underdog). He said, "Let's save our energy for the col. See you at six." And so 6am came and we started boiling water like we always do up high. The plan was simple. The Jeffs and myself would climb up to the col and scramble up Shastina, both as a tribute to - and as a method of searching for - John. Em and Bruce would head for the Whitney Glacier, and if they needed help there, we offered to rope up and join them. The Jeffs and I left with light packs and harnesses at approximately 8.30am and began to climb the gully to the col. Em and Bruce were close behind. The blurry shot below was the last look I took down valley before heading up. There was a high cloud layer and the beginnings of some wind, but we were all ready and willing, so up we went. |
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