|
I had some shots of the route, but they're among the worst in the batch, unfortunately. The chopper crash site - they had just a week before finally been able to bring the wreck down from just above the route at approximately 11,300 feet - was truly shocking. That no one was killed in the flight accident is beyond my understanding. The slope was incredibly steep and downright scary. That the chopper managed to stay embedded in the slope for a month without rocketing down the gully is, again, unexplainable.
At any rate, Jeff K. began to lead us up the route. We French-techniqued for almost the entire route (except for Jeff H., who preferred to duck walk - he's beginning to appreciate the French, however). When we reached the chopper site I turned around to see Em absolutely firing the route ("12 hrs. of sleep"), but Bruce was hanging back noticably. He hadn't sounded so good that morning ("Needed more beer") and after about half an hour of climbing Em dropped her pack en route and went down to check on him. Jeff H. and I stopped at a flat spot below the chopper crash site and waited for Jeff K. to catch up, as he had hung back to confer with Em. When Jeff K. reached us the wind was picking up rapidly and we were getting quite cold. Jeff K. explained that Em was concerned about Bruce and that, while we should go ahead to the col, if we didn't see them up on the col soon, could we please pick up her pack on our descent and come back down to camp. We nodded agreement and Jeff K. and Jeff H. decided to press on as they were getting very cold. I took off my synthetic parka I'd thrown on while waiting, stuffed it in my pack, and started once again up the route. We noticed two climbers just above us on the route to our left. After about another half hour of battling up the route in strong winds, first Jeff H., then myself and finally Jeff K. reached the top of the col in quick succession. Shastina was out of the question. We had two things on our mind: 1) take a quick look around, 2) get down. We were concerned about Bruce, and though he would prove to be fine and indeed simply needed more beer, at the time we were thinking about possibly having to help carry extra gear down the mountain and we wanted to save our strength. I took some quick shots of the Whitney Glacier, Shastina and the summit cone of Shasta. The picture above is Jeff Huber at our highpoint of 11,900 feet, just below the col, at approximately 10.00am, 28 May 2000. The rocky top of the wind-scoured col is immediately behind him. |
|
|
|