Polaroid Surprise
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Day the Second
Brian and I had settled on doing The Cleft (NEI 3) on Mt. Willard, a reportedly very cool route high on the mountain's East Face that absolutely no one ever does - even knows how to get to. For some reason or another. It sounded perfect for us. We did the approach along the tracks like we've done so very, very many times before... Wait. I forgot something. Brian wanted me to be sure to include this.
WHITE MOUNTAIN ADVISORY: At no point in this trip report other than this advisory will the climbing of Hitchcock Gully (NEI 3-something) be mentioned, and it is guaranteed to the reader that under no circumstances did our two lead characters even consider the thought of climbing it, again, for the sixth (or so) time, having last trip joined the ranks of Hitchcock Gully Anonymous (HGA). Thank you for your attention to this matter.
So yeah, we did that approach thingy, and we noticed that there was like, not one freaking way in hell we were going to get up anywhere near The Cleft (which we couldn't really even see, but we were sure it was up there), without bullying through about 1000' vertical of very steep, unpacked, never-tracked, throat-deep powder.
No. And No Thank You.
So we talked briefly about what to do, and at some point we both turned around and saw two flows across the road, two longish gullies, and we said, gee, we don't even know what those are called - but that's never stopped us - and we have no idea what they're rated - and that definitely has stopped us - but we're here, and we're full of fear, and later we'll drink beer.
So we walked back to the Jeep and we drove down to a pullout below us and we walked down the road and we got on a long, snow-covered route we later found out is called Silver Cascade (NEI 1-3). And that's what we did. |
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