Mount Solitude

I climbed Mt. Solitude in the spring of 04, or maybe 05, I don't really remember the date exactly but it was definately spring and it was definately with jarrett. jarrett berg to be precise, my cousin and boss and climbing partner, who figures heavily in many stories.
We had been climbing rock for 4 summers and had recently started climbing ice in the winter. Recently being the winter before we went on one ice climb with another friend and this winter we bought our own gear and been climbing fairly seriously on ice. A couple low grade leads apeice and much top ropeing of steep water ice.
So as the snow melted in town and the days grew longer the urge to climb rock had been festering and it was no real suprise when he said "hey, you want to go climbing this weekend?"
of course i did. said so too figuring he ment hassler crag, our summer home at the time. "let's climb Mt. Solitude" he said. Caught me right of guard and i'm sure it showed. Last chance to get on some ice and a real summit was his reasoning, plus it would be in spring conditions the most dangerous season of them all. Which is a plus in Jarrett land something about danger really gets him going. when he leads a climb it's almost enough to make you sorry for the rock. it had no idea it could get beat up so bad. every hold makes a noise or at least looks like it should from slapping open hand pops to the creak of his chisel finger prying into a crack. fast and aggresive with lots of strenght and some natural ability and a sharp head. in short the perfect partner for a moderate summit in dangerous conditions possibly. I'm in!!
Saturday morning armed to the teeth we roll out of dawson creek about 6:00 of course we planned for 5 but things being what they are, he's a workaholic and always will be we worked late and 6 just felt better. pushing past chetwynd and further into the pine pass we killed the 2 hour drive with pot smoke and bench climbing, dreams are big and easy to climb. we felt the summit by noon and maybe a chance to fly back to hassler for some cragging in the afternoon might be possible. "it doesnt look that big" , and "hell ya, we're in good shape!" got tossed around lots, and we were hard work and hard play and young bodies had made us pretty hard as well.
Sunrise brought clear skies and the kind of light show that makes early people glad their early, and by the time we parked under the base at the super convieneint pullout by the east pine crossing at the base of the pass it was a perfect spring day.The snow line was at the first third of the mountain and we could see some ice toucing down on one side of a rock feature. A 100 m. piece of shoulder had been sheared to expose a folded pile of rock laundry We set out with full gear. rock racks ice tools screws ropes helmets kitchen sink stove and pot. As we do every time it seems. Years later we have learned to cut some extras out but still...".it keeps us strong" he'll grin and grunt, as he shoulders his pack.
chill but not cold we head into pine covered in frost and it isn't long before we run into hard fans of icey snow in the trees. avalanche debris the trees are scarfed up branches broke and big chunks of bark missing. Danger? ya, hell ya, we say. Scary... B line for the rock, up to and under it traversing climbers right for the ice drool on the side under a dripping 4 foot roof so low we end up crawling part of it. The ice ends up being to rotten to trust and the rocks around us are far to ice crusted to think of climbing so we carry on steeply right for the shoulder of the mountain our axes reaching and hooking trees prove super usefull and the snow is hard enough to climb on top of mostly. we make good time and rest at the shoulder once we are of the steep ground. easier going gets ofset by deeper snow and as it warms up the crust stops supporting us.
flounderfest!! arg! puffing and panting still steep why do we do this? All mountaineers are Masochists at heart and if they say otherwise they're liars i say. as the shoulder angle slacks though we start finding bare rock and it dosn't seem such cruel punishment for having a day off. our shells are of and we're sweating but it is a beautifful warm bright spring day after a long cold dark winter of sawmilling. we would be fools to complain
Still once we crest the ridge and clear treeline we waste no time dropping our packs and tools. grabbing sandwiches and our shells we stop long enough to burn one and wonder what the time is. the road at the base we parked on looks like black snake with the parking lot for a head and the tongue curling round the hill down the valley and the summit looks to be about a kilometer up the ridge. the suns not directly over head but it will be soon so we figure we were probably being a little optimistic with our noon summit. Oh well were going to get a real summit today after all the time pulling hard at the crag on steep rock this is an eye opening change.
we head out light and cheerfull the snow is supporting our weight again and the ground is not steep at all. rolling snow fields finally bring us to the north face droppoff over the road again, but something keeps us from venturing to close to the edge. A little ways further we get onto the rock rige line and can see the open air under a massive cornice. The snowpack we were skirting hung over severall hundred metre of open air and avalanche chute and could easily have ripped out.
hmmmmm....... snowballs? Rocks!! Bigger rocks!! ok thats all good fun but how do we drop a big chunk? We start chucking rocks at an ATV sized lump of snow hanging over the edge but the snow is so heavy and sticky even the biggest rocks we throw stick an inch in and stick as though glued.Trees!!! hahahaha we chop of a dead tree with an ice axe and pry the victim loose kicking and screaming. freefalling for several rope lenghts there is no sound when it hits it just busts into several pieces and then they dissapear as well seemes almost anticlimaxtic. Untill we notice it hasnt gone its just turned to liquid and its flowing amazingly fast. picking up speed and size too as it moves...the shadow of the mountain as huge but doesn't cover the whole runnout area of the chutes and it looks possible that the stream will reach the sun! we count and it takes 10 full seconds for the avy to reach the sun and it doesnt stop moving for another 5. Wow man that was cool!! big eyes all around we move on. For all his rough and tough and gung ho Jarrett turns into a total granola munching hippy as soon as you get him 10 feet of the road and this is one of those times. " Dood, this is so beautiful...i just want to weave a wicker basket..." ok not quite like that and i'm no better so i'm sure you get the picture. the rest of the hike to summit was one of those moments that feel timeless. we could have easily been wearing leather cork boots and carrying wood haft mountaineering axes with wool pants. i mentionbeing a little sad i forgot my camera and jarrett replys with a "This is our summit man, we'll carry this one in our heads forever"
and then "fuck anyone who isn't here" just to keep it in perspective.
burn one down at the summit take some mental pictures check the surroundings for feature to add to the mental bank and we tun back following our footsteps in the snow and dawdling with the pleasure of going down and barely burning calories...somewher along the way we ate and when we got of the ridge and back onto rolling slopes i had a small brainwave.
do up my shell, pull on my mittens balaclava on goggles on, axes in my hands im almost ready to go as jarrett finally notices. "whatcha doin jojo?" "Nothin" i say and cross my arms over my chest axes in hand. flop on my back parallel to the slope and begin to log roll down it for about 50 feet before i am going so fast i have to open up and stop! floppedy flop flop, "bwahahah,ahahahah... ohmygod, i think im gonna puke!" i can finally see again as he launches himself downslope to meet me. its just as cool looking as it felt!! Wheeeee!! laughing and squeeling like schoolgirls over and over we go down the mountain to meet our gearpile. frontflips are the next stunt and after a couple trys we can link them into continous frontflipping down the hill.....backflips end in disaster every time but it doesnt stop us from trying repeatedly. great big kids having great big fun!.
back at the gear tears still streaming from laughing so hard. We dread heading down into the deep snow postholing deep and steep and sure enough it sucks bad untill we're resting on our asses and jarrett lifts his feet out of their holes and butt schooches onto the unbroken crust. Wheeee!!! again? bum skiing is born! dig in the heels and wham buried up to the waist. ripping along losing altitude fast we both notice a lack of trees ahead at the same time shortly after discussing the possibilitys of sheer drops which are very very possible. stop fast and fescend slow is the decision and sure enough we come to the top of a good sized rock band which appears to run several hundred feet each way. floundering to the side seems rudiculous when we brought ropes and gear so we decide to toss a rope down and see if it reaches. it doesn't and all of a sudden our extra weight fetish comes in handy! one rope or two? What idf we need to make a 60 metre rappel? while you can rappel down a single stand of rope it's hard on the rope and makes it impossible to get your rope back. so rappelling is allways performed of ttwo strands either a single rope doubled up around a feature or through a ring or carabiner. or two ropes tied together. the rope is pulled from one side at the bottom to retrieve it enabling you to rig again and carry on or resume downclimbing. we brought two ropes and tied together they reach the slope below with another 15 metres to spare! rigged around a tree we dont even need to leave a piece of cord and disposable steel chain link.
we reach the bottom pull our rope down, remember which side has the knot!! important or your shit will jam up hard and be really ignorant to get back.
"SHit! damm!" and more that dont belong in print, jarrett dropped an ice axe somewhere, and its not here so it'll be somwhere on our bumski...."good excuse to get new axes..." he grins and shrugs and says hell replace the one he dropped an get a new set so there is more tools to go around. "maybe we'll do this again in the summer? But really its kinda like looking for an ice axe on the side of a mountain.."
by the time we reach the truck anythought s of cragging are long forgotten and the clock says close to 4:00 it'll be 4:20 well before chetwynd jarrett says with a twinkleand a grin as we toss our gear into a classic shit pile of backseat goodness. "that was good, we'll have to do more" we agree as we roll into the setting sun.