It’s
already been a year since we climbed to the summit of Mt. Hood, and were
married by and in the presence of other climbers! Some of our climbing
friends couldn’t make it, that year, so soon after that climb, we decided that
we’d just have to do it, again, and our 1st anniversary seemed like
an appropriate time to do such a climb. So, I reserved the date on the
climb schedule (with the wilderness restrictions, and restrictions that the
Mazamas, our local climbing organization, have, we can’t have 2 climbs
happening at the same time on the same side of the mountain), and hoped that
there would be a weather window for the climb. And. . . there *was*
a weather window. It was predicted to be warmer than last year, so we had
to do the climb at night, rather than during the day, as we had last year, but
it turned out that the snow conditions and weather were absolutely
perfect! We had more than the 12 people, maximum, who were interested in
the climb and could go that day, so a couple people decided to do climbs on
their own, and meet us for the celebration. Here is our celebration photo
with everyone who could join:
Photo
people, in strict left to right:
Mark
Fowler, Dyanne Foster, Jean Hillebrand, Gary Riggs, Lynne Pedersen, Rita
Hansen, Moriel Arango, Leora Gregory, Jason Vosburgh, Jay Avery, David Carrier
(solo climber), Jonathan Myers, Karen Vernier (solo climber), and Amad
Doratotaj. The photo was taken by another Mazama organization member,
Aaron Mendelson, who just happened to also be on the summit at the same time.
Mark,
Dyanne, Jean, Gary, and Karen had all joined us last year for the wedding,
which was performed by Karen.
Since
most of the climb was at night, the pictures were primarily taken at the
summit. Jay stood just at the top of the crux of the climb, and
took photos of everyone as they emerged from the narrow chute of the western
Pearly Gate. One that I particularly enjoyed was this one:
This
picture happens to be of me (followed by a couple of team members), but that’s
not why I like it – it’s because you can see all the way down the mountain, to
the sun just kissing the western edge of the White River canyon, below.
On
the summit, Rita took this really sweet picture of Jay and me:
And
Jason caught us doing what we tend to do a lot, especially while on a mountain:
Gary is looking on. . .
The temperature was nice and cool,
the sun was shining, the skies were clear, there wasn’t much wind to speak of,
and snow was such that it made for an easy and safe ascent. Everyone made
it up to the top, and home, safely – a perfect climb, and a perfect gift for
our 1st Wedding Anniversary! People are already suggesting
that this be an annual event – but, as always, that will depend upon the
weather!!!
May you all have wonderful
experiences to mark occasions of importance to you!
leora
