Before I started documenting the trip this morning I was on my sisters blog and read this quote by an unknown: “The only thing that stands between a person and what they want in life is the will to try it and the faith to believe it is possible.” This really hit hard inside of me and inspired what I am about to write.
This trip was the yearly big adventure I always plan annually. My current goal, which will be an adventure for many years to come, is to step foot on the highest peak in each of the fifty states. So far I have two down and forty-eight to go. This last trip was to knock of Wyoming’s highest peak which sits in the middle of the Wind Rivers. The Winds in itself are one of the most beautiful mountain ranges in America. I will compare their beauty closely with our Uinta’s. With that said, here goes the trip report
Out of all fifty highpoints, Gannett Peak is one of the most remote to get to. It sits at an elevation of 13,804 feet above sea level. The best route according to guidebooks is to take the Elkhart Trailhead out of Pinedale Wyoming and hike twenty miles in, forty miles roundtrip. It requires 2 days backpacking for the approach and a full day of summiting. This hike will require a skill I have never used before and have been learning about for the past several months: Mountaineering! Hiking a trail is one thing; crampons, ice axe, ropes, glacier travel and snow is another reality of being in the outdoors. These skills I had to learn before leaving. I attacked the books, the Internet, friends, co-workers; just about anything to learn the skills. But the only thing that would teach me the things I needed was to be there, on the snow, on the ice, on the mountain itself! Oh, and the other lesson I learned on this trip; Safety is always number 1! At HOME and on the mountain. I didn't loose an arm, but I did loose a piece of equipment that turned out to be invaluable to have!!
It starts several days before leaving. I have put together a gear list and started packing my pack. First thing I did was laid out everything I thought I needed on the trip. Then I went through and pulled the unnecessary to decrease my pack weight. The next day I went through it again. Then I packed it all up and weighed the backpack. Fifty pounds! This was not acceptable. I went through it again and again, repacked and packed several times. After the fourth time I got it down to forty pounds. This was acceptable to my standard.
Early Monday morning at 0600 I picked up Steve, Brett and Brett's neighbor Art. The four of us piled into my 4-Runner and headed towards the middle of Wyoming. Four hours of driving and five McDonalds Egg McMuffins later (all Brett), we finally arrived at the trailhead. The parking lot was packed with cars and as we started to unload, three HUGE van loads of people pulled in after us. We found out there were two missing hikers and a SAR (search and rescue) operation was in progress. Their command post was in the parking lot and everyone and their dog were getting ready to travel our same trail.
So we talked with the ranger and found out the details of the missing hikers. An older gentleman and a twenty year old gal missing for the past two days. They didn't check in when they were suppose to. So we would keep our eye out. The picture below shows us at the trailhead before starting our five day adventure. From left to right; Art, Brett, Steve and Me. 
Within a mile or two we crossed into wilderness boundary. This means no motorized equipment or bikes from here on out. It also means bears, moose, elk, deer and cougars; which we saw none of! 
About five miles in we came to a point in the trail called Photographers Point. The views of the mountain range were awesome! If you look way up close, you can see the mountains we are heading for. Ya, way out there, way out in the middle of nowhere!! I guess I should mention now Christy was at home following our every move. For the past two years I have had a spot tracker along with me on my trips. Many of you are familiar with this little piece of technology. For those who don't know what it is, let me tell you about it, because it played a very intricate part in our trip. Here is a picture of it when I was on top of Angels Landing in Zions (Orange thing on my pack): 
It is a satellite communicator of sorts. It has three main functions. You push one button to send out an OK message. This message can go to either an email or text message with a predetermined message and the exact GPS coordinates of where I am when pushing the button. The message will also have a link to click on and show you on Google Maps where we are, either by satellite image or topographical map. I can go onto my account and put in the people I want to send the message to and what the message says. It's actually kind of cool. The other function is a "HELP" function. I hit that button and it sends out a message to those I pre-determined will come help me if I needed it. It's a message that says I am OK, but stranded. I would use this if I ran out of gas or broke down somewhere. The last function is a "911" button. If I hit this button, the GPS coordinate would be sent to Spot Tracker (the company) and they would immediately dispatch the closest search and rescue. This function is for the emergency, when I have injured myself or need help ASAP! It's kind of nice to know if I am out of cell phone range I can still communicate if I needed help, which is a great thing to have in the back country. So for an extra $30 a year, I can add another function which is called "tracking." It would send out a message with the GPS coordinate every ten minutes to my account. Chirsty was able to log on whenever she wanted and see exactly where we went and where we currently were. It was fun for her to watch our progress. I had this function mainly for summit day since that part of the hike was going to be VERY hard for us. Like I wrote earlier, I have used this device many times in the past. I would send out an OK message when I got to camp letting everyone know I made it OK. Then every night I would send out another OK message letting them know I was back at camp and doing fine. My parents especially like this because it gives them a sense of relief knowing my day of hiking was done and I was back at camp safe. So anyways, here is a picture from Photographers Point:
Photographers Point was five miles in. Another five miles later and we would be at Seneca Lake, which was the stopping point for the day. On our 10 miles in we ran into a lot of hikers. Some of them fit the description of the two missing hikers so we always asked if they were the ones. Of course they were not so we chatted for a minute or two and moved on. One group we ran into said they had a tent at Seneca Lake set up for them in case they made it back to their camp. The tent had a note in it stating to stay there and wait for SAR. They had a sibling who made it out I guess and left the tent for them. He was the one who notified SAR of the overdue hikers.
We set up our camp just north of the lake. About 100 yards from the lost hikers tent, which was the exact tent I have. Every couple of hours or so a helicopter would fly over, circle the tent, and fly off. We ran into many SAR people on horseback and foot looking for the hikers. It was a brutal ten miles in but glad to be at camp. I sent off my spot message stating we were at camp and started spraying up on bug dope since the little buggers were horrible. Sunset came and we were in our bags sleeping. The next morning we got up, broke camp and started heading for our next stop, six miles to Titcomb Lakes. I started the tracking mode on the spot tracker and off we went. About two miles in we ran into two hikers just below a pass. Once again they fit the description of the missing hikers so Steve asked if they were the ones. "Ya we are, but were found!" They started to move on and we all looked at each other like "Don't joke around people, this is kinda serious!" So Steve stopped them and asked again, and they stopped and sure enough, they were! We chatted with them for a bit. We asked if they were OK and if they needed anything. They were in good physical shape, mentally they were perfect, and they still had plenty of food and water. They apparently got snowed on going over a pass and missed their trail, sending them into another drainage. This set them back two days. They said they knew SAR was out looking for them because of their two days overdue. They even had seen the helicopter fly over several times and tried signaling it with no avail. We told them their sibling was OK and with SAR. We also let them know their tent was still set up at Seneca with a note stating to sit put. They were very appreciative of our information and sparked up at the thought of being at their tent in another mile or so. Since they were still in good shape and knew where they were and what they were doing we split our ways. When we got onto the pass we thought it would be a good idea to see if we had cell coverage and call the forest service to report our sighting. Luck would have it we did and we called. That was the first they had word the missing two were OK and their location. About five minutes later we heard the helicopter flying and sounded like it landed over by the lake. This event would prove helpful to us later in our journey! So on we went to Titcomb Lakes.
We arrived at a good campsite above the lakes and set up camp. I sent off my OK message to let everyone know we had arrived at camp two OK and resting the rest of the day preparing for the big day.
Looking north from our camp you can see the pass we have to travel over the next morning. The couloir to the far right of the pic below is Bonney Pass. 2,000 feet elevation gain to go up and over it into another drainage before ascending Gannett Peak. It looks steep, which it is! Ice axe and crampons are a must to travel this part. We came prepared!
03:30 came early. Some of us slept well from hiking in 16 miles, some of us were too excited to sleep! But the time came for summit day. We loaded our packs with what we thought we needed and off we went into the dark, headlamps blazing our way.
Since this day was going to be the most challenging day for us and the most dangerous, I had the spot tracker on and Christy was following our every move. Up Bonney Pass and down the other side. We were half way up the pass when it started getting light. I took a few pics to show the ordeal it took getting up.
Here I am atop Bonney Pass looking north. Gannett Peak is rising in its glory behind me. Three hours down, many more to go! And I was not looking forward to going back down what we came up. It was freaking steep!!!
So down the pass and onto Dinwoody Glacier. We traveled across that glacier towards Gooseneck Glacier. All day we were leap-frogging with a couple of other teams. One group was from Alaska, another from Oregon. There was one team, unknown where they were from, but had summited Rainer seven times and was hoping to bag this one. You can see the Alaskan team ahead of us in the pic below. The Oregon team were already up on the other glacier.
Here we are crossing over the ridge from Dinwoody Glacier to Gooseneck Glacier. The "Rainer Team," what we came to call them, caught up to us here. This is the point we rope up, so all three of our groups were tying in and getting ready to hit the worst part of the trip: THE BERGSCHRUND!
A "bergschrund" is the beginning of a glacier. Usually there is a snow field that comes down the top of the saddle and then a cravasse splitting the field to where the actual glacier begins. Sometimes there is no cravasse other times there is. This one had one. Usually in the early months there is a snow bridge that crosses over the cravasse. This is the only way to cross the bergschrund. In later months the snow bridge will melt off and there is no way to cross it. We inquired about it with passing hikers who had been up the day before. They said the bridge was still there and we had no worries. So the pic below shows the Rainer team (three of them) roped up heading towards the bergschrund and the Alaskan team (the next three) following.
Here we are roped up and actually on the snow bridge. Art, at the top, is looking right at the massive cravasse. Brett is in the middle of the bridge and Steve is looking left towards the other side of the cravasse. At this point Steve tired out and called it quites. He unclipped and headed back down towards the ridge. This freaked me out because he was unclipping at a point he should not have. But he made it OK and we continued up and over the bergschrund. I took a picture of the cravasse towards the left, but when I got to the point looking to the right, I saw I was on a foot of snow going over the cravasse and did not want to stop! It freaked the crap out of me and I just kept on stepping. I think, no pretty sure, Brett was feeling the same thing because we both were cruzing up the glacier to get out of the area.
A few more steps and we were up on the last saddle before the final ascent. At this point we were tired. We had come a long ways and over some pretty hairy stuff. Looking west the weather was bringing us a good thunderstorm. A guy was sitting there and we chatted with him. He said his team went on and he has been watching everyone else go up. From this point on he said it has taken everyone about an hour and a half to summit. Looking at the weather, seeing how tired I was and Brett not wanting to go any further I came to a decision. They always say to get up and down before the snowbridge over the bergschrund gets soft in the afternoon. It was already afternoon and another couple of hours would only place us in more danger of falling into that cravasse. I faced defeat knowing the mountain would be there another day and made the call. Art was disapointed. This was his second attempt on Gannett and he really wanted it bad. I told him if he wanted to go then go but we were turning around. He was off and running towards the summit! Me and Brett stood there wondering what to do next. I visited with the gentleman a little bit longer then headed down off the saddle a bit to wait for Art. I didn't want to be up there when the thunderstorm hit and wanted to be a bit protected. We sat on a small ridge and watched as everyone came down and Art went up.
Team after team passed up going down. Art barely made it to the summit before the last ones were going down so he had someone to take his picture on the top. By the time he made it back to us the storm blew to the north of us and nothing hit. He made a gamble and it paid off for him. I made a decision based on safety and missed the opportunity to summit. Did I regret making that decision? Not one bit, like I said, the mountain will be there another day. Thats not to say it doesn't hurt not bagging it! It feels much like those who love to waterski and have their boat sink to the bottom of the lake. A gun fanatic having all his guns and ammunition stolen. A family history buff having all the documentation of generations upon generations of relatives go up in flames. A hockey player being told he could never walk again. Ya, it hurts, but at least I am alive and living to see another day and hopefully another summit. So we all met up with each other again and started back down Gooseneck Glacier. Ya it was scary and hairy coming back down the snowbridge but we made it OK. As we headed over Dinwoody Glacier back towards Bonney Pass another little storm rolled in and it started to snow on us. Nothing heavy, just a few little flakes. Up and to the pass we went. The final step of the day, down Bonney Pass. This was a challenge within itself because it was already late afternoon and the sun had made the snow into mush. It was VERY steep and was going to be VERY hard going down. Art took off his crampons and slid down on his butt, using his ice axe to brake. Steve used a technique of skating backwords and using the ice axe as an anchor. Brett slid down on his stomach using the self arrest move. Me? I couldn't master any way of getting down. I was tired. Dead tired. I didn't feel safe and secure using any mode. When I tried to slide on my stomach using the self arrest move I wouldn't go anywhere, which I guess was good because the skill is designed to stop you from sliding. So I down stepped it, one step at a time. However, it was so steep I wasn't downstepping as much as sliding down on my knees using the ice axe and crampons each step. It took FOREVER!!! Art and Brett were already back at camp by the time I made it down. Steve was a good brother and waited for me. I think I forgot to tell you I ran out of water coming down from the saddle and grabbed the wrong bag of food. So the whole day Steve shared his water and I hauled up a bag of garbage instead of food. That is why I was so tired. So here I was at the bottom of this very steep bowl. Glad I was done with the hard stuff. Only another hour of hiking and we would be back at camp. Before heading off I asked Steve to make sure the spot tracker was still on the pack. IT WASN'T!!!!!! Now begins the part of the trip where everyone else at home gets involved. So being summit day, Christy was in front of the computer watching us go up and over Bonney, down Dinwoody, over Gooseneck and up to the saddle. Back down Gooseneck and back over Dinwoody glacier and up to Bonney Pass. Down the very steep Bonney Pass and then NOTHING! There the tracking stops. There the satalite continues to ping and send off messages showing we have stopped at the bottome of a coulier. A very steep cliff of sorts. As she is sitting at home wathcing us sit at the bottom of this cliff, we were so tired we continued to camp. I last saw the spot tracker on the other side of Bonney and had no idea where it had fallen off. I was too tired to go back up the pass to look for it. We would rest and see what the following day would bring. Here is a pic looking back up the pass after realizing I lost the spot tracker:
The next morning came. We got up and got some food in us. Me and Steve talked about the scenario we were in. Knowing Christy was at home looking at the spot showing we were still at the bottom of this cliff we had to either go find it and send off the OK message or high-tail it out to where we could get cell coverage to let her know we were OK. I was hoping she wasn't looking at the computer wondering if we all slid to our death but as luck would have it, she was. I was beat. I had little energy left. Not knowing where exactly the spot tracker was and not really wanting to go back up Bonney Pass we decided to pack up and high-tail it out. So thats what we did! As I packed in as much food as I could eat knowing I needed as much energy as possible, Steve rested knowing it was going to be a hard and fast hike out.
As we hiked a storm rolled in. It snowed and rained on us but we continued to move. We knew we needed to get to cell coverage to call Christy so she wouldn't freak out and call SAR.
We finally made it to the pass where we called the forest service the other day to report the two missing hikers we found. I didn't have coverage on my phone but Steve did. He called Darcie and all I heard was "Really, crap; I'll have him call her right now!" So here is where the trip gets interesting: 
We made it to the trailhead about 21:15 that night. My parents had already been there and left a note on the windshield stating they were in town. We packed up our bags and headed down to Pinedale. When we got into town we called and met up with them at their hotel room. Mom was very, VERY, VERY happy to see her kids again. After discussing the events and how they transpired we came to an agreement it all happened for the best. Anyone who may think anyone over-reacted was not in the shoes of the person seeing all the information presented. I personally am glad the events happened the way they did. I have learned many new things with this trip. And like Murphy's Law states; "Experience is something you don't get until just after you need it!"
It is a satellite communicator of sorts. It has three main functions. You push one button to send out an OK message. This message can go to either an email or text message with a predetermined message and the exact GPS coordinates of where I am when pushing the button. The message will also have a link to click on and show you on Google Maps where we are, either by satellite image or topographical map. I can go onto my account and put in the people I want to send the message to and what the message says. It's actually kind of cool. The other function is a "HELP" function. I hit that button and it sends out a message to those I pre-determined will come help me if I needed it. It's a message that says I am OK, but stranded. I would use this if I ran out of gas or broke down somewhere. The last function is a "911" button. If I hit this button, the GPS coordinate would be sent to Spot Tracker (the company) and they would immediately dispatch the closest search and rescue. This function is for the emergency, when I have injured myself or need help ASAP! It's kind of nice to know if I am out of cell phone range I can still communicate if I needed help, which is a great thing to have in the back country. So for an extra $30 a year, I can add another function which is called "tracking." It would send out a message with the GPS coordinate every ten minutes to my account. Chirsty was able to log on whenever she wanted and see exactly where we went and where we currently were. It was fun for her to watch our progress. I had this function mainly for summit day since that part of the hike was going to be VERY hard for us. Like I wrote earlier, I have used this device many times in the past. I would send out an OK message when I got to camp letting everyone know I made it OK. Then every night I would send out another OK message letting them know I was back at camp and doing fine. My parents especially like this because it gives them a sense of relief knowing my day of hiking was done and I was back at camp safe. So anyways, here is a picture from Photographers Point:
Photographers Point was five miles in. Another five miles later and we would be at Seneca Lake, which was the stopping point for the day. On our 10 miles in we ran into a lot of hikers. Some of them fit the description of the two missing hikers so we always asked if they were the ones. Of course they were not so we chatted for a minute or two and moved on. One group we ran into said they had a tent at Seneca Lake set up for them in case they made it back to their camp. The tent had a note in it stating to stay there and wait for SAR. They had a sibling who made it out I guess and left the tent for them. He was the one who notified SAR of the overdue hikers.
We set up our camp just north of the lake. About 100 yards from the lost hikers tent, which was the exact tent I have. Every couple of hours or so a helicopter would fly over, circle the tent, and fly off. We ran into many SAR people on horseback and foot looking for the hikers. It was a brutal ten miles in but glad to be at camp. I sent off my spot message stating we were at camp and started spraying up on bug dope since the little buggers were horrible. Sunset came and we were in our bags sleeping. The next morning we got up, broke camp and started heading for our next stop, six miles to Titcomb Lakes. I started the tracking mode on the spot tracker and off we went. About two miles in we ran into two hikers just below a pass. Once again they fit the description of the missing hikers so Steve asked if they were the ones. "Ya we are, but were found!" They started to move on and we all looked at each other like "Don't joke around people, this is kinda serious!" So Steve stopped them and asked again, and they stopped and sure enough, they were! We chatted with them for a bit. We asked if they were OK and if they needed anything. They were in good physical shape, mentally they were perfect, and they still had plenty of food and water. They apparently got snowed on going over a pass and missed their trail, sending them into another drainage. This set them back two days. They said they knew SAR was out looking for them because of their two days overdue. They even had seen the helicopter fly over several times and tried signaling it with no avail. We told them their sibling was OK and with SAR. We also let them know their tent was still set up at Seneca with a note stating to sit put. They were very appreciative of our information and sparked up at the thought of being at their tent in another mile or so. Since they were still in good shape and knew where they were and what they were doing we split our ways. When we got onto the pass we thought it would be a good idea to see if we had cell coverage and call the forest service to report our sighting. Luck would have it we did and we called. That was the first they had word the missing two were OK and their location. About five minutes later we heard the helicopter flying and sounded like it landed over by the lake. This event would prove helpful to us later in our journey! So on we went to Titcomb Lakes.
We arrived at a good campsite above the lakes and set up camp. I sent off my OK message to let everyone know we had arrived at camp two OK and resting the rest of the day preparing for the big day.
Looking north from our camp you can see the pass we have to travel over the next morning. The couloir to the far right of the pic below is Bonney Pass. 2,000 feet elevation gain to go up and over it into another drainage before ascending Gannett Peak. It looks steep, which it is! Ice axe and crampons are a must to travel this part. We came prepared!
03:30 came early. Some of us slept well from hiking in 16 miles, some of us were too excited to sleep! But the time came for summit day. We loaded our packs with what we thought we needed and off we went into the dark, headlamps blazing our way.
Since this day was going to be the most challenging day for us and the most dangerous, I had the spot tracker on and Christy was following our every move. Up Bonney Pass and down the other side. We were half way up the pass when it started getting light. I took a few pics to show the ordeal it took getting up.
Here I am atop Bonney Pass looking north. Gannett Peak is rising in its glory behind me. Three hours down, many more to go! And I was not looking forward to going back down what we came up. It was freaking steep!!!
So down the pass and onto Dinwoody Glacier. We traveled across that glacier towards Gooseneck Glacier. All day we were leap-frogging with a couple of other teams. One group was from Alaska, another from Oregon. There was one team, unknown where they were from, but had summited Rainer seven times and was hoping to bag this one. You can see the Alaskan team ahead of us in the pic below. The Oregon team were already up on the other glacier.You can see from the pic above and below Steve is in front of me then Art.
Here we are crossing over the ridge from Dinwoody Glacier to Gooseneck Glacier. The "Rainer Team," what we came to call them, caught up to us here. This is the point we rope up, so all three of our groups were tying in and getting ready to hit the worst part of the trip: THE BERGSCHRUND!
A "bergschrund" is the beginning of a glacier. Usually there is a snow field that comes down the top of the saddle and then a cravasse splitting the field to where the actual glacier begins. Sometimes there is no cravasse other times there is. This one had one. Usually in the early months there is a snow bridge that crosses over the cravasse. This is the only way to cross the bergschrund. In later months the snow bridge will melt off and there is no way to cross it. We inquired about it with passing hikers who had been up the day before. They said the bridge was still there and we had no worries. So the pic below shows the Rainer team (three of them) roped up heading towards the bergschrund and the Alaskan team (the next three) following.
Here we are roped up and actually on the snow bridge. Art, at the top, is looking right at the massive cravasse. Brett is in the middle of the bridge and Steve is looking left towards the other side of the cravasse. At this point Steve tired out and called it quites. He unclipped and headed back down towards the ridge. This freaked me out because he was unclipping at a point he should not have. But he made it OK and we continued up and over the bergschrund. I took a picture of the cravasse towards the left, but when I got to the point looking to the right, I saw I was on a foot of snow going over the cravasse and did not want to stop! It freaked the crap out of me and I just kept on stepping. I think, no pretty sure, Brett was feeling the same thing because we both were cruzing up the glacier to get out of the area.
A few more steps and we were up on the last saddle before the final ascent. At this point we were tired. We had come a long ways and over some pretty hairy stuff. Looking west the weather was bringing us a good thunderstorm. A guy was sitting there and we chatted with him. He said his team went on and he has been watching everyone else go up. From this point on he said it has taken everyone about an hour and a half to summit. Looking at the weather, seeing how tired I was and Brett not wanting to go any further I came to a decision. They always say to get up and down before the snowbridge over the bergschrund gets soft in the afternoon. It was already afternoon and another couple of hours would only place us in more danger of falling into that cravasse. I faced defeat knowing the mountain would be there another day and made the call. Art was disapointed. This was his second attempt on Gannett and he really wanted it bad. I told him if he wanted to go then go but we were turning around. He was off and running towards the summit! Me and Brett stood there wondering what to do next. I visited with the gentleman a little bit longer then headed down off the saddle a bit to wait for Art. I didn't want to be up there when the thunderstorm hit and wanted to be a bit protected. We sat on a small ridge and watched as everyone came down and Art went up.
Team after team passed up going down. Art barely made it to the summit before the last ones were going down so he had someone to take his picture on the top. By the time he made it back to us the storm blew to the north of us and nothing hit. He made a gamble and it paid off for him. I made a decision based on safety and missed the opportunity to summit. Did I regret making that decision? Not one bit, like I said, the mountain will be there another day. Thats not to say it doesn't hurt not bagging it! It feels much like those who love to waterski and have their boat sink to the bottom of the lake. A gun fanatic having all his guns and ammunition stolen. A family history buff having all the documentation of generations upon generations of relatives go up in flames. A hockey player being told he could never walk again. Ya, it hurts, but at least I am alive and living to see another day and hopefully another summit. So we all met up with each other again and started back down Gooseneck Glacier. Ya it was scary and hairy coming back down the snowbridge but we made it OK. As we headed over Dinwoody Glacier back towards Bonney Pass another little storm rolled in and it started to snow on us. Nothing heavy, just a few little flakes. Up and to the pass we went. The final step of the day, down Bonney Pass. This was a challenge within itself because it was already late afternoon and the sun had made the snow into mush. It was VERY steep and was going to be VERY hard going down. Art took off his crampons and slid down on his butt, using his ice axe to brake. Steve used a technique of skating backwords and using the ice axe as an anchor. Brett slid down on his stomach using the self arrest move. Me? I couldn't master any way of getting down. I was tired. Dead tired. I didn't feel safe and secure using any mode. When I tried to slide on my stomach using the self arrest move I wouldn't go anywhere, which I guess was good because the skill is designed to stop you from sliding. So I down stepped it, one step at a time. However, it was so steep I wasn't downstepping as much as sliding down on my knees using the ice axe and crampons each step. It took FOREVER!!! Art and Brett were already back at camp by the time I made it down. Steve was a good brother and waited for me. I think I forgot to tell you I ran out of water coming down from the saddle and grabbed the wrong bag of food. So the whole day Steve shared his water and I hauled up a bag of garbage instead of food. That is why I was so tired. So here I was at the bottom of this very steep bowl. Glad I was done with the hard stuff. Only another hour of hiking and we would be back at camp. Before heading off I asked Steve to make sure the spot tracker was still on the pack. IT WASN'T!!!!!! Now begins the part of the trip where everyone else at home gets involved. So being summit day, Christy was in front of the computer watching us go up and over Bonney, down Dinwoody, over Gooseneck and up to the saddle. Back down Gooseneck and back over Dinwoody glacier and up to Bonney Pass. Down the very steep Bonney Pass and then NOTHING! There the tracking stops. There the satalite continues to ping and send off messages showing we have stopped at the bottome of a coulier. A very steep cliff of sorts. As she is sitting at home wathcing us sit at the bottom of this cliff, we were so tired we continued to camp. I last saw the spot tracker on the other side of Bonney and had no idea where it had fallen off. I was too tired to go back up the pass to look for it. We would rest and see what the following day would bring. Here is a pic looking back up the pass after realizing I lost the spot tracker:
The next morning came. We got up and got some food in us. Me and Steve talked about the scenario we were in. Knowing Christy was at home looking at the spot showing we were still at the bottom of this cliff we had to either go find it and send off the OK message or high-tail it out to where we could get cell coverage to let her know we were OK. I was hoping she wasn't looking at the computer wondering if we all slid to our death but as luck would have it, she was. I was beat. I had little energy left. Not knowing where exactly the spot tracker was and not really wanting to go back up Bonney Pass we decided to pack up and high-tail it out. So thats what we did! As I packed in as much food as I could eat knowing I needed as much energy as possible, Steve rested knowing it was going to be a hard and fast hike out.
As we hiked a storm rolled in. It snowed and rained on us but we continued to move. We knew we needed to get to cell coverage to call Christy so she wouldn't freak out and call SAR.
We finally made it to the pass where we called the forest service the other day to report the two missing hikers we found. I didn't have coverage on my phone but Steve did. He called Darcie and all I heard was "Really, crap; I'll have him call her right now!" So here is where the trip gets interesting:So as I expected, Christy was in front of the computer watching us all day during our summit assault. Every ten minutes or so the spot would send off a message showing where we were. And sure enough when I lost the spot tracker it continued to send off messages. I lost it at the bottom of Bonney Pass. So Christy is sitting there seeing us stopped at the bottom of the pass. If you look at a topo map, it pretty much looks like we were at the bottom of a cliff. For three hours she was watching us sit there. She started getting concerned and thought 21:30 was the cut off point to where she would call SAR. I had not moved and not sent off an OK message showing we were back at camp. This was very unusual for me to do and she finally called SAR at 21:30. She talked to the director and together they came up with a game plan. He was very knowledgeable in how the spot tracker worked. Since a "911" message hadn't been sent they came to the conclusion that I had either dropped it or it was malfunctioning. Christy called the company and they sent off a ping to verify the device was working properly, which it was. The director of SAR asked if I was knowledgeable in how it worked and made sure it wasn't user error. Christy gave him plenty of informaton where they came to a conclusion. See what the night holds and in the morning if the spot was still sending messages from the same location they would activate.
Christy kept up on her Facebook account the happenings. Friends and family started to call asking if everything was OK. They did not get the usual nightly OK message and knew she was tracking us through the account. She let them know the updates and was going to wait for the next day. The next day came and when she woke up the first place she went was to the computer. Anyone who knows Christy, to go somewhere other than the coffee maker first thing in morning is very unusual. But to the computer she went and you can only imagine her thoughts and feelings when she saw the spot still pinging in the same spot, at the bottom of a cliff. She called the director of SAR back and updated him. She had done her research the night before and knew the trail and where we were at what point coming in. She knew it would take us so many hours to get back to cell coverage. When she informed the director of this they came up with the plan. He would not activate the team until 16:00. Christy knew we would be in cell coverage between 14:00 and 16:00 and gave the cutoff time of 16:00. Since SAR was out on an operation over the weekend (the one we called in) and another one since then, the team just got off the mountain that night and needed rest. Since I didn't send off the "911" message the team would not immediately head back out, which Christy and the director agreed on as their game plan.
All morning Christy sat in front of the computer waiting for something to change on spot. Our friend Sara came over and spent the day with her, keeping her fed and trying to keep her mind off the worst possible scenario. Our other friends were packing bags getting ready to head up if needs be, and for that I am very appreciative. My parents had already started driving to Pinedale and had hotel reservations made. Everyone was waiting for that 16:00 cutoff time. Me, Steve, Art and Brett however were hiking our little legs off trying to get to cell coverage, not knowing any of this was going on. I can't imagine the hell I put Christy through. I never wanted to put her through this kind of horror. That is one of the reasons I bought the spot tracker. But what if we were all lying at the bottom of the cliff severly injured or dead?
Christy got the call she was waiting for. 14:30, Darcie called Christy to tell her she just heard from Steve and we were OK. A few seconds later I called her and spoke with her. We had about an hour and a half left before SAR was going to be activated and go looking for us. I was dead tired hiking fast to get to cell coverage not knowing what was going on but knowing Christy was probably worried. I think we were both relieved to talk to each other. I didn't have coverage at that point but Steve did, so I told her I would call in a few hours when we got back to Seneca Lake. As we continued hiking she called the director of SAR back and informed him of the events. He was appreciative of the phone call and offered to look for the spot tracker next time the team was in the area looking for somebody, which was probably going to be within the next week or so. Christy was very appreciative of his service and how well he managed the incident, even though it really never got off the ground.
After the phone calls she went off to have a "thank god he's safe lunch" and I went back to hiking. We reached Seneca Lake and I had good coverage to where I could call and talk to her. She informed me the parents were on their way to Pinedale. I let her know about our summit attempt and how I lost the spot tracker. We were both very appreciative of the time we had to converse on the events. After resting for a bit we decided to hike out the rest of the day and that is exactely what we did! 16 miles later we were out!
We made it to the trailhead about 21:15 that night. My parents had already been there and left a note on the windshield stating they were in town. We packed up our bags and headed down to Pinedale. When we got into town we called and met up with them at their hotel room. Mom was very, VERY, VERY happy to see her kids again. After discussing the events and how they transpired we came to an agreement it all happened for the best. Anyone who may think anyone over-reacted was not in the shoes of the person seeing all the information presented. I personally am glad the events happened the way they did. I have learned many new things with this trip. And like Murphy's Law states; "Experience is something you don't get until just after you need it!"This trip was definitely an experience. Many lessons were learned. I now have some mountaineering skills, respect for those at home awaiting our calls, and I still love the outdoors!!! So I ask this question: "Who wants to go with me on the next trip?"
