https://imgur.com/a/Pn3npBb Full album with descriptions of the features.

I made my attempt at the Keyhole Route today. Goddamn. 16 miles with 5 of them scrambling over boulders. I had shit sleep, ate like 600 calories the day prior, and didn't drink enough water even though I drained a camelbak and two gatorades. By the time I got to the top of The Trough, a 500ft vertical scramble, I was so dehydrated that I vomited twice while looking at The Homestretch from that teeny tiny hole at the top. 100 feet to go, wasn't going to start vomiting and potentially passing out at a 45 degree angle 14.2k' up. Now I have to do it either next week or next year.

Technically the shitpost came from the mountain because for a brief moment I had a signal and tried to make this post instead of enjoying the majesty of nature in one of its most sacred places.

edit: I also got lost coming back on The Narrows and got to confront a fear of heights by climbing over boulders hundreds of feet above granite slabs. Won't do that again.

    • happybadger [he/him]
      hexagon
      ·
      edit-2
      3 years ago

      One of the most dangerous mountains in the country. I'm extremely cautious about that park because the afternoons in summer almost always include a storm. Up that high you're the tallest thing, everything is conductive wet rock, and the hail is fierce enough that nearby it once killed a baby. Luckily today conditions were slated to be perfect and I only had gusts of wind to contend with. Still incredibly dangerous when you're trying to shimmy up a mountain but not the existential terror I feel when I see a single storm cloud come out of nowhere.

      Also are you referring to Chasm Lake beneath the mountain? After Sky Pond and Shelf Lake it's probably my favourite in the park. The columbines on the path to it above Peacock Lake are so beautiful that I would have suffered a detour today if the sun wasn't too high by the time I got down from Longs.