Trip Report

A group of eight climbers assembled at 5:00 a.m. at the S.E.H.S. parking lot on Sunday, July 15th. Much disappointment was shown by several members of the party when one would-be climber Karen showed up only to say she couldn't make the climb. The remaining climbers split into riding groups and travelled to the Santiam Pass. From here, the group wasted no time in hiking to the mountain via the PCT. Paces slowed as each party slowly made their way up the western scree slope to the crest of the south ridge. Hearts pounded rapidly as the "first timers" anticipated "THE CRAWL." When the group reached this famous geographic land mark, they stopped to gear up with harnesses and sunblock. The faces of Ed and John suddenly beamed with unexpected joy when the familiar helmeted head of Karen popped up from behind a rock. Karen said she "felt terrible" about letting her climbing partners down and decided to come up and climb with us after all. After being belayed through the Crawl, the climbers were belayed up the summit chimney where up on top was room only for two climbers at a time along with a thousand grounded flying ants involved in some sort of unusual social activity. Following an eventless retreat back to the cars, the majority of the group enjoyed a cool "dip" in the cool waters of Big Lake. The successful climb (by John Englehardt, John Levy, Ed Lovegren, Don Orton, Lee Stubbs, Janie and Karen Thomas, and leader Ken Ball) was topped off with a meal stop at the Log Cabin Inn.