A couple of days ago, I climbed South Sister, a mountain in the Cascades, about 30 miles from Bend. At about 10,300', it's considered one of the easier of the glaciated peaks; that is, peaks which never melt all year round. This is my third glaciated peak, and this time I don't have any grand philosophical revelations to share with you, rather, some very prosaic practical thoughts and recommendations:
1). I seem to have some kind of macho problem with wearing sunscreen that I desperately need to get over. I endangered my whole climb by getting so much heat stroke on my arms, neck and face that I got dizzy.
2). I have to carry at least twice as much water as I think I should.
3). Micro spikes are amazing, but crampons are way better.
4). GPS is nice, but it helps to have a real paper map. In the snow, the concept of a "trail" gets really lost.
5). False peaks can join bike thieves in hell.
6). Climbing is still awesome.
Here's to 4 days of raccoon face!!
