Tuesday, October 9, 2001 I hiked Mts. Democrat, Cameron, Lincoln, and Bross.  Got into a little trouble.  Here's the story.

I arrived at the Kite Lake Trailhead around 7:45 am, put my hiking clothes on and paid for the parking space.  The fee was $3 and payment was on the honor system.  I didn't have 3 one's, I had a one and a twenty. So I put in a very honorable one hoping that would be enough.  Karma momentarily slipped my mind.  Never let that happen when soloing mountains.  Next time I'll put in the twenty.

The weather report predicted snow in the afternoon but it was already snowing at the trailhead.  That was bad news because I was soloing.  If anything went wrong, it would be difficult to get help.  I was also hesitant because the boots I had weren't stiff soled, and therefore wouldn't give good traction on wet or snowy rock.  I hated the thought of turning around, so I decided to climb Mt. Democrat and then evaluate the conditions.  If they were bad, I'd drop down to the truck, if good I'd start the traverse over to Mts. Cameron, Lincoln, and Bross.  The route up to and back from Democrat was straightforward -- if the weather got real bad, I could always find my back into the bowl where I started.  However if I started the traverse over to Cameron and Lincoln, there was no quick safe retreat.  It would involve a long hike on an windy ridge where no shortcuts were possible.

The hike up Mt. Democrat went well.  It was below freezing and my camelback hose froze up.  I took it apart and sucked and melted the ice out and it worked fine.  I started wearing it inside my jacket to keep it warm.  It was foggy, but never white out conditions - I could see pretty well down below and up to about 75 yards on the summit.  I went slow on the climb to avoid slipping and incapacitating myself.  I kept close track of where I was going and stayed out of routefinding trouble.  I summitted Mt. Democrat at 9:42 am, 1 hr, 42 minutes after starting at 8:00 am.  I called some friends on the cell phone, nobody answered.

On the descent, I again went slow, and near the saddle where I planned to make my decision to continue on or return to the truck, the sun burst out from the clouds.  The sky had a sun, some blue spots, and appeared to be clearing up.  The temperature was warming up, my boots weren't slipping, and I felt good about summitting Mt. Democrat.  I cheered and started heading up to Mt. Cameron. Mt. Lincoln was behind Mt. Cameron.  The route would go to Mt. Cameron, out to Mt. Lincoln, back to Mt. Cameron, over to Mt. Bross, then down to the trailhead - a big circuit.  The climb to Mt. Cameron went fine.  Mt. Lincoln was further behind Mt. Cameron than I thought, but the weather was nice so I kept on trucking.  I had been drinking and eating frequently.  I was well hydrated.  I had a headache and was a little tired, but not seriously.  I had plenty left in me.  I summitted Mt. Lincoln at 11:33, about 1 hour 50 minutes after summitting Mt. Democrat.  I called another friend who also didn't answer his phone.  Great friends I have.

I departed Mt. Lincoln, passed along the base of Mt. Cameron and headed over to Mt. Bross.  There was a longish saddle traverse here.  I noticed I was getting tired.  I was wobbling but I knew that I could go on forever if I went slow enough.  I also noticed clouds rolling in.  I didn't have a map with me and when I got to the top of what I thought was Mt. Bross, it was flat.  I couldn't see a distinct summit.  There were a few piles of rocks, with about 100 yds between each pile.  I decided to hit each pile to search for a summit register - that would identify the summit.  I hit every pile and no register. Somehow during this register search, the cloud dropped onto Mt. Bross and the wind started winding up and it carried with it hard snow, or sleet, not sure what it was. But it hurt.  I gave up on the summit search, I still don't know which one was the summit, but I hit all the possibilities.  I started heading in the direction of the descent but there was no trail.  I was heading directly into the howling wind and being beat to crap with stinging snow.  I could see about 50 yds, not enough to determine a safe way down without a trail.  There were cliffs below Mt. Cameron, and I wasn't sure if there were cliffs below the northwest face of Mt. Bross or not.  I didn't want to head down and get stopped at the top of a cliff.  The climb back up would be demoralizingly hard.

I had to hike directly into the wind, but the snow was going under my Oakley glasses and stinging my eyes.  For a few minutes I walked with my hands over my face.  It didn't help much.  And I was getting cold, really fast.  I had my warmest hat on and my hood over that, but the wind was still freezing my temples and the side of my head.  It hurt bad.  My hands were cold too, I was only wearing thick glove liners.  I felt that in minutes I could be dangerously cold.  I had to stop and put on more clothes.  First I turned my back to the wind, and pulled my pack off.  The wind wanted to take it away so I held on real tight.  I pulled my MH chugach jacket out and put that over my shell, and zipped it up.  Next I got my glove shells out and put them on, that would keep the wind off my hands.  Next I pulled out an expedition weight underwear shirt and put it on my head with my face peeking out the neck hole.  This would keep my neck and head warmer and I could pull it tight to keep the snow from eroding my face and eyes. Last I chewed on a Gu - I think it was more solid than gu form, but it was delicious.  Now I could walk.

But I couldn't find the route, and the snow was still going straight into my eyes when I looked in the direction of the route.  First I followed what might be a trail down the south side of Bross but that disappeared and didn't seem right, so I went back up. Then I went directly westward because the route guide mentioned the west slopes provided an easy route back.  There was no trail, but I didn't need one, as long as there were no cliffs.  Finally I ran into a trail that descended steeply westward.  I slipped a little in my boots, but not a lot.  The trail appeared to end over a steep buttress. Then I saw a cairn where the trail switched back and descended to the south.  I followed this, still struggling with foggy glasses and snow stinging my eyes, but the slope eased up and I didn't feel like a slip would be a long ride.  I descended down and down until the wind stopped and the snow stopped, and it got warmer.  My boots both had rocks in them, so I sat down and emptied them.  I was happy.

The descent from there was eerily quiet and peaceful and warm.  I couldn't believe the contrast.  When I looked up it looked clear and still on Mt. Bross.  It was like a dream.  There was no proof it happened at all.  Further down I reached into my chugach jacket pockets looking for something.  I didn't find what I was looking for but I found something else -- my pockets were full of snow.  Maybe it wasn't a dream after all.

I made it back to the truck at 1:30, 5.5 hours round trip.

So there are a few morals to this story:

When it's windy, snowy, and cold take real goggles and a balaclava.

When the route is more than just out and back, take a map.

And most importantly:

Always pay the full parking fee.

	The summit of Mt. Democrat.  Before the cloud lifted.
	The first mountain was Mt. Democrat. The route came up from the left, hit the saddle, and headed up Mt. Democrat. After summitting the route followed the same route back down to the saddle.  That was my go|no go decision point for the traverse.   I decided go, so I headed up Mt. Cameron to where this picture was taken. The sky is nice and clear here.
	Here's the route from the saddle up the ridge towards Mt. Cameron.  Nice and clear. Mt. Lincoln is out of view behind Mt. Cameron.
	This view is from Mt. Lincoln. You can see Mt. Democrat in the distance, Mt. Cameron closer, the route from Cameron to Mt. Lincoln, and the route from Mt. Lincoln over to Mt. Bross.
	Here's the route from the base of Mt. Cameron to Mt. Bross.  Trouble started at the summit of Mt. Bross.  The weather is still not bad yet.
	No pictures of the exciting part.  Here I am glad to be alive. :-)
	The gully I descended from the top of Mt. Bross.