charlie's blog

The East Face

On Saturday, Mary and i headed up the East Face of Rose. I think i have talked up starting at galena creek park so much that Mary just had to give it a try. Corrie (on the rifle team, kind of a hardcore climber/runner, kind of) said she thought it would be too hard for Mary and that whe would never do it cause it was too steep. But i knew Mary had what it takes, seeing as how it really is all in your head (if you think you will fail, you will fail, and vice versa, also, everybody is strong enough, you just have to stop your brain from telling you that you are tired, your muscles can always go further than your head). It was a beautiful day for it, and the temperature wasn't too bad, just a tad warm. We made pretty good time seeing as how there wasn't any snow in the way like the last time Pete and i went up. Mary was trying to fight it when we hit the steep parts, but eventually she realized that all she had to do was just let her body go up the mountain and stop thinking about it.

I hadn't realized how much i needed to get out in the mountains. The altitude felt great and now i can stop stairing out the window in WT at Rose and wishing i was there. The best part though was Mary. She started walking with a swagger and mentioning how "leet she was" (she thinks 5 leet, but i think pete would probably disagree with that, she still hasn't spent an afternoon trying to find her hiking partner at 11,000ft, thinking he fell off a rock and is slowly bleeding to death) We even went over how to properly tell someone you have hiked Rose from Galena Creek.

Stranger (mentioning they have hiked rose): Hiking up Mt. Rose is so great
Mary: Yeah it is, which way did you go up?
Stranger: On the normal trail, starting at the summit
Mary: Oh, that way is okay, (pause for emphasis) i guess
Stranger: What ever do you mean, which way do you go up?
Mary: Starting at Galena Creek Park
Stranger: You hiked all that way?
Mary: Oh yeah, no problem, that is the only way to go up it.
Stranger: You are absolutely amazing, i didn't think that was even possible
Mary: Its possible, anything is possible, sometimes you just have to work a whole lot harder than other times, and it is nice to test yourself everynow and then, see what you are made of, see how far you can go, see if you have the right stuff (queue music)

(well maybe this is just how i wish it would go)

All in all it was a great trip, and i love that it is only half an hour driving, and a couple hours of hiking.

Air Races these weekend, i think i am going to pee my pants

Posted by cmorton at September 9, 2003 01:05 PM | TrackBack