"The Lord make his face shine upon thee..."
The Lord bless thee, and keep thee: The Lord make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee: The Lord lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace.
Numbers 6: 24 - 26
After the outing of Friday and Saturday (April 25 - 26, 2008) I feel truly blessed by The Lord. For each of our three training outings we have been graced with exceptionally good weather. On our trip to Lena Lake, the weather cleared on Friday for the hike in and was beautiful on Saturday for our training. The Mt. Ellinor climb was done on a fantastically clear day that was the warmest day of the year so far.
The trip to Crystal Mountain was scheduled in our planning meeting in December. Last Sunday, as I was preparing for the events of the week to come, I took a careful look at the mountain forecast for Friday and Saturday. At that time, the forecast called for snow above 4000 feet on Friday, Friday night and Saturday. Monday evening it looked a bit better, but not much. By Wednesday the forecast called for partly sunny weather on Saturday. I drove to the mountain Friday night under a beautiful cloudless sky. We pitched our tents by the light of a galaxy of stars and Saturday we watched the sun rise in the east un-obscured by any hint of a cloud. I feel truly blessed, as though The Lord has seen our efforts and goals for these young men and has chosen to bless us with the best possible weather for our activities.
Becky and I left for Provo Utah on Wednesday morning to attend the BYU graduation for our oldest son. On our way out of town, I parked my Range Rover, loaded with all my gear, in one of the off airport parking lots. The plan called for me to fly back on Friday, after graduation, pick up Rover and head directly for the mountain. Everyone else was to be leaving from Port Orchard at 4:30 PM and would meet me at the mountain. As my flight did not land until 7:00 PM I expected that they would be well established before I arrived. My bag was the first one to be delivered to baggage claim and a Thrifty Airport Parking van pulled up to the curb just as I arrived at the pickup area. Timing was so smooth that I was on I-5 headed for the outing by 7:25.
Since Crystal Mountain had closed for the season on April 13, and Chinook Pass is still closed there is normally very little traffic on Hwy 410 from Greenwater to Crystal Mountain. Friday night I lost count of how many elk I saw along the road. There were several single animals and at least three groups of several animals each. This is normally a time of the year when I expect to see elk as I travel this road, but I was not prepared for how many I saw. I decided that I should cool my anticipation to get to the mountain and slow down so I could be sure not to hit any of these magnificent creatures. As I turned off Hwy 410 onto Crystal Mountain Blvd, I was greeted with a special treat. An enormous bull elk with a fantastic rack, was strolling casually across the road in front of me. There was not enough light for a photograph, but it was an image that my mind will never forget.
By the time I changed my clothes, got on all my gear and was ready to go, it was 9:30. Fifty five minutes later as I was approaching the terminus of the Quicksilver lift I saw lights in the ski patrol shack. It seems that the rest of the group had not been able to follow my instructions very well and had not found our intended camping spot. Together we found the frozen body of water known as Hen Skin lake and set up camp. We probably set up our tents on in an area that would be under water in the summer, but Friday night the water was under several feet of snow. I encouraged everyone to get to bed as soon as possible because I intended to get everyone up in time to see the sun rise from the summit of Silver King. It was cold on Friday night, somewhere in the high teens or very low twenties. In spite of the temperature I was quite cozy in my down sleeping bag. I did sleep with my water bottles as I did not want them to freeze overnight.
I need a louder alarm. The alarm on my altimeter/watch was set to go off at 3:00 AM and I never heard it. About 3:25 I grabbed my headlamp so I could see what time it was. When I determined the time I asked my tent mate, Steve Wrigley, if he was awake. When he answered in the affirmative, we both rolled into action. By 3:45 we had almost everyone making progress toward getting ready. It was almost 4:30 before we had everyone moving up the trail toward our goal for the day.
Silver Basin is a very large bowl on the east side of a peak known as Silver King. Silver Basin is in an area known as the "South Backcountry" of Crystal Mountain resort. During the ski season the ski patrol does avalanche control work in the area and there is a backcountry gate that permits access to the area. It is absolutely my favorite area of the mountain to ski. The traffic to Silver Basin is limited by the 25 minute hike necessary to reach it from the top of the High Campbell lift. It is an area that my children have come to love as well, but occasionally it has taken extra encouragement.
Our objective was to be at the summit of 7012 foot Silver King in time to watch the sun come up. I knew that with a 4:30 start that we were likely not going to make it, but I still wanted to try. We made good progress along the cat track toward the base of the main bowl. There had been several inches of new snow early in the week and our path alternated between a breakable crust and soft powder. We stopped and divided our group into three rope teams just before the climb becomes steep. The only reason to make this climb while roped together is to provide lots of practice in roped travel. There are no crevasses on the slope and it was not overly icy. The face we climbed is steep but not technically difficult. While we were roped together at an elevation of about 6200 feet, we saw the snow around us turn a pale pink. Facing east we could see the first rays of the sun coming over the ridge on the other side of the bowl. There is nothing quite like watching the sunrise in the mountains.
By 6:45 we were on the top of the ridge and took a short water and food break before the climbing the final 300 feet to the summit. At 7:45 we were all on the summit for photos and views that can only be seen from our location at the time. Mount Rainier appeared to be close enough to reach out and touch. To the south Mount Adams was very clear. To the southwest, Mount St Helens was blanketed in white as it has not been for a couple of years. The sky was too hazy to see Mount Baker to the north, but Mount Stewart and Glacier Peak were clearly visible.
After enjoying the view and taking lots of photos we shared a particularly sweet moment together. All 10 of us gathered in a circle and I offered a prayer thanking The Lord for his blessing of a beautiful clear day to enjoy the glory of his creation and our chance to view it.
After 30 minutes on the summit, we again tied into the rope and began our descent. At the ridge of the bowl we spent an hour practicing how to use an avalanche beacon before descending the bowl and getting back to our camp site.
While nearly everyone took a nap in the warm sun at camp, I put on my skis and followed a skin track to the crest of the ridge east of the lake we were camped on. From the ridge I thoroughly enjoyed a ski descent of a steep slope covered in a foot of fluffy powder show. My children think that I sound like the audio of a cheap movie when I get to ski deep powder. I think that the leaders and young men who heard me from camp might agree.
Everyone enjoyed our outing. The knowing grins that I saw in church this morning speak worlds about our goal for the summer and the training events we are participating in, leading up to it.