But first, as promised, a picture of the little KKK statue. Tell me it isn't a clansman, go on, tell me. Anyway.
Our first summit was 15,465 feet - just shy of the full three mile mark. Though if you count the bulge of the earth at the equator we could fudge it to say above 3 miles, but anyway. The hike started off with a nauseatingly bumpy ride at six AM across broken pavement, then rough cobblestone, then horribly washed out dirt roads. After that little adventure we started off across a beautiful high moutain pasture. a few piss breaks later - our guide Luis instructed the ladies how to do this with a minimum of embarassment - and we finally got the the rock wall. Deciding we´d rather live to see another day we elected to go around the "easy" way across a huge expanse of shale and then scramble up the last 400 feet of trecherously loose rock. It was a blast! pictures are posted in the gallery here https://www.arr-the-kraken.com/gallery/view.php?gid=5 .
After giddy jokes of decapatating our fearless leader and drinking his oxygen rich blood we decided to head back down. What took us 5 hours to summit took about 45 minutes to get down. Another jarring ride past curious cows and dogs feircly guarding their nests of garbage we got back to town. Nearly everyone crashed immediately but Henry and I set out to take advantage of the ridiculously low prices for hiking gear here and get me a better day pack.
Some struggles with an incompetant user at the primary cafe ("how do I copy a file?") and we arrive here. We're meeting for well deserved pizza for dinner - the hike burned 3500 calories - then a nice leasurly night before hitting the climbing wall tomorrow.
Now that I have a cable and now where to post pictures I should be able to add more photos to the gallery, it's easier than linking to them here and we all know I am generally lazy (current excursion excluded).
Hope all are well in seattle, ireland and afgahnistan. Peace out yo.
Love the triumphant picture of you by the cross (I'm assuming the summit?) Can definitely see the change of climate as you progress. Pretty impressive.
Nice climb, Zack. Be sure to bulk up on your food before you go out again. 15,500 feet is a long way up! Have fun on your next climb.
Looks like you're having a blast....sounds like you'll be seeing a lot of snow pretty soon!....39 Days left till I'm back Home....enjoy the climb and stay safe!
Looks like a pretty easy, nice hike, until you realize that you're three miles up... ;)
Where is the injury?
Boy, that cross is austere. I'd've guessed it was put up by three Marines in gale force winds until I get a perspective shot with you there for scale. Pretty cool. Glad you're having fun. Hope they don't have to carry your hobbled ass back down. But then again, you don't have your snowboard, so I guess that lowers the chances.