June-4-10, 2009 Valhallas, Olympus, and Vicinity
So this is my perspective of Jason and my 7 day trip out to Mt Olympus and the Valhalla’s for a much better written report check out Jason’s version at http://www.cascadecrusades.org/SkiMo...ympics2009.htm
Jason was kind enough to let me use his photography which can all be purchased at http://www.alpinestateofmind.com/
It had always been a goal of mine to make it out to Mt Olympus the highest point in Olympic National Park but for one reason or another I never made it out that way. Jason Hummel and I had been communicating back and forth about putting together an epic trip in which we would head out to Olympus and climb deep into the Heart of the Olympics via the Valhalla’s a remote sub range.
Day 1 Welcome to Olympic National Park.
Right from the start I knew it was going to be brutal as there is nothing like going to a trailhead in preparation to climb an 8000 foot peak and seeing that your starting elevation is at around 600 feet. We packed our bags as light as we could minimizing our gear only to necessities which included shelter, clothes, food, rope, harness and our ski/snowboarding gear. We were fortunate in the fact that the trail was very well maintained and flat for the first day slowly rising to 2’500 feet over a 14 mile stretch. Along the way we ran into two groups one was a group of over 20 students taking a 23 day course on outdoor education from Itica University in New York and the other group was a party of 4 that just so happened to be from the East Coast as well. We slowly hiked up the relentless trail deep in the Heart of one of the last remaining rain forests in the Northern Hemisphere surrounded by lush green vegetation along the way. The mixture of the late afternoon sun and the weight on our backpacks took its toll on us as we started making a routine of taking breaks every 3 miles to rest and refuel on water and Calories.
The day seemed to go forever but we kept a reasonable pace of around 3 miles every hour before finding a camping spot which provided a the necessities for a good nights sleep (a flat space and a fast moving stream for water). The first night we found ourselves in the company of the 4 East Coasters who were impressed by the fact that we were lugging our gear for over 18 miles in hopes of skiing some sick lines. We shared stories by the fire of our outdoor adventures as we soaked up some much needed rest and relaxation before going to sleep as we were well aware that the next day was going to be another brutal day of hiking up relentless switchbacks to our potential base camp for the rest of the trip on the upper flanks of the Blue Glacier.
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