My favorite part of the climb….
Actually when doing something like this I am thinking about two things. First is how I can't wait to get past this section, and second I hope there's another way down. If there is why didn't I take that way up in the first place?
From what I can find is Eiger final arret. Correct me if I am wrong.
Picture Via: Anthony Franklin Mountaineering
Why do I do this to myself?
I asked that question to a gentleman a few hundred feet above Helen Lake on mount Shasta. He did not speak English so she just pointed down the hill and mumbled something in German. I was brutally sick at Helen lake until four in the morning keeping everyone awake. Got a late start because of that and felt pretty decent the rest of the way up. Beautiful day, lots of sun, snow conditions were pretty solid until the afternoon and no wind at the summit. My most painful sunburn is one on my thigh from the car ride home...
I'll try to get some pics and a trip report up later. If you want to do some snow work on a 14k peak without being too technical Shasta's a great one to do it on. We took a guy who had never been past 10k before and he did fine.
Why I forgot to do my homework: I have brain damage.
An article titled "Reduced oxygen due to high-altitude exposure relates to atrophy in motor-function brain areas" (PDF warning) published in the European Journal of Neurology back in October came to my attention recently. I have a hunch you can figure out what the article has to say from the titles.
So you don't have to actually read a peer reviewed journal article (who would ever do such a thing?) is the first paragraph from the article. I was really stoked that they just came right out with it so I didn't have to wade through eight pages of smartness. (Actually it's kinda interesting... but don't tell anyone I said that)
Conclusion: These findings suggest that extremely high-altitude exposures may cause subtle white and
grey matter changes that mainly affect brain regions involved in motor activity.
Is anyone actually surprised by this? If you go without oxygen for too long you won't be the same.
Via SummitPost