Monday, July 21, 2008

Motherload Conquered!

We successfully conquered the Four Peaks Motherload yesterday. It was absolutely epic. There is no other word to describe the 13.5 hours of highs and lows we experienced. I have no idea how much elevation we climbed (all peaks are around 7,657 ft) nor how many miles we hiked but I do know that we didn't really stop at all, didn't eat nearly enough and didn't bring nearly enough water (4 liters each).

I will go into more detail in a later post, but I wanted to say that we made it, it was harder than I thought and I think we had a couple of guardian angels looking out for us.

Stories to come on great amethyst finds, amazing walls climbs, knife edges in sheer whiteout conditions, chance encounters with snakes, rocks falling at one's face, running out of water with hours left to go, not having another human encounter the entire 24 hours we were out there, and the emotional ups and downs that follow the right and wrong choices made in navigation. But most of all, the word of the day was trust: in your teammates, in the rock you are hanging precariously off, and in yourself and your strength to keep on going because there is no other choice.

Like I said...EPIC.

Here is the proof atop all four peaks (we went 4 to 3 to 2 to 1, south to north on the ridge). The first two are completely covered in dense white fog. The third was we look tired and angry mostly because it had taken us over 5 hours to get to peak 3 from peak 2...insane. The sun had come out and with the heavy humidity...made for very hot conditions. The fourth peak shows us deliriously happy and just ready to get back to the car where liquids resided. Finally some of the views of the day were visible.

4 comments:

M said...

congrats, you are still crazy.

The Chaser said...

best compliment ever mike :)

Deanna Stoppler said...

YOU DID IT! sweet.

i was thinking of you when i was mountain biking last weekend . . . i had to do a drop behind my seat move. too fun!

slice4e said...

Very cool post :)
Enjoyed reading it a lot.