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Page Type:
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Trip Report |
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Lat/Lon:
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45.37360°N / 121.6925°W |
Date Climbed/Hiked:
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Nov 6, 2004 |
It's been 11 weeks since I broke my fibula near the ankle joint on Eldorado Peak. I was in a cast for 5 weeks and been slowly getting back into things. I've had the ok from my doctor to get back into "whatever you feel comfortable" for couple of weeks now so I decided to head down to Hood for the day. The forecast called for good weather.
We had decided to take our snowboards and go at least to Crater Rock. Not knowing how my ankle would feel, I had no expectations of the summit. If it happens, great....if not, just enjoy the day.
Started from the parking lot at 3:30 am with Thomas. Very calm and unusually warm. Very icy conditions above Palmer chairlift. Beautiful views all around.
We got up to Hogs Back around 9 am. There were 4-5 rope teams (whom had camped above Palmer) going up the snow slopes above the bergschrund. We watched as ice chunks constantly flew down the chute, pelting them mercilessly. They looked very uncomfortable and taking waaaay tooooo long. Only one rope team went ahead to the summit because of steep ice conditions through the pearly gates. One party got into little trouble down climbing (front pointing). One of its members either just froze (from fear I guess) or had crampon problem and did not move for 10-15 minutes. This pretty much stopped all traffic going up or down for nearly 30 minutes. We made it up the Hogs Back to the bergschrund but this was to be our highpoint of the day.
Realizing that it’s getting too late in the morning and not wanting to get in trouble being in the middle of the traffic, we gladly turned around.
Snow remained very icy (blue ice in many areas) so we did not put our snowboards on until just above Palmer chairlift. We enjoyed a nice long run all the way back to the lodge. Good outing and I had fun.
Overall, my ankle held up okay. The incision (where they put plate and pins) kept rubbing against the inner wall of my boot so that was little painful. The ankle, in general, was sore at the end of the day but no ill affects the next morning.
This trip is my first step on a road to complete recovery.