A Decade of Climbing

This weekend I decided to try and figure out how many times I've climbed Mt. Adams... because I honestly couldn't remember.  So I set out through the family photo albums, to count up the climbs.  As I began, I also began listing all the other climbs I've done.  The final product, I've entitled the Summit Bag.

I've been mountaineering since 1999.  I remember that first summer I was so bummed when all the guys went and climbed Mt. Adams and I couldn't go.  "Next year, Jenny."  So, a few weeks later, my dad took a bunch of us kids up Mt. Gilbert.  We rode our bikes in the first few miles, loaded down with heavy backpacks, and, yelling at the top of our lungs, chased the grazing cows out of the trail.  I was incredibly fashionable and I wore like 5 articles of clothing, all different shades of clashing blues.  We ate cheesy broccoli soup, and my grandpa mixed in mashed potatoes.  We stood on the summit, and looked down at the green Warm Lake, thousands of sheer feet below (or so it seemed).  That was the beginning.  I was ten.

The next year I climbed Mt. Adams.  It was perfect weather.  Zach Gilbert and I practically raced up the mountain... they had to make us stop to eat food and drink water (we were so mad! haha).  Looking back on it, we were SO LITTLE!  But we thought we were pretty big and important.  We summitted... and glissaded down on our backsides.  Glissading has never ceased to be my favorite part of climbing.  The five of us kids, ages 9 to 12, slid down that mountain like there was no tomorrow!  We barely used our ice axes for brakes, and colliding into the person in front of you was the best feeling in the world.

Now I'm twenty.  I've climbed Mt. Adams every year since that year, and sometimes multiple times in one year.  I've been mountaineering for half my life.  I've seen a lot, I've learned even more.  These last couple of years, I haven't climbed enough... because Camp and climbing season are at the same time.  But this year, bring the climbing on!  (Unless I go to PT school, but I'm pretty sure I won't.)

Mt. Gilbert climb.  Super fashionable, I know:)  Look at my brother - He's barely 8!

This is my first trip up Mt. Adams.  I loved those pants, by the way.  My mom made them.

This is my most recent climb - Cathedral Rock.  This is my family, looking as geeky as possible.

All this going through the photo albums and making a Summit Bag has inspired me just a little.  I want to make a website.  Of all the climbs I've ever gone on.  This is going to be a rather large project, and it'll take me forever, I know.  But that's a goal I made, just tonight.

My other climbing goals include Johannesburg.... a super sweet climb in the North Cascades; camping on the top of Little Annapurna; and climbing Mt. Adams this winter.  We'd have to snowmobile in the first part.....and pray for a break in the weather.  It'd be an adventure for sure!  Oh, and I want to go to Nepal, really soon:)