Mt. Adams epic

I don’t want to call what happened at Mt. Adams an epic, however, it’s the closest I’ve come to an epic so far in my life.
**knock on wood**

I left the parking lot at 2pm with the intention of staying with the group and everyone arriving at camp around the same time. It’s usually how these trips work. However, 3 of the folks were speeding ahead and we lost track of them. I stayed back with the other 2 to make sure they made it up. We ended up off course and when I realized that one of the guys wanted to keep pushing onward. He was adamant about not losing the elevation we gained to get back on route. Fortunately, I know people ski off the route we were on so we could make it up if he wouldn’t turn back. I should have forced them to turn around but I didn’t. It was my one mistake though we would have made it to camp to meet the rest of the group regardless of which route we took.

The girl that was with us starting getting really sick. She complained of a headache and nausea. She didn’t have hardly any water left and neither did the guy. I have no idea why they didn’t bring more or plan to make some out of snow earlier. I still had 2 liters left in my pack, which was plenty to get to camp with some left over. I was already annoyed at this situation because we needed to get moving. Even though she got more water she was still sick and getting sicker. I decided we needed to turn back and get her back to the car and on to a hospital.

The guy and I (I’m not putting names in the story because I don’t know these people) took turns carrying her back down the mountain. She was vomiting the whole way down and was unable to keep any water down. I knew we had to get her down quick and to a hospital for an IV. We got back to the parking lot and I found some nice folks that were willing to take her to the hospital and I sent him as her escort so she wouldn’t be alone. I stayed back at camp hoping the team would come find me so we could get out of there and meet her at the hospital.

I seriously thought they would come. The leader is my friend and knowing the type of person he is I thought he would ski down and find me. No one came. I stayed at camp and got water from other folks that were on their way out. I didn’t have much to eat since most of my stuff needed to be cooked with hot water but I had enough to get by so I wasn’t too worried about it. I thought for sure they’d come at first light when they realized we still weren’t there. No one came.

I woke up to the forest ranger telling everyone we needed to get out. New climbers had shown up to head up the mountain and were disappointed everyone had to evacuate. There was a fire, a big one. It was a mile away and heading towards camp. I couldn’t leave. My phone and keys were in my friend’s car, which was locked up. I couldn’t leave without getting them a message about what happened. I asked the ranger to call up to the climbing rangers to find my group and let them know. The message never got through for whatever reason. During the time I was in the campgrounds/parking lot the fire had spread from 100 acres to 500 acres in an hour. The ranger prepared those stuck in the parking lot to move up hill above tree line because the fire department worried that the fire would jump the road to our side. Fortunately, it only jumped a little bit and they were able to control it enough to get cars out in batches as they fought the fire.

Around 4pm the ranger got a call from the climbing rangers asking if they had found 3 missing climbers because there team had been looking for them. He knew right away they were talking about me and the 2 I sent to the hospital. He let them know I was safe and they started heading down to the parking lot. We had a window of opportunity to get everyone out of the lot. The rest of my team arrived at around 4:30 and 5:00 pm. As soon as I saw them I had this rush of emotions. I was angry, hurt, and disappointed. I began yelling at the leader telling him what had happened and how the girl went to the hospital. I told him how completely irresponsible he was as a team leader.

We rode home together and talked out the situation. I feel a lot better about it and I think everyone involved will learn a lot from this situation. I can honestly say that I would not feel safe climbing with most of them again. Fortunately, only one is my friend and I can forgive him for what happened. He’s a good guy, smart, and a great climber and I know he will learn from this. I’m just glad everyone made it out safely.

I have pictures to post later from the trip and of the smoke/fire.

http://www.fs.fed.us/gpnf/news/2008/20080713b-coldsprings-fire-1500hrs.shtml

http://www.kptv.com/news/16870363/detail.html?rss=ptl1&psp=news

Video: http://www.king5.com/video/index.html?nvid=262942