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Mt. Jefferson, 9/9/12

billski

Active member
Joined
Feb 22, 2005
Messages
16,207
Points
38
Location
North Reading, Mass.
Website
ski.iabsi.com
Trekking to the summit. With an eye on the weather we persisted. You'll never know from these pictures, but the sustained winds were about 40mph.

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On the other side, the Flags of the 48 were flying today to memorialize 9/11. Mike, a veteran took great pride. Flags flew on all 48 peaks for two hours yesterday, same time. Getting those flags up was a very difficult challenge. The summit is directly behind us. "Rock Pile" for sure. 5,712 vertical feet.
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The way down, was vastly more difficult than going up. The sustained winds got up to 49mph while gusts were as high as 67 mph. We stopped quite frequently to re-gain footing and to hunker down when necessary. It took longer to get down than to get up. The clouds blew right "through us" at jet speed. For those who justifiably turned back, once you got over the "cliffs" at the beginning of the assault, things became much more reasonable, lots of "rock hopping". Rock hopping was no easy feat, with gusts blowing at you. Staying low and going slow (except Mike!) was essential to us "Over 50's. Everyone was awesome troopers, patient and understanding. There was clearly a bit of "bonding" going on with people who never met until a few hours ahead of time.

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On the way down. One casualty.

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It rained lightly laterally. Every drop that hit my face hurt like hail being hurtled. My helmet sounded like a popcorn popper. It took nearly 7 hours to cover 5 miles, a slowness "record" for me!
 
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