I started off the summer climbing South Early Winter Spire with my brother, Nick. This was his first multi-pitch climbing experience so I chose a fairly straight forward route that I had previously climbed befo
re. Our objective was the South West Rib (5.8). It was a great trip, the only downside was that we had run out of water and I became super dehydrated by the time we reached the summit. I learned that I may have a salt deficiency on this trip, and needed to change what I brought to keep hydrated, like electrolyte tablets.
Over the previous winter I had taken up skiing again after 9 years of snowboarding. I had a buddy hook me up with some used K2 tele skis and I was able to get out and ski a bit that winter. I didn't really like the feeling of a free heel when going down steep descents and did not want to put the effort into really learning the art of knee drop tele tur
ns. I chose to buy a AT set up with BD kilowatts (95mm underfoot) and Marker Baron Bindings. My first tour on the new set up was Mt. Adams (12,276 ft). I teamed up with my buddy Pat, a great skier that has a ton of backcountry experience. Our objective was the South Spur route and hopefully ski off the summit. We slept in the parking lot and had a alpine start. The climb went amazing skinning the whole way up. It got a little tricky as we got close to the Lunch Counter, but it was overall pretty easy. The descent was hands down some of the most rad skiing I have ever done, corn is almost as good as fresh pow. The only downside to the climb was the end of the descent, I hadn't eaten much the whole day or let alone drank any water, and as soon as I tried to eat some beef jerky I through it up. I continued to dry heave the rest of the way back to the car and passed out as soon as we got to the auto. I might have learned my lesson on hydration on this climb...hopefully.
