RESORTING TO PLAN B by Ali Gray
A
s mountaineers, we all know what it's like when things don't go to plan. Partners bail, the weather gets bad, smoke smothers the area, injuries happen, gear fails, or we simply don't feel up to whatever it is we need to do.
Last year, my partner and I wanted to make the most of what was left of the summer with some friends. After being stuck inside and in the city for the entire spring and the better part of the summer, it was time to get out and have some (socially distanced) fun. We were up for whatever—hiking, backpacking, rock climbing, mountaineering—but preferably somewhere high up a mountain. My friend group has been wanting to attempt Mt. Shuksan for a few years. In 2019, we got most of the planning in place for the climb. It was our Plan A. When that fell through due to bad weather, we were thwarted all the way through to Plan D— rock climbing in northeastern Oregon and backpacking in the Wallowas—after falling back on the "pack all the gear and just drive somewhere" plan of action. It was a fantastic trip regardless. 30 MAZAMAS
So when Mt. Shuksan came up in conversation again in 2020, we were determined. The bit of rain forecasted for the first day and night of our climb was worth getting together and back outside. We soon found ourselves camped in Marblemount, ready for an early drive to the ranger station then on to the trailhead. Sure enough, the next day dawned dark and damp, but we weren't deterred. Standing outside our cars in pretty heavy rain at the trailhead, I knew something was astray. We hadn't even left the parking lot and my raincoat was already soaking through. That's weird, it had never given me trouble before, even in the notoriously nasty weather of Patagonia. So on went a spare garbage bag over my shoulders. Since this doesn't work (surprise), all my layers were soon soaked through—and we'd only hiked around a
mile. I was miserable, and I admit I was stubborn and thoroughly unsuccessful at improving my rapidly worsening mood. During brief hiking breaks, we had "how do we feel, should we continue on?" conversations. We discussed things like if it could be a complete whiteout and freezing snowstorm up at camp (probably), if we could hope to dry out our stuff tonight (probably not), if we could start a fire to warm up and dry out (no), and whether the weather was worse than we expected (yes). After these conversations—and, I regret to say, complaining from me—we decided to turn around. Well, so much for Mt. Shuksan, again. The entire northern Cascades region was covered with a huge storm, so our only options were to bail and just drive our noncarpooling cars back to Portland or find something else that had better conditions.
