Glacier Mountaineering Society

Sun, Aug 1 2010 - Spot Mountain to Red Mountain (View Original Event Details)

Coordinator(s):		Paul Cogswell
Participants:		Annie Gustafson, Martin Valles, Paul Cogswell, Franz Barthel, Casey Dunn

Write Up:
Things weren't looking real positive as go day approached. Of the 14 climbers who had shown interest, 9 had peeled off the list. The night before, terrific thunderstorms passed through, and the forecast called for more to come. Also, since the coordinator never got the preclimb done as intended, the route planning had to be based largely on consultation with Bud Iszler. With the understanding that it would be an exploratory climb, and the attitude of let's go see what happens, the team of 5 brave climbers headed out the Dry Fork trail for Red Mountain thinking it would be safer to be in the valley for awhile in case thunderstorms did materialize, rather than almost immediately on the ridges which would have been the case if Spot Mountain had been the first objective. After an hour on trail the weather was holding and a route was taken up one of the ridges connected to Red. The weather continued to cooperate, and the route was working out to be very interesting and fun, and going where it needed to go. After at least twice believing the next big high point had to be the summit and then finding out it wasn't, the true summit and the most challenging climbing of the day appeared in the distance. The last pull to the top went well but with weather approaching, no more time was spent than needed to quickly appreciate the accomplishment and take a few pictures before it was time to go. No time was wasted seeking lower ground. The jackets went on and off three or four times as rain and wind came and went, but thankfully, not much lightening. The Dry Fork trail was finally reached, and what should have been an uneventful walk to the finish suddenly became more exciting than normal because of a wildlife encounter! An aggressive ptarmigan was determined to enforce it's authority over travel priveleges on the trail. Evasive action was taken and the challenge, while fierce, was unsuccessful. The hike ended after 9 1/2 hours and everyone seemed tired but happy. -->Thanks to Bud for his generosity, his time, and knowledge<--

Have some photos from this event that you'd like to share in our photo album? Please forward them to Tim Anderson at twamontana@gmail.com. Please note that we prefer to receive the photos in approximately 640x480 or 750x500 pixels - do NOT send original high-res photos. If you have a LOT of photos, please submit up to twenty of your favorites (only) for a day event, or up to forty of your favourites for a multi-day event. Thank you.