Glacier Mountaineering Society

Sat, Jun 22 2024 - Otokomi and East Flattop (View Original Event Details)

Coordinator(s):		Mark Blevins
Participants:		Mark Blevins, Lori Niebaum, Joann Schmidt, Lou Herritt, Annabelle Fischer, Greg Adams, Jean Petrangelo, Michael Raymond

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Write Up:
Eight GMSers made the slog up Otokomi and the traverse to East Flat Top under bluebird skies. The scree/talus felt like forever, both coming up and going down. The bushwhack between the point that you leave the trail and enter the talus slope was a complete sea of blowdown. I didn't see any mention of this in other reports that I read, so maybe this was recent? it looks like a micro-burst came through and leveled everything in its path. Not a single tree was left standing and they were all laying the same direction. Coming down we stayed on the east side of the slope, where there was less blowdown, and it was much better. Just below Otokomi's summit we ran up on a griz with a couple of young ones, and she was not too happy about it. We saw her at about 100 yards I think, which became maybe 50 yards in the blink of an eye. Absolutely incredible how fast they can close distance. She then made a hard left into the fire-scarred krummholz, seemingly content with the knowledge that we knew this was her mountain. In totality, a great day with an awesome group, seeing things that less than 1% of people who visit the park will see. A little blood and suffering and a lot of sweat was the offering paid for this privilege. It was a longer day than I was anticipating, a good reminder to never underestimate the mountains, no matter how benign you think a climb may be. They are sentinels, and they are unyielding. Perhaps I am also just getting old and slow.

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.