Mountain Creek

Josh and I got out for a day and plowed through waist deep snowdrifts to add 2249' to my vertical total so far. I started the day off by falling in the creek (in a bad way), but a fire near our high point allowed me to feel my left foot again and some hot tea helped us have a really enjoyable day. 

Total so far:  7531'

South Salish - Point 5680'

Sometimes it's tough to get out. I have a lot going on in my life right now. While Janie, Lyndsey and Camilla were visiting for X-mas we went to Hot Springs for some soaking and relaxing. This seemed like the perfect opportunity to get out and further explore the mountains in the area. Unfortunately, snow was going to make things tough. Steep slopes and slippery powder do not make for the best solo conditions. Thank god for the Salish Range, which lies just east of Hot Springs and is a very large north-south running ridge. The west side of the ridge gets drenched in late day sun and remains relatively snow free.

The climb was ~2800' feet of vertical in 4 miles, a nice day trip. I was surprised that it took 2 hours up and 1.5 hours down. Not bad for 8 miles + 1 vertical (round trip) I only count vertical climbing so add 2800' to my yearly total.