2016-09-02 Gap Mountain
we started up the gully in the rain.. the rain turned to snow as we got higher.. I didn't want to get my camera all wet cause I had problems with it before, but I had to make a photo of the approach. I was worried I wouldn't take any photos on this trip but eventually it cleared (after more snow on the summit ridge) and the trip slipped into the 'epic' category.
As we got to near the col, the rain turned into snow. Leon looks up at our objective.
on the ascent we followed a creek up. there was a fork and we went climbers left and continued on. eventually it led to a ridge that we followed up to the col. The weather was clear here.. no rain, no snow
on the ridge to the col, the mountain is shrouded in clouds. Lucas makes his way up the slope. The black dirt was soft and was super nice on descent.
Some rock standing before we gained the col.
Leon on the ascent.. I had to take several shots because he kept moving around and it was sorta dark so the shutter speed was a bit slow. His smile is reflective of the joy found in the mountains.
Matt and his puppy making their way up the slopes. Like most puppies she was interested in chewing on rocks and there were plenty of rocks.
Lucas on the col approaching the base of the mountain that looms in the fog. We were hoping it would clear. It had stopped snowing and raining.
Where the dirt meets rock. It looks steep from here.
We gained the col and started making our way to the base of the rock. Clouds were moving around, sometimes hiding the views, sometimes revealing them.
Starting out on the rock, the snow started up again but would come and go. It wasn't accumulating on us so it wasn't interfering with our hike.
Lena navigating her way over to a small lookout so we could make some photos. The light streaming in from the west.
Seemed like a fun spot to make a photo. To the right it seemed like the cloud was going to clear and a bit of sunlight was making its way in.
Lena, Matt and Leon traversing above the super steep gully that's mentioned in the guidebook. Made even more ominous due to the heavy cloud cover.
Lucas and Lena climbed up onto an outcrop and posed for photos. Haven't hiked with Lucas in a while, he's been off scaling as many mountains as he can.
Another look at Lucas and Lena on the outcrop.
Coming off the outcrop. I like photos where the people are moving across the landscape a bit more than the ones that are posed. I end up taking a lot of photos when they're moving in an effort to get good body positioning.
Matt and Athena stop to look down the ridge at the interesting terrain. Leon in the distance.
As taken by my helmet mounted gopro. We'd gained the ridge after waiting out a snow squall and the sun came out for a while. The ridge was amazing and the views were incredible. We all ran around like little kids at christmas.
Brocken Spectra as seen along the ridge.. captured by the gopro