I’ve long been drawn to mountaineering. I’ve always enjoyed reading stories of mountaineering exploits, both good and bad. So, I jumped at the opportunity to take a course when my good friend Mike suggested we take one (and did all the leg work of finding a good course and planning logistics!). My friend Tom from the JMT decided to join us as well, as we embarked on a 3day winter mountaineering course in the Eastern Sierras. We were to hike up from Twin Lakes (just SW of Bridgeport, CA) to establish a base camp below Matterhorn Peak, learns some skills, and hopefully ascend Matterhorn Peak on the second day.
We learned different climbing steps, self arrests, ice-climbing, winter navigation, things to watch out for, how to build camps, got a glimpse into testing snow pack for avalanche assessment, and much more. It was cold…I was cold. We weren’t able to ascend Matterhorn, as conditions on our route were not good. We took in a lot of amazing views, and had a great trip.