9. No Man's Pass

Monday, July 26, 1982


Joe's journal:

We made it over No Man's Pass.  We left our camp at about 8:30 am, and reached the pass about 2:00 pm.  It was a tough combination of boulder hopping and snowfield climbing.  Total gain in elevation of over 1400 feet.  We descended to Downs Lake by 6:00 pm.

Tom's journal:

We made it.  Got up at 7:00 this morning and headed out at 8:30. We got here about 6:00, and it was a rough 9 1/2 hours. We were all thrilled to take our packs and boots off.  A lot of work.  Spent much of the day on snow on both sides of the pass.

Tired.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

The first obstacle was a rock climb.  When we finally topped it, we were faced with a long traverse across the tops of several snow fields to the bottom of one we eventually ascended.  We moved cautiously across the snow, nearing the bottoms of rock slides where they met the snow.

We had to go up and to the left near the summit of the pass.  In fact, we cursed whoever had the audacity to call the damn thing a pass in the first place.  Several times his or her name was taken in vain.





Anyway, when we started going up, the leader had to kick foot holds in the snow for those who followed.  With the packs on it was hard work.  Plus, we were at almost 12,000 feet, making breathing more like a pant.

At one spot, Doug fell through the snow into a hollow beneath.  At another spot, we prematurely celebrated the completion of our ascent.  We rounded a rock outcropping to our left, only to be greeted by another large snow field above.  We went up it and to the left, where the terrain finally leveled out.  It was rocky, but flat enough to make traveling relatively easy.  We eventually got across to the other side and saw what we had to descend:  Steep, is basically what it was.     

We sat at the top, took off our boots, and ate lunch.  Cheese, peanut butter, raisins.

"What's our next stop?" Doug asked Joe.  "Certain Death Mountain?  Broken Leg Creek?"




Top of the pass

The trip down was long and arduous.  By the time we got down off the snow it was a relief, until we realized it was loose rock below it.  We had to rope up on the snow fields, which was kind of fun.  We skidded down on our butts.





When we got to camp, we were bone tired and hurt all over.  We got the tents set up, limped around awhile, got a fire going, and it started to rain.  We decided it was the mountain's revenge for violating No Man's Pass.

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