We Survived

We made it to the top of San Jacinto, but it was a bit treacherous. The one time we should have had our crampons, we decided to leave them behind. Never again. I don't mind carrying them, since they are lightweight, and if I need them, I'm SO happy to have them. It took about 2 hours and 45 minutes to get up there, and about an hour to get back down. I love glissading (sliding on my ass)!

Another new piece of gear we bought were ice axes. We needed these for the snow course, and I had no real intention of keeping mine (thank you REI return policy). But, after properly self arresting, I'm so happy with it. It also helps with glissading, and keeping you in control of your slide. And it just feels... AWESOME in my hands. It's kind of wicked looking, and it certainly does its job well. Oh yes, I LIKE this piece of gear....

We only stayed one night, however, because I didn't get any sleep. I was too cold, not because our sleeping bag didn't work, but because our sleeping pads kept slipping out from under us (me) and I was basically sleeping right on top of the snow. I woke up the next morning warm (finally), but feeling sick from lack of sleep. Our sleeping bag is a homemade nylon "quilt" for two people, so we can share body heat, which is great, if you're already warm. Trying to warm up two bodies that are both cold takes a long time and a lot of energy, but once it's warm, it's toasty! Our problem is our sleeping mats aren't the same (mine an inflatable Thermarest, his a closed cell Ridgerest), and they slide around when we move. I'll have to get the same mat (which I needed to do anyway), and then we'll figure out a way to keep them attached to each other, so we never run into this again (hopefully).

But, it was another good trial run of our gear. We know what works and what doesn't, and we can solve the few issues we've found so far. We did get another new tent, seam sealed it, and now we've got to give it a good test run (Rain in So Cal? Not likely, but we'll figure out a way to properly test it.)