The Rambler

Jake walking a ledge
Photo by Robert Ging
Not more snow!
Photo by Jake Moon
Heading down Mt. Raymond
Photo by Robert Ging
Sounds impressive,
right? I decided to
sign up for the trip
since it was the only
annual EXT the club
does that I had not
done and also Walt’s
a great guy to hike
with. I had replaced
cycling with climbing
this spring as my
WALT HASS’
WILDCAT
RIDGE EXT
MOUNTAINEERING
SCRAMBLE
June 5, 2010
By Robert Ging
regular activity, so I wasn’t in the greatest
shape, but figured I can keep up with Walt.
Little did I know that since Walt retired he
has been hiking with the hard-core group of
Christine, Dave, et al, and putting on some
(vertical) miles. You know the bunch, or
if you don’t, stay away from them because
they will hurt you with their 5,000+ vertical
fast pace jaunts. The group summitted
Olympus in short order and headed for
Pyramid Peak. I don’t remember how long
it took, but it was a long time with the most
serious exposure of the trip; maybe any trip
that I have taken with the club. As you
might expect, there was an unusually large
amount of snow left on the ridge that added
to the challenge. That would come in handy
later when all of us ran out of water. As for
running out of food, several of us would have
eaten a chipmunk or two if we hadn’t been so
slow from the 13 hours and 7,700 vertical to
catch them. We summitted Raymond mostly
together, with me dragging up the rear. I
just wanted to make sure there weren’t any
stragglers. If you hear Walt say, “It wouldn’t
be an extreme mountaineering scramble
unless…”; you may want to reconsider what
you are about to experience next. Thanks to
Jake for carrying the Big Camera and taking
great photos. NOTE: FRONT COVER
PHOTO IS FROM THIS EXT HIKE.
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