Mount Si with Theron

Published on 2004-2-13 by Michael Stanton

Mount Si, Feb 13, 2004

Theron and I hiked up the old trail to Mount Si before work. It was his first time on that trail. I was worried about missing an important turn in the dark, but it was light enough for me to see. We had fun hiking up, then on a whim decided to climb the haystack. Neither of us had ice axes, but I had "instep" crampons (for icy streets and sidewalks!) and Theron had his full alpine crampons. It was a good mix of dry rock and crusty snow. It took two hours to the summit, where we admired great views of Seattle and Mt. Rainier. Getting down was tough, the footing on icy ground was kind of insecure without front points. Theron kicked a few steps for me on the lower section. Anyway, the "instep" crampons were really great for the icy upper mile of the trail. We headed down, exciting about some climbing for the next day.