this story is dedicated, with my sincerest apologies, to my mother and , with my heartfelt thankfulness, to the gentlemen who surrounded and supported me during the events contained therein.

it is also "retro-blogged" to preserve the time and date of these events.



it was around 8:15, over the oatmeal, when someone asked.

"how's everyone feeling today?"

in the back of my mind and despite the fact that i had just shaken a migraine that had gripped me for the better part of the last two days, i thought: "i feel pretty good."

we geared up. i packed my sling pack with an assortment of granola-related foods, a one liter camel-back bladder full of water, all the rain gear i might need, a packet of advil and my camera. i put on and tightened my ankle brace to protect my right, february-ice-sprained ankle and we were off.



we arrived at the base of the trail and decided our route. i remember james saying something to the effect of "if you guys don't mind a little 'scrambling,' we should take huntington's ravine." i will now contest that, though through no purposeful intent on his part, our definitions of "scramble" differ vastly. but we are not to that point yet.

the first two hours were great. after starting off a little quicker than i or my lungs cared for, we settled into a slower groove and took many much needed breaks as we headed away from the crowds and toward the ravine.



we excitingly and creatively crossed a roaring river. we encountered patches of snow and ice that made me wonder if we were no longer heading up mt. washington, but rather into the heart of NARNIA. it was silent. the air was fresh and cool, but the sun still warmed us. needless to say, it was nice.

i distinctly remember the moment. we rounded a corner and looked up to what seemed at the time a sheer cliff looming in front of us. i joked to josh, "i think my soul just died a little." "why?" he asked. "because we gotta climb that thing." "oh." he said. "yeah." i said.





we started up the first snow field and it began to occur to me that this may not be my finest day. over the next couple of hours, the snow fields continued but they conveniently shared duty with all manner of crags and boulders and each step i took grew more and more of a mountain in its own special way. ice was breaking away from other parts of the ravine and we had to move, but at roughly the rate of once every 10 steps or 4-5 climbing moves, my body insisted on taking a break. i couldn't move and breathe at the same time. it was too late to turn back and i knew that the quicker we got to the top, the quicker all of this would be over. of course "quick" was no longer on the menu for today.

i have heard that climbing a mountain can make one feel "alive." i kept waiting for the "climber's high" to kick in. it never did. in it's place was the kind of agony that i have experienced only 2, maybe 3, times in my life to this point. my lungs burned. my legs (though thankfully alternating) cramped. my back ached. my ankle...well, my ankle remained surprisingly resilient. and as my mind began its murky descent into numbness, i wanted nothing more in the entire universe than to vomit.

i did not feel "alive." i was moving as fast as i possibly could, but unfortunately, that speed was mercilessly stuck between first gear and neutral.

at 5 hours in, we finally broke through the vertical "scrambling" and entered the alpine garden trail. as lovely as that sounds, to my horror, the relief i was sure i was going to feel upon entering the last, far less inclined portion of our climb, was quickly forgotten as i realized that even these relatively easy rocks (nicely arranged in almost "stair step" fashion) were just as difficult.

my body and, indeed, my spirit were done.

with jeff and nathanael cheering me on from somewhere up ahead, i swallowed hard and "charged" into the ever-increasing (and entirely unfair) head wind.

"we got you a car" i heard at one point. you see, you can drive a car up mt. washington (a fact for which i used to make fun of some folks) and by the grace of our lord, our trail crossed the auto road. my new favorite people in the world were now a family of four from vermont who were just driving their mini-van up to the summit. they allowed me to ride with them the final 1/2 mile.

at the summit, i immediately hopped on the historic cog wheel train that would take me back down. with barely even time to sit down, we were underway and i was slowly, slowly coming back to life. and it was from this ancient, bumpy, small, loud, child-ridden train that i looked one more time upon the mountain and the ravine that, over the last 6 hours, had slowly and methodically kicked my ass beyond any state i would ever have imagined. then i passed out into my cramped seat.

yep, it was the best $42 i ever spent.





or so i thought....

to be continued