El Diente - Wilson Ridge Report

Day 1 - Backpacked in 2 hours on Thursday and set up camp. Started at 5 am Friday which I thought was too late judging from group speed on the backpack in. I am not a particularly fast walker myself but I have endurance and these folks were behind me. I also knew how long and far we had to go so i was just praying for good weather. Day 2 - Hiked up the Rock of Ages Saddle then dropped down all the way down into the Navajo Basin. At that point you have Wilson on the left and El Diente on the right. Went to base of El Diente and just started straight up the side a little left of the actual summit. Personally I would rather put my crampons on and climbed up the snow - but I go with where the guide goes. Reached the ridge at 10:10 am which worried me because I would rather be 1/2 way across the ridge at this point. Dropped our packs and climbed 10 minutes over to El Diente summit. Took quick rest and started the famous traverse. About 1/2 way across the traverse, two folks were tired and started slowing quite a bit which made for slow progress. Unlike my Capitol climb, I was rarely roped and never put my helmet on. At one point, the guide started roping the other lady to just to help keep her going. I was concerned about making time and getting off the ridge that I hardly took any photos. Lots of climbing on the ridge and I thought it was tougher than capitol. Took 4 hours to hit the summit of Wilson which by that time was 3 pm exactly - against my rule book being on summit that late but there is no other quick way down and once you are up there, might as well summit the two and keep going as fast as you can. The last 5-10 minutes to summit of Wilson we did rope up. For some reason, I was having a great day on the mountain. I could have just cruised that traverse (following the guide of course). Then we traversed and descended slowly forever coming down between Wilson and Gladstone down into Navajo Basin. I wanted so bad to down climb some of the snowfields and do some glissades but I know the guide was deciding not to because two people were just getting too exhausted and wobbly. The other woman was just exhausted and then one of the guys was tired and something went out in his back. But we kept on pushing and the teamwork was great. The guide was more forceful and the other guy who felt good was nuturing and supportive. The balance was good. After all this you get to the bottom and the cruel thing is you must climb back over the Rock of Ages saddle. At the saddle, We all made calls with my cell phone as we knew we were not getting out of the mountains tonight. Got to camp about 8:10 pm - a little over 15 hours of hiking. I wanted to pack up camp and get out as I had a motel reservation I was looking forward to. If we stayed we would surely have to rest and then we would be hiking out in the dark. The other lady said she could not go on. Anyway we all decided we should stay together and we should spend the night. Turned out to be best decision because it began raining shortly after we cooked dinner. Packed up next day and headed out - nice leisurely enjoyable morning. Well, I thought so anyway. The sky had cleared and the columbines were all out. Gorgeous day! I almost cancelled this trip cause I was worried that I would be tired. I had just done 13.5 hours on Capitol on Tuesday so I was not sure I was ready for another long day only two days later. Not sure what happened, but I felt great all day and could have easily hiked a few more hours. The altitide was not bugging me at all. And although one knee was starting to get a bit sore, my quads felt great. It may have helped that I just got off capitol. Sometimes, I think we get stronger when you know others need support. Who knows. The team was good with each other and although slow, everyone knew we had to keep going on matter what. We made both summits and no one got hurt. === The End ===