Photos from this trip can be found here.
My first attempt on a volcano and it was more than what I had bargained for. Between the gusty wind, the constant falling snow, and the overcast sky, and me wiping my face the whole time, I managed to get an infection on my nose. Thank God it wasn’t frostbitten like I thought it had.
We got to the ski resort parking lot at 5 AM and left the trailhead around 6. We took our time on the way up because the wind was blowing really hard. With a pair of liners one, it didn’t take long before my fingers were freezing cold that I needed to put my muffs on over the liners. Putting on muffs was a chore in itself.
I had a hard time seeing where I was headed, instead, I followed whoever was walking in front of me. The snow had froze my eyelashes in place and the higher we went, the harder it was to keep my eyes fully open. The cold sweat rolling down my back started to annoy me, but I was too lazy to stop and change out my layers.
We continued to climb for a while until Issac suggested that we turn around because the wind and the chill factor was getting out of control. I seconded his great suggestion since I had already wanted to turn around right before he said something.
As we were heading back down the mountain, more climbers/snowshoers were heading up the mountain. They had soon found themselves turning around not far from our turnaround point due to the weather.
We got to the parking lot sometime in the afternoon. Changed our clothes, ate some snacks, and then went on our merry way back to WA.