Sometimes tough decisions need to be made in the mountains. Often for safety reasons, not just practicality. And it’s often when we’re thinking we’re closer to our goal than we are to our starting point… unless we factor in making it home. After all, summiting is really only being half done, unless you’re kicking off your boots and calling the top home. On lead for this Mt Madison hike was Redline Guide Arlette Laan and what follows is her summary and photos.
The Goal: A 4000-Footer and a Terrifying 25 Trail. The initial plan was King Ravine to Mt Adams and maybe Madison. But after some deliberation at the trailhead we decided to go for slightly less bouldery trails. With the guest not having been able to do as much prep hiking as she had wanted we didn’t want to overdo it. Valley Way was selected.
The steady climb up brought us successfully to Madison Spring Hut and after a brief water stop we continued to the summit. Number 6 of the 48 (5 with us) for this guest [congratulations]. It started drizzling at this point but after lunch at the hut the weather seemed to clear. We felt energetic enough to continue on to Airline Trail and maybe add Adams. Making good time to Airline but knowing the boulders to Adams would slow us down a lot I offered the slightly longer but easier approach: hike to Thunderstorm junction and then decide if there was enough energy and time to do the shorter, less steep boulder section to the summit. Unfortunately energy was running out and calculating speed, daylight and ‘do we really want to be dead tired and exhausted at the end?’ the guest made the decision to not push on. While somewhat disappointing being only .3 from the top, it turned out to be the smart decision and it gives us a reason to come back and tag another Terrifying 25 Trail. As it was we backtracked to Airline and enjoyed the views over King Ravine, now being graced with sunshine again. —Arlette
