Day 10

Sofia Wrote:

Our rainiest day. We got lost for a while because my phone wasn’t working and Dad was using his phone instead of paper maps to route us or the first time. We finally found our way. Through more woods then up some cliff bands. The rain taunted us as the clouds hovered low and blocked our views of the mountain tops. Down another valley. We lengthened our day by not staying high. But we made it back up and side hilled around another rolling hill. We got some glorious sunshine around noon and took advantage of it by taking a lunch break. The rain returned after lunch. We continued to ascend up these rolling hills. Each baby summit was just a tease. We overshot and ended up right below the summit of a rounded peak. So back down we went. Then up over one last pass as the clouds began to part. To our right were nearby peaks. To our left, sprawling green rolling pastures lined with another glacier-spotted mountain range. Before us were pockets of tarns and lakes. And immediately before us: snow. After descending from the pass over dozens of trickling streams and smoothed rock, I picked my way along the rocky staircases as Dad sent it straight across the snow. Stopped at a tarn for dinner then pushed on. It was golden hour made even more magical by the sight of three caribou prancing through gold-tinted grass. They’d come close to us and stared— one with a glorious set of antlers silhouetted by sunlight. That evening we witnessed a fiery sunset.  

As we approached GDR 47.48, we were told the climb wasn't too bad, just stay between the cliff bands.  We went 50m farther than indicated on the map and found our way up easily with "grab and go."  The rhodedendren branches that on horizontal terraign caused hauvoc, transformed into handy steep slope grips and gravity fighting tools.