I don't think I had really considered the latter possibility when I chose this adventure. I'm pretty sure I was simply thinking about a hike with no avalanche danger, a summit where we could sit, and snow. I love snow.

Going up was no big deal. We grunted out the steep trail that runs right up the ridge. The little trees regrowing the forest turned into big trees not harvested in 100 years turned into trees bent and twisted by the elements. After that, it was bare to the summit. It started snowing lightly when we reached the top and we were all smiles.

Then the wind started blowing. It was plenty cold so we started down. We weren't far from the shelter of the trees when a fierce wind blew in from the west. Now, a wind wouldn't be that big a deal. Where we live it's ALWAYS windy. But combined with a foot of dry snow the wind turned from a refreshing breeze to a sandblasting gale.

Like most wind, it was gusty. It would blow hard, flinging tiny daggers of ice at us. All we could do was turn our backs and wait for the gust to die down. We'd move quickly downhill and get blasted again. I suppose it wouldn't have been so bad except I was wearing shorts because... I'm an idiot.

When we got to the first trees we huddled behind them for shelter. Fingers and toes were numb. My face was partially frozen, but we had big grins on our faces. It wasn't a case of "Oh, yeah? Is that the best you've got?" because we all know Mother Nature could knock us right off the ridge if she wanted to. It was more about facing the challenge and making it through.

The rest of the walk down was uneventful. The trees sheltered us while the wind rattled ice from their branches, but we soon had feeling in our extremities again and once our faces thawed we even found ourselves smiling.

📍On the lands of the Snoqualmie people.