Prelude to Patagonia, pt. 2 - Yamnuska

As the countdown to Chile continues, I took (forced) Anita up Mt. Yamnuska for some more conditioning, saddled with the weight of a few Portland and Oregon guidebooks in her pack (we're going for a short trip in September). Yamnuska is much more of a scramble than Ha Ling, and the route is significantly more varied. There's some nice forest, views of a huge valley, a bit of scree to slog up, a good mix of technical scrambling, a ridge walk, and then a scree surf descent route that you can literally run down (dropping a few hundred meters of elevation in minutes). And like the scramble itself, Anita's day was a broad mixture of sweating, laughing, grumbling, mosquito swatting, thoughts of divorce, whimpering, and ultimately, triumphant elation at the end. Despite her few moments of panic, the photos do make her look sort of badass.

Enjoy the rest of your long weekend!