Broken Top

It's been five years since the lads -- Mark Grediagin, Bill Welch, Tom "T-Bone" Williams, Steve Still -- and I scaled that rotten piece of rock called Broken Top in the Oregon Cascades. 

It was late September 2003, and we were certainly pushing our luck, weather-wise. Markee, Steve and I had tried it before, from the east side. But that's a whole 'nother story. After a night of freezing our asses off, which was somewhat mitigated by the wine with dinner -- and the whiskey after -- we proceeded up the mountain to the point of no return -- Chicken Point.

Despite the cold temperatures, we persevered and reached the summit relatively early in the day, in plenty of time to catch the Duck football game on the radio on the way back down the mountain. The last little stretch of trail to the summit is a ledge about three feet wide, but with a precipitous drop of over 1,000 feet on either side, which can be a bit unnerving, particularly if you have vertigo.

Mountaineers everywhere generally agree: descending is much more difficult that ascending a peak. Footing is all important because the focal points become knees and ankles. In other words, it's best to take it slowly. In the AV clip below, we are beginning our descent.