Solo but not alone

This was my first time soloing such a big mountain objective, but seeing as it was Memorial Day Weekend, I was certainly never alone. The Avalanche Gulch route doesn't present any terrain problems that require a partner, but I still had some anxiety leading up to the start. Most of it faded away once I stepped foot on the mountain.

Day 1

Started hiking from Bunny Flat around 1pm, later than I had originally wanted to start. Snow reached all the way to the trailhead so I had my boots and crampons on from the beginning. The main boot pack / ski track went up a drainage that paralleled the Horse Camp Trail. Once I reached that elevation, I contoured around to Horse Camp to fill up on water.

Pushed up from Horse Camp up to Helen Lake and set up camp amongst the hundreds of other hopeful climbers. Even though it was incredibly busy, it was clean and people were quiet in the evening. The sun was up until nearly 9pm. I set my alarm for 1:30am and tried to get some sleep.

Day 2

Was up and climbing by 2am with a dozen or so headlamps working their way up toward Red Banks. It got really cold overnight, and the snow and ice were quite firm. The climb out of camp up to Red Banks is pretty relentless, but I made steady progress. I had to put on my down parka and warmer gloves above Red Banks, and by the top of Misery Hill I had to put on an even warmer pair (thanks Erin for convincing me to bring them just in case). The wind chill was pretty brutal near the summit crater.

Reached the summit at 6am for the sunrise. The wind was nearly still and the sun felt great. I enjoyed the views and perfect weather with a few other climbers for 20 minutes or so before heading back down to camp.

The hike down was uneventful and quick. I was approaching camp just after 8am and surprised to find a lot of people just beginning the climb. I'm sure many were just going up to Red Banks, perhaps to ski or snowboard down, but the sun was already hitting the couloir and setting rock and ice loose. When I was packing up camp, yells of "rock rock rock!" began to echo above me. Not long after, another climber made their way back to camp to report someone struck by rockfall to the rangers. A helicopter ultimately had to rescue them.

I was able to glissade some stretches of the hike back to Bunny Flat, and it definitely helped shave off some time.