He was so excited. He packed for at least a week, packing and re-packing his backpack, gathering things he may or may not needs, etc. One of the guys had a concert the night before so they left as soon as he got home. They came to get Mart at 2am and headed out. They arrived around 6am and started up the mountain at 6:30.
This is a picture of the group just as they were getting ready to start. From left to right (Anthony, Kimball, CJ, Mart, Jon and Trevor)
They started off and Mart said they were all ready to just sprint up the mountain and he was a lot slower than they were. He felt bad that they had to keep waiting for him, but Jon said the next day at church that Mart kept them at a more realistic pace and had they tried to go as fast as they had started ... they would have never made it.
A view of the forest just after sunrise
Mart, Kimball and Anthony
Part of the way up the mountain, the ran into a bear who decide that he also wanted to hike on the same trail. He said it was literally just right in front of them! I can't even imagine ... good thing it was a small one!
Here they are, still standing ... out of the forest part and heading up the mountain
Mart using his hiking axe/ice pick thing to climb the ice
Around 3pm they reached what is called the Saddle. It's the flattest part right before the peak. By this time Mart was in excruciating pain. His feet were killing him and he was struggling climbing the vertical climbs and boulders that came more and more often the closer they got to the peak. He tried to keep going but just couldn't make it, so he told Trevor he was just going to stay at the saddle and rest so that he'd be able to make it back down. This is the view he had while waiting for the group to come back! So beautiful!
This was Mart right before he told Trevor he was finished. Trevor offered to take a picture of Mart and he said this was his attempt at a smile. :) He just couldn't manage much more than that.
They left him with a radio so that they could communicate and make sure he was okay. A little while after he was resting someone called down to him to make sure he was fine and he replied yes. After that he took off his shoes and tried to take a nap ... as he had had little to no sleep up to this point. I guess while he was napping they tried calling down to him again and when they got no answer, Jon came running down the mountain as fast as he could to find out what had happened to Mart. It woke Mart up and he yelled as Jon ran past "Who died??" and Jon shouted out "You!" and collapsed on the mountain! I guess when Jon had asked Trevor (the jokester) if Mart had responded to the last call he told him no ... and Jon took off. When Trevor came back down and met them Jon said to Trevor "I thought you said he didn't answer??" to which Trevor replied saying "Oh, yeah ... he did. He was fine" with a smile on his face.
They were in such a hurry to get off the mountain that no one took any pictures on the way down. They made it back to the car around 9pm and drove home arriving back home at 2am.
Mart said he had definitely bitten off more than he could chew, but still had a really good time. He said it was one of the hardest things he's ever done. All 5 guys in our ward made it to church the next morning ... and all 5 of them were just hammered! They could barely walk and were so sore.
I'm so glad he got to go, it looks like such a fun end of summer adventure. It's definitely something he will never forget. He said they talked about making it a yearly adventure and asked him if he would go with them again. This time, he said he will be more prepared and will actually know what to expect.
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