Mt. Hubris
September 29-30, 2006
The Castle Crags Wilderness area is in Northern California and was named for the swarm of lovely glacier polished granite peaks (plutons) located there. We started our climb early Saturday morning with a brisk hike up the three miles to the base of Mt Hubris. Doug Nelson captured the feeling of the early morning with his haiku:
Four thirty wake up!
You have got to be joking.
Can I make coffee?
To get to the base of Hubris we had to do the hardest part of the climb, which was to make it through the Manzanita maze of constant sorrow. No one escaped unscratched. Peter Green was so moved by this part of the climb that he too composed a haiku poem:
Ascend cosmic wall
must pass the manzanita
truly crux of climb
Doug likewise found inspiration there:
Dense manzanita
Slow, blood trickles down my shin
At dawn granite looms
The climbing was outstanding. We had two teams of three. The first team, Peter, Maryanne and April had a grand time. April found religion when she led the final knife-edge pitch with certain death on either side, she looked back and composed a quick poem:
Cosmic Mount Hubris
Look over the edge and sigh
Oh my God, said I.
Wayne, John and Doug had many fine moments on their climb, though Wayne felt some trepidation on his first multi-pitch climb:
A crack in the rock
I sure hope this pro will hold
don’t want to go splat!
When we were all back at the trailhead John Pegg expressed his feelings in this fine haiku:
My clothes are sweaty
So quickly the shadows grew
Time for a brewski
Of course, even though it was time for a brewski we didn’t drink until the official Obsidian portion of the climb ended. John Pegg’s truck was having trouble with the thermostat and we were worried that it wouldn’t make it. Peter Green once more captured the feelings of the group with this poem.
try to keep it cool
as we go over Siskiyou
John thanks for driving
Wayne Deeter, not happy with the challenge of a simple haiku, made his an acrostic. I’ll leave that to you to figure out.
Climbing over stones
Maryanne’s into control
While April laughs last.
And If you are wondering about the silly verse, well I was just entertaining myself and they were all kind enough to go along.
Climbers and poets
weave ropes and words together
turning stones to poems
Climbers were: April Anderson, Wayne Deeter, Peter Green, Doug Nelson, John Pegg and Maryanne Reiter, leader.
On the trail at oh-dark-thirty (by Peter Green)
Light on the horizon (by John Pegg)
Mt. Hubris, aka “The Ogre” (by John Pegg)
Wading through the dread manzanita (by April Anderson)
Maryanne leads the first pitch of the “Cosmic Wall” (by
John Pegg)
“I’m taking it in as fast as I can!” April belays Maryanne up the
second pitch (by Peter Green)
John leads the second pitch while April starts out on the third (by
Wayne Deeter)
Maryanne poses beside the ¼" bolt with custom hanger at the top of the
third pitch (by Peter Green)
April on top of the forth (by Wayne Deeter)
Doug nears the top of the forth pitch (by John Pegg)
“Yikes!” April leads the sixth pitch (by Peter Green)
Doug arrives at the top (by John Pegg)
Start of the second rappel (by Wayne Deeter)
Just hanging around waiting for the “old guys” (by John
Pegg)
“Hot foot” (by April Anderson)