We got up at 5:30 b/c we didn’t hear Cristin’s alarm go off – that’s ok b/c it was SO INCREDIBLY WINDY-did I emphasize that enough? I thought a couple of times the fly might just detach and literally fly away! Kemba and Chelly were not impressed with the wind either. I let Chelly in to sleep byy head at about 11:30. He was shivering, but we snuggled up close and both if us relaxed a little. I wasn’t cold – but I had the shakes. Nerves I think. I was really warm last night almost too hot at times. But there were two dogs in the tent to keep us warm too! I wore my insulates booties and my feet were wonderfully warm. No critters bothered us.
So we got ready and started out up the mountain from Elkhead pass. It was still dark and windy. Really cold. The seeps were all ice as we hiked over them. We were slower hiking than we expected having slept up here. We ran out of breath right away and had to slow way down. But we reached the top ridge just at sunrise about 6:45 or so and summoned Belford at 7:00. We were the first and only people up there. And we didn’t stay long. It was horrendously windy to the point it would knock you over and so cold my water bottle was freezing fast and I had to keep it in my coat so that I could drink it. We took a couple of Picts and left as soon as possible. All questions if doing Oxford were gone. We just wanted to get down! So we got back to the tent by 7:50 and warmed up in the sleeping bags for a little while. The sun finally reached our tent about 8:00.
We are breakfast in our tent and in the process I realized that I had left my one water bottle somewhere on the mountain!
