Description

I had never been to this side of Hood before. During our hike up, there was a helicopter and search & rescue crews looking for a lost climber who had been lost for a week. We heard from another hiker in our area that they had found a body and planned to recover it the next day. There were many more search & rescue crews along our trail and a team climbed up the Sandy Glacier early in the morning. It was humbling to see all this going on firsthand. The climber was apparently experienced and preparing for a trip to Nepal. Having made it to the top of this mountain on a 2nd attempt, I have a deep respect for what can happen up here considering my first attempt ended in an ice storm and white out. I was with an experienced group. Things could have ended very differently if I hadn’t been. I got a shooting star in this shot. There were several last night. Kind of fitting considering the day’s events…