Number 70 - Little Sister, Idaho Summits 2010 Spring Outing.

I have a hard time getting my mind around that fact that I have made another landmark...I've summitted 70 discrete peaks; with, at last count, another 15 repeats of a number of them. Wow, that's 85 peaks...and that is what I remembered to write down. Pretty amazing for someone who had hoped to just do one sometime during her lifetime. Maybe it is time I admit I have a climbing problem.

Little Sister was the chosen adventure for the Idaho Summits 2010 Spring Outing. Matthew Durrant and I coauthored the write ups of Little Sister and its West Ridge route on SummitPost.Org. So, I'll let you check those out there. (By the way, if you were on the team, please sign the Climber's Log)

Our group of 14 was the largest outing the Idaho Summits group has had. Little Sister's Class 2 approach, even with snow, encouraged and motivated me to recruit others, so Margie, Dave (coworker) and his son, Alex, joined me. We had a great time, became even better friends, and I got to meet even more Idaho Summits members. A great group with a common love of the mountains. Just so cool.

Since I knew I could count on at least 2-3 other online trip reports, I decided to do something different (in addition to the SummitPost articles), so I took a stab at making a photo trip report. So now I've made my first YouTube post.

And just think...there used to be a time when all you did was climb a mountain and tell a few friends about it, and there was no such thing as a camera to prove it. Amazing.

Dan's Idaho Summits Trip Report

Splattski's Trip Report

My FaceBook Status 4-1-2010

I returned from Hawaii on Tuesday and I've been too tired to post my facebook status...so here it is, on my blog cuz i've well exceeded the FB character limit.
Sooooooooooooooo.....11 days; 6 flights; 2 islands; 1 wedding, 1 new daughter-n-law, 4 more new family members; (1) 4,576-vert hiked summit of the tallest mountain in the world if you count the below sea level height, 1 drive-up summit, 1 road to Hana and a hillbilly detour, 1 Volcanoes National Park with no lava flowing and no Plan B for no lava flowing, 1 sea arch with huge waves crashing, 1 southernmost point of the U.S. where a professional photographer was kind enough to take our photo (always, always ask the folks with fancy cameras to please take your photo), 5 excellent body board rides, 1 I-Sure-Didn't-See-That-Wave-Coming experience, 2 scuff-ups from body board surfing against rocks, 1 aquarium, 8 zip lines/3 awesome zip line guides, 15 total hiked miles;
AND...7 beaches/1 black sand, 1 huge bamboo forest, 6 waterfalls; 1 full moon bow, 3 rainbows,1 full sunrise/sunset, 1 huge rainstorm; 13 new Hawaiian words, all public appropriate; 7 humpbacks, 1 gorgeous whale song, 3 geckos; uncountable birds, trees, flowers, 1 "home" tree (think Avatar), 1 banyan tree (different than the home tree), 1 ocean wave-swamped chihuahua still holding on to its fetch-stick;
AND...1 shopping district, 3 shopping markets, 2 supermarkets; 2 leis, 4 necklaces, 1 pair earrings, 2 Hawaiian shirts, 1 sarong, 1 shorts, 2 baseball hats, misc knick-knacks, and 1 stupid expensive sucker purchase, BUT a little less stupid expensive because...I also have 1 never-worn, outrageously-priced, ticket-still-on, one-piece swimsuit I can return to Macy's because my bikini still rocks (yes...surprised me too)
AND FINALLY...4 bars, too many Mai Tais, sake, 8 bottles of wine (1 local winery); 2 salsa dances with a tolerant and talented partner, 4 restaurants w/1 on the water, 2 condos, 1 hotel room, 1 mistaken car entry with shocked passenger sitting in the back seat; 43 videos, 372 photos; 3 new FB friends; several hilarious stories, many more memories; lots of sashimi, too many dark chocolate-covered macadamia nuts, 1 invention idea; and 1 BFF that was there every step. Whew!

So, basically, I would say my status is EXCELLENT! Mahalo.