Jennifer, Dennie, Peg, Eric and I spent Saturday making a second attempt at South Bessemer. While we made it a bit further then our first try two years ago, we still fell sort.
Bessemer is a boring 12 mile grind up old Weyerhauser logging roads. We hit the first snow at around 3000 feet, and the snow depth increased as we gained altitude. We finall stopped for lunch at 4000 feet and relaxed for a bit in the snow. Jenn was clearly feeling better when she was done with her potty break.
Eric and Peg turned back at around 4300 - they had a baseball date for the evening. Jenn, Dennie and I trid to fight for the summit. Soon, we were forced to take 5 minute turns kicking steps.
At 4800, all of us were postholing up to our hips and it was time to call it a day before someone got either hurt or too tired. We declared victory and headed back to the truck.
7 1/2 hours in the attempt, and still no summit. I had really hoped to file this in my 'never again' bin - right next to Tiger and Si. We'll try again in August.
In the end, it was a good training hike. Jenn and I both took reasonably heavy packs - we're one step closer to the Summit of Rainier in a few months.
