Aug 15, 6:49 PM First night on the trail we camped at Paradise Valley and hung our food up high, out of the reach of grizzly bears.
Aug 16, 12:59 PMAbby and Anthony at the high point crossing the mountain.
Aug 16, 1:08 PMClimbing down the east cliff, we could see how much the glacier had receded. For the past four years it had reached to the red line I drew on the photo. Minimal snowfall last winter, along with unusually hot weather has caused this. Lucky for us, we now had two ways of climbing up/down the steep slope. We could walk over loose and crumbling rock, or put on crampons and go across the ice. The "snow" had melted down into solid, very hard, ice, covered with sand and rock. Crampons and ice axes penetrated only one quarter of an inch.
Aug 16, 1:35 PMHere's a view looking south over the top of the glacier. See the vertical wall that has receded down to the bottom of the glacier, and the top edge is 100 feet or so below where it was last year.
Aug 16, 3:02 PMTo deploy our hoisting equipment, I clambored down over the ice while Lief and Louis deployed the Amsteel Blue, non-stretching cord. I brought my backpack with me but had it attached to the hoisting line rather than carry it. The passage across the ice was uneventful, even with the crampons only penetrating a tiny bit.
Lief and Louis had already carried their backpacks down over the rocks and then came back up to help me, and to carry Anthorny's and Abby's packs down.
Aug 16, 4:24 PMHere's the view of the partially melted glacier from down below. Compare it to a similar photo from last year.
Aug 16, 6:54 PMFinally arrived at camp, set up sleeping quarters and rested while supper was heating up. The blue tent has space for four normal-sized people. Three when one guy is very tall.
Aug 16, 6:55 PMView of camp in opposite direction. My yellow two-man tent and Louis' tarp setup behind the wind break he assembled beginning in 2015.
Aug 16, 7:12 PMTime to wash our feet in the ice cold mountain stream.
Aug 17, 8:59 AMFinally the "lost" airplane wing from 2016 was exposed. I dragged it over to the new hoisting spot and Louis eventually cut it in half so we could use it as a sled for hoisting unusually shaped objects over the ice. This was the day Louis focused on taking apart the engine, leaving the hoisting task to Abby, Anthony, and me.
Aug 18, 8:44 AMThe rain and fog 'n mist began incessantly.
Aug 18, 10:25 AMLief is carrying the first of three loads for that day in his backpack up over the rocky route while the rest of us hoisted larger chunks over the glacier.
Aug 18, 11:01 AMI began helping Lief by carrying one load up over the rocks. This is the view looking up the slope we had to climb.
Aug 18, 11:09 AMThis is the view looking sideways, so you can see the angle of the ascent.
Aug 19, 9:03 AMThe Fireweed flowers look great even in the fog 'n mist.
Aug 19, 11:43 AMI'm taking up another load in my backpack over the rocky route. I had to rest after climbing over that jumble of loose boulders.
Aug 19, 11:58 AMPart of the fuselage came up over the hoisting rig. I thought it was a good idea to photograph the partial number of the airplane.
Aug 19, 12:57 PMHere's the spot where Lief got slammed by a falling rock last year. He was standing in the gap between the cliff and the snow, possibly on top of that pink colored boulder. There weren't very many recognizable landmarks like this. Erosion had taken a serious toll on the cliffs since last year.
Aug 19, 1:19 PMHere's an ugly mangled chunk of wreckage that came up across the ice. I tried to carry it up the cliff by myself but Lief came along and took it away from me.
Aug 19, 6:11 PMOur wreckage hauling task was complete at about 3:00 PM, so three of us decided we could make the round-trip to the peak of Howell Mountain (and back) by 6:30 PM. It was three miles, and with the fog 'n mist we wandered a bit, consuming about four miles on the outbound leg. It turned out to include about 800 feet of elevation gain too. It was too much effort for me but I went at about 100% the entire time.
Aug 19, 6:12 PMWe spent only one minute at the cairn before heading back as fast as I could go. We arrived back at camp before dark, at about 7:30 PM. I was so exhausted I was unable to eat. Lief ate three helpings of various recipes.
Aug 20, 7:46 AMWe woke up to a half inch of snow on the ground. Everything we had was soaking wet. Abby and Anthony carried their own packs up over the rocky route. Lief and Louis and I had to finish hauling camping supplies and the last airplane wreckage up to the top. The top of the mountain was very windy with blowing snow. Abby got chilled while waiting for us so we went into emergency mode to care for her. There are no more photos but we got her over the top and down into the big trees where she was able to warm up. Lief carried her pack down over the fallen logs to Paradise Valley, then she carried her pack the rest of the six miles to the car.
