I went on hike up Flat Top, a mountain in the Chugach range. The first segment of the climb hit me pretty hard. My chest felt like it had knives in it, I think because of the altitude and because I'm out of shape, not having exercised much all winter. I brought my handkerchief along to warm my neck and was very glad to have it around when I needed it to block wind from my face. I looked like I was about to rob a stagecoach, but at least I was warm. LaterI tied it around my head to keep my ears warm. It was a useful thing to tote up the mountain.
A few of us fell behind, waiting for one of our guys to hump up the slopes. He was getting over a sickness and was really having trouble breathing. He looked like he was in pain. In any event, once we reached the halfway point, we ran into some real, experienced climbers. They had hundereds of dollars worth of climbing equiptment attached to themselves. I couldn't decide who were the silly ones-- them or us, in our cheap hiking boots, jeans, and me with my handkerchief. They told us that there were two ways to climb to the top-- the way they were going was much safer, but they were not sure we could do it without climbing equiptment. The other way, the way our friends had already begun to climb, was prone to avalanching, especially around this time of year, and had recently killed two people.
We would have followed these men right away, were our friends not climbing on the other side. Me, AJ, and Chris ran around the mountain to find them. Our friend Will, who was already halfway up turned and screamed at us from above. For anyone who does not know, loud noises can also cause avalanches, and what he did was not exactly smart. And just two seconds after his scream, Will came sliding down the hill on a wave of snow, not large enough to hurt anyone but fast, and surely frightening to everyone who saw. I don't know how much real danger any of us were in, but admittedly, it was pretty funny. If anyone was going to slide down a mountain on the cusp of a tiny avalanche, it was Will.
So we ran back around to the other side of the mountain and attempted to climb sans equiptment. I had to kick my toe into the snow of the mountain and use that as a step, and do the same with my hands. Occasionally I'd slide a few feet down and have to reclimb up. I felt pretty tough. It was not easy. Once we got to the top the wind blew so hard it was like a constant slap in the face. I could barely open my eyes, let alone stand up. It was at that moment when the two guys who had made it up were going to try to go higher that I became scared. We really didn't know what they hell we were doing. Luckily they decided against it, seeing as how they could not see anything through the snow flying in their faces. So we slid back down the mountain instead.