Nature's Playgrounds: Silver Peak

This overnight outing was part of the Bushwhackers Glacier Course. But before I go into the details of our trip a little back story. I was all set and ready to leave super early Saturday morning. Friday night Derrick and I went out with some friends to celebrate a birthday. Everything seemed normal and we headed to bed at a decent hour. Some where around 4 am Derrick wakes me up and says his stomach hurts. I go through the usual; did you take some medicine, what are your symptoms, why don't you just rest and try to sleep, etc. I fall back asleep and think nothing of it. About an hour later, Derrick wakes me up again and says it really hurts. He decides to call a 24 hr nurse line. The woman on the phone told him it could possibly be his gal bladder or something else major and he should go to the ER immediately. Although, I didn't know that's what she said at the time. We have a conversation about options and Derrick insists that its probably nothing and I shouldn't miss my trip. He decides to call his sister who arrives soon after I leave and takes him to the ER.

Well, long story short, my hike was in cell range almost the entire time so I start receiving text messages informing me about everything happening at the ER. They rushed him in for a bunch of test, decided it was an appendicitis and prepped him for immediate surgery. Sure enough the surgery was over before we even reached our camp site. It was a crazy turn of events that escalated way quicker than anyone expected. Needless to say, had I known he was going to have surgery, I would have definitely bailed on the trip. I love the mountains, but I love Derrick more.

With that said, it was a pretty awesome trip. Obviously the first part was a little weird, but once I knew all was well and our friends were looking after him at home post surgery, I was able to relax a little and enjoy a pretty sweet area.

We set up camp just below the large bowl below Silvers summit. We were in camp pretty early and spent time practicing our rope skills. It was a huge confidence booster to do team self arrests over and over and over and to be able to stop real falls. That evening, myself and some of team one headed up for a fun little scramble along the ridge to the summit for a lovely sunset and views over the cascades. The next day we walked through initial response and practiced setting anchors and belaying. All while enjoying a beautiful day of full sun above the clouds.