And that was when it started raining...

[derien]

eor has posted his detailed story of the hike up Katahdin.

It was as we were downclimbing the arete that I started the uncontrollable shuddering. He had said we were stopping 'soon' to put on another layer of clothing, so I said nothing at the time. Shortly after that he complimented how I was quietly soldiering on and doing well, and I said that I had stopped complaining because I was convinced I was going to die. He laughed, and didn't think I was serious until much later.

On the last, easy little bit of the hike (a walk, really) just before getting back to the campground, I mentioned that I would like to climb Mt. Fuji some time because I've gotten the impression it's quite different than Katahdin, a walk-up from what I hear, and he started in on how if we do Katahdin a few more times we might be able to get to the point where we can climb it in the dark, we can take headlamps and go up for summer solstice to see the sun rise from the top...

I may have said something like 'no fucking way!' I might have. And followed that up with, "If you think you're EVER going to convince me to do something like this again...! Well, I'll just let you know that now is not a good time."

Yeah, yeah, I'll probably try again next year. My legs almost feel normal again, three days later. (It might be the bruises on each knee which are causing the most problem - my knees don't want to bend. I said I looked like I'd had a kicking fight, and Eor said I'd been beat up by a mountain. The mountain always wins.) We got so damned close, and were doing so well. If it hadn't been for the rain we would have made it this year.

The next couple of days were attempting to dry out all our stuff, which never happened.

(edited to correct my incorrect spelling of KATAHDIN omgwhatanidiot.)