Yesterday, having scrubbed in advance, we had Christmas off. So, with Laura, Nick, Tristan, and Matt, I went to Castle Rock again. Unlike the first time, we decided to climb the rock, and we brought trays from the galley for sledding down the big hill onto the permanent ice. The expedition also served as a nice way to build up an appetite for the evening’s feast.
[image title=”Castle Rock Summit” size=”large” id=”4595″ align=”left” alt=”View from the Castle Rock summit” ]
All around panorama of the view from the Castle Rock summit
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- Wind mills serve as our rough sensor of low-level winds. They were spinning quickly, so winds were high
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- Start of the trail
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- Before we get to the glacier, there’s a lot of melting going on
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- An abandoned road maintenance tool
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- The first apple shelter
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- Trip Leader: Matt
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- Matt recently acquired a pager, and receives the weather briefing result from Mark
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- We call Mark and Elio, who are at LDB, to see how things are going
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- Matt needs to hold the radio high to get a good signal
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- Laura stops to take a picture
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- Starting to get almost close to Castle Rock
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- Castle Rock
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- Tristan hangs out as people inspect the sign at the base
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- Nick sets off along the trail to the start of the climb
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- Matt checks things out
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- I change my shoes, and leave bunny boots at the bottom
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- Nick waits for the rest of us to get going
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- Climb commences
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- The real mountaineers set up a roped path to help the rest of us
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- Laura climbing
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- More of Laura climbing
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- For some reason, Nick takes his shirt off on the summit
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- I guess it was to do some sunbathing
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- Laura summiting
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- Laura summited
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- A half-snowed ridge heading towards Mt Erebus
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- Tristan prepares to be the first sledder
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- Tristan sledding
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- Losing control on the fast bit before the road
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- He dives to try to stop his loose tray from getting away
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- Because there might be crevasses off the road, Tristan can’t do anything but shake his fists in frustration at the escaped tray
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- The tray keeps moving until it’s lost to sight. Everybody but Tristan thought this was pretty funny
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- Nick goes next
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- And he too loses control
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- And proceeds to chase in vain after his tray
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- Luckily, Tristan is ready to act as tray catcher
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- Sno Cat crests the hill, pulling a road maintenance thing
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- During the flats, or when the road slanted to sharply to one side, we had to walk
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- Nick, walking
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- Laura gets the sled to go for a bit
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- Way down the road Tristan stops. He found his escaped tray!
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- Snow boarder. She hitched a ride in the Sno Cat
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- Tristan starts off again, with his own tray
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- Another boarder passes the Sno Cat. We let both pass us. The groomed road made for better sledding
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- Laura turns a wipe-out into an opportunity for a little break
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- Matt tries to break and maintain control as he approaches the bottom
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- Nick shakes off all the snow he collected on the trip down
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- Laura heads down to the bottom
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- Hooray!
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- Fun accomplished
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- The last bit of hill we descended
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- With the hill done, we have to walk again
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- Tristan gets ahead, and waits for us to catch up
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- Matt catches up after some picture taking
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- After the zillions of flag pictures I took last time, only this formation struck me as picture-worthy
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- Laura and Tristan
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- Meltwaterfall
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- Knock Mud Off Vehicles Here. Laura traverses the rumble pad
Happy Birthday Nick!
We love the photos. Thanks for posting!