Well, it has been a while since my last post so let's get caught up.



The climbing trip went well. Flights were on-time. Climbed Mt Hood to an elevation of around 10,500 feet. Not making the summit was a bummer. But I was able to a great photo of Mt Hood's shadown as the sun rose.



A combination of elevation gain, travel induced exhaustion, and my hamstring injury which prevented me from getting into top shape all conspired to keep me from the top. As every one says 'making it to the top in optional, making back down is mandatory'. The weather was fairly good for the Hood portion of our trip eventhough it was quite windy and cold at higher elevations. We guessed that the winds were gusting to over 30 MPH and temps in the low 20's. Wintery feeling nerver-the-less as experinced by my buddy Mike who is bundled up during a climbing break.



Me taking a break at the Hogsback on Hood just prior to turning around.






But the weather was forecasted to turn really ugly for our Mt Rainier portion of the trip as this photo can attest to. I took this photo on Saturday morning on our way to SETAC to fly home. Good call on our part. The forecast was for increasing winds, heavy snows, and avalanch dangers. We figured it was better to not head up into the storm and getting pinned down, for who knows how long, by the nasty stuff than to head for home.



So, after we re-booked flights, stayed at Whitiker's Bunkhouse for our last night, and enjoyed our last day in the mountains being tourists.




We visited Rainier's visitor center and the original lodge on Friday June 20th - which was not open last year due to renovations. Did I forget to tell you that Rainier had been receiving heavy spring snows with estimated 190" on the ground at the visitor center.




Is it a snow Devil or a snow Duck??? You be the judge.



We flew back home on Saturday June 21st. I made it home around 8 PM Saturday evening. I packed up my race kit in anticipation of heading to Green Bay for a WORS race on Sunday morning.

The GB Race went as well as can be expected after having blown up out on Hood only a couple of days prior. Lynne did quite well and if any of you have spoken to her recently she'll be more than happy to tell you she beat me by 2 + minutes in that race.

Since then we've been busy training for future races. One of which was Lynne's first triathon yesterday in Pleasant Prairie, Wisconsin. She finished 429 out of 3650 women racers. This is a women's only event making it feel more comfortable for those ladies that might be a bit too intimidated having men racing alongside with them. It was the midwest version of The Danskin Triathlon Series. Congrats to her on a great finish!