I attempted to hike Mount Baden-Powell last week after the snow storm, I knew it was going to be a challenge but I was aware of my capabilities and still wanted to attempt it. I arrived at the trail head and immediately knew it was going to be a hard hike, the trail was cover with snow. I felt I was prepared, I did a final sanity check before starting and there I went. The trail conditions were challenging since I was the first person to hike the trail after the storm, I was going to have to deal with fresh snow and it was draining. Hiking through fresh power literally sucks the energy and heat out of you but I decided to take my time and continue making my way to the top. I found myself 3 miles up the trail, drained and having a hard time finding the trail. I had hiked in worst conditions before but I knew that the top was going to be the most challenging part so I did another sanity check and decided to descend. I was pretty bummed to say the least since I am doing the six pack of peaks challenge for a charity organization. Even thou I knew I made the right call, I was still pretty disappointed in myself and it did not help that I started to see in social media other hikers who climbed other harder peaks in the same conditions.
Instead of continuing my pity party I decided to return and do it again today since the conditions were going to be better and I felt determined to summit. As soon as I got to the trailhead this time I felt refresh, there was no snow and the weather was perfect. I started my hike at 7 am with no other human being in sight, it was just me and the mountain. This time I had a good pace and even though there was snow in the trail, I was not trailblazing up the mountain. I felt good the whole way up, once I reached the saddle I felt a sense of happiness because while turning around last time was not a glorious moment, I saw that it could have been unsafe to summit with the previous trail conditions. I summited around 9 am and spend a good amount of time at the top, the whole time I was the only one there. I had a perma smile the whole way down and cannot wait to hike my next peak.