Did this hike in October when the mountain already had a good dusting of snow.

Thought I came prepared with extra layers and micro-spikes. Nope – I should of brought a hardshell and better gloves.

Winds that day were 25-35 mph, with gusts up to 55 mph. It was a new (and very intimidating) experience to have the mountain fell like it was yelling at you to get back down, by blasting wind at your body to the point of almost knocking you over. Stopping to lock my poles and spikes into the snow/ice was necessary when it got bad closer to the top. Without these tools, I would have turned back around.

Overall, this felt like a baby-mountaineering exercise, and it was a lot of fun (in retrospect, haha) – just look at that smile.