Tuesday, September 23, 2014

This sock climbed Mt. Washington

The sock that climbed Mt. Washington

This is the sock that climbed Mt. Washington on Saturday.

Literally.

What happened is that my foot got stuck between two rocks halfway between the Lake of the Clouds hut and the summit and when I pulled up, the outer sole of the hiking boot tore away, leaving only the inner sole. After a couple hundred feet in misty, slippery conditions, the inner sole fell away, exposing my (handknit) wool socks. Then my second boot started losing its outer sole, but luckily it stayed/flopped on for the rest of the hike.

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Amazingly, the socks came home no worse for the wear. They'll probably be a little dirt stained, but no holes! My knitting has finally impressed my two boys.  :)

Hiking Mt. Washington (6,289 feet or 1,917 meters) was ... an experience. Had I known the trail we were taking was basically an uphill rock scramble most of the way, I would have backed out. At one point I fell pretty hard on my bum hip, but as of today, I haven't felt any twinges of back pain. On the other hand, I'm kind of proud I made it to the top, even though I was the slowest, dead-last person in our group. (DH stayed behind with me because I was That Slow. He was my rock!) We never got cold, we had no serious injuries, and even though the wind was gusting 50 to 70 mph near the summit, it didn't bother us too much. Another high point was witnessing O fall in love with hiking. He was like a mountain goat! Not only did he keep up with the group, a group I might add that was amazingly fit and experienced, he climbed down the mountain with them! (DH and I were too late, and with my wrecked boot(s) in no condition to hike down so we took the cog rail).

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Now all O is talking about is what mountain we can climb next summer. Uh-oh. I told DH never again would I do something as crazy as hike Mt. Washington, but after a couple days, I thought, "I should try it again, but next time be better prepared and in better shape." I learned a lot about myself climbing that "hill," so in retrospect it was a good experience.

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I just don't want to experience it quite like that again!

4 comments:

  1. I know I'm supposed to feel amazed at the durability of your sock (I do), but I can't help but wonder what kind of crap boots you got that fell apart during a hike??? :)

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  2. LOL, agreed! Especially since *both* heels failed at the same time, indicating a spec failure. On the other hand, the boots were old--I'm pretty sure they hiked Norway's fjords and the Italian Dolomites. It was their time to go!

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  3. You should send this story to the company that makes the sock yarn. Which has me wondering - what kind was it? You should also send your story to the company that makes those loser hiking shoes and ask for a refund. I have never heard of hikers falling apart like that. I love my Keens. They have carried me over miles and miles of Scotland and Wales. I highly recommend them!

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  4. Kristie, the yarn is Zitron Trekking (apropos!) XXL. As for the hiking boots, I've had them for longer than my son has been here on earth so I'm not sure I could get a refund. Still, maybe I'll post a picture of the boots on my Twitter account and see if Hi Tec has something to say about it!

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