Re: Philmont
Posted: Thu May 29, 2008 12:08 pm
HT I went in July of 77 too. Our last night we camped below Urraca Mesa and that evening on top while listening to the ghost stories we watched a chopper trying to lift someone off the Tooth of Time. Next morning we hiked across the valley on the Stockade trail to the Tooth. As we were going up, which meant going WAY down Tooth Ridge and then doubling back to go up the summit, I looked to my left and decided I'd just scramble on up the thing and take a major shortcut. Going up on hands and feet was a breeze...just before I got to the top I came to a huge split in the rock and could go no further. So I turned to go back down and realized too late that it was WAY to steep and there was nothing to grab hold of should I start to slide. This little 13 year old had followed me up so I told him to wiggle out of his pack cause we were gonna have to lay spread eagle on our backs and scoot down keeping our boots flat against the smooth rock face. We tied some cord to our packs and eased them down before us knowing that we could let go if the pack started to pull us down faster than we wanted to descend. So we scooted down pushing our packs a few feet at a time. I got the kid to sing some songs with me cause he was shaking like a leaf. THAT WAS ONE HAIRY SLIDE down over 300 feet to a point where we could stand up again. Really stupid move on my part. Got into base camp that evening and a guy (an adult) had done the same thing the day before but started sliding and broke his back when he hit the bottom...that's what the chopper was doing. It's some serious chit out there with the mountain lions, bears, and rugged terrain but it will make you into a new person full of confidence on your return. I WANNA GO BAAAACK TO PHILMONT, WHERE THE OLD RAYADO FLOWS....