How I Changed Today: Mount Warning

Today was the first time I've climbed Mt Warning. It's often been talked about as a possible holiday activity, but today it happened. I went with my friend Michelle (it was her 7th time), and everyone who I told was so excited for me. "It's tough - but the view is amazing" was said to me over and over.

I'm really glad it was a cold morning, as it convinced me to wear 2 singlets, a tshirt, as well as a long-sleeved tee. I also packed my raincoat, just in case. Beautiful weather, blue skies, sunny with a few clouds here and there... until we got to the last bit of climb. You can see how wonderful our view is. A whole lot of cloud, which was so so cold. This sign, proclaiming 'Glorious View' I didn't even read. Past the trees, nothing but white.

Now, I knew that it was a bit of a walk for most of the mountain, and then a chain to get you up the rocks at the end. I was really nervous about this bit. Probably if I'd seen photos of it beforehand, I would have said ummmm no thanks. I imagined climbing up a cliff face, likely to lose my grip and go tumbling back down the mountain. It was a bit like that, really, but more like rock-climbing (which I love, need to do that again...), especially the coming down bit. Once over the first down bit - where I couldn't see over a bit of rock and was scared to lean back to find the next foothold, and having Michelle below me calling out the next one was a huge help - it was really fun. I felt a bit like a kid who's been resisting the big slide who then wants to go again once they've tried it. Also felt like a kid swinging off trees and getting my hands really dirty on rocks.

You can get an idea here of the steepness and climbing style of the chain bit. Because it was so wet and windy, it was incredibly muddy. Good thing I'm not a princess type as I was filthy. The cold made our fingers numb too, so photos were less possible.

At the end of the Steep and Rugged bit, I was covered in mud, especially the hands from coming down that chain - although it's a bit hard to tell in the photo.

Beautiful view (taunting us!) from the 3/4 mark. After this, though, it really rained, bucketing down and totally soaking us so I, at least, could have passed as a drowned rat.