Dar Sangre MetaZin: The Obscure Object of Desire

Through facebook and e-mail I was trying to drum up support for "a lightning ascent of Ross Peak." This was even before I consciously remembered that the place that we're staying is only a few miles away from the mountain.

Now I'm staring through the big window of Joana's cabin at Ross Peak at 5:50 am, just a few miles away. It's a rocky pyramid that seems to guard an obvious pass through the Bridger range, but though it's an easy approach on a logging road from the east where I sit, it's an impassable plunge on the west side.

The old-timers told me that it was "a walk" to the top of the peak, and I have tried several times to get there. Even today these claims are made--there are many more courageous climbers than me.

http://www.summitpost.org/image/425074/424726/ross-peak-suggested-route-topo.html

As I look at it this morning, it seems that maybe the answer to the ascent lies not in the smooth saddle of the false pass, but along the higher ridgeline that continues to the twin peaks of Hardscrabble and Sacajawea. Not an easy assertion to prove, I recall it is impossible to circle the peak from either side--the approach would have to be made via the other nearby mountains.

I've come to this place in at least a couple of different dreams--one which I wrote up in an earlier blog (http://givebloodmetazine.blogspot.com/2005/11/dreams.html), a more recent one one that returns the prodigal son to the nearby ski hill, where his inate prowess at extreme snow sports is revealed.

Staying at the cabin for more than a week, I continue to reconnoiter Ross Peak--assembling a Monet-like gallery of its moods, its rugged faces. Joana and I attempt an early approach, later we lead a children's crusade up the other side of Brackett Creek. Through the magic of digital photography I am able to trace a possible route up the east slope, north of the "Banana Couloir"