STARBUCKS PASS

10 Nov

It’s hard to choose just one special moment in what was really a special trip all around, but if I must I think I’m going to choose the top of “Starbucks Pass.” No there isn’t a pass named for the ubiquitous coffee chain, that’s just what the pass on the south side of Garnet Lake has been named in our lore.

The night before, we had come into camp in the dark after a really hard day trudging through snow over both Donahue and Thousand Islands passes. Then most of that morning, we had navigated some really treacherous snow banks around Emerald and Garnet lakes. The last kicker was an exhausting 300-foot climb straight up through the snow to get out of Garnet Lake’s basin. Once we finally reached the top of the ridge and could see the trail ahead, it was snow free. This was a huge relief because we were all pretty tired.

The other great thing was that unexpectedly we had great cell phone reception. We all took the opportunity to call friends and family and Ric and Jen got to talk to their daughter. As I looked at the group all chatting away on our phones, it reminded me of a Starbucks back home in LA, so it will forever live on in my mind as Starbucks Pass.

Footnote: The image is NOT from “Starbucks Pass” but one of the other moments when we had service, so we were all “checking in,” while The Captain gave his approval rating for service from his phone carrier. Guess who he had…