"As Jean Muenchrath stood at the summit of Mount Whitney, a storm thundered in. It was May 1982, and here, at the highest point of the contiguous US, she and her boyfriend Ken were coming to the end of a month-long ski and hike, 223 miles along the John Muir Trail, through the Sierra Nevada mountain range in California. The trip had been gruelling at times equipment had broken and they had been threatened by bears and avalanches. But it had also been exhilarating."
"She had skied since she was a child and worked as a ranger for the US national park service in Montana; she and Ken, who she had met at university, had been on many smaller adventures while preparing for this one. To avoid the worst of the storm, they swapped their planned route for a different one down the mountain."
In May 1982 Jean Muenchrath and her boyfriend Ken neared the end of a 223-mile month-long ski and hike along the John Muir Trail in the Sierra Nevada. The trip included broken equipment, threats from bears and avalanches, and intense weather. At age 22 Muenchrath was fit, experienced, and a national park ranger. To avoid a storm they chose a steeper descent where Ken lost control and tumbled 800ft but miraculously survived uninjured. Ken retrieved their rope while Muenchrath, exhausted and with fading light, debated waiting, discarded skis, removed mittens and struggled with her heavy backpack.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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