Sadly, I have to title this an attempt and not a summit, because due to time and daylight constraints we weren't able to make it to the summit. Not to say this will remain an attempt though, Bold Peak remains prominent on my list of mountains I intend to climb.
The plan was to bike out to the Serenity Falls Cabin on Friday night, sleep, then summit Bold Peak the next morning and bike back. Zach Basset, Brian Britt, and I met early Friday morning to load bikes and carpool to Eklutna. Unfortunately our other friends couldn't make it this time for various reasons, but we kept them in our hearts as we drove down the highway. We arrived at the Eklutna Lake parking lot as I realized I had forgotten both the parking permits and the cabin permit. I crossed my fingers that a ranger wouldn't come check the cabin while we were staying. It was well into the day as we loaded our packs and started the bike ride. It took about an hour and a half to reach the cabin on the other side of the lake and by that time our seats had become as painful as sitting on a metal rod, due to our lack of biking beforehand. We reached that cabin and immediately saw bikes leaned up against it. Other people had also booked the cabin (or just decided to stay there anyway), so we had guests for the night. The other people ended up being really friendly and even shared their food with us. We spent a great night of bullshitting and playing strange homemade pictionary games.
The next morning, we all forgot to set an alarm, but managed to wake up at a fairly early time. Our gear packed up and breakfast eaten, we headed out the trail to the foot of Bold Peak. When we arrived, we stashed our bikes in the trees, unloaded necessary gear, and started along the hiking trail. After walking along even terrain for a bit, we found a faint trail marked by a cairn heading up Stivers Gully to the left. A long scramble ensued, and after more than a few hours we climbed out of the gully onto a knife-edge ridge with fixed ropes. As we climbed higher, we came onto this slanted plain with tufts of grass and tundra that converged at the bottom over a very large cliff. It looked like something out of a movie. Our time was running low, so we pressed on. After 5 hours of hiking, we finally turned around at the end of a glacial valley at around 5000 ft. Our way down was much quicker, and we came back to our bikes in less than half the time it took to get up.
The ride back was a tired one, with our butts ridiculously sore and our bodies exhausted. We made it back to the parking lot as it was getting dark, and completely spent, we threw our packs into the back of the truck, loaded the bikes, and piled inside. Driving home, it was almost completely dark. All our energy was almost completely gone, but we still found the energy to make stupid jokes the whole ride home. That night's dinner tasted better than it had in a while, and that night's dreams were filled with even more adventures, each crazier than the last.
Video to come soon.