Monika Johnson missing near alpental....

Having never really known Monika except through TR's and random pics,            I just felt compelled to say that although she never new it, she inspired me as a skier and mountaineer. Her accomplishments are testament to her spirit and determination. She was a tough chick.
Her infectious smile gave way to her larger than life attitude and judging by all these photos she inspired others as well and by many she was loved.
Rest peacefully Monika

I met Monika a few years ago through TAY…I think she had PM’ed Becky and I wanting to go out skiing sometime…she liked that our regular cast of characters included a lot of women skiers (Becky, Kirsten, Anastasia, and Mica).  The first time Becky and I skied with her, we climbed the north side of McClellan Butte with Monika busting trail the whole way…the pace she set breaking trail bootpacking up the waist deep powder in the north couloir left us out of breath even just following. We were done before noon and she still wanted to ski some more, so again she broke trail the whole way up Snoqualmie Mtn where we yo-yoed the Phantom and Thunder Creek basin, with  Monika easily racking up twice the number of laps as Becky and me.  I met up with her a couple more times that season for random tours, it seemed like Monika had about a hundred skiing buddies cause every time I went out, I met new folks.
Last summer she started going surfing with me..our first trip was a weekend out on the Olympic Peninsula…I think she had tried surfing maybe once or twice before...and I got a kick out of seeing her take to a new sport with such determination…by the end of the first weekend, she had had enough of paddling around in the whitewater and was punching through the waves out into the lineup asking for instructions on how to catch the ‘real waves’. 
Becky and I had a few more tours with her last season…Monika always hooting and hollering as she skied, powder or corn...it didn’t matter she just loved to slide.
This summer she became one of my regular surfing buddies…it seemed like every time I sent out an invite to my usual surf partners, she was eager to hop in the car and head for Westport.  After a particularly cold and dreary Oregon trip she finally picked up a nice thick hooded wetsuit and I was keeping an eye out on craigslist for a good board that she could get.
My father died last month after years of poor health and in some ways that was easier for me to come to grips with… when someone has lived a full life, they are still missed when they pass away, but when someone dies in the prime of their life…there’s nothing fair or expected about that, it just plain feels terrible, like something precious was stolen. 
I’ve never done a rando rally before and I’m certainly not in shape for it, but I look forward to wearing a kitty this weekend on my backpack and grinding up Alpental.

A group of 10 of Monika's friends went up Red Mountain today in a snowstorm, to retrieve her gear from the summit. We found everything (skis, poles, helmet, pack, and especially Kitty, safe inside her pack), even though it was now buried under 1-2 feet of new snow, and brought it back with us.

We held a brief remembrance of Monika at the summit, in the howling wind and blowing snow, and many tears were shed. We skied down the SW face of Red Mountain in fresh powder, and we all agreed that it was really nice skiing powder after so many snowless weeks. I think that Monika would have been happy for us.



Link to trip report: February 7, 2011, Red Mountain, Remembering Monika

Thanks, Amar, needed to be done.

Thank you so much for doing that, Amar and friends. You guys must have created a rain crust on top of all that powder.

We held a brief remembrance of Monika at the summit...

Very Cool.
I was just wondering about her gear today.
Thank you all for doing that.