The weather hasn't been favorable lately but I have faith in the mountain and ourselves...
See you at the top!
Showing posts with label camp muir. Show all posts
Showing posts with label camp muir. Show all posts
Tuesday, June 12, 2012
One Week Out
This time next week we will be spending our first night at 10,000 at Camp Muir. Last minute details are getting worked out and I know I've personally packed and unpacked my bag at least 5 times already, trying to cram everything in like a puzzle piece.
The weather hasn't been favorable lately but I have faith in the mountain and ourselves...
See you at the top!
The weather hasn't been favorable lately but I have faith in the mountain and ourselves...
See you at the top!
Wednesday, June 6, 2012
Mt. Rainier Snow Pack
As the climb approaches, I've been trying to learn more about snow packs in general and the Mt. Rainier snow pack specifically.
Here's what I know:
Here's what I know:
--Year to date snowfall at Paradise is definitely less than last year (530 vs 913 inches), but not terrible (http://www.wrcc.dri.edu/cgi-bin/cliMONtsnf.pl?wa6898)
--Here is an excellent blog written by one of Intern Ranger Carrie Tomlinson (http://mountrainierclimbing.
Speaking of Panorama point, here is a picture that Carrie took (on a clear day!) showing the route that Cody and I took.
 |
| The route Cody and I took was past the second bunch of trees on the upper left side of the image, where the upslope moves L--> R. |
--All Paradise trails are under snow (http://www.localsnow.org/
--Specific avalanche updates are no longer occurring but here is an excellent spring avalanche safety synopsis (http://www.nwac.us/forecast/
--Above 7,000 feet there's been 1-3 feet of snow in the past weekish. Some of this likely melted with higher temps over the weekend with warmer temps and a bit of precipitation. I think this is a good thing in that the higher temps will melt away the looser, more recent snow, leaving the winter snowpack stable underneath. That said, if it starts getting real warm and wet, the water will start seeping down into the deeper layers and create instability in the stable snowpack beneath (http://www.localsnow.org/
--Camp Muir has been cold and there hasn't been much wind in the past coupla days, meaning the snowpack should be pretty stable up there too (http://www.localsnow.org/
--Above Muir, all bets are off...
Here is a link explaining the Compression Test: http://www.fsavalanche.
Introduction to the Extended Column Test (ECT):
Purpose is to test the likelihood of both fracture initiation and propagation. In many situations, slabs are initiated by a load (i.e. skier, mountaineer) but do not propagate, the latter of which is necessary to form an avalanche. A compression test is used to evaluate fracture initiation. In other words, the stability of the snow pack. There have been numerous attempts by researchers to test the likelihood of propagation, including testing the shear stability of a column of snow or fracture quality after a compression test. On Rainier, the Intern Ranger has been reporting measurements of propagation with results of the ECT.
To perform the test (according to the paper I'm reading with other permutations possible), one first cuts out a column of snow roughly 90cm wide by 30 cm downslope (see image on original document: http://www.fsavalanche.org/NAC/techPages/articles/06_ISSW_Simenhois.pdf). One side of the column is loaded like the compression test with 30 taps with increasing force from a shovel, recording the number of taps it takes to both initiate a fracture and subsequently propagate the fracture across the entire cut out column of snow. Also recorded is the depth of the fracture itself. For example, if a fracture initiates at 25 cm deep on the 13th tap and propagates across the column on the 14th tap, the test would be recorded as: ECT 13/14@25. NP indicates that a fracture did not propagate after 30 taps and PP indicates that it only partially propagated, but not across the entire column. Clear as mud?
The differences between initiation (ECTI) and propagation (ECTP) is important is the key to interpreting the stability of the snow pack. If, for example, a fracture initiates at 15 taps (ECTI =15) and propagates at 28 taps (ECTP = 28) then the column is stable. On the other hand, if ECTI = 13 and ECTI 14, then only a couple additional loading steps (or mountaineering steps) are required to propagate the initial fracture across the entire column. One step fracture, second step slab avalanche. No beuno.
Of course, the ECT only test one column of snow, not the entire mountain. Plus, these tests - at least in the winter and early spring - are rarely performed at higher altitudes where the risk of avalanche is greater. There are some other limitations, especially when the top layer of snow is lighter, etc. that is beyond the scope of this introduction.
Hope this helps,
-Patrick
Monday, June 4, 2012
Making out your gear check
Yes, the title comes from the category "Before and After" from Wheel of fortune... So how much does a trip to the summit of Mount Rainier cost?
While going through my gear check list and seeing what items I had left to purchase (because I hadn't already spent enough), I started wondering how much I ended up spending on all this shit that I had to buy.
At first, I thought I made off pretty good. I had accumulated a lot of items from the service and through the years (See prior post "Thanks USAF") and with the help of Craigslist, ebay, REI coupons and Backcountry.com, had managed to find good deals and closeouts on many of the items I did have to purchase.
Still, looking at this list of gear I was required to have I was curious how much I did spend. Luckily, I save all my receipts; both digitally and a hard copy. I was able to make an itemized list of all the things I purchased with their price next to it:
While going through my gear check list and seeing what items I had left to purchase (because I hadn't already spent enough), I started wondering how much I ended up spending on all this shit that I had to buy.
At first, I thought I made off pretty good. I had accumulated a lot of items from the service and through the years (See prior post "Thanks USAF") and with the help of Craigslist, ebay, REI coupons and Backcountry.com, had managed to find good deals and closeouts on many of the items I did have to purchase.
Still, looking at this list of gear I was required to have I was curious how much I did spend. Luckily, I save all my receipts; both digitally and a hard copy. I was able to make an itemized list of all the things I purchased with their price next to it:
Gloves – 58.95
Crampons – 170.00
Ice Ax – 67.00
Helmet – 50.00
Mountaineering Boots – 53.00
Harness – 80.00
Trekking Poles – 66.00
Snow Shoes – 63.73
Caribbeaners – 15.00
Compass – 37.42
Hiking Pants – 50.00
Lightweight Pants – 68.00
Full Zip Pants – 35.18
Down Coat – 76.00
Hat – 20.00
Baclava – 24.00
Gaiters – 35.00
Nalgene Bottles – 16.00
Stuff Sack – 37.00
Cup/Bowl – 8.00
Spork – 9.00
Rainier NP Pass – 30.00
Freedom of The Hills – 20.00
Rainier Climbing Guide – 14.00
Challenge of Rainier – 15.00
Transceiver Rental - 6.00
Add all that up and it comes to a grand total of 1134 and some change. This doesn't include the price of the guide/course which is 1355.00
I asked my two climbing partners if they had an itemized list of their gear as well. Cyrus immediately replied back with an itemized list that included the item, the brand and the cost. Looking over it I realized he had included all the gear he had collected over the years. He did later tell me "this is my life's investment in gear that will be in some way used for the trip". I added up everything he sent me. Talk about sticker shock: $4616. However, there was 700 dollars of travel related expenditures in his list because he decided to move to Minnesota.
I asked my two climbing partners if they had an itemized list of their gear as well. Cyrus immediately replied back with an itemized list that included the item, the brand and the cost. Looking over it I realized he had included all the gear he had collected over the years. He did later tell me "this is my life's investment in gear that will be in some way used for the trip". I added up everything he sent me. Talk about sticker shock: $4616. However, there was 700 dollars of travel related expenditures in his list because he decided to move to Minnesota.
There are still a few more small items that I will need to buy such as ear plugs, duct tape,, sun screen and some other random essentials like toiletries. I also am responsible for my lunches and snacks but whether or not I'm on the summit of Rainier, or sitting in Lake Stevens, a guy has to eat. At most the rest of my random items will be under 50 dollars. On a good note, my REI dividend should be awesome next year!
So, total price for Cody to summit Rainier: 2539.00
Cost of spending three days hiking through Mt Rainier National Park and hanging out on the highest Volcano in the lower 48 with two badass friends: Priceless
Saturday, May 5, 2012
Week off
Decided to take a week off from training and do some rehab. Of course I couldn't completely waste an entire week so I decided to do some aerial surveillance over our climbing area (on my way to Cabo San Lucas)
 |
| Looking NE, you can see part of our route, by Gibraltor Rock |
Friday, April 6, 2012
Thursday, April 5, 2012
"Hey guy, what'd you hear about the weather today?"...
I asked the British man ski touring past us.
"Well mate, it's not supposed to be that bad. Not supposed to be that good, either," he said, the thick ascent spitting through his gnarly British teeth.
Yesterday Cody and I attempted Mt. Rainier for the first time. Our goal was Camp Muir. Like most of our adventures this year, sometimes we don't know what we're doing because we're novice to this thing called mountaineering. Sometimes we're just idiots. Yesterday was a bit of both.
The adventure began at Paradise, 5400 ft in altitude. I had assigned myself the task of navigator, credentialed by reading the Navigation chapter from The Freedom of the Hills. Good thing I found that NPS bearings pdf because it was a complete white out the whole time, save for 10 minutes when the sun came out to illuminate the fact that we were self-belaying up a 60 degree slope of soft snow in snowshoes.
But that's getting ahead. First I led us to Alta Vista West, following a compass bearing of 330.5 degrees mag. Through a break in the trees we found a shoot toward Marmot Hill there encountering a group of three ski touring up toward Muir. We followed their tracks for awhile toward Panorama point. They decided to go right up the face, taking off their skis and hoofing it. We stayed left, following a small ridge out of the deep powder onto some firmer ground. Up ahead there was a patch of trees piercing through the snow just below the tree line.
"Left or right?" I asked Cody, whose look of bewilderment shouted I don't know but screamed Fuck off.
"Left."
Thus our adventure up the previously mentioned west slope of Panorama Point began.
There we met back up with the skiers, and again followed their tracks bearing 12.5 degrees toward McClure Rock. To our left we briefly saw the steep rocks jetting through the snow as they lined the east side of the Nisqually. Climbing up toward Sugar Rock the snow started to get firmer; we decided to throw on the crampons and stayed right of the snow field, leaving a ridge between ourselves and the Paradise Glacier. It was good to finally get some crampon / ice ax work in.
Our excitement was short-lived, however, as the white out returned - luckily after we had hustled across a small avalanche shoot. With the white out came the deep powder. Envious of the skiers and frustrated with the heavy snowshoes, we stomped through the snow, only occasionally glimpsing long "ridges" in the hues of white that ended up being nothing more than a large mound of snow, probably sitting on some natural variation in the mountain face.
From there Cody scaled a snow wall in crampons, cutting through the snow down four or five feet. I made it left, coming up the side of the snow mound to meet Cody's tired body at the top.
That's when the wind started.
We walked for awhile, keeping the rocks on our right. Again we came upon the skiers, skiing down towards us and making way for "hot chocolate" in the car. After six hours of hiking, white out conditions and nobody else on that area of the mountain, it was time to eat lunch and head back. Thank goodness I had paid extra for 2 day shipping for my down coat ordered from SteepandCheap - oh wait, it took 4 days and was waiting on the doorstep after returning from our day at Rainier.
The return trip wasn't without memorable moments. Getting down the face of Panorama Point proved the most exciting. Since there was no way I was going to navigate us back down the same slope we came up, I figured we'd try to get down the same way the skiers got up. I found their path, but it ended and so I decided to work on glissading and self arrest skills. Everything was going well until the snow turned to ice and the small snowballs being kicked off my snowshoes started diving over a ledge like lemmings. It was quickly time to descend, being quite careful with the ice ax to get a solid self-belay.
As I suspected, we found our snowshoe tracks at the bottom, were earlier in the day we'd turned west and found our slope. The trek down the hill became easy at that point. Of course, it was still snowing and visibility was poor. Not to mention my beard contained a combination of ice, snot and tomato sauce from my pasta lunch.
Regardless, 3000 feet of gain up to 8400 feet (estimated). A successful first trip to Mt. Rainier, even if we're a bit stupid at times.
-Patrick
"Well mate, it's not supposed to be that bad. Not supposed to be that good, either," he said, the thick ascent spitting through his gnarly British teeth.
Yesterday Cody and I attempted Mt. Rainier for the first time. Our goal was Camp Muir. Like most of our adventures this year, sometimes we don't know what we're doing because we're novice to this thing called mountaineering. Sometimes we're just idiots. Yesterday was a bit of both.
The adventure began at Paradise, 5400 ft in altitude. I had assigned myself the task of navigator, credentialed by reading the Navigation chapter from The Freedom of the Hills. Good thing I found that NPS bearings pdf because it was a complete white out the whole time, save for 10 minutes when the sun came out to illuminate the fact that we were self-belaying up a 60 degree slope of soft snow in snowshoes.
 |
| Map before the trip |
 |
| Map after the trip (yeah, I had to pull in out a few times). |
But that's getting ahead. First I led us to Alta Vista West, following a compass bearing of 330.5 degrees mag. Through a break in the trees we found a shoot toward Marmot Hill there encountering a group of three ski touring up toward Muir. We followed their tracks for awhile toward Panorama point. They decided to go right up the face, taking off their skis and hoofing it. We stayed left, following a small ridge out of the deep powder onto some firmer ground. Up ahead there was a patch of trees piercing through the snow just below the tree line.
"Left or right?" I asked Cody, whose look of bewilderment shouted I don't know but screamed Fuck off.
"Left."
Thus our adventure up the previously mentioned west slope of Panorama Point began.
 |
| Cody trekking like a boss. |
 |
| The best view of the day, before his face got sunburned (a picture of that to come!). |
There we met back up with the skiers, and again followed their tracks bearing 12.5 degrees toward McClure Rock. To our left we briefly saw the steep rocks jetting through the snow as they lined the east side of the Nisqually. Climbing up toward Sugar Rock the snow started to get firmer; we decided to throw on the crampons and stayed right of the snow field, leaving a ridge between ourselves and the Paradise Glacier. It was good to finally get some crampon / ice ax work in.
Our excitement was short-lived, however, as the white out returned - luckily after we had hustled across a small avalanche shoot. With the white out came the deep powder. Envious of the skiers and frustrated with the heavy snowshoes, we stomped through the snow, only occasionally glimpsing long "ridges" in the hues of white that ended up being nothing more than a large mound of snow, probably sitting on some natural variation in the mountain face.
From there Cody scaled a snow wall in crampons, cutting through the snow down four or five feet. I made it left, coming up the side of the snow mound to meet Cody's tired body at the top.
That's when the wind started.
We walked for awhile, keeping the rocks on our right. Again we came upon the skiers, skiing down towards us and making way for "hot chocolate" in the car. After six hours of hiking, white out conditions and nobody else on that area of the mountain, it was time to eat lunch and head back. Thank goodness I had paid extra for 2 day shipping for my down coat ordered from SteepandCheap - oh wait, it took 4 days and was waiting on the doorstep after returning from our day at Rainier.
The return trip wasn't without memorable moments. Getting down the face of Panorama Point proved the most exciting. Since there was no way I was going to navigate us back down the same slope we came up, I figured we'd try to get down the same way the skiers got up. I found their path, but it ended and so I decided to work on glissading and self arrest skills. Everything was going well until the snow turned to ice and the small snowballs being kicked off my snowshoes started diving over a ledge like lemmings. It was quickly time to descend, being quite careful with the ice ax to get a solid self-belay.
 |
West of Panorama point with Nisqually Glacier on right
|
 |
MSR ice ax, given to me by my dad
|
 |
| Who said surgeon shouldn't have beards. I don't play for the Yankees. |
 |
| I call this one the "Freddy Mercury" |
Regardless, 3000 feet of gain up to 8400 feet (estimated). A successful first trip to Mt. Rainier, even if we're a bit stupid at times.
-Patrick
Tuesday, April 3, 2012
Muir tomorrow
A mix of nervous excitement and mild terror best describes how I'm feeling. On the one hand, tomorrow brings 4,680 ft of gain from Paradise to Camp Muir. On the other, as Cody's post reports, it currently snowing at Camp Muir.
Plus I'm pissed. On Sunday I picked up a sweet down parks from SteepandCheap, even sprung extra for the 2-day shipping. Stupid thing won't be here till the end of Wednesday... right after our little 9-mild jaunt up the mountain in freezing conditions. FML.
At least I can take solace in the fact that Cody remembered to grab the GPS from his folks' place. Wait, no I can't. He "didn't have time."
Lame.
Looks like we finally have to learn how to use those sweet Brunton compasses we picked up.
F yeah.
Also found well done pdf with the bearings from Paradise to Camp Muir:
http://www.nps.gov/mora/planyourvisit/upload/camp-muir-route-with-get-your-bearings-map-oct11.pdf
-Patrick
Plus I'm pissed. On Sunday I picked up a sweet down parks from SteepandCheap, even sprung extra for the 2-day shipping. Stupid thing won't be here till the end of Wednesday... right after our little 9-mild jaunt up the mountain in freezing conditions. FML.
At least I can take solace in the fact that Cody remembered to grab the GPS from his folks' place. Wait, no I can't. He "didn't have time."
Lame.
Looks like we finally have to learn how to use those sweet Brunton compasses we picked up.
F yeah.
Also found well done pdf with the bearings from Paradise to Camp Muir:
http://www.nps.gov/mora/planyourvisit/upload/camp-muir-route-with-get-your-bearings-map-oct11.pdf
-Patrick
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)