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!

Mt. Rainier Snowpack (update)

Looks like the wind and precipitation from last week increased avalanche risk on the upper mountain. Most guides have been reluctant to venture up above 1200'. Recently, however, it's been drier so that top layer of garbage should be either melting or making its way downhill (as I predicted earlier). Hopefully things stay nice and dry through the next two weeks.

--Patrick

Flattop Mountain, Chugach State Park, AK

Flattop is probably the most popular local hike out of Anchorage, particularly because it's only 20 minutes outside of town.

Flattop Mountain to the left, Chugach State Park, Alaska

I decided to pack light, bringing only my trusty ice ax. Most of the trail was dry, but there were some spots of snow, slush and even some ice, and I was happy to have the ax as I ascended toward the summit because it made for much quicker travel than trying to hug the large boulders.

Heading up to the summit, I stayed in the snow to the right and practiced self-belay with the ice ax.

I have a confession. In all the time I've trained for Rainier I have not actually summited a single mountain. Breathtaking, I know. Thinking back, there is no summit at Lake 22 but the lake never even came into view due to the shoe debacle. Mt. Pilchuck was a joke, having to hike from the Heather Lake trailhead; there was no way we were going to summit, without a tent at least. Kalcema Lake was beautiful, but again no summit. The Muir attempt was just that, another attempt. Although, white-out conditions contributed to that failure. On Bird Ridge, my slippery Romeos make getting up the snow impossible. Even in Denali up Sable Mountain, we stopped at the first summit peak below the actual summit (due to a combination of wind, snow and the fact that I wasn't sure if it was allowed because we were flirting with the wildlife closure and I didn't want to get us kicked out of the park).

It's a good omen, nevertheless, to get my first summit only a week before the real deal. 1.5 miles and 1280 feet of elevation gain ain't too shabby either.

Finally, a summit shot!!

The way down was considerably more fun. I traversed the large snow field leading up the the summit, practicing my footwork while using the ice ax. I was able to practice kick-stepping, glissading and self arrest skills even earning a "Wow, that was awesome," from a couple of hikers after I made it all the way down.

 The picture on the right shows the snowfield that I came down. Can't wait for the real thing next week!!!!

-Patrick

Which way we goin' again?

A combination of rain and warmer temperatures early in the week allowed for snow consolidation from Paradise to Muir. This should make for more efficient travel in mountaineering boots. There has been some lighter snow more recently, with temps at Paradise warming up to the mid 30s. It has remained freezing up at Muir.

Although things change quickly on the upper mountain, it appears that over the past few days climbers out of Muir have started to favor the Disappointment Cleaver route versus Ingraham Direct, where a few larger crevasses have opened up around 12,000 feet.

Here's the full report on the Ingraham Direct route: http://mountrainierconditions.blogspot.com/2012/04/ingraham-direct-2012.html

And the Disapointment Cleaver route:
http://mountrainierconditions.blogspot.com/2012/04/disappointment-cleaver-2012.html

-Patrick

Summit reports

Rediscovered the Alpine Ascents Rainier blog today. It provides updates on all the teams making summit runs up the mountain.

http://www.alpineascents.com/rainier-blog.asp

June has brought brutal weather, but four teams made it up in May!

Holy Moses it's getting close. Time to start praying for good weather!! Come on baby!!!

-Patrick

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:

--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.blogspot.com/). It ROCKS!! It has a ton of great info, including why the Muir camera has been out of commission. Her lastest snow pack analysis actually on the mountain - that I could find - is located here (http://mountrainierclimbing.blogspot.com/2012/03/friday-pit-profile.htmll). It comes from a pit dug part way up the face of Panorama point. Good news! It was completely stable with no failures (fractures) in either the Compression Test or the Extended Compression Test (MORE INFO BELOW ON THE CT AND ECT).

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/trailra.htm), although there has been some daytime high temps in the 30s-50s so some of this should be melting... i.e. we shouldn't need snowshoes, thank the fuck Christ (http://www.wcc.nrcs.usda.gov/nwcc/sntl-datarpt.jsp?site=679&days=7&state=WA). This site has the snow pack at Paradise in inches (http://www.skitiger.com/weather/osopvca.htm)

--Specific avalanche updates are no longer occurring but here is an excellent spring avalanche safety synopsis (http://www.nwac.us/forecast/avalanche/current/zone/7/)

--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/aval.php?area=crosscou)

--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/aval.php?area=muir). 

--Above Muir, all bets are off... 

Here is a link explaining the Compression Test: http://www.fsavalanche.org/Default.aspx?ContentId=22&LinkId=27&ParentLinkId=3

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

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:

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. 

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