Stevens Pass -- BoeAlps

Where: Stevens Pass
When: Sunday, March 29, 2009
With: BoeAlps
Goals: Practice Ice Ax Arrests, Setting up Anchors, Walking while Roped in

We got to the Stevens Pass parking lot; all the teams were lined up with their ice axes out, gators on, and were ready to march up the pass, ready to go by 7am (meaning we left Seattle around 4:45am).

Our pseudo-lead, Ron, gave us some instruction on how to use our ice ax's and we were off to our destination, the ridge/summit, heading due east the entire time.

We all took turns making kick steps up the steep terrain. Sometimes the snow got to be super powdery making for a step that seemed to sink lower than the previous step. Overall it wasn’t too tough though. Our group is either pretty young (5 of us in the range of 22-27) or a bit older (3 guys 45+). Not including our various instructors.

The whole trip was a super positive experience. We were told that you always thank the leading stepper as they rest on the side waiting for the end of the line. Everybody graciously thanked the lead stepper and it led for such a great feeling. Even if the leaders steps weren’t awesome, its nice to know that your efforts were appreciated.

Our group seems really upbeat in general. Everybody is always smiling, laughing, joking around, and just having fun in general. Perhaps it's because our group went for the summit on Sunday, appropriately named SUN day. The clouds rolled by really fast if they were present at all and we had to reapply sunscreen multiple times to ensure we didn’t get burned.

Once we reached the ridgeline (the second group out of four to do this), we made some gullies on the side of the ridge where we soon began to practice ice ax arrests! We flew down the hill in every orientation possible, head first, feat first, stomach up, stomach down, and whatever orientation you happened to get in while trying to stop yourself.

On one strange orientation, head first, back up, the guys in the group graciously proclaimed “girls first.” Evelyn and I took one for the team and performed perfect arrests. Another time, I was headed to my water bottle when another ‘first’ person was needed, my movement caught the eye of the instructors and I was beckoned to the gully to attempt a 'head first stomach up' arrest. The first arrest in this orientation was a little scary, but the second arrest felt a lot cleaner. I actually think head first, stomach down is a little more challenging.

We also practiced making snow anchors. It was really surprising to find out how much weight one snow picket could hold in some packy snow. Once you stomped down a flat area the snow was really surprisingly grippy to the metal. We repeated this anchor process by filling a bag full of snow (to use as the ‘snow picket’) and were amazed how much weight a garbage bag of snow could hold.

After the anchors were tied we all roped up (3 people per rope) and walked to the summit. It’s unbelievable how slow walking tied into rope can be. You have to keep the same length on the rope the whole time and so there is a lot of waiting (and wondering why you’re waiting when you can’t see your other rope partners). At one point instructor Leonard told me to jump off the ridge and yell “falling” in hope that the rest of the team would arrest and stop my plummet (and their possible plummet). Fortunately the team held tough and I was able to scramble back up to the ridgeline and we continued on our way to the summit.

The overall trip wasn’t too much of an elevation gain, about 1000 feet, but it was still a workout.

On the way down the mountain we took huge steps and would sink to our knees and sometimes up to our waists. Many of us lamented not having our snowboards. Taking such deep steps down made me feel like I was tele skiing down the mountain.

Now that we have some basic ice ax skills, I can't wait for the next adventure!

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