Two Blondes and a Monkey

Who: Alison and Emily (with BRC BoeAlps)
What: Climbing Monkey Face in 4 pictches
Where: Smith Rock
When: (I think) July 19th, 2009

[awaiting pictures from Emily!]



On Saturday when Emily came back from her climbs with another student she asked me “Did Oscar tell you the plan?” Unaware of any plan, my curiosity was instantly peaked. “No…” I hesitated, a little excited, trying to hide my enthusiasm; any day worthy of a “plan” sounded enticing to me, especially if it was with (my new idol) Emily.

“Follow me” Emily beckoned and without hesitation I was a step behind headed to the car to unmask the elements required for the “plan” the following day.

When we got to the car Emily pulled out a pair of aiders (also called etrier’s) as she unveiled the plan of climbing Monkey Face the next day. This climb has one pitch (a section of rock that only requires one rope length) that required aiders, which I had never used. Aiders kind of look like ladders made of webbing (they ‘aid’ you up the rock face). This section of the climb is bolted, so you would hook the aider to a caribeaner and then hook that to the bolt, giving you an instant ladder. You’d have two ladders so while standing on one, you could reach the next bolt, clip in with the next ladder, shift weight onto the new ladder, and then unclip the old ladder from the lower bolt.

Emily scanned the area for a tree worthy of demonstration. The only reasonable tree happened to be in front of the crowed of classmates (this is while we were still waiting for some classmates to get back to the parking lot). Emily made two makeshift “bolts” in the tree (just caribeaners on varying lengths of cord). She showed me how to adjust the personal anchor that’s attached to the aider to assist in reaching the next bolt.

Then it was my turn to try. It was a little awkward climbing the tree, a rock face would be much wider, but I could at least get the idea of what was going on. Climb as high as you can on one ladder until you can reach the next bolt. Bolt your second ladder in, climb it until you can reach the next bolt, rinse and repeat.

Emily also mentioned the possibility of leading this pitch. The class specifically said that it did not cover leading, so I was surprised to hear of the lead potential. I told her it sounded awesome, but I’d give her a final answer the next day. At this time I’m not sure if the head instructor was aware of this part of the plan or not—it was surely his call first if it was going to be OK.

Sleeping at night was hard. I’m not sure if it was because of my excitement of the next days climb, or if it was just because it was super hot out (I’m assuming mainly the latter, but the former didn’t help). The night before had been rather cold, but this night I had my 30 degree bag unzipped and was still sweating.

While trying to sleep I went over how to use the aiders in my head and went through the calculated risk of leading this pitch. It seemed like there was basically no risk of falling. Not only would I be secured by the rope, but each aider had its own anchor to hold me on, the most that could happen is I loose my balance and swing into the wall, this is no worse than any other fall (in fact, it is probably better than falling anywhere else, because it is a completely vertical pitch so I wouldn’t be falling onto strange poking rocks). I decided if Emily/Oscar (the head instructor) said I could lead, I would love to take the opportunity to do so. Maybe they’d even let me lead a real pitch at Squamish (rock wall in BC) in a few weeks! (Don't worry Mom, leading for this part was basically the same as following).

When we got to the parking lot in the morning, after another French toast breakfast, Emily and I headed out for our destination before the other student/teacher partners were called out. We were on a mission. We talked excitedly about the climb during the 45 minute hike to the base. I went over different techniques/skills that I wanted to confirm the correct order of implementation.

Once we got to the base of the climb and were flaking out the rope (making sure there were no knots or tangles) another group of 2 came along. These boys were from Oklahoma and had just spent a month climbing all over the west. We quickly made friends and decided to climb together.

To get down there is a 60m rappel off the face, so you need two ropes. If we went by ourselves, we would have had to either carry one rope in our backpack, or lead with two ropes. Neither are fun options. We decided that we’d tie our rope with the guys’ rope to rappel down, allowing both parties to carry one rope a piece. Emily would still lead and I would follow cleaning her gear. Then one of the boys would lead the same pitch, and the second one would clean his gear.

One of the climbers had a lot of experience and led all the pitches. The other guy was a pretty good climber but he was definitely new to aiding as well.


The follower


The leader

The first pitch rated 5.8 had a tricky spot with little hands and virtually no feet. It was hard for Emily to protect the route well and a challenge for me to clean the route too. After that beginning section the rest of the pitch was pretty straightforward, going up and over flakes.

The second pitch had a nasty 5.8 chimney finger crack, by far the hardest part of the day. When I finisehd the pitch and met Emily at the belay station she told me “yea, but it had great feet” and my reply was “I couldn’t find one good foot, it was terrible.” Apparently I need a bit more practice. I was also carrying a backpack up the route (another first for me) and I think the backpack took on another added challenge level, especially in the chimney. I found some pretty good spots for my hands/fingers but with all my weight on them, I couldn’t hold the position very long.

While climbing that crack I wore out my arms quickly I asked to “take” (this means the belayer should take in all the slack on the rope) so I could rest for a moment. I was saddened as I was let down a few feet (ruining the progress on my last few moves). Emily’s new rope had a high elongation ratio and Emily moved to get in a better position to hold me, and while doing so, some more slack was necessary.

A bit disheveled, knowing the boys were watching me from below, I tried to get back to my old position a few steps higher, staring at the vertical face with no obvious feet and the small crack expected to help me progress. In retrospect, this silly finger chimney crack was actually overhanging a bit, no wonder it was hard!

Once I got to my old position I jammed my hips into the sloping chimney and held there for a moment--flailing with my feet. I felt like a newb, but eventually I got a good enough foot hold that I could move my body up. Hopefully I didn’t look too much like a wiggling worm.

Normally I’d try to squeeze my back into the chimney, but with the backpack on this wasn’t an option. I wasn’t really sure how to navigate.

Once I topped the chimney the holds for hands and feet increased exponentially and I was back to feeling good about myself. I thought ‘the next time I climb that, I’m going to do much better.’

Yes, there will be a next time.

Once I reached Emily at the belay station it was time to unpack the backpack. We pulled out the aiders and Emily once again suggested I lead. I was excited and nervous, even though leading this section was basically the same thing as following it.

I ran through the basic scheme of things, Emily approved, and encouraged me on. I started up the wall in what felt like the slowest pace ever. About 3 bolts in, I had made a small tangle with the rope and the ladders and my personal anchors. I had to ask for slack and unhook a few things to re-arrange.

I wasn’t about to let this mishap happen again. By this time it felt like the guys were already at the belay station (either they did really fast getting up that chimney, or I was really slow, or I just didn’t notice when they got there, but anybody watching makes you self-conscious).

I worked up the rest of the route as Emily shouted encouraging words and commented on my fast pace. I didn’t really believe her about the fast pace because I felt slow as a snail, but I had my routine that enabled my aiders to be clutter free and slowly made my way up the rock.

I kept hearing about how you had to “whale” yourself into the mouth of the monkey. I wasn’t really excited for this part, but soon was able to experience it. I didn’t think I had to “whale” too much, and although there were no handholds I felt like I was able to kick myself up with the aiders instead of beaching myself into the mouth.

I belayed Emily up and she was a speed daemon, I couldn’t believe it. When she got up I commented on her rocket speed and said there was no way I was fast at all. She claimed that she’s had a lot of practice and went on to tell a story of the first time a VERY experienced climber led this pitch and he was at least 2-3x slower than I was leading it. I felt like this would be a silly story to make up, so I went with it, and took the compliment, feeling a little better about myself, and less like I was holding the other dudes up. Emily said that the dude’s even commented on my speed up the wall. My conclusion: aid climbing is slow no matter what.

Soon we were ready for Emily to lead the last pitch up out of the mouth. This is the “most exposed 5.7 move in the world.” It looks like a “1500ft drop but is only 150ft.” I think I was more scared when Emily was leading then when I followed (though I’m not sure why, I was more than completely confident in her skills, maybe it was just because it was an awkward belay stance and if she did happen to fall it was going to be another adventure getting back up).

When it was my turn to get out of the mouth I stuck my head out to try and find the next hold. I wasn’t confident in where it was, and I hesitated for a what seemed like a few minutes, trying to gain confidence in just “going for it.” I went over the facts in my head: worst thing that could happen is I fall a few feet and have to prussic up the rope (due to rope stretch) to get back to the mouth. No biggie.

I felt lame for hesitating, especially when there were so many spectators watching (I swore somebody called out my name too). I felt like I wasn’t putting on a good show. For the spectators, if I fell, that’d be epic, or if I climbed it, that would be just as awesome (for them). When Emily climbed and got to the top, many of the tourists cheered and many took pictures with thier telescoping cameras.

It was really odd knowing that you were going to be in all these climbers photographs. We decided we were in at least 50 peoples shots (not to mention the guys with the super crazy telephoto lenses that you could hear constantly shooting). We should have shouted out our emails or held up a sign so they could email us the pictures!

Once we got to the top (wohoo!) we waited on the flat head (that strangely has no anchors/bolts) for over an hour while the two guys climbed the aid section and joined us at the top. When I left the mouth, the lead guy was in the mouth, but the second guy must have taken FOREVER to do the aid section. He apologized about the wait and said it was his first time using aiders (hey, it was mine too!).

Either way, it was super sunny weather and there was a slight breeze so it was rather enjoyable (the delay was just was going to make us get back a bit later). We took the boys photo’s (after asking them to take one of us) and then we all started the rappel. There is a very short rappel to the double rope rappel station where we tied our ropes together so we’d have enough rope for the 50/60m rappel.

This was my first real free rappel (free as in you’re not going down the wall/touching any rock, you’re just hanging in midair!). At one point Emily yelled up to tell me to do a leg wrap and then let go of the rope so I’d be freely suspended in the air. I’m pretty sure she got a picture of this too.


Emily walking home

By the time we walked back to our bags (less than 20 minutes from the rappel station) it was time to race back to the meeting spot. We hadn’t brought any lunch to the summit (opps in retrospect, but it would have made the bag heavier!), so we grabbed a quick bite and then skedaddled back. We were surprised to see almost nobody on the wall (especially nobody from our group—yesterday there were many groups over 2 hours late to the meeting spot). Perhaps since today was round two and it had been so hot out everybody decided to call it quits early (and to make up for their tardiness the day before!).

We were the last to arrive and everybody wanted to know how Monkey Face was. I claimed it was “totally friggin rad.”

Before making it back onto the highway we stopped at this tiny climbers shack where our carpool enjoyed a scoop each of mtn huckleberry and blackberry ice cream. Delicious!

Bob Rocks, err, Smith Rocks

Who: BRC BoeAlps (namely, Bob B, Vermon, me!)
What: Rock Climbing! (Learning how to climb cracks)
Where: Smith Rocks, OR
When: July 18th, 2009



We woke up early to ensure we had enough time to grab a bite to eat at the local diner. Filled with French toast we were off to climb at Smith Rocks.

At the parking lot we were all assigned instructors. I was stoked when I found out that Bob B. would be my instructor (Vermon’s too). Bob B. is one of the intsructors who attended 2 of our climbs for the BCC class. He was obviously one of the more experienced climbers who helps out with the BoeAlps programs. The 2 weeks before this climb he had been up having a crazy time at Yosemite doing some really big wall climbs. His stories by far beat any i've ever written. Though I’m not sure if I’m jealous or not...

It was really fun to also note the interaction between instructors. Especially the youngish but more experienced ones. There was tons of playful banter; the better you can give it back, the more respect you earn. My kind of team!

Every group was assigned a starting area as well (to space us out on the rocks). As we walked to our assigned spot, Bob asked us about our skills. We admitted to not knowing anything about cracks, but we showed a lot of enthusiasm to learn. Bob decided that our wall would not be as fun for learning (for on the second pitch is when we really get into the crack section) and brought us a bit further down for some practice crack climbing.

Before getting on the wall Bob told us of the many methods for holding on such as fist jams, hand jams, and finger jams. He noted how some people use tape gloves (tape covering your fingers/back of your hand to prevent the rock from scraping it up) but wanted us to know that he didn’t use them. He claimed he didn’t feel tougher than others, but it was just his preference not to use them.


Climbing my first crack. Bob is belaying

I personally wanted to wait to use tape. I wanted to see what the cracks felt like first, because the tape is only going to lesson your feeling (perhaps in a good way!). All in all, after a day of climbing cracks, my hands were barely marred. For now I’ll be tape free.

After practicing crack methods we crossed to the other side of the wall to the Spiderman Buttress Area. Apparently this area is always SUPER crowded, but this weekend, there were no lines. We hoped on Spiderman (a 2-pitch route) and Bob led with two ropes. This way Vermon and I could climb at the same time (well, relatively, about 15 feet apart). With a reverso (a model name) belay device Bob could belay us both from his position on a ledge above. Once we got to the ledge, the process repeated, with Bob leading and us climbing.


Bob leading Spiderman

It was a super fun climb. At the beginning of the second pitch there’s a really awkward exposed move that got my heart pumping a little. Later on up, there’s an overhang roof that we had to navigate. I just kept telling myself that this pitch is supposed to be easier than the first pitch so there’s got to be really good handholds somewhere. I just have to find them!

By the time we got down it was about noon and all the rocks were hit with the suns oppressive rays. We found an overhung section and decided to take a lunch break and we got to hear some of Bob’s ridiculous Yosemite tails. If other climbers passed by, we’d just tell them we were projecting a route (planning how to go about it). Some people joined us in our "project". Side Note: the route we were actually sitting under was rated as a 12d, once thought to be just barely under the edge of an impossible climb rating.

Once there was some shade available we made our way back to our practice wall where there were some BoaAlpers climbing. They recommended the climbs adjacent to their current spot claiming they were good routes.


Look at all those secret footholds!

So we jumped on. There was this one route, Bookworm, that is rated a 5.6 (not very hard), but I think that’s if you use the face. I tried to only use the crack, and it proved to be one of the most challenging routes of the day! But I really wanted to get a full crack experience, especially since that’s what most the routes will be when we go to Squamish, BC later in July.


Vermon starting a climb

We squeezed in another crack and when we came down from the last crack we noted that the time was right for us to head back, if we had jumped on another climb we would definitely be late. We moseyed back to the cars (and by mosey, I really mean, suffered while walking in the heat up this uncessessarily steep hill leading to the parking lot. I’m not sure if it was good ending, getting your muscles stretched, or if it was just depressing (and oppressive), because you had to use your last few ounces of energy). Either way we made it back to the cars, first.

I think Bob was a little disappointed that his reputation might suffer--if people found out he was first back, instead of being the hardcore-always-late-climber. Alas, soon a few other climbers joined us. Unfortunately, it took the final climbers 2+ hours past the deadline and we ended up being late for our dinner reservation.

It’s ok though, we were still served, and the greek hummus pita was most excellent with a glass of strawberry lemonade!

Washingtons highest checked off the list!

Who: 5 previous BCC BoeAlps students and 1 previous BoeAlps BCC Instructor
What: Climb Rainier!
When: July 12- July 14th 2009


Rainier DC Route

As a quick aside: The one thing I forgot was my camera (hey, I'm glad it was the camera and not my crampons!). All these photos are from either Matt, Todd, Mark, or Ken (not sure who took what)

The original plan was to hike from the Paradise Parking lot (5,400ft) to Camp Muir (10,080ft) Sunday, summit (14,410 ft) Monday.

I was skeptical of the plan since the forecast Monday was supposed to be the worst day of the week. I suggested we reserve space at Muir for Monday night as well, so we could potentially summit Tuesday. Fortunately the group was completely willing to be lenient in the plans.

Big splashes of rain splattered on my window as I drove to the Park and Ride at 4:30am on Sunday. After meeting Matt and Ron, we drove to Rainier NP surrounded by dreary weather. We talked about how disappointing it would be to get to the Paradise parking lot and cancel our trip without setting foot on the mountain. You can’t hike in a lighting/thunder storm, there’s no place to hide. Needless to say, spirits were low as we drove. Also disappointing was knowing that when I came back from the trip I was going to have a flat tire (I found a nail, and it was leaking).

The moment we parked at Paradise we were met with smoke pouring out of Matt’s hood. When we opened it up we found a pinpoint hole in the antifreeze hose. It was spraying anti-freeze everywhere. Things weren’t looking too good for an easy return home.

We went to register our team and confirm our climbing permits with the Ranger Station while waiting for the arrival of our climbing buddies. Turns out half of them were just lollygagging in the plush hotel and enjoying a lax breakfast. Todd was a little later due to the Whidbey Island fairy schedule. During this time we were able to contact Charlie, a friend who was coming to Rainier NP the next day. We hoped he might be able to bring us a new hose and antifreeze. He said he would see what he could do.

Despite the cars, we turned to high spirits knowing that Rainier existed somewhere behind the clouds/haze/mist that denied us from any view other than the parking lot. We hoped we packed enough (and considered the fact that we may have packed too much) and were off.


The team ready to take off from the parking lot!

Walking on a mixture of pavement and snow we headed up the heavily used day trail that leads not only to Camp Muir but to a wonderful scenic view for the average day hiker. Although it was not our goal to be the first team to get to Muir, we were able to beat all the guided groups. The walk wasn’t too bad and we only took a few breaks. The sun was a little hot and once you can see Camp Muir you think its moments away when in fact its 30-45 minutes in the distance (squashing many hopes and dreams). Ken led a fantastically fast pace that Matt and I couldn’t completely keep up with. Mark and Todd decided to go with Ron’s consistent pace, slightly behind.

Since we got to Muir early, we were able to spot some great looking snow-tent-platforms. We scooped them up for our 2 tents and Ken’s bivy. Before I even gandered at the time, the tents were up and we were already making water for refills and dinner. I gave all my extra water to Todd; it was nice to know the extra weight I carried up would be going to good use.


Foxy Loxy at Muir

Muir is a very dirty place. It’s used by TONS of people each year, and has been for quite some time. We decided the safest and quickest way to make safe water was to melt it and then pump it through a filter (much faster than boiling each pot). This was a great combination. During one melting water batch Matt found a piece of rice. At the end of the melting period the bottom of the pot was covered with little black particles.


Boiling Water

We attempted bed rather early since we had decided on a midnight wake-up call. I can assure you its quite hard to fall asleep when it’s still light outside!

We all woke up a bit before the alarm, more due to the big gusts of wind and sound of hail/snow hitting our tent. I didn’t even want to get out of the tent, perfectly content with the idea of summitting the next day, since the weather was supposed to be great. Others got out of the tent and walked to the outhouse. It turns out our tent was covered from the majority of the wind; at the more exposed outhouse area, our teammates were almost blown off the hill! They agreed that perhaps it wasn’t the best time to attempt the mountain and we all went back to bed.

There was one RMI team that got the summit, but when they came back down they all talked about how it had been the most miserable experience ever (but they were stoked to have summited). I don’t think that’s how I’d like my summits to be. All the other teams gave up or didn’t make an attempt.

A crazy cloud seen from Muir

The day passed by as we ate, napped, ate, napped, hung around chatting, until the weather cleared later in the day and the sun came out. It was getting later, around 4pm, but we decided that it would be good excerise and practice to head up to the Ingraham Glacier. We were hoping to scout out the route up the cleaver and to get an idea about how our pace would be when we made our summit attempt the following day.


Activity on the Cowlitz

We roped up to cross the flats (not totally necessary, but extra safety couldn’t hurt), the biggest danger here was rockfall. We went up this sand/loose rock gully to get to Ingraham. This was a great idea for it was easy to navigate in the full sun but wouldn’t be as simple in the darkness.


Rope team one after climbing Cathedral Gap (Little Tahoma in the background)

We did about 800-1000 feet per hour, not too shabby, if we could start with that pace the next day, we’d make great time. Ron lead the first rope team since we were more confident with his navigational skills and pace setting. Matt was in the middle and I was on the end. Todd lead the second team, since he would act as the pace setter for rope 2, and Mark and Ken followed.


Route over the Cowlitz Glacier and Cathedral Gap (and Ron's tent)

When we got to the Ingraham Glacier we met up with Bruce (Ron's blind friend) and his guided group. They were spending the night at high camp (we would have liked to, but we didn’t get reservations since we didn’t want to risk moving potentially wet equipment). Their guide pointed out the route on the glacier and was really helpful. We were even more confident after the talk. The guide said that he had heard of some people making it up in 5 hours with this new, more direct route.

Ingraham Flatts Camp

Soon we were headed down, to boil more water and eat dinner-- it’d be another early night. After dinner we were in the tents before 8pm, although most of us couldn’t get to sleep since it was still so light out.

Once again we woke up before midnight. A few people tested the weather by making their way to the outhouse and checking the more accurate conditions (instead of the windblocked area our tents were in). It looked like perfect weather, a little cold (to be expected) but almost no wind and really, it wasn’t that cold.


12:20am everybody is getting ready to go

We were on the road at 1:08. We could see two teams of 3 ahead of us by the gully and we quickly caught up to them. Soon after these Frenchies got lost on the gully we were able to pass by them with our advanced route knowledge from the day before. Since the gully was mostly blocked by the wind we actually were kind of hot while climbing, it was great once we reached the top and there was a breeze to cool us back down.

We passed by another team who were strapping on their crampons and took a small 3-5 minute break to drink some water at the high camp. We had about the same pace as the day before, great!

Then it was non-stop up the glacier to the cleaver. The cleaver is this big rock formation that was half covered in snow, ice, rockfall and sand. It was mostly easy navigating although one point Ron came to a spot where he thought right or left could both be the trail. He picked right and soon our rope team was on all 4’s with the pick of our axe on the side of this ice gully, a death grip with our free hand on the other side, and we were toe-pointing with our crampons. We called back to the other rope team to take the left side and they easily came up a switchback without even debating use of their ice axe. Ron claimed he knew our team wanted a challenge so he was trying to abide by our wishes.


Right or Left (taken on the way down, a little easier to see with some light)

Around this time I noticed my headlight going dim. I hoped it would last just a little longer. The sky was pretty clear so the moon was able to light the way, but there were a few clouds that would come by and block the light. Before I knew it my headlamp was out. I called up to my team but Ron didn’t want to stop. The Cleaver is notorious for traffic jams and he didn’t want to have any part in that.


Route up the Cleaver

I figured I could go without light for a little while, especially since the moon was shining at that point. A few steps later, the moon was behind a cloud and I tripped on a rock and fell on to my knee and felt a sharp pain. I got up fast since I didn’t want to hold back the rope team and was suddenly a little dizzy. I called up to my rope and claimed I needed to stop to change my batteries. They seemed annoyed, but also had no clue that I had fallen, and I don’t think they realized how dark it was without light.

I quickly got to my other batteries and before long I had a working headlamp and we were on our way again. No other team was anywhere near us. The rest of our team was also able to use this as a break to drink water and rest, I was a little jealous I didn't have time to refersh as well.

Unfortunately, my batteries were either cold or were having some other problems for my headlight soon started flickering. Before I knew it those batteries were out too. Argh! I kept the light switched on and every now and again I would get a few pulses of light. During these times I would be so much more confident in my steps, and try to make greater strides since I was a little slower in the dark. There were a few switchbacks were I was a little slower and the rope pulled taught. I hated being the slowest one on the team, but I couldn’t do anything about it, I was trying as hard as I could to be safe. A few times when I tried to go fast I’d slip or catch my crampons on uneven ground, I didn’t want to fall completely and need to arrest, or need to rely on my team to help arrest.


Early Morning from the top of the Disappointment Cleaver

The good news is, every minutes that passed, it was getting lighter. Also, we were over the rock jumble and were just going up steep snow switchbacks. Our Rope 1 team pushed ahead and we lost sight of the other team. We took a break right before the large traverse right, at the very top of the cleaver.

Although we weren’t waiting too long, it was long enough for Matt to loan me his spare batteries and for us to start getting cold. When the second rope joined us we were more than ready to go, but knew they also needed a break.

The next part was rather easy going, a straight traverse across the mountain. Though there were many more crevasse’s to cross. At one point we paralleled a gigantic crevasse that you could look down into and not really see the bottom. Hippo’s and Rhinosori (hah) could be eaten alive!


2nd rope team sunrise

This part was great; the sun was starting to come up and was casting an orange glow everywhere. After the level traverse it was back to steep switchbacks in the snow (for the rest of the route). A few switchbacks in and the sun gained in beauty, we called down to the second rope team to glance to their right to take in the view. Todd didn’t want to listen; he was on a mission, step, step, step. He knew he was on the right path and didn’t care about anything else. His teammates kept telling him to stop but he would wave them off without looking up. Finally, after a minute of heckling, he looked up and was about to see the breathtaking view. It was a big hazy to the north, but we were able to see tons of mountains sticking up from the south. Little Tahoma also looked much more…little.


Alison and Little Tahoma

Rope one kept on steady ahead (as did rope two, but not quite as fast). An hour or so later I wasn’t feeling so good. I was a little slow on about 3 of the switchbacks and found the rope coming taught a few times (no, not again, I hate being the slow one!). I requested a break and the team agreed. By the time we reached 13000 feet there wasn’t a breeze to be found so it wasn’t a hardship to stop and take in the beauty. At this point I drank a decent amount of water and also ate a bit (for the first time since breakfast). I could tell my energy was low, and I was really hoping the food would help. I had about 1/3 a bagel (it was a little stiff and hard to chew) and let the team know I was feeling much better. We were on our way again and I immediately noticed a change.


Ron leading the way

I was no longer pulling on the rope, in fact it was quite the opposite. Before I realized what was going on I’d have a bunch of slack in the rope and have to wait or start taking much smaller steps for the rope to gain tension. I also started a new stepping routine which I think helped tremendously (as well as my new positive outlook).

Instead of looking at the ground directly in front of my feet before taking a step, I would look at the footprints in front of me and make “goals” of my next steps. I wouldn’t be mad if I didn’t make my goal step, but each step would have an initial goal. If I did reach the goal, I’d be happy, if I didn’t reach the goal I would just make a new one and hope to reach it the next time. I think this increased the size of my step and as I stepped I would utter “goal” each time, which also kept my breathing consistent.

I started feeling like a million dollars. I didn’t even notice that our pace had slowed, I figured it was just the calories I ate and my rejuvenated outlook and plan. Apparently, this is when Matt started to not feel so well (I had no idea at the time). Later that day he confessed he had actually started being the slow one and was slowing Ron down by keeping the rope taught.

For some reason, no matter how many switchbacks we seemed to do, the summit only looked like it was getting further away. At a crevasse crossing we met a team of two coming down the mountain. They told us we were less than a half an hour away. What?! It looked at least an hour away, plus Ron’s watch said we were still 800 feet under and our pace had slowed dramatically. Ron claimed this was a pile of crap lie, and we were saddened knowing that we still had an hour+.


Ron wondering how the hell we could almost be there when we had 800 feet to climb

The switchbacks were aimed at some rocks, and within half an hour we met up with the rocks and discovered the summit!!! We couldn’t believe it. Matt actually seemed quite disappointed. I think he had prepared himself for the worst and wasn’t ready to accept the fact we were there—there wasn’t enough suffering yet. For the first 15 minutes in the summit crater he talked about nothing but how illusive the summit was and how he couldn’t believe all we had to do was round a corner and we’d be there.


Summit crater endtoend

By saying "we were at the summit," I really meant we were on one side of the summit bowl. The true summit was still a half mile walk through the crater to get to the other, higher, side. Matt and I decided to head there after getting a bit to eat. [Ron had already left to go meet his blind friend Bruce on the other side, they had started earlier in the day than we had, from high camp, and had beat us up]. Matt’s meal was my extra bagel, since I was the only one who really packed for 3 days of food, I had some to spare. Although there was virtually no wind in the crater, the side of the bowl had a bit more, so I dawned my warm weather gear, including my puffy snowpants (moreso because I carried them up versus them actually being necessary). By the time we were in the middle of the crater I was sweating. Fortunately, the summit edge was windy and cooled me down to a perfect temperature.


Alison on the summit!

The view to the north was still pretty hazy, but the view everywhere else was perfect. We could even see down to the mountain road cutting a sharp switchback on it’s way to Sunshine/Paradise parking lots. We could see rivers and mountains to the south such as Hood, Helens and Jefferson.

An hour after our summit (we made it up in almost exactly 6 hours), the second rope team made it to the bowl as well. We were waiting for them at the register and climbed back up to the summit to meet them and all share summit hugs and photos.
Right by the register there was a hot steam emitting from the bowl. Apparently it’s always there; people in desperate trouble have stayed warm during the night in it before (although they do become quite wet).


Team Saffron Summit (really, I didn't want to take my jackets off to show our team Saffron shirt I was wearing, but I took one for the team).

We spent another half hour or so in the summit bowl hanging out and decided to head down. Todd was pretty beat at this point, throughout our trip he had suffered almost every sort of altitude syndrome effect (not at the same time, but had waves of different feelings of unpleasantness). We had him lead the two rope teams on the way down, to keep our pace at his level and in case anything more drastic happened.

It was pretty slow going down but it was gorgeous weather so it wasn’t hard to handle a longer view. At one point we found a fellow sitting on the side of the trail (actually, he had been sitting on a snow bridge!!!!! But the first rope team kindly informed him of the hazards and recommended he move to the side of the trail). He had unroped about half an hour from the summit; he was being cautious and wanted to make sure he had enough energy to make it down, so he was just going to wait for his friends instead of making the final push.


Snow Bridge Two Step

The crevasse crossings were a little scarier on the way down because we knew the sun had warmed the snow and we could now see what we were crossing. At one crevasse hop Ken and Mark took photos of Matt and I jumping across. I claimed I wasn’t going to show this one to my mom, but I have included it below.


Alison jumping the Crevasse

When we got to Muir it was a scurry to pack everything up and get headed down. We still had much left to do—such as change Matt’s antifreeze pipe and I knew I was coming back to a flat tire as well. Fortunately, Mark used to be a mechanic and promised to have Matt’s jeep fixed in a jiffy. Team Saffron really is lucky!

The way down was fun, Ron was able to ski-slide down the hill with his poles, while some of us just attempted the ski-slide in a less graceful mannor, while others attempted some glissading. With so much junk hanging off my pack and such wet snow I wasn’t really in the mood to glissade since my skiing seemed to be faster anyways. Todd was overjoyed by the glissades and we were all happy to have boosted spirits.

Once we were off the glacier we met up with Charlie. He had done a dayhike to the start of the glacier and then waited for us with fresh watermelon that he had been cooling in a glacial stream. How perfect!! We took a quick rest break and relived some quick details of our experience on the mountain and then started on the mission home.


Charlie and Mark on our watermelon break!

The paved trail on the way home was perhaps the most miserable part of the journey. Our feet were already killing and were a little bit damp, and each pavement step felt so hard. We wished we were on snow again, even if it would mean slightly slower movement.

Once at the cars, Mark fixed the hose in no time flat and we were soon discussing how to get to the land of milkshakes. Sadly, the talked up milkshake shop (really a restaurant that just happens to serve them) was swamped. Since they usually have slow service we knew better than to wait.

We thought about some other options and came to the conclusion that we would eat at the restraurant in a train (name ?) instead. To my joy they also served milkshakes, and with home-aid ice cream!! I got a delicious cheesecake milkshake while most the team got burgers and fries (some with milkshakes as well). We wanted to make sure we weren’t going to be calorie deficient.

It was a fast dinner, for everybody had significant others to get home to (or mucho homework!) and we were soon on the road again. When we got to the parking lot we found my car with its flat tire. This was easily remedied with the help of Charlie, Ron, and Matt. The hardest part was a tie between finding the jack (under the drivers seat) and getting off the hubcap (you just put a screwdriver under and pull, but that plastic seemed so wimpy it was disconcerting to do this).

Welcome home to a shower and bed! I had climbed Rainier within a year of moving to Seattle, my goal before I had any idea what may be involved in doing such.


Mark showing off the climbing register!

Leavenworth -- BoeAlps

Where: Leavenworth, WA
When: June 19-20th, 2009
With: BRC (Basic Rock Class, BoeAlps style)
Goal: Learn how to place and clean pro, set anchors, rescue techniques, knots etc


Trad Gear!

Andreas and I had car camped Thursday night in Leavenworth to avoid an earlier than 5am wakeup call. Andreas isn’t in the BRC class but opted to come east so he could paraglide in Cashmere.

The BRC team left the parking lot for the Playground rock area slightly after 8am. Our first steps were tying basic knots. We went over all the knots we learned in the BCC, including the waterknot, double fishermans, figure 8, bowline (on a coil and on a byte and the regular bowline), and coiling a rope. We also were introduced to the SUPER handy clove hitch and munter hitch. The clove hitch is an amazing way to set up an anchor while you’re tied into the rope (without using any additional piece of gear – just the rope you’re tied too). The munter hitch was also really cool because you could use that to belay yourself if you were found without an atc belay device.

We also practiced tying off a fallen climber. The scenario this would be used for is if you were at a hanging belay (or belaying from the top of the climb) and your climber screamed and suddenly all the weight was on the rope and it continued to be this way for quite awhile. It seems that your climber is hurt (or it could have been your lead climber who took a nasty whipper (aka: huge fall) and they are hurt). Perhaps the wind is too strong and you can’t hear anything from them when you call down to see if they’re alright. So, you need to start figuring out what’s necessary to get everybody out of harms way. First you would tie off the fallen climber! While you’re belaying the responsibility is on your brake hand to make sure the climber is safe. You need to releave your brake hand from work to be able to climb down and see what is wrong or to be able to continue on to other rescue techniques.

Although we had practiced this in the BCC and I was fairly confident in my skills, it is surely good practice to go over all rescue techniques. I can’t imagine the stress involved if there was actually a problem, so you want to make sure they’re second nature.

There was a lot of comradery and if anybody was struggling with something students and instructors would come together to help out. This experience may be heightened because everybody is working on techniques that are life dependent.

Soon we moved on to rappelling. Many of us had experience with this, but it can be scary because of the height and once again, you can never be too comfortable with a climbing skillset. We practiced basic rappels, rappelling with a backup prussic (if you’ve been climbing for 20+ hours you may not trust yourself – it never hurts to have a back-up. Rappelling is one of the only things in climbing where your life is dependent on yourself – interestingly this is also where the most climbing mistakes happen). We also practiced using a munter hitch to rappel. I enjoyed using the munter hitch; the only problem with rappellings off of it, is that it puts a lot of twists in the rope, especially the smaller diameter ropes.

After this it was time to practice climbing. Every student teamed off with another student and climbed between 3 and 6 routes. Brian and I made a great team – both of us are efficient climbers and we’re somewhat similar height and weight (basically, this means Brian isn’t a 6 foot giant). It was fun to see the difference in our techniques up the cliff face. My favorite route was touted as the hardest route. I was rather embarrassed at the end of it because when I came down from the route I received many compliments about how fast I did the route and how easy and graceful I made it look as well. I liked how it was a multi-faceted route—you had to change your balance mid-hold to be able to reach the next hold. Pretty much every route we worked on was slab (not totally vertical, but the hand holds are almost non-existent and you really have to rely on your shoes gripping the rock. The temperature was great—sunny but with a breeze and the rock shoes were able to grip well.

We ended Day 1 with a Italian dinner in downtown Leavenworth where I had a scrumptious dish of cheese tortellini with basil pesto sauce.

Day 2 started at 7:30am at the Mountaineers Dome. This is a great section to practice crack climbing.


Charlie on a crack

After the short hike to the cracks we were given a lecture on traditional protection (hereon referred to as trad climbing or placing pro). We learned the good and bad of placing cams (old name: friends), hex’s, nuts, and tricams (a real love or hate piece that is almost obsolete these days).


A cam rooted in a crack

We were then given a rack (rack = all the gear necessary to climb, so you’d have varying sizes of cams, nuts and hex’s. This gear would be at least $1000 worth) and told to build anchors. For a solid anchor you want at least 3 pieces of well-set pro. If you have an iffy piece, like a really small nut, say half the size of an acorn placed, it is recommended that you place another nut to offset this.


A solid bolt

I was done pretty early and Emily (an instructor) challenged my protection by having both of us hang off it and jump on it. Fortunately it held and none of the pieces even tried to move. She then started pretending that my pieces of pro had fallen out and would test to see that my anchor was still solid, once again, my anchor won. Then she challenged me to place the entire rack on the wall within my arms reach while we waited for all the students to be done and the next lecture from the instructors. I had placed about 12 pieces (out of 30+) before it was time to learn about the hanging belay. Then I had to take them all out... *sigh*


Vermon at the hanging belay
The hanging belay is essential! I had seen it implemented before but had never used it myself. This is what you would use if you were multi-pitch climbing. The lead climber would climb up, set up an anchor in the middle of the route, and then belay the second climber to the same spot (hopefully a nice ledge, but not always). The second climber would either continue climbing (leading the route) or you would switch spots and the original leader would continue to climb. I’m super super excited to climb multi-pitch routes.


Emily and Oscar making anchors for the hanging belay station.

After the lecture we practiced lead belaying (when you belay a person setting up a route vs regular belaying where the ropes are already set up), and also cleaning pro that the leader had set. For instructional purposes, the leader set pro about every 4 or 5 feet (normally you’d set this between 6 and 15 feet depending on your comfort level while taking into consideration what you need to put on the wall to not take a ground fall).


Emily placing pro. I had to figure out how she got those pieces in there to be able to get them out.

Cleaning pro was really fun when it was on the route. For most pieces you could just hit the trigger of the cam and it would release from the rock. Other pieces, mainly nuts, might be a little harder. Some of them would come out if you jerked it up, but others were jammed in cracks and just didn’t want to come out. This meant you might have to use your nut tool (a slender tool that can slip in the crack that you can use to jar the nut) to assist in getting the piece out. Sometimes this wouldn’t work either and you’d have to really think “how did this piece get into the wall” and reverse that process. It kind of made it like a puzzle or an investigation, both which I enjoy greatly.


Matt rapelling past a knot, looks like he's using the one-handed prussic technique!

While some students practiced cleaning pro and the hanging belay other students practiced rappelling past a knot. This is another skill that will hopefully not need to be implemented, but if you don’t know how to do it, you may be screwed.


Jet soaking in the rays.

Each of these two skills took a lot of time and there was downtime for some of the students. During this time some people made tape gloves (to protect the back of your hands when you're jamming them into the cracks). Others basked in the sun, and others would borrow pro from the instructors rack and practice placing it in the cracks or making anchors.


Deborah making a tape glove

Once this was done we got back into groups and did some top rope climbing (where the ropes are already set up; either an instructor led them, or somebody climbed an easy side of the rock to get to the top of the route and then hung the ropes down).

The day ended a little after 4pm when I met Andreas in the parking lot. We split an ice cream in celebration of the weekend (or perhaps moreso because of our denial of an ice cream stop the weekend before) and then made our way back to Seattle.

Trail Maintenance -- BoeAlps

Where: Mt Pugh, Around Darrington, WA
When: Sunday, June 7th, 2009
With: BoeAlps BCC Team 7
Goal: Give back, with Trail Maintenance


Evelyne posing with the WTA supplied hard had

As part of the BCC class we needed to complete a day of trail maintenance. Although there are trails all over Washington, some trails less than an hour away, we were chosen to help out with a trail 2.5+ hours north, Mt Pugh.


Ken with a Polaski and loppers on his pack

We were told that they gave us the “hard” mountain, that involved us walking up a few thousand feet with our shovels, polaski’s, grub tool, and loppers. Most of these tools were old fire-fighter tools, particularly the polaski—with one side as an axe and the other side having an adze for grubbing. While chopping through routes 4” thick it was quite obvious some polaski’s were sharper than others.


The evil root I had to chop for it was invading the trail

The hike up was at a fast pace, much faster than any of our Alpine climbs! Soon enough we reached the top of the switchbacks and were then divied into groups of WTA members and BoeAlpers as we headed back down the trail to all the nasty spots. For the most part we were doing trail redirection. To avoid an ugly patch, fallen tree’s, etc, many hikers deviate from the real trail. It was amazing how much this changes the trail!


Moving a large rock from the trail


Unfortunately I didn’t really take any before/after photos, I was too excited at each spot to get working that I didn’t think to get out my camera.


Redirecting the trail

With so many volunteers we quickly cleared the mountain. At noon we stopped for a half hour lunch break and were given some candy by the WTA. Refueled, we continued to hack roots, make new trails, rebuild other areas, and get a good workout. I was hoping I’d finally feel sore after an outing (since my arms don’t get as much exercise normally) but I was sadly denied of any muscle pain the next day.


Trail Marker telling us what to fix

We couldn’t believe how much work we accomplished in a day. We fixed every single problem with the trail!

When we returned to the trailhead we were greeted by the sun peaking out of the clouds and a cooler full of soda’s and juice while we chatted about the day’s work and our ridiculously awesome weather luck. The day started out almost a little rainy, cool and with an overcast (low 60’s). The temperature only warmed up somewhat (to mid 60’s); while working we were completely content with the temperature but if you stopped working you’d become a little chilled, perfect!

Other than waking up at the crack of dawn, this trip was another fun experience. We got a free NW Forest Day Pass, and if we come back for another trail maintenance day (and get an additional NW Forest Day Pass) we could trade in the two day passes for a full year pass (retail $30). Still sounds like a deal to me considering this is volunteer maintenance. Alas, since I have the National Parks Pass, my membership to the NW forests is covered with that and I'm able to hike the state of Washington freely.

Crevasse Rescue -- BoeAlps

Where: Nisqually Glacier, Rainier NP
When: Sunday, May 17th, 2009
With: BoeAlps BCC Team 7
Goal: Practice Crevasse Rescue


Click to make the photo larger, this was taken while I had "fallen" into the crevasse

5:30 rang in the ears of Team 7 holding up in Whittaker’s Bunkhouse. Side Note: warmer nights may not be the best time to book an attic room!

Most of us grabbed breakfast as we slipped on different base layers. It was already pretty warm outside forecasting a brutally hot day on the reflective glacier.

We arrived at Paradise (the main Rainier are with the Ranger station, and start to many of the trails going around the park and the most popular routes to the summit of Rainier.

Shortly after starting the trail towards Muir (Rainier basecamp) we were instructed to put on our crampons. They weren’t necessary for this specific part of the trail but it would act as a practice to prepare for our graduation climb coming up shortly—where crampons would most likely be needed.

There were over 80 students and instructors on the Nisqually Glacier; to others it probably looked like a rouge army taking over. Our destination was a large open crevasse. We turned off the beaten Muir path and soon enough we were able to take off the crampons and trade it in for being tied onto a rope with another student and instructor.


When you’re roped up, there’s about 20m between each climber. It makes everything take longer. You can also see a bunch of crevasses on the right.

Unfortunately, before we were able to rid ourselves of the crampons Todd gashed his gaiters, a $50 bumout. We tied into the rope in case a member fell through a snowbridge and into a crevasse or in case one of us found a new crevasse in general. The hope is that only one person would fall and the other two people tied to the same rope would be able to arrest, and a) stop the fall b) prevent more people from falling into the crevasse and c) enable the rest of the team to assist in getting the fallen climber out.

Fortunately, none of us fell into any unknown crevasse, on accident. The goal of the day was not only to practice crampon and rope travel but also to perform a crevasse rescue. Each of us played a key role in simulating a rescue. For safety we added a belayer who would have an extra rope tied to the person in the crevasse in case the rescue team was unable to perform the rescue properly.


This is what the fallen climber see’s. The ropes wear away at the lip of the creavase which make getting out harder. Also, normally there would only be one rope—the one attached to your other partners.


A student would be lowered into the crevasse with 2 ropes on them. One being the safety belay (not present in “real life” rescue) and the other rope would be the glacier travel rope. The student could try to prussic up the rope (climbing up the rope with the aid of smaller ropes which would be attached to the harness). This would be the ‘best case’ scenario—the team was able to arrest and the fallen climber would be able to get themselves out of the crevasse without additional help.


The sides of the crevasse wall were covered just solid ice. It would be impossible to try and claw your way up.

Since the ‘best case’ scenario is not guaranteed we did not allow the climber to get to the top.


Ken is in the middle of the rope and has arrested to hold the fallen climber.

Initially, the two other climbers on the rope would arrest with their ice axes. After this was done, the climber the furthest away would come down to start setting up the pulley system (once they confirmed that the middle climber was able to keep the arrest with the weight of the fallen climber).


Ryan is on the top of the rope, he’ll arrest too, and then come down to the middle arrested climber to help set up the pulley system. Eveleyn is the safety belayer (and would not be present in a real rescue).


The top climber would then set up two anchors to take the weight of the fallen climber and to ensure the arrested climber did not slip.


Todd has “fallen” into the crevasse! You can see on the bottom of his rope there are some prussic knots tied. This rope is attached to his waist and feet. In a combination of sitting and standing, and moving your prussic knots up, you can slowly get yourself out of the crevasse.


Then, as a team, the two climbers would continue the rescue, setting up the pulley system. Even with a z-pulley system (a mechanical rescue using 2 pulleys) the fallen climber was still hard to pick up.


Even though you may think you're at the bottom of a crevasse, you probably aren't. The bottom could break away at any moment!

Before we knew it we had our rescue down to 20 minutes (up from about an hour). Sadly, this is not a real statistic for our subsequent rescues all had the anchors placed. One would probably be lucky to set up the z-pulley system in under an hour in real life. The group can just hope that if a member is unfortunate enough to fall into a crevasse, the fallen climber is not hurt so badly that they are unable to prussic back up.


Click the photo for a fullscreen size

Overall, the crevasse rescue outing made taking the BCC class completely worth it. The real-life experience of being lowered into a crevasse and performing rescue really makes you appreciate the dangers that are out there. I hope I never have to perform such, but if I must, I feel I’ll be much more prepared.

In terms of the hike itself, I actually felt the worst on this outing and was slower than ever before (ALMOST becoming the slowest in the group). I am positive it was because of the beating sun (and maybe a tiny bit from the 32 mile bike ride the day before). My body doesn’t regulate heat very well and I was sweating moments after leaving the parking lot, when I was only in my base layer. At the end of the day, when the sun wasn’t as intense my energy picked up, and I even led the team home up the steepest hill.