Making Mistakes

Following all these darned courses I've been taking, I finally wanted to lead an alpine climb with the ACC.  I got Mt. Edith Cavell up on the schedule, but a rather humorous piece of information reached me about a week prior.  The Ghost Glacier (large serac perched precariously on the North Face) had calved, slid down the face, taken air, hit the small lake below, and blown the moraine and parking lot to smithereens.  Parks Visitor Safety Specialists termed it a "tsunami".  Well, as I said in an email, my group can count itself among a small number of climbers who have had to change plans due to a tsunami!

I searched for a backup plan.  Mt. Colin was an option, mostly being scrambling with a couple pitches of 5.6 thrown in.  But, it is a long way from the road, and doesn't exactly have groomed access.  Mt. Geraldine has a good exit trail, is in Selected Alpine Climbs, and based on the description in that book, was rather similar in character to Cavell.  It apparently was just "one pitch of 5.5).  I've hiked the Geraldine Lakes trail with the family on at least one occasion, so I knew where to go and how to get out.  I felt that a good choice as an alternate plan, so that's what we did.

From the cars, we hiked along the fire road and then bushwacked directly to the base of the ridge in about two hours.  Here, at the start of the rock, is where I felt the epic beginning.  The terrain here was steep but easy.  It was a classic leader's dilema.  Could I trust everyone to climb unroped?  Would that be deemed a safe and prudent choice?  I pitched out two ~45m pitches of fourth class before shortroping one of the two participants to the top of the first buttress.  Flat walking brought us to the base of steeper and what appeared to be more sustained climbing.

This long set of steps was predominantly 4th class with the odd 5th class move.  I put on my rock shoes for two of the pitches, mostly because I wanted to move fast and not place pro.  Shoes were not necessary.  Most pitches were climbed on two or three pieces and were in the 40-50m range.  Those pieces of pro were either to protect traverses, or just for the sake of having something in the pitch.  Eventually, the ridge eased off, but remained exposed.  I again shortroped through this.  We then came to a third step which appeared to be rather steep and difficult.

Traversing left, we worked through very loose talus to two pitches of rambly terrain followed by a descending traverse.  Shortroping around left and up again, we finally hit the descent gully just below the summit.

Here, there was a general atmosphere of retreat.  I am guessing that I did a good job of manifesting my concern with our progress through body language.  Nobody was surprised when I broke the news that we weren't going the last little bit to the top.  We were awful close, but with the way I had been forced to belay and rope up the participants, I would expect at least two hours to the top and back from where we were.

I shortroped a significant part of the descent.  It went from snow to good steps down low angle rock, to downclimbing a gorge, and then 3rd to 4th class downclimbing to reach nontechnical terrain.  It was a long haul, and I was rather concerned the entire time.  It was by no means a straightforward trudge down.

We reached the car at 9:39 PM.  We had left at 5:20 that morning.  It was a ridiculous day.  My verdict is that the guidebook is actually rather misleading.  I would actually argue that we never encountered rock harder than 5.3/4, but we encountered a rather large quantity of 4th class terrain.  More than that, though, I need to figure out how to handle groups in that sort of terrain.

Both my participants thanked me on numerous occasions for making them feel exceptionally safe.  They both said that it was a great day.  This means to me I did 2/3 of my job; they had fun and felt safe, but we didn't hit the objective.   I need to apprentice under another club-trip leader and see how they handle these types of situations.  With just a friend, I'm sure that we could easily solo the whole route in about 10-12 hours.  I made some mistakes on this one, but thankfully, they didn't have bad consequences.  I would rather not have another 16 hour epic on a club trip in the future, and I want to make sure that I keep improving.  I just need someone to show me the way...

Erich and Chad approach the base of the ridge in morning alpenglow.

The views in Jasper are just something else!

Erich partway up the ridge

Erich looking like a mountain badass

Chad at our high point.  The summit is the peak in the left of the photo.

Finally below the difficulties of the descent gully, I relaxed enough to take a photo.

How to Stiffen a MEC Alpinelite 30

Many of the smaller lightweight packs on the market these days don't have framesheets.  If you buy a pack with a framesheet, the lightest you can go is around 1 kg, whereas "soft" packs generally can be around 500-700 grams.  When you're shedding weight that's big enough to make you favor the soft pack.  Until you cram it full of climbing gear and realize that it carries like a piece of sh!t.

Common packs like this are the MEC Alpinelight 30, Arc'teryx Cierzo and the Deuter Freerider.  They use foam rather than a stiff plastic/metal sheet to "stiffen" the backpanel of the pack.  This works fine when you just have a sweater and water bottle in your pack.  Fill it with a trad rack, hammer, pins, helmet, rope, emergency gear, etc, it suddenly carries like a piece of crap, your hammer pokes you directly in the spine with every step, and you spend all day cursing your weight-saving efforts.

Despair no longer!  For about 5 bucks, you can easily rig up 4 packs to have nice, firm "framesheets" which weigh no more than a few grams.

What you'll need:

1. Small Sheet of Hollow Polypropylene Sheet.  Commonly found in hardware stores in 2 x 4 foot sheets for around 5 bucks.  It might be labeled "Tenulite" or similar.  It should have a rectangular grid when you look at the inside.  This is enough to do about 4 packs.
2. Small Saw
3. The foam back panel from your pack.

How to rig it:

I did this to my MEC Alpinelite 30 (Long Size).  It has a pocket in which the foam is slid.  This is a common feature, as manufacturers advertise this pad as a nice seat for taking a break on.  It really never works that way, because as soon as you take the pad out, your gear smushes into the empty space and replacing it is impossible.  But I digress...

This might be doable on a pack lacking the pocket for the foam.   If your pack has a hydration sleeve, the Tenulite could be slid in there, but I'm guessing that it would be sloppy and not as rigid as my setup.  You could also sew a sleeve for the tenulite, but that requires more effort.

1. Take out the foam back panel, and using a Sharpie, trace its outline onto the Tenulite.
2. Cut the tenulite slightly smaller than the foam pad.  The extra space that this Tenulite consumes will make the fit tough, so going a bit smaller is a good idea.
3. Put the Tenulite into the pocket first, followed by the foam pad.  Put the foam towards the wearer of the pack so that it provides some comfort.
4. Close the pocket, load up the pack and test the fit.  I almost guarantee that you won't go back.

The Tenulite is the red, hollow plastic sheet.  The stock foamie is the grey thing below.  The pack is fully loaded with gear for an alpine rock climb, and carries like a dream.

For 5 bucks I got this whole sheet.  The missing portion is what my Alpinelite consumed.  Could do 3 more packs easily.

With my experience, this stiffened my pack to the point that it carries better than my Alpinelite 45!  It's real darn stiff, transfers load super well, and weights essentially the same as the stock pack.  It's still comfy because of the foam.

Bonus:  Tenulite is actually used in many lightweight leg splints.  Manufacturers essentially take the plain board, glue some velcro on, and call it a splint.  So if your buddy takes a nasty slip and breaks his tib/fib, whip this back panel out and with a few prussiks/triangle bandages/rope/sling/whatever, you have a pretty stable leg splint.  Huh!

Uto Peak, Back 'o the Lake, and Disk Golf

After we got off the TNF course, Rebecca and I decided to do a bit of climbing in Rogers Pass.  After driving our carpool mates back to Golden, we hung around until her boyfriend, Tobias (German much?), showed up.  Then, after some healthy discussion, we hatched our plan.  Sunday, Rebecca and I would go for a fun ramble up Uto Peak and stash some gear at the bivy site.  Then, I'd have to go back and start driving home.  Tobias, sick as he was, would rest for the day in Rogers before hiking up with the rest of the bivy gear and the two of them would do Sir Donald on Monday.  It was a bit disappointing to miss out on Sir Donald, but it just gives me an excuse to go back and tag it later.

The weather was quite clear as we camped and organized gear at the Sir Donald campground.  We woke up at 4 am Alberta time (we live in the future) and got moving by 4:45 down the trail.  We hit the bivy in 3 hours, the col in 3-1/2, and we were on top in 6h15m.  That's pretty much exactly what the guidebook says time-wise.  I was hoping to do it in 5 hours, but we were both sucking wind hard on the way to the bivy.  Going soft for a week at the GMC with slow pace, good food, and short approaches meant that our bodies were both shocked by the change to normal pace and hot weather.

We pitched out two sections, and simulclimbed the rest.  We simulclimbed mostly because we had the rope on anyway, it was really roped soloing since we rarely placed any gear.  The terrain is mostly rather easy with a couple steps that make you pay attention for a second.

The view from the lower bivy

Morning beta pic of our descent route.  We descended to the low point, then took the snow and scree down.

Rebecca at the Uto/Sir Donald col, Uto ahead.

This beautiful view followed us all day

The NE Ridge of Sir Donald

Rebecca scrambling up

One of the steps that we pitched out

Sir Donald from the summit of Uto

Looking North

Rebecca with Sir Donald behind

Swiss Peaks

Mt. Booney?

Goodsirs

Setting up the camera mount.

On the snow flats en route back to the bivy

Sir Donald from the lower bivy

Another beautiful vista from the low bivy

From the top, we traversed over to the N ridge and went down.  We rappelled twice off pre-existing anchors and downclimbed the third rappel.  The whole thing could be downclimbed by staying on the ridge at the first rappel anchor, but would involve significant exposure.  We hit a scree gully and moved down to the snow slopes which we carefully traversed and then glissaded without ice axes (we didn't haul ours).  In the blazing heat, Rebecca even lied down in the snow to try and cool off.  It took us 2 hours from the summit back to the lower bivy.  Again, this wasn't going at full blast.  I was feeling 100% now, but the weather was clear, the sun warm, and the company good.  Why rush?

Back at the bivy site, we downed some food and water before I headed off.  I hiked back down to the cars in about 2 hours, then drove over the Lake Louise.  I knew that a few buddies from the UAOC were cragging there for the day, so I made a couple phone calls and actually got through!  Turns out that they were still up at the cliff, so I grabbed my gear, guidebook and started hiking in.  Managed to climb a couple pitches before they headed off.  Not anything hard or intense, but it was a nice way to cap off the day.  That was followed by a drive down to Canmore and the Chateau Knight.

I hung out with the brothers Knight for the evening, and it was nice to catch up.  They're always good company, but are unfortunately not climbers in the summer, so we don't get together much.  The inside jokes all came out and it was a good time.  The next morning, after pancake breakfast, Pete and I biked up to the Nordic Center for one of the classic loc activies: Disk Golf.  We're so loc that we even passed a group of satchel-sporting pros.  After a few holes though, Pete needed to get back to town for work, and I wanted to see the family, so we biked back to town.

All in all, it was a pretty fun way to finish off my summer vacation.  I got to climb in two ranges in a day, hang out with good people, and just have plain 'ol fashioned fun!  Can't Complain.

TNF Summer Leadership Course 2012

I devoted this summer to developing myself both in technical skill and leadership ability.  I originally signed up for two courses put on by the Edmonton section of the ACC, a shortroping on rock course as well as a trad climbing course.  In late April, I was invited to attend a free Wilderness First Aid course as well.  All these courses were put on by Cyril Shokoples, and he seemed to support my attempts to become more proficient in the mountains.  In fact, he gave me a fully stocked first-aid kit after the free course.  For this gesture alone, I felt indebted.

A few weeks later, I got an email from Cyril.  He was recommending that I sign up for the TNF Leadership Course this summer.  I was originally very honoured to be invited to this course, as I had always though of it as a very advanced program.  I then became apprehensive.  I'd already "coursed out" my summer.  I didn't want to be someone who takes courses and never climbs.  Those people are straight-up scary to go with; they think that they know what they're doing because they've been taught it, but never practiced, so they screw-up dangerously.

I hummed and hawed until I finally decided to just go for it and devote myself to climb as much as I could to practice my skills.  I think that I've actually done OK with that so far.  The weekend after the trad climbing course, I went and did the Chase/Rowlands route.  The day after the alpine leadership course, all of us on the course went and did the Chimney Route on Roche a Perdrix.  There, we worked on being efficient and rappelling quickly.  I didn't get a chance to practice my first aid, and for that, I am thankful.  Knock on wood...

Now, I did end up applying for the TNF course and I got accepted.  Big surprise, Cyril is on the selection committee.  Anyway, I got the time off of work and actually started to get nervous as the course drew closer.  How would I stack up to other participants?  They'd surely be far older and more experienced than me!  I soon found myself in Golden, and then driving down the Columbia West FSR to the staging area.  The course required that we all keep "Learning Journals" so I'm going to copy down what I wrote each day along with some pictures.

First Day of TNF
Had breakfast with the group at the Kicking Horse River Lodge.  Then, carpooled with Peter Ondrus from Edmonton to the staging area.  The logging road was in real good shape and we made it there quick.

I flew in on the 6th load, and got to ride shotgun.  That was mega cool.  The flight was only a few minutes, but I really enjoyed that.  Once in camp, Cyril already had an assignment for us.  We hiked to the Ben Ferris/Great Cairn Hut, then back to camp and the toe of the glacier.  We were supposed to identify peaks but the weather was not conducive to this.

I left the group at camp and started scrambling up the northern end of Palisade Mountain, but turned back 2/3 of the way to the first peak.  I was solo and worried about making the 5:00 pm deadline, so I decided to go back.  In retrospect, I should have just hauled ass and tagged that first peak.  I was back at camp in 1h35m, with 40 minutes to spare.  Totally could have made it.

After dinner, we had a short meeting with all the course participants, instructors, etc.  That was cool, got to meet everyone properly and hear what they had to say of themselves.  We set our objective as Citadel Peak with a 4:30 am wakeup.  Also planned for crevasse rescue.

Ze Choppa

All sorts of nerdy gauges

I was pretty stoked to ride in the gunner's seat

Hiking towards the Great Cairn Hut with two guys from the St. Boniface Section

Miguel and Ashton at the toe of the Haworth Glacier, camp behind.

Camp from Palisade Mountain

Gettin rad on Palisade

It was muggy all day in camp, but it still felt pretty awesome!

Day Two of TNF
Woke up at 4:30, and after a rather annoying delay, got going up the Haworth Glacier.  First, we discussed roping for glacier travel.  Turns out that I was using the "Guide's Knot" incorrectly.  It needs to be shielded by another overhand if you are in the middle of the rope, due to cross-loading.

We walked up the glacier and contoured towards Palisade Pass.  Here, we talked about kicking steps and identifying crevasses.  Also, routefinding and setting good tracks.

Once at the pass, we discussed how to move a group over a cornice or sharp drop-off.  We practiced the boot/axe belay, which is apparently super weak.  Testing later that day, we found that a sitting hip belay is far stronger.

We then shortroped the group down the pass and onto the Sir Sandford Glacier, making our way towards Citadel Peak.  I did not get to lead anything to this point which was rather disappointing.  We got to the base of Citadel, lengthened the rope, and then headed up to the ridge.  From there, Cyril, Matt and Dave led their own teams while I got to lead mine!  It was rather easy as I was just following steps and shortroping, but at least I got to go out front!

Got to the peak, quickly turned around and carefully descended back to the glacier.  Back at Palisade Pass, we worked with snow anchors.  It;s been 7 years since I took SIM and I've had bad beta on snow anchors.  Things I've learned are in my notes on T-slots, but most important to my own knowledge was the way that the axe is placed and the way it's tied.

We then hurried back to camp, because we were late for dinner.

At palisade Pass with Sir Sandford looming behind.  Matt is modeling the latest design of sunhat.  This model is, unfortunately, aimed at the 50-65 year old woman.

Heading towards Citadel Peak

A rather aesthetic line up to Citadel

One of the rope teams on top

Matt looks cooler while crossing the bergschrund on descent

Day Three of TNF
Today started with an average camp start with brekky at 6:30.  We noticed cumulus clouds hanging above Redan Pass.  Baro Pressure 1037 hPa.  Started towards Haworth Glacier when Cyril challenged Monte to find a new route around the lake.  I already knew this new way since I'd taken it on day one, but it took Monte a bit of thinking.  Too bad I wasn't put on the spot this morning, I would have looked like a champ.

Moved up the glacier with discussions of routefinding and contouring.  Once at the bottom of Alpinea Dome, we split into two groups of two ropes each and went up the dome.  My group took a ridge feature facing Palisade Pass, while the other two ropes went up the South Face.  Below the summit, we practiced pitching out steep snow.  I used a mid-clip picket, which was nice.  monte led up this pitch, and I followed.  A quick walk brought us back to the summit.

During lunch, we observed quickly destabilizing weather.  Thunder soon boomed to the NE and we got rained on for a short period of time.  We left the summit and descended via the false summit and ridge.  I then led to Palisade Pass.  At the pass, the weather loomed very ominously and we therefore decided to high-tail it back to camp.  A hailstorm hit us as we descended the Haworth, but began to let up as we got to camp.

Soft skills were discussed back in the lunch tent.  We first went over "levels of consciousness", then different types of error, followed by waivers.

Blackfriar Peaks from above camp

Practicing pitched out snow climbing on Alpina Dome

Miguel leads his team to the top of Alpina Dome.  This summit is actually staked as a CMH drop site.  What a run that must be with views like this!

Day Four of TNF
The objective for today was to practice shortroping on rock by climbing Azimuth Mountain.  We got up at the standard 6 am wakeup call, and we were moving by only a second or two after 7.

As usual, Cyril threw someone out front to set the pace and routefind.  I believe it was Monte at first.  We worked our way up with Cyril teaching along the way.  He talked about setting tracks in snow, and how during switchbacks he looks back often because it's easy to do.  He also pointed out that at transitions, he moves out ahead to both break trail and also to send a non-verbal "hurry up" message.

Once we were off the snow, Cyril talked about (criticized) routefinding.  Essentially, being really lazy helps you find the best way through 2nd class terrain.  Here, Travis took over the leading.  We got to the edge of the snow and Travis scouted around the corner.  He came back saying to put the rope on.  We did, but I don't really think that was necessary.  There were better spots just around the corner.

We crossed the glacier, which was quite convoluted to start.  Keeping the rope tight, we managed to get through without incident.  A traverse led us to the base of the ridge, where the weather started to cause concern.  Here, we started our shortroping practice.  Since I'd already taken Cyril's shortroping course, I was intent to practice again and hammer home anything I'd forgotten.  The main thing that I learned was that my hand was backwards.  Thumb should point towards the belayer in a hand belay.

We got to about halfway before turning around due to impending weather.  We went back to out stash of ice axes and crampons, had lunch, and notied that the weather was clearing.  We went back, shortroping again, right to the summit.  Had a quick break, then shortroped back to our crampons.  The time was now 4 pm so we hustled back to camp through a thunderstorm, arriving just before 6.

At dinner, I told The Tale of Goldy-Cyril and the Ten TNF Participants.  It got a good reaction out of everyone, apparently it was an easy crowd to make laugh.

Walking through tiger country

Palisade Mountain, GMC Camp is hidden by the rocks in the foreground

The Adamants through the clouds

Mt. Sir Sandford thick in the gloom

Silvertip and Blackfriar Peaks

The group below the rap on Azimuth

Travis shortens the rope with Silvertip Peak behind

There were a few skiers in the group...

Day Five of TNF
Today was an easy day.  We started at a leisurely 8:30 in the lunch tent, and Cyril did a classroom session.  We started with radio/electronic communications, going through different types of radios, emergency beacons, etc.  We also talked about FRS and HAM radios.

Matt then took us through map and compass skills.  We covered how to calculate declination, grid references, take bearings, and find your position on a map.  Cyril then talked about GPS systems and how to set them up.  He also pressed the point that they're only to supplement a map and not to be used on their own.

For the remainder of the afternoon, we went to the rock school and practiced anchor building.  This was mainly a review of the trad leadership course that I took earlier, but it allowed me to practice placing more pitons, reinforce, rigging, etc.

After dinner, we were assigned peaks to lead.  I was put with Rebecca and Ashton and assigned Palisade Peak.  Dave would come along with us.  We planned this out, along with a backup of Picture Dome in case the weather were to crap.

Can't wait to be challenged with Palisade tomorrow!

The rock school is right below a very cool set of seracs.  We're in a safe spot, but it's cool surroundings.

Day Six of TNF
We woke up this morning to pouring rain and gusting wind to 60 km/h.  It had stormed all night.

We got ready regardless, and were discussing whether plan B or staying in camp would be best.  Cyril soon came into the drying tent and discussed with us.  The decision was made to do classroom material in camp.

We went through Purcell Prussiks, how to use them for glacier travel, crevasse rescue, rope rescue, and or course as a personal lanyard.  We then covered rock rescue which I found awesome seeing as I've never learnt that much of it.  We covered both raising and lowering a climber.

Next, we covered leadership styles.  We went through the various stages of group development, styles of leadership suitable to that stage, conflict resolution, and finally switched gears to crevasse rescue while the sun shone.

Tomorrow, the plan is to try again for Palisade.  Hopefully (knock on wood) it goes tomorrow.

Day Seven of TNF
This morning, I woke up to a spectacularly clear sky and cold temperatures.  We got moving shortly past 7 and I led us through the rubbly bit below the ridge.  We transitioned to snow, and wrapped around the east aspect.  Switching leaders, we continued up to the ridge before putting on the rope.

After shortroping to the first summit, we walked along the ridge while still shortroping.  After a short time, we came to a point which looked at the technical climbing.  This step had turned most groups back.  After some lunch, we got closer and decided to give it a go.  Rebecca led up the first pitch, which was horribly friable.  I walked up the second while she belayed me off 3 cams and a thread.  I slung a boulder after 20m and we continued on.  One more pitch and we shortroped further to the "summit".

It turns out that the true peak was further along.  Due to our due time of 4 pm in camp, we had lunch on top and then descended the ridge back to camp.  We took a gully between the 1st and 2nd peaks.  Back in camp, we unwound by cragging for a bit before running back for Mexican Night.  Mexican food followed by a talent show brought us to early morning where Cyril was still blasting out classic tunes on the guitar.  Slightly sloshed, we stumbled back to our tents for a short night's sleep.

Sir Sandford in the morning

A nice clear view of the Adamants

Rebecca shortropes LIKE A BOSS

Working along the ridge, with our "summit" looking like the highpoint on the right

The worst rock I've ever experienced.  I crushed holds just by squeezing.

Because the rock was so crappy, gear was practically useless.  Rebecca ran'er right out

Dave comes up the last pitch

Sir Sandford from our high point

Scoping lines on Sir Sandford and Ravelin

Here, you can see how we're not on the actual top

Day Eight of TNF
This morning was "fly day".  We had a late breakfast, and after getting our bags to the heli pad, we had interviews with a member of the instructional team.  Mine was with Dave since he had accompanied my group on Palisade.  It was pretty good to get his feedback.  Although he can be a bit wordy sometimes, his insights are often rather humorous and very good to hear.

He talked about making planning casual, and not visible to the participants.  This makes sense; if everyone thinks that the trip is just rolling along perfectly without any effort, they'll relax and just enjoy themselves.  If they see you constantly humming and hawing, then they'll get nervous and doubt your decisions.

He also talked about pushing anxiety away.  Staying calm and dosile all the time is an important characteristic.  Anxiety will totally ruin the environment for participants, they'll climb shitty, be nervous and have their minds off task.  Keeping anxiety under the skin and not succumbing to it is something that I want to strive for as well.

His third point was that I have to make sure not to get tunnel vision when stressed.  When I get uncomfortable, rushed, or similarly stressed, I can miss huge and important details.  I need to avoid getting stressed, but if I do get stressed, consciously look around and think things through.

Overall, I think that the course ended well.  Of course, I feel that I could have done better.  I always feel that way.  I really felt like I wished that I could have given 'er a little harder and asked more questions early on.  I'm happy with how it went though, and now I must begin the process of trying not to forget things.  I'll hopefully get a chance to practice in a couple weeks, so I'm looking forward to that!