Photo link:
http://community.webshots.com/user/kzklimber
This is a continuation of the trip report I started on a previous thread.
Chapter 6 – “Hide & Go Seek”
After a restful night, even though my feet were slightly higher than my head, we woke to warm, soft snow conditions at 3 AM. The guides said our attempt at another nearby summit was a no go due to avalanche potential and everyone could stay in their bags until 5 AM. The plan for the day would be avalanche beacon training and some rock climbing. We had these avalanche beacons strapped to our chests all week long with no idea how to use them, but this was our day to find out. Each morning everyone would take a turn switching their beacon from transmit to receive and check that they could pick up the signal from everyone else’s beacon. Our lesson today involved finding a buried climber (OK we buried the beacons not the people). We paired up and one partner would bury their beacon in the snow. The other would shift to receive and had 5 minutes to find and dig up the buried beacon. I was amazed at how simple and accurate they were to use. Red LEDs pointed you towards the right direction and the digital readout told you how many meters away you were. Each person was able to locate and recover the buried beacon in a matter of minutes.
While beacon search was going on, we were also given a lesson in rock climbing on a wall next to camp. The instructors set up a top rope and taught us proper communications and belaying. The techniques were slightly different than I am accustomed to from ice climbing. Each of us had a turn climbing the crack upwards for about 30 feet and a turn belaying and lowering the climber. It was great fun despite the fact we were wearing stiff clumsy mountaineering boots instead of light, flexible, sticky soled rock shoes. The pace of the day was more relaxed than any of the previous days and I got the feeling things were beginning to wind down.
Just before dinner, I noticed the sky had cleared and I walked out to the small overlook. I gasped at the sight of Denali fully visible since the clouds had lifted. The summit was about 12,000 feet above us and about 15 miles away. It was a bit scary how big and how high it actually was. Had we done nothing else, the trip would have been worthwhile just for this moment. I snapped a few pictures and went back to camp to tell the others. Everyone else soon joined me as we all took photos of one another and marveled at the sight. This was the icing on the cake on our final night of the trip.
Chapter 7 – “Down and Out”
The planes were scheduled to pick us up at 9AM at the original drop off point. The guides wanted to be out of camp by 6 AM, so we were up by 4. Everyone worked quickly to strike camp and pack everything up. The rope teams were arranged with skiers on one team and those on snowshoes on 2 other teams. Since 2 of the instructors had skis, our rope team was all students. It felt good to be independent as we were the first team leading the way out of camp. Since the journey was primarily downhill, we ran a short loop of braided nylon rope under our sleds to act as a brake. While descending, each climber had to keep the rope tight enough so that the sled of the person in front did not slide into them from behind. It was smooth going all the way down and we arrived back at the landing site at about 7 AM.
Now we had to consolidate and pack the remaining gear from the sleds and dig up the extra gear and food supply we had cached under the snow. A raven hung around hoping for a chance at some abandoned food. We also had to stomp down a takeoff strip for the plane by walking in our skis and snowshoes to break up and compress the crust on the snow. By 8 AM the runway was finished and all the gear was consolidated, packed, and neatly organized. Since we had time, we had one more lecture on Glaciology that finished just before the first plane flew low overhead down the glacier and circled to come in and land. Shortly after, 2 more planes followed. We began loading gear.
I volunteered to be on the last plane out, I wanted to savor every last minute of this experience. As a result, the lead instructor and I were the only 2 passengers and I had the whole back seat to my self. As we took off, I felt a bit sad having to leave. As the plane gained altitude, the sadness was soon replaced by anticipation of the views that were to come as it was a bright clear morning. The pilot banked the plane left to fly a route that would take us right past Denali and follow the Ruth Glacier back to the tundra. Denali and the entire Alaska Range were cloudless as we flew by and I snapped picture after picture. Soon the glaciers and snow capped peaks gave way to green valleys and rivers. We landed in Talkeetna after about 30 minutes.
http://community.webshots.com/user/kzklimber
This is a continuation of the trip report I started on a previous thread.
Chapter 6 – “Hide & Go Seek”
After a restful night, even though my feet were slightly higher than my head, we woke to warm, soft snow conditions at 3 AM. The guides said our attempt at another nearby summit was a no go due to avalanche potential and everyone could stay in their bags until 5 AM. The plan for the day would be avalanche beacon training and some rock climbing. We had these avalanche beacons strapped to our chests all week long with no idea how to use them, but this was our day to find out. Each morning everyone would take a turn switching their beacon from transmit to receive and check that they could pick up the signal from everyone else’s beacon. Our lesson today involved finding a buried climber (OK we buried the beacons not the people). We paired up and one partner would bury their beacon in the snow. The other would shift to receive and had 5 minutes to find and dig up the buried beacon. I was amazed at how simple and accurate they were to use. Red LEDs pointed you towards the right direction and the digital readout told you how many meters away you were. Each person was able to locate and recover the buried beacon in a matter of minutes.
While beacon search was going on, we were also given a lesson in rock climbing on a wall next to camp. The instructors set up a top rope and taught us proper communications and belaying. The techniques were slightly different than I am accustomed to from ice climbing. Each of us had a turn climbing the crack upwards for about 30 feet and a turn belaying and lowering the climber. It was great fun despite the fact we were wearing stiff clumsy mountaineering boots instead of light, flexible, sticky soled rock shoes. The pace of the day was more relaxed than any of the previous days and I got the feeling things were beginning to wind down.
Just before dinner, I noticed the sky had cleared and I walked out to the small overlook. I gasped at the sight of Denali fully visible since the clouds had lifted. The summit was about 12,000 feet above us and about 15 miles away. It was a bit scary how big and how high it actually was. Had we done nothing else, the trip would have been worthwhile just for this moment. I snapped a few pictures and went back to camp to tell the others. Everyone else soon joined me as we all took photos of one another and marveled at the sight. This was the icing on the cake on our final night of the trip.
Chapter 7 – “Down and Out”
The planes were scheduled to pick us up at 9AM at the original drop off point. The guides wanted to be out of camp by 6 AM, so we were up by 4. Everyone worked quickly to strike camp and pack everything up. The rope teams were arranged with skiers on one team and those on snowshoes on 2 other teams. Since 2 of the instructors had skis, our rope team was all students. It felt good to be independent as we were the first team leading the way out of camp. Since the journey was primarily downhill, we ran a short loop of braided nylon rope under our sleds to act as a brake. While descending, each climber had to keep the rope tight enough so that the sled of the person in front did not slide into them from behind. It was smooth going all the way down and we arrived back at the landing site at about 7 AM.
Now we had to consolidate and pack the remaining gear from the sleds and dig up the extra gear and food supply we had cached under the snow. A raven hung around hoping for a chance at some abandoned food. We also had to stomp down a takeoff strip for the plane by walking in our skis and snowshoes to break up and compress the crust on the snow. By 8 AM the runway was finished and all the gear was consolidated, packed, and neatly organized. Since we had time, we had one more lecture on Glaciology that finished just before the first plane flew low overhead down the glacier and circled to come in and land. Shortly after, 2 more planes followed. We began loading gear.
I volunteered to be on the last plane out, I wanted to savor every last minute of this experience. As a result, the lead instructor and I were the only 2 passengers and I had the whole back seat to my self. As we took off, I felt a bit sad having to leave. As the plane gained altitude, the sadness was soon replaced by anticipation of the views that were to come as it was a bright clear morning. The pilot banked the plane left to fly a route that would take us right past Denali and follow the Ruth Glacier back to the tundra. Denali and the entire Alaska Range were cloudless as we flew by and I snapped picture after picture. Soon the glaciers and snow capped peaks gave way to green valleys and rivers. We landed in Talkeetna after about 30 minutes.
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