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Trip Reports
Here's where you peruse WACer trip reports and post your own for everyone to see. Remember: Never let the truth interfere with a good story! | Trip Reports |
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| GuideBook | |
| Weather | all of the above |
| TrailConditions | |
| Owned By | kaupang |
| Mailed to WacList | |
| RowId | 285 |
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| Mountain |
Elevation |
Summitted |
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| Wapaloosie Mountain |
7018 |
false |
| Appleton, Mount |
6025 |
false |
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| Report |
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SNOW I.
I was glad that I had Friday off of work. I couldn’t believe how long it took me to pack up my gear for the weekend. In between piles of gear, I managed to check my email 20 times as we sorted out rides and meeting locations, headed to REI once again for a few more supplies, and prepared endless amounts of food in anticipation of the massive appetites of the instructors and the feared gigantic spoon of Pat. As I left my house to pick up Jeff my mind raced with all the things I forgot. Jeff loaded his stuff in and immediately I realized that my helmet was missing – but after calling Victoria and her subsequently calling everyone she knew for extra helmets I found that there it was deep in my bag, safe and sound…on to pick up Megan. Suddenly we had the Subaru full of gear and two more people to pick up, hmmmm…. The plan was to head to Glacier for the night and meet Doug P and Mary Claire, since they both had vehicles of their own due to working near Bellingham for the day, we decided to stuff in, save gas…. With each person we picked up we all commented on how this extra bag of stuff that we brought somehow had to fit in the bag we already had packed to the limit….of course we soothed our fears by rationalizing that our other rope team members would have a plentiful amount of room! (They were all banking on you UTA… they didn’t’ realize how much camera gear you had!) After Miles’ bags and large cooler of food were crammed in, we needed all 4 of us to stuff Victoria’s bags in, and somehow we were finally on our way….sort of.
A quick call to the costume store to ask them to stay open a few minutes longer as we raced towards Northgate. Jeff ran in and picked up the laurel wreaths for his team in the nick of time… as the rest of us realized we probably shouldn’t have brought him there because he was the competition! Next was a series of panics about not being allowed to go on the trip due to gear sitting in our homes and not the car--- forgetting a map, wondering if both boots were packed, forgetting secret ingredients for meals, but somehow we survived…
After a restful night in Glacier we arrived at the parking lot to be greeted by smiling faces all around…full of anticipation and a little anxiety at the same time. The parking lot was quickly filled with unpacked packs of gear all over the place ( aren’t pack checks fun for all?) We swapped costumes and food with our teammates and realized that creativity in strapping crap to the outside of a pack is a skill all to itself.
The groups slowly ascended with slow steps to camp. Luckily Pat greeted us with a big smile at camp (which meant he didn’t get a chance to see our wide step patterns, poor kicking of steps, and disorganized ascent paths), and Nadia directed us to get set up and ready to start the afternoon. The shovels were put to good use for the next hour – at least Uta and Gilberts’ were….somehow the rest of us kept digging and tossing snow, wondering how the heck they were making a beautiful castle. The horn blew…packs were on, and off we went ….
I was one of the “fortunate” along with Mike, Natasha, Pete, Doug P, Megan, Uta, and Miles to keep the shovel stuck to our hands for the first rotation and continue digging. Kris outlined a huge square and instructed us to start digging, don’t ask questions, and don’t stop until you are told….. sounded like fun. We had a hard time visualizing what the kitchen would become, but boy was it a blast to dig trenches…!!?!!...part way through Lisa realized that we needed more instruction and an inner trench was built….easy access for the hungry instructors. Good thinking!
The afternoon was packed with ice axe arrest (i.e. slide, stop, then dig the snow out of every place you can…), snow anchors (i.e. burying random objects in the snow, test them and learn how to dodge the sharp edges of them when they come flying at you), and ascending/descending (i.e. boot camp….literally! march – up, down, up, down --- walk slower, better steps, why are you panting?….)
But the reward came with the big dinner event. Those of us in the first group …(yes still a little bitter) came back to see beautiful snow sculptures and an expansive kitchen which now became center stage. Great work students – I am truly impressed (maybe it was a good idea I was only building trenches – I didn’t realize how many artists we have in the group!) We slaved and slaved away at our meals (trying to stash away bits of food for ourselves prior to the instructor parade)…and we had a blast. There was not a soul without a smile on their face and in the end all bellies were full and satisfied! Feasts took you around the world from Hawaii, to Polynesia, Greece, and Italy…. And costumes ranged from the king (who knows what Josh was wearing?) to the cow queen – Toni, to Hawaii shirts, Ali’s red wig, greek laurel wreaths and togas, grass skirts with coconut bras (by they way they snap if you sneeze , Pete…be more careful next time!!!), and many more….It took the instructors quite some time pondering over prizes for the group….hands were raised and arguments were witnessed as the students peered at the gathered voting instructors with a backdrop of Shuksan in the sunset. Luckily they enjoyed the entire evening (or at least they did a good job lying to us about it and then went back to their tents and cooked their own meals!) Thanks for all the generous prizes….Sarah, Nadia and Cathy did a great job with the organizing!!!
Sleep came easily, at least for me….but Ali and I realized quickly that the amount of time we spent trying to level the floor of our tent platform was all for naught as we subsequently loaded harnesses, beaners, and random non-level junk on the underside of our sleeping bags and pads making the surface more mountainous than level. But as we woke up, the stove that was just outside of our tent door seemed miles away, and the chill of the long trek to the bathroom was too much to imagine! Again – we survived…
Day 2 was consisted of the same parade to the ‘steep’ slopes. We realized this time that when an instructor told you “good recovery” during an arrest it really meant – “you totally blew it, but it made us laugh, who knows how you actually stopped, but at least you are safe...so all is well.” When building snow anchors – if you can’t get it to budge (you are not strong enough and therefore you must add Sim to your tugging force and get ready to dodge again). There was even glaciers at 5000 feet, how we managed to traverse around them we can only thank Stu… Another session of ascend/descend started w/ a great long glissade … some of us upright / some doing more like cartwheels down the hill --- Hong Nhi we heard took the prize for the greatest ride! By the end of the day as our group was ascending, Phoung pointed out gently –“Pat, I think there is a small slide going over there…maybe we should move a little faster” The weather was turning and the 40 degree slope we were on no longer seemed so safe, so up we went – straight…forget that traversing.
I can’t describe all the lessons that I learned this weekend, but they came from every direction, as again the instructors shared their knowledge, made us smile, and most importantly taught us that becoming an instructor next year for Snow I has many many yummy incentives!
As we trudged out in the rain….we heard the booming roar of a few ---- “DON’T FORGET THE KNOTS EXAM ON TUESDAY”
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