Guide's Olympics!

Perhaps one of the most fun events at the American Mountain Guides Association Annual Meeting is the Guide's Olympics. This is an event wherein a group of guides from all over the country get together to compete in a series of skill-based games...and the competition is fierce!

The Guide's Olympics doesn't have "normal" Olympic events like curling, or speed walking, or synchronized swimming, or the 3000 meter steeplechase... Instead, in the Guide's Olympics, guides must demonstrate a series of mountain climbing and guide skills under unusual circumstances while dressed like Las Vegas pimps on New Years Eve.

In 1989, former AAI assistant director Sheilagh Brown devised the first of a series of competitions for the AMGA's Annual Meeting. That was the year that she developed the Guide's Olympics. Due to the overwhelming success of the event, she continued to create. In 1990 she established the Guide's Backcountry Cook-Off. And finally, in 1991 she developed the first annual Mountain Guide's Pumpkin Carving Contest.

The Backcountry Cook-Off and the the Guide's Pumpkin Carving Contest were both extremely popular events. However, as the years passed and the annual meeting evolved, the Cook-Off and the Pumpkin Carving Contest were dropped and the the Guide's Olympics became the preimere "fun" event of the meeting.

AAI Guide Forest McBrian belaying at the Guide's Olympics.

The 2008 Guide Olympic Events were as follows:

Glaciated White-Out Navigation while Avoiding Spillage

In this extremely difficult event, three guides must put on plastic boots and crampons and tie into one another with a rope. The guide in the lead is blindfolded. And there is a glass of wine suspended on the rope between each of the guides. The goal of the game is to direct the guide in the front down a treacherous path through the desert while spilling as little of the wine suspended between one another as possible.

Most people are a bit aggro in this event and at least one team was in such a rush that the blindfolded team leader ran directly into a tree.

Once the team finishes their tour through the desert -- tied together with crampons on -- the wine is measured. Teams are scored on a combination of how much wine is left in the cup and how fast they were able to complete the course.

Three-Legged Climb

This simple timed event requires that two guides are duct-taped together during an ascent. In other words, each participant has a wrist and a foot duct-taped to one another. The team that gets to the top the fastest gets the most points.

Two guides participate in the three-legged climb.

Rock Ascent with Sandbags Clipped to Crotch

In this endurance event, a guide must climb a 5.9 rock route on top-rope. The bolts on the route each have a bag of sand clipped to them. As the guide passes each bag of sand, he must unclip it from the bolt and then clip the bag to the belay loop at his crotch. By the time the guide gets to the top of the route he has fifty pounds of sand hanging from his crotch. Talk about rope drag!

A guide ascends the route with sandbags hanging between his legs.

This event is timed as well. And if a guide were to need assistance (i.e. people pulling on the rope to help him get up) he will have points docked.

Twister with a Bunch of Ski Junk Hanging Off of You

In this event, guides must play twister with a bunch of ski junk hanging off of them.

Two guides compete in a heated game of twister.

To be more precises, a group of guides will play twister while wearing packs that are heavy with skis and poles and other mountain equipment. On each twist another piece of equipment must be added to the participant. In other words, they have to put on gloves, mountain boots, or hang roller skates from their packs.

It's not really clear how this game is scored. And as twister with a backpack with skis on it is inherently dangerous, only the most fit and flexible guides are allowed to participate.

Dry-Skiing and Short Roping in the Desert

In this event, two guides must rope up and put on skis. A third guide must wear a pack with skis on it and walk in ski boots. The first guide must short-rope the second guide as they race up a dry desert trail, around a giant boulder and back to the main staging area. Once they have reached the staging area they must use an avalanche transceiver.

A team of guides dry ski through the desert.

It is not recommended that one use new skis for this event.

AAI Guide Richard Riquelme made the following video of the event. He had to add music to it to cover his non-stop laughing into the microphone.



When all was said and done, this year's Guide Olympics was a great success. People dressed up like idiots, competed like fifth-grade bullies, hooted and hollered like frat boys and sorority girls and made complete fools of themselves. In others words, the goal of the event was met. Everybody had a lot of fun!

--Jason D. Martin

Aidan is Wayyyyy Out There...

We just got another call from Aidan from a sat phone in China. He is still solo at 17,500 feet on Minya Konka and the weather still isn't very good.

As you may recall from a previous post, AAI guide Aidan Loehr was the lead guide on our China – Genyen Area Expedition which finished on October 12. Since then Aidan has been battling his way up Minya Konka (24,790') which is the highest mountain in the Sichuan Provence of China.

Since reaching his high camp, Aidan has attempted to get higher multiple times. He has now repeated the crux of the mountain three times. Each time he has climbed through loose and insecure snow only to find dreadfully dangerous snow and high winds above. At this point he only has one day of fuel left in high camp and then he has to go down. His plan was to scout up high one last time before descending.

Yesterday a massive avalanche washed down from the upper mountain splitting in half, one half washing down one side of the ridge and the other half washing down the other side just feet from his camp. This particular incident definitely raised his awareness about just how remote he actually is. Aidan is literally in the middle of nowhere, alone and on a mountain almost no one has ever heard of. In other words, Aidan is the man!

If this ascent doesn't work out, Aidan still thinks that he might have time to get down, resupply and then make a solo attempt on the as yet unclimbed west ridge of Dogonomba (19,550').

--Jason D. Martin

Climbing News from Here and Abroad -- October 30, 2008

Northwest:

--AAI Guide Forest McBrian is a star! He was recently featured in Tru TVs Ski Patrol. In a recent episode we watched as he harassed a bunch of snow boarders who wanted to build a jump at Crystal Mountain Ski Resort. Now we know the truth. Forest is the man and he is keeping the snowboarders down! There are a few fan sites for this show and for some reason Forest has fans. Here's a video from the show:

--A Kennewick man severely damaged a natural habitat and popular hiking trail in Eastern Washington after going off-roading in his 1985 Chevy truck at a county park. The man claimed not to know that he was in a park or that there were trails in the area. Our favorite line from this man's defense was the statement, "I was unaware that it was illegal to go up there or anything like that. I was unaware there were trails on the hill. Why would anybody walk up a hill?" To read more, click here.

--A climber was rescued from Snoqualmie Pass near Roosevelt Peak on Monday morning. Details of the accident remain sketchy. To read more, click here.

--Keep an eye out for hunters in the high country and wear bright colors. The vast majority of hunters are normal, respectable and safe people to be around, but every now and then something happens in the backcountry between a hunter and another backcountry user which seriously scares the person who doesn't have a gun. Earlier this summer a woman was killed by a young hunter who thought she was a bear. And then this week, this incident was posted on nwhikers.net. So once again, keep an eye out and wear bright colors.

Sierra:

The Getty Museum in Los Angeles

--The Getty Museum in Los Angeles is currently featuring an exhibit entitled, "Dialogue Among Giants: Carleton Watkins and the Rise of Photography in California." The focal point of the exhibit is the early photography from Yosemite National Park. The photos -- taken during the Civil War -- are a stunning example of one of the first Americans to use photography as an art form. To read more, click here.

--Local public lands conservation group the Friends of the Inyo is in the running for a grant to help fix up the Mt. Whitney Trail. 20 non-profits are in the running for the $5,000 grant from the National Trails Fund. If the Friends of the Inyo get the grant, the plan is to use the money to maintain and repair the 99 switchbacks on the steep upper portion of the Mt. Whitney trail. To read more, click here.

Alps:

--Infamous speed climber Thomas Huber recently climbed three summits in Italy's Dolomites, the Tre Cime di Lavaredo, and BASE jumped off two of them in a single day. To read more, click here. To see Huber BASE jump, click on the following video:



Himalaya:

--Japanese climbers returning from a Dhulgari IV in western Nepal said on Tuesday they had found footprints they think belonged to the abominable snowman or Yeti. "We saw three footprints which looked like that of human beings," Kuniaki Yagihara, a member of the Yeti Project Japan, said in Kathmandu, after returning from the mountain with photographs of the footprints. The climbers, equipped with long-lens cameras, video cameras and telescopes, said, however that they did not see or take any photographs of the creature. To read more, click here.

--Former AAI Guide Steve House, Vince Anderson and Marco Prezelj worked their way up the previously unclimbed West Face of Makalu II last week. Prezelj and Anderson summited on October 17 while House was forced to remain at Camp 2 due to a threatening high-altitude cough. To read more, click here.

Notes From All Over:

--It appears increasingly likely that when Congress returns to session after the election that they will consider a bill which will elevate nearly two million acres of public land to a protected status. Areas that will be protected under this act will include wild lands in eight states — including 517,000 acres in Idaho’s Canyonlands, 470,000 acres in California’s Eastern Sierra and San Gabriel Mountains, and 11,700 acres of Lake Superior shoreline in northern Michigan. To read an editorial in the New York Times about this, click here. The American Alpine Institute was one of 35 representative outdoor related businesses members involved in the Conservation Alliance which recently sent a letter of support to Congress about this bill. To see the Conservation Alliance letter, please click here.

--James Martin Welton, of Durango, Colorado was climbing "Touchstone" in Zion National Park on Friday when he fell to the ground and was killed. The fall was reported just after 7 p.m. by other climbers who stopped a Zion shuttle bus. A team of 11 rescue workers recovered Welton's body. To read more, click here.

--Longtime adventure writer Dougald Macdonald recently wrote an excellent analysis of Alpinist Magazine's demise. Macdonald has been writing about climbing for years and understands the markets better than most. And though his analysis is harsh, it is incredibly apt. To read his blog about the loss of this excellent resource, click here.

--Speaking of Alpinist, people really think they're going to get some cash out of this. Individuals on nearly every climbing website are trying to sell their complete sets. It appears that a complete set of Alpinists (#0-25 -- they skipped #13) is currently worth between $400 and $600.

--www.supertopo.com currently has a great thread running on area photos of different climbing destinations. The thread definitely makes for great eye candy! To see it, click here.

--People who spend a lot of time in bear country often hear that one can actually shoot a bear and that the animal will respond as if it were stung by a bee. The reality is that while these animals are tough, they are still made of flesh and blood and bullets will kill them. So when a hunter was charged by a bear near Glacier National Park and was forced to shoot it multiple times, he was sure he'd killed it. The next day Fish and Game employees were subsequently unable to find the animal's corpse. So the animal may have just got up and walked away. To read more, click here.

--An Antarctic mountain range that rivals the Alps in elevation will be probed this month by an expedition of scientists using airborne radar and other Information Age tools to virtually "peel away" more than 2.5 miles (4 kilometers) of ice covering the peaks. One of the mysteries of the mountain range is that current evidence suggests that it "shouldn't be there" at all. To read more, click here.

--Renowned climber Jeff Lowe was recently invited to be inducted into the Utah Sports Hall of Fame. The Utah Sports Hall of Fame Foundation recently announced that Lowe will be the first mountaineering inductee in the 175 member Hall of Fame. Organized in 1970, the Utah Sports Hall of Fame Foundation's goal is to celebrate the state of Utah's sports heritage. To read more, click here.

Could a Bigfoot bird monster be haunting the
Sonora Pass climbing area? He doesn't
say anything about it in his autobiography.

--And finally to celebrate Halloween, we have a spooky story from supertopo.com about the Sonora Pass Monster that doesn't like climbers around at night and likes to eat chipmunks. To read about it, click here.

Last call for ENewsletter Photo Contest!

All photo contest submissions for the November E-Newsletter are due this Friday, by midnight! To submit your photos for the contest, please email climberspath@aai.cc with your images attached. Please include your full name, address, and photo captions and locations.

To check out August's finalists, click here. To sign up to receive the November E-Newsletter, click here.

The prizes for the photo contest are as follows:
1st prize: $100 gift certificate for trips or gear
2nd prize: $75 gift certificate for trips or gear
3rd prize: $50 gift certificate for trips or gear

Conditions Report -- October 29, 2008

Red Rock Canyon:

-- The Fall climbing season in Red Rock Canyon is underway. AAI climbers over the last week have explored routes as varied as Jubilant Song (5.8 III) to Cat in the Hat (5.6+ II).

A climber on the Eiger (5.9 III), no not that Eiger,
but the one on Angel Food Wall in Red Rock Canyon
Photo by Jason Martin

--Forecast and average temperatures for Red Rock Canyon.

JOSHUA TREE:

--Forecast and average temperatures for Joshua Tree National Park.

NORTHWEST:

--Forecast for the West Slope of the Cascades.

--Forecast for the East Slope of the Cascades.

--Webcam for North Cascades National Park.

--Forecast for Mount Rainier.

--Webcam for Mount Rainier National Park.

--Forest Service Road Report for Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest.

Chad Anderson on the First Pitch of the Cosley-Houston. This route was put
up by former AAI Guides Kathy Cosley and Mark Houston when
they lived in Bellingham.
Photo by Nate Farr

--Splitter weather this weekend led to a number of successful ascents throughout the range. A party climbed Merchant Peak, a party attempted the Northwest Couloir of Eldorado, and lastly the Cosley-Houston ice route on Colfax Peak was sent by several parties both this weekend and last. To see a trip report on this route from last weekend, click here.

Chad Anderson descends from Colfax on Mount Baker's Coleman Glacier.
Photo by Nate Farr

--Ski season is upon up. This party skied the Warren Glacier on Mount Garibaldi, this party skied on Mount Rainier, and this team found difficult conditions on Mount Baker.

SIERRA:

--For up to date avalanche and weather reports in the Eastern Sierra, click here.

--A very cool, very photo-heavy trip report for a trip to the Needles may be found here.

ALPS:

--Chamonix and Mont Blanc Regional Forecasts may be found here.

ALASKA RANGE:

--Forecast for Denali

--Webcam for Denali National Park.

High on the West Ridge of Mount Francis
Photo by Pat Gallagher

--This is an old trip report from May, but it is quite inspiring. Former AAI Guide Gene Pires and a few friends headed up the Mini-Moonflower on Mount Hunter and up a couple routes on Mount Francis. Afterwards they created an excellent photo-heavy report about their trip.

The Mini-Moonflower may be seen on the left side of this photo. It climbs
up from where the arrow may be seen.
Photo by Pat Gallagher

--The Alaska season is over until April of 2009, but we are already in the process of gearing up for it. We are now accepting applications for our 2009 Denali expeditions.

CLIMBING MAGAZINE WEATHER:

Climbing Magazine weather reports for Yosemite, Denali and Rainier may be found here.

AAI Guide Scouts New Routes in China

After completing our China – Genyen Area Expedition on October 12t, AAI guide Aidan Loehr has embarked on a solo expedition to scout new routes on Minya Konka and Reddomaine. He is currently climbing Minya Konka, the highest mountain in Sichuan, China at 24, 790 feet. As Aidan explained, “Minya Konka is the most holy mountain in China. There are four holy mountains in China, but Minya Konka is the holiest of the holy.”

Aidan stayed at the Gongaa Monastery, which sits at the base of Minya Konka, for several days, where he hung out with young monks, met tourists from Hong Kong, and spoke with French climbers who had climbed in the area. From the monastery, Aidan did many shorter exploratory hikes to find the best way to access the main ridge to Minya Konka’s summit.


Early on, Aidan experienced great weather: clear skies, warm days, cool nights, and barely any wind. Aidan described one particularly notable morning:

“I woke up around 6:30am. It has been an absolutely gorgeous day. I sat outside the monastery on a rock, and a young monk joined me to do his morning prayers. I watched the sun rise behind Minya Konka. There was a halo of clouds around the top that turned bright orange as the sun rose. It was pretty cool, a very good place to be.”

Aidan explored the surrounding area extensively. He followed a nearby river that lead him to a green, grassy valley from where he eventually discovered a great base camp. Located at about 14,700 feet, base camp sits next to an access glacier that leads to a “really long access ridge” which connects to the proper ridge of Minya Konka.


On October 22nd, Aidan set out from the monastery with 10 days of food, made his way up the access glacier he had found, and established his second camp at 15,900 feet. Unfortunately on October 25th, the weather took a turn for the worse, with heavy snow and roaring winds which Aidan guessed were reaching 80 to 100 miles per hour on the ridge above him. Despite the conditions, Aidan continued to climb to higher elevations, making it up to about 18,500 feet, to acclimatize and to find the quickest way to the top if the weather cleared.

Though Aidan is currently pinned down by high winds, he is in characteristically good spirits, and has been immersing himself in great literary works, such as Magellan and The Siege of Malta while he waits out the weather in his “tiny tent.” Aidan is currently camped at 17,500 feet, and will wait there for the weather to break, which he thinks will happen sometime in the next 4 or 5 days. Once he gets his long awaited window, he will make a bid for the summit.

After that he’ll descend back to the monastery in about 6 days before heading on to Reddomain base camp, where he will continue to explore and find new routes in the mountains of Sichuan, China.

--Emily Znamierowski

AMGA Annual Meeting and AAI Guide Training

AAI Guides Mike Powers, Kurt Hicks, Forest McBrian, Mat Erpelding, Andy Bourne, Coley Gentzel, Kristen Looper, Dawn Glanc, Richard Riquelme, Alasdair Turner and Jason Martin all attended the annual American Mountain Guides Association Meeting in Bend, Oregon last week.

The AMGA is the primary educational and professional organization that oversees mountain guiding in the United States. Every year they have an annual meeting wherein guides from all over the country come together to work on their guiding skills, climb together and party. Usually these meetings are far from our home-base in the Pacific Northwest, but this year the focal point of the meeting was the world class rock climbing at Smith Rock State Park.

A climber is sillouetted before the Picnic Lunch Wall, Smith Rock State Park
Photo by Kurt Hicks

AAI Guides were provided a number of opportunities to take specific clinics during the meeting. Our guides enjoyed clinics with titles like, Teaching Techniques for the Mountain Guide, GPS for the Mountain Guide, Technical Descents for the Mountain Guide, and Short-Roping for the Mountain Guide, amongst many other climbing related titles which ended with the words, "for the mountain guide."

The focal point of the annual meeting is the "main event." This is a night where we all get together and partake in a combination of food, drink, slideshows, and awards ceremonies. AAI's proudest moment at the awards ceremony was when our own Dawn Glanc received the AMGA President's Award.

Each year, the President of the AMGA selects someone in recognition of their guiding, their skill, and their love of the mountains. Dawn, along with three other guides (Matt Farmer, Kevin Mahoney, and Bayard Russell) were awarded for their commitment and contribution to the profession of mountain guiding through their efforts on The Big Expedition for Cancer Research. The Big Expedition was intented to show that seemingly insurmountable challenges are attainable and that they can lead to successes such as finding a cure for cancer...

Matt Farmer and Dawn Glanc accept the President's Award from the new president of the AMGA, AAI Avalanche Trainer, Margaret Wheeler.
Photo by Kurt Hicks

As the meeting was nearby and we had a number of guides around, we took the opportunity to do an "in-house" training as well. As such, our guides had the opportunity to compare and contrast the guide techniques and styles that we use with those that guides from other companies employ. This was a tremendously satisfying way to train as it allowed guides to see a number of perspectives beyond those of AAI's senior guides.

AAI Guide Richard Riquelme whips onto a bolt in an effort to test a new belay technique.
Photo by Alasdair Turner

One of the great values of our internal guide trainings are our experiments with new techniques that have come over from Europe. On this particular trip we spent hours playing with a technique wherein one belays a leader directly off the anchor in a multi-pitch setting. Of course, to truly see if a new technique works, we have to really try it out. And by really try it out, I mean that we had to have people whip on the system...a lot. Kurt, Richard and Alasdair all took massive intentional leader-falls onto the anchor-belay. When all was said and done, we found that the system worked exceptionally well when employed correctly.

Following is a photo essay of the meeting, the training and the spectacular climbing found in Smith Rock:

AAI Guide Kurt Hicks on Karate Crack (5.10a)
Photo by Alasdair Turner

A shadow of two climbers at a belay station.
Photo by Jason Martin

AAI Guide Alasdair Turner leading a hard seam.
Photo by Kurt Hicks

AAI Guide Kristen Looper starts up Super Slab (5.6)
Photo by Jason Martin

AAI Guide Andy Bourne making plans for the night.
Photo by Jason Martin

AAI Guide Forest McBrian, all tuckered out after a long day of climbing and training.
Photo by Coley Gentzel

Stay tuned for a blog on Friday about one of the most exciting events at the AMGA Annual Meeting, the annual Guide's Olympics!

--Jason D. Martin

November and December Climbing Events

--October 29 -- Yakima, WA -- Skiing the Cascade Crest

--October 29 -- Pasadena, CA -- Under the Influence

--October 30 -- Ellensburg, WA -- Teton Gravity Research "Under the Influence"

--November 5 -- Seattle, WA -- AK the Hard Way

--November 6-8 -- Boulder, CO -- Adventure Film Festival

--November 8 -- Seattle, WA -- Northwest Snow and Avalanche Summit

--November 8-9 Seattle, WA -- 2008 Snowbash

--November 10 -- Beaverton, OR -- Wayne Wallace Picketts Slideshow

--November 14 -- Seattle, WA -- Yosemite in the 60s

--November 19 -- Las Vegas, NV -- LVCLC Meeting

--November 20 -- Seattle, WA -- Climbing in China

--November 20 -- San Francisco, CA -- North America Wall

--November 22 -- Seattle, WA -- Seattle Bouldering Challenge

--November 22 -- Bellevue, WA -- Ski Mountaineering in the Central Caucasus

--November 28-30 -- Los Angeles, CA -- ATS Outdoor Adventure Festival

--November 30 -- Contest -- Defenders of Wildlife Writing Contest

--December 2 -- Bellingham, WA -- Banff Mountain Film Festival World Tour

--December 3-5 -- Seattle, WA -- Banff Mountain Film Festival World Tour

--December 11-13 -- Mora, MN -- Sandstone Ice Festival

Gunks Climber's Coalition Fundraising Campaign

The following message was recently posted on supertopo.com:

On Memorial Day 2008, Maria del Piano fell on a climb in the Near Trapps and was taken to an ambulance on a rescue litter. She needed surgery on her wrist, where a titanium plate was inserted.

As a result of this experience, Maria offered to donate a generous amount of money to the Gunks Climbers' Coalition Rescue Fund, to help with the purchase of new rescue equipment for the Mohonk Preserve. With this seed money, the GCC was just about to start a fund drive when something unbelievably offensive happened. Thieves stole $9000 worth of ropes and specialized rigging gear from the rescue cache in the Trapps.

While the Mohonk Preserve works with their insurance company to help recover their losses, the GCC would like to continue our plans for the Rescue Fund drive to raise money for new equipment, defray rescue costs and help with any theft expenses not covered by insurance.

We hope to raise as much money as possible between now and our November 1st benefit slide show featuring Michael Kodas, the author of High Crimes - The Fate of Everest in the age of Greed, a narrative look at how big money and big egos are drawing crime and malfeasance to Mount Everest. Admission to the slide show is a $10 donation. For more information about the slide show, see http://gunksclimbers.org/events.shtml#KODAS.

Please help the GCC help the Mohonk Preserve, so they can have the rescue equipment needed to help us climbers when we need them the most. The Mohonk Preserve is a non-profit land conservation organization supported by its members and visitors and depends on all of us to help. At present accident rates, the Preserve estimates that rescues cost $10,000 per year and presently this must come out of the Preserve's bottom line. Also, equipment ages and needs to be replaced with new equipment regularly.

Please go to http://gunksclimbers.org/rescuefund.shtml to make your donations. We accept personal check, credit cards and Paypal payments.

Thank you for your help.

The Gunks Climbers' Coalition

The Coolest Place You've Never Heard of...

...just might be the Chehalis Range.

The where?

Exactly. The Chehalis Range is a compact group of peaks that sit just across the Frazer River valley on the boarder between Washington and Canada. If you have spent any amount of time perusing the host of "selected climbs" volumes for this part of the country, you have probably heard of some of the peaks and routes there. Although you you would be hard pressed to talk to someone who has climbed any of them. So it is with the Chehalis. The approaches are vague and problematic and first hand reports and current information is hard to come by. For those willing to give it a go, the rewards are well worth the effort.

A waterfall on the Chehalis River along the Statlu Lake approach.

There are many would be ultra-classic routes in the Chehalis including the Tuning Fork on Bardean, the North Ridge on Clarke, and the incredible Viennese-Clarke Traverse. The range is glaciated, but barely. For the most part the glaciers are remnants of snow and ice that sit at the base of the rock faces in the range. In early season most of the approaches involve crossing some snow and/or ice, but by late season it's often possible to approach in tennis shoes.

The climbs range from easy class 2-3 scrambles to 5.10+ climbs, all on compact granite which is for the most part, excellent for climbing.

Lower Statlu Lake

Perhaps the biggest draw to the range for climbers looking for a moderate mountaineering route/traverse is the Viennesse Clarke traverse. This is a 4 mile ridge traverse that enchains about 6 summits, starting with smaller peaks and eventually linking the prominent summits of Viennese, Recourse, and Clarke. For the most part the route is class 3-4 scrambling along the crest of an undulating ridge with exciting but not nerve racking exposure. The summits of Viennese and Clarke both involve a pitch or two of mid-fifth class climbing with one cruxy 5.8 move on Viennese.

I have done a number of long ridge traverses in a few different ranges here in the US and this is perhaps the best of those if not the most unique. For skilled and efficient climbers, this climb is very doable in one day. For those a bit slower with route finding and roped movement, doing the climb in two days would allow for a spectacular bivy along the way.

Most round-trips into the Chehalis Range are easily accomplished in three days from Washington. One day for the approach, one to climb, and one to hike out. That having been said, it would be a shame not to spend a few days in this remote and scenic place. A 4-5 day trip would allow for a climb or two and a more relaxed pace.

Mount Bardean from the Viennese Clark Traverse.

From most of the summits in the Chehalis, the North Cascades are in plain view, including Mount Baker to the south. The deep valleys and long ridges of the range all add to the alpine flavor of this seldom visited corridor of the Pacific Northwest.

The approach gully on the Viennese-Clarke Traverse

The full length of the Vienesse-Clarke
traverse follows the white ridge crest.

Just below the summit of Viennese.

Regrouping on the way down from Viennese.

Descending Recourse on the way to Clarke.

Looking back along the crest of the Viennese-Clarke traverse.

Seth Hobby boulders a section
of ridge on the way to Recourse.




On the summit of Clarke at the end of
the Viennese-Clarke traverse, Chehalis Range, BC.

--Coley Gentzel

Not So Shocking Lessons Learned: Chasing Demons in the Gunks - Part Three

The past weekend had turned into a mixed bag of extremes. First there was the frightful glory on CCK, but that came at the expense of waiting two hours for the final two pitches. And then there was the slaying of Main Line (5.8) and Hold the Mayo (5.9), but they were followed by the failure on Birdland (5.8+). We battled cool mornings, poor restaurant service, and were blessed with warm

My Rocky: Chasing Demons in the Gunks - Part Two

The day before had been good to us, and I felt particularly strong when the morning sun finally warmed the life into me enough to allow me to rack up. "This will be my shot at personal glory," I thought while envisioning myself coming out of nowhere to conquer climbs that had previously held me down. "This weekend will be a success, and I will not fall."Near TrappsMain Line (5.8) - Two Pitches -

Weekend Warrior -- Videos to Get You Stoked!

Ahoy Weekend Warriors!

I hope that the fall climbing season has started off with a bang for all of you! I figured that since the weather is getting colder by the day some of you may need a different type of video to get you stoked. Therefore...I bring you the Gelada Baboon. This incredible primate lives exclusively in the Ethiopian Highlands and has got some serious climbing skills. Just check out the little guys doing dynos already!




The second video we have for you epitomizes why I love time-lapse photography. Although it doesn't actually feature any climbing, the scenery is simply breathtaking. It makes me want to buy a ticket to Patagonia and so I can see this incredible landscape for myself...ahh, if only I had that kind of money laying around.

The Cascade Bushwack Rating System

In writing a recent piece for AAI's Blog, I was describing what a typical approach to the Pickett Range -- a sub-range of the Cascades here in Washington -- involves, and bushwacking was a big part of that.

Over the years, I have worked with many climbers who are very new to the concept of bushwacking, especially of the type that we have here in Washington. Describing these things to a person who has never been in brush so thick that it literally makes forward progress impossible is a futile effort at best. In considering how to best describe the intricacies of pushing the bush, forcing the foliage, and groping the garden here in the Cascades, I was reminded of an article I had seen a few years back on the very same subject. As we all know, difficulty is a somewhat subjective thing and as such, definitions, interpretations, and general impressions vary from person to person. To help put various bushwacks into perspective, Mark Dale authored the following piece.

Coley Gentzel
Program Coordinator and Guide, AAI

Above the buskwacking in Boston Basin, North Cascades

The Brush and Bushwhack Rating System
by Mark Dale

For years there has been something sadly lacking in the climbing world. Something necessary to help describe the total mountaineering experience in those areas blessed with challenging peaks surrounded by primeval forest. That something is a brush and bushwhack rating system. After years of the hand-to-limb combat encountered in below-timberline approaches, one comes to realize that this part of an ascent can be half or more of the battle. (Notice the use of fighting terms.)

And yet, just how does one accurately relate this important facet of a climb in words? "It was ugly, real ugly," "Brutal," "A freaking flail," "Oh, not too bad, but I did lose a pint of blood." Well, these are pretty good subjective descriptions, but what's missing here is something more definitive. What we need is a way to portray in a more precise manner those endearing struggles with the brush.

Therefore I propose the Cascade Brush and Bushwhack Rating System. This system is so named because most of my experience in the past ten years of climbing has been in the Washington Cascades. It's perfectly applicable, though, to other ranges of a similar nature, e.g. the Olympics, Northern Selkirks, British Columbia Coast Range, Alaska Range or any mountain group where below-timberline approaches necessitate brush-beating and bushwhacking. This system rates both difficulty and grade much like the technical climbing ratings in use today.

Seth Hobby enjoying some moderate
brush walking, North Cascades, WA.

Before defining system nomenclature here are a few guidelines for describing your favorite flail:

1. Conditions described must be when the approach is snow-free, since snowpack greatly affects most bushwhacks, reducing their difficulty considerably.
2. More demanding terrain, e.g. cliffy or steep, will increase a bushwhack's difficulty and grade as compared to one with the same vegetation on level ground.
3. Both the density and the type of brush are important factors. I'll take an open area of mature devil's club over a dense stand of slide alder any day.
4. Grade is determined by both time and distance involved in completing the approach, as well as the duration of the difficulties.
5. Since creek and river crossings play an important part of many approaches, a special sub-rating has been devised for these.
6. When a mechanical device such as a machete is used the bushwhack is no longer "free," and an aid sub-rating must be used.
   

Difficulty Ratings
These apply to the "free" difficulties (no aid used) and range from BW1 to BW5, where BW stands for "bushwhack." Difficulty ratings apply to those areas of worst brush that can't be avoided.

• BW1 Light brush. Travel mostly unimpeded, only occasional use of hands required (e.g. mature open forest).
• BW2 Moderate brush. Occasional heavy patches. Pace slowed, frequent use of hands required.
• BW3 Heavy brush. Hands needed constantly. Some loss of blood may occur due to scratches and cuts. Travel noticably hindered. Use of four-letter words at times.
• BW4 Severe brush. Pace less than one mile per hour. Leather gloves and heavy clothing required to avoid loss of blood. Much profanity and mental anguish. Thick stands of brush requiring circumnavigation are encountered.
• BW5 Extreme brush. Multiple hours needed to travel one mile. Full body armor desirable. Wounds to extremities likely, eye protection needed. Footing difficult due to lack of visibility. Loss of temper inevitable.

Aid Ratings
When artificial means are used to penetrate brush, then an aid rating should be used to describe the device required. These ratings range from BA1 to BA5, where BA stands for "brush aid":

• BA1 Machete or sickle
• BA2 Gas-powered weed-eater
• BA3 Chainsaw
• BA4 Agent orange
• BA5 Bulldozer

As the terrain steepens, running
"veggie belays" are often used

Creek and River Ratings
These ratings are used to describe the difficulty in crossing watercourses. The range is WA1 to WA5, where WA stands for "water":

• WA1 A dry crossing is possible by using rocks or logs.
• WA2 Possible wet crossing, but a dry crossing can be accomplished with some finesse.
• WA3 Wet crossing, ankle- to calf-deep.
• WA4 Wet crossing, calf- to knee-deep.
• WA5 Wet crossing, greater than knee-deep, possibility of getting swept downstream.

Grades
Grades range from I to VI and follow the same general guidelines as climbing grades:

• I Brush beating can be done in a few hours or less.
• II Generally will take less than half a day.
• III Could take most of a day, but hardened parties will be able to complete in a short day.
• IV Will take a long day and involve continuous battle.
• V A 1+ to 2-day bushwhack, difficulty rarely less than BW4, large quantities of bandaids and wound dressings will be needed unless properly attired.
• VI The most extreme of bushwhacks, requiring over 2 days to complete with probably a BW5 encountered along the way.

Following are some examples of rated bushwhacks:

• Picket Range, Goodell Creek approach -- Grade III - IV, BW4
• Mt. Shuksan, White Salmon approach -- Grade I - II, BW4-
• Mt. Spickard, Silver Creek approach -- Grade V, BW4+
• Mt. Blum, Blum Lakes approach -- Grade III, BW3+, WA5
• Devils Peak, Coal Creek approach -- Grade I, BW2
• Monashees, Thor Creek approach -- Grade VI, BW4, BA1
• Chimney Rock, standard approach -- Grade II, BW2

A typical climbers "trail" approaching
Mount Goode in the North Cascades.

And there you have it. No longer must one try to decipher the deranged mutterings of a victim of jungle warfare. A person needs only to apply the appropriate brush ratings to relate his brutal experience to others. And who knows? With advances in bush technology and the competitive nature of climbers, we'll probably see difficulties pushed to BW6 and beyond. And there just HAVE to be some Grade VII's out there!

So come on, folks! The next time you report a mountaineering trip that involves green hell, use the Cascade Brush and Bushwhack Rating System to tell others about it. They'll be glad you did!

Mark Dale is a Washington climber, skier and paraglider pilot and a recovering brush abuser.

Backcountry Skiing - Winter Dates Now Online!

AAI's Washington Backcountry Ski course dates (and prices) are now online! Check out our brand new program pages:

Introduction to Backcountry Skiing for Intermediate and Beginner Skiers

Guided Ski Ascents and Tours in Washington

Avalanche and Backcountry Ski Combination Course

Ski Mountaineering in the North Cascades

The snow is just starting to accumulate in the Mount Baker backcountry and we are stoked to begin our winter season. Please call us if you have any questions or wish to make a reservation (360-671-1505) or you can simply register online.

Climbing News from Here and Abroad -- October 23, 2008

Northwest:

--Last week the Seattle Times published a feature article on the Mountaineers Club and their new headquarters in Seattle. The new building is easily identifiable due to the fact that one side of the building is dominated by an artificial climbing wall. To read more, click here.

Grizzly Bear

--A bear sighted three weeks ago in the Chiwawa River Valley north of Lake Wenatchee may actually be one of the secretive North Cascades grizzly bears, bear experts say. Government agencies believe there are perhaps 20 of them in the 10,000-square-mile North Cascades Grizzly Bear Recovery Area, which includes parts of Chelan and Okanogan counties. But there has not been confirmation of a grizzly in the region in decades. To read more, click here.

--Crystal Mountain Ski Resort is getting a lot of press lately. Their ski patrol team is featured on TruTV this season. To read more, click here.

--Ryan Alan Murray Triplett passed away on September 7, 2008, while soloing a multi-pitch climb near Mazama, Washington. Ryan was renowned for the new routes he developed and advocated for in Newhalem, Washington. Since his untimely passing, Ryan's friends and the climbing community have discussed different ways to honor his memory. They decided that naming a wall, Ryan's Wall would be appropriate and they will use that name in the area guidebook Ryan had begun drafting. To read more, click here.

Sierra:

--On Saturday, October 4th, Yosemite law enforcement rangers arrested a 62 year-old man from Merced, California, for hunting inside the national park, which is illegal. A tip from California Fish and Game led investigators to the location of a tree-stand well inside the park boundary. Park Officials report that after three weeks of surveillance the suspect was arrested. He admitted to shooting a deer, also within the park boundary, in 2007, according to park officials. To read more, click here.

Aviator Steve Fossett

--After the invasion of media from around the world, Mammoth Lakes returned to normal as many still wonder what really happened to aviator Steve Fossett. Why did he crash in the mountains above Mammoth Lakes? At least one man closely involved with the discovery thinks Fossett may have survived the crash, if briefly. Tom Cage, owner of Kittredge Sports, helped his employee, Preston Morrow handle the discovery of Fossett's ID and then plane wreckage, plus the wave of media calls. To read more, click here.

Notes from All Over:

--Dr. Amy Ruth Stien was killed last week in a climbing accident at Seneca Rocks, WV. It appears that the 49 year-old woman was on lead when she took a fall. At least one of her pieces failed and she hit the ground. To read more, click here.

Bell Rock, Sedona

--A mountain rescue ended tragically with the death of a department of Public Saftey paramedic who was fatally injured last week. Bruce W. Harrolle, 36, was fatally wounded by the rotating blade of a helicopter. Harrolle was assisting in a mountain rescue of two hikers stranded near Bell Rock in the Sedona area. To read more, click here.

--Alpinist Magazine suspended operations this week. The October 2008 financial crisis has forced them to suspend operations. Alpinist began in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, as an archival-quality publication dedicated to world alpinism and adventure climbing. The quarterly quickly gained a reputation for both superior writing and beautiful photography; by 2004, Italian climbing legend Reinhold Messner called it, "The best climbing magazine in the world today." To read more, click here.

--The Bush Administration is working to allow mountain biking in National Parks. Under the proposed plan, park managers will be allowed to decide on trail access for bicyclists instead of Federal Regulators. To read more, click here.

North American Gray Wolf

--In environmental news, Federal wildlife officials said Tuesday they want to remove wolves in the Northern Rockies from the endangered species list -- again -- by early 2009. That declaration came on the same day a judge restored the predator's endangered status, as part of a lawsuit filed by environmentalists. To read more, click here.

--A shameful group of bandits struck the rescue cache at the Gunks climbing area in the Mohonk Preserve and stole nearly $9000 worth of equipment including static ropes, rescue pullys, and other assorted odds and ends. To read more, click here.

--Chad Kellogg and Dylan Johnson completed the first ascent of the southwest ridge of Siguniang (20,505'), Changping Valley, China. The team made three bivis on the 2000-foot wall, encountering free climbing up to 5.11 and aid complicated by grass and moss in the cracks. To read more, click here.

--The Ministry of Tourism in Pakistan has decided to continue their program which has reduced mountain climbing royalty fees during the calendar year of 2009. Hmmm, I wonder why? Could it be because this guy hangs out in Pakistan? Or maybe it's because of this? Either way, these reduced fees make it a good time to climb this. To read more, click here.