Barley and Ice: Part 3 of 4

The easiest route up the Maroon Bells was labeled by one guide book as one of the most difficult and technical of the 14ners. Of the main points stressed is the mandatory early start and rock fall potential. So of course we don't start until 9:00 am and we leave our helmets in the car.

We started the night before and, right as we arrived at Crater Lake, all hell breaks loose in a monsoon rain storm. With no time to get rain gear out, we jump underneath a rain tarp and proceed to play a game of three man hearts in the 40 minute downpour.

The idea that the rocks will be wet led us to think that we were going to cancel the climb and sleep in. Of course, unspoken, we all knew that we were going to try and climb anyway. After climbing and reaching Maroon Peak at 1:00 pm we considered retreating, but given the crap we just went through, we WERE going to ring both bells.

Four hours later, after multiple near death hang-the-ass-off-the-edge-of-cliff moves up the hairy ridge, we stood on the summit of the North Maroon Bell.

We had to use the rope 3 or 4 times for climbing or abseiling, and maybe only had one come-to-Jesus meeting with the group. But, this area was by far the prettiest basin I have ever been to in my life. For some strange reason the weather cooperated with us until we were off the second summit.

We didn't get down to the tent until after the sun went down (in another downpour), but when we finally decided to start talking to each other again, I think we agreed that we were never going to do that again. (Although we still have to go back to get Pyramid Peak)

Barley and Ice: Part 1 of 4

The first installment of this 4 part series is mostly a quick introduction of my summer to geosall readers. First off, we finally climbed Mount Rainier!!! The snow conditions were amazing and very little route finding was needed. With out a doubt, June 26th was the longest day of my life. More on Rainier will follow in segment #2. We did try another mountain, Mount Shuskan, but were not successful in climbing that one.

Other mountains that were climbed include: Mt. Shavano, Maroon Peak, North Maroon Peak, East Spanish Peak, West Spanish Peak, and Trinchera Peak (the last 3 were for my job). The Maroon Bells were so awesome; they deserve a prominent spot in the 3rd segment.

For those wondering, I will be in Emporia, KS this semester. Within 7 hours of showing up at Emporia for the first time in 2 months, I had a job, place to live, and a boot on my Blazer courteous of Emporia State. And finally, now I will start my official transformation back into society from rock climbing and backpacking in Colorado.

Mnt Rainier

So the time has come!!! As I sit in Denver, CO at computer for the first time in 3 weeks, I prepare for a climb that has haunted me for 5 years. Tomorrow I depart from Denver International Airport to start a week long journey that will hopefully climax with me and my 3 climbing partners on the top of Mount Rainier. After trying to gain the summit of this damn mountain two times previous, there is quite a bit of hype and nerve. The folks are of course worried, and those few friends that know me best are pulling for a successful climb.

For the last 3 weeks, I have been at scout camp trying to get in shape. The road has been bumpy and anxiety is at its peak. If any one actually reads this crap I write, then root for us!

why we climb

From his thoughts after leaving camp 4 on Everest’s West Ridge:

For almost the first time during the entire expedition I was completely alone. I sat atop the ridge with my mittens off, soaking up the windless warmth of the afternoon sun. I looked across brown hills, deep glacial valleys, snow peaks ranging westward into haze. My thoughts knew only the restriction imposed by limits of my ability to feel and comprehend. A vertical mile above, at the far end of the West Ridge, was the highest point on earth. The day after tomorrow? The dream of childhood, not to be lost? My gaze climbed lightly up each detail of our route, to the base of the Couloir at 26,000 feet. The rest was unknown, partly hidden grossly foreshortened, but all there.

Like pain, a mountain can be a subjective sensation; for all its solidity and fixity of form, it is more than what one sees. It is awe, pleasure, respect, love, fear, and much, much more. It is an ever-changing, maturing feeling. Over the weeks since we had first stood on the Shoulder to see the black rock of the last four thousand feet, my feelings toward the climb had steadily ripened. That rock couldn’t be divorced from the summit to which it led. Yet each time we looked, the slope seemed a few degrees gentler, the vertical distance not quite so unreasonable. After all, we had climbed steeper faces and longer distance, and on more rotten rock. But all together? And above 27,000 feet instead of half that high? However, you can’t see altitude. Might as well ignore it. We chose not to dwell on problems like what happens if you run out of oxygen below the summit. And what it’s like to climb on rotten rock at 27,000 feet, ballasted by a forty-pound pack.

Everest came down off Everest. It became, in a climbing sense, just another mountain to be approached and attempted within the context of our past experience in the Rockies, Tetons, or on Mount Rainier. Not quite, really. But much of the battle lay inside. That battle was nearly won.

~Thomas F. Hornbein, 1963, “Everest, the West Ridge”

I probably violated copywrite (please don't sue)

camp-o-cold

The semi-annual trip of the FBSA in attempt to train for Rainer III journeyed to Denver area this last weekend. The Emporia member of the group of course traveled the furthest. The trip was curiously scheduled around a Cowboy Junkies concert at the Fox Theater in Boulder and the Membership rally of the American Homebrewers Association (regretfully we missed the rally on Saturday night).

However, the main attraction was a winter accent of Saint Mary's Glacier near Idaho Springs. Most of the first day involved digging in to set camp. Self arrest techniques were practiced the first day. With the conclusion of the evening, we discussed the organization of SPSA and enjoyed our own home brew (more to follow about BootHill Brewery).

Saturday morning was hardly an alpine start, but the practicing of crevasse rescue was completed none-the-less. After a quick bite to eat at Tommy Knocker Brewery, a stop at REI Denver, and a quick trip to a random bathroom, I finally left for home around 5:00pm.

Cloud seeding

Since yesterday I separated the darkness (blogspot with out geosall) from the light (blogspot with geosall), the creative team behind Geosall agreed that today we would make an attempt to work on the water and sky. So, if you were an Anglican Protestant in Ireland in the early 1600’s (also if you live in Kansas today) the exact date this blog is referring to is Monday, October 24, 4004 BC.

So 6000 years ago, somebody thought it would be a good idea to separate the sky and water, but now we are trying to put the water back into the sky. In the article on cloud seeding, we learn that Vail, CO has been running a cloud-seeding operation for 29 years. Is this news to you? Well the U.S. military has been doing it since the 40's. They even tried to seed hurricanes through what they called Project Stormfury.