Mountain Training

It's been a while since I've been able to write much, so I'll have ot combine this weekend and last weekend in one. On June 3rd, my climbing class did our self arrest field trip at Mt. Rainier. We spent most of the day at on the mountain learning to travel roped, identify avalanche hazards and self arrest with an ice ax. The weather was horrible and completely sunny. I didn't get sunburned because I lathered on sunscreen every hour almost. I also had a lot of fun glissading. On the drive up to Paradise I saw a red fox on the road, which I've never seen before and may never see again. On June 7, was the classroom portion of the crevasse rescue training. It was a great experience to climb up the inside of the college snack bar. This is what college shold be all about. On June 10, we headed back to paradise for the field training in crevasse rescue. It was the longest day trip I've ever spent in the mountains, since we spent 12 hours on the mountain and I was away from home from 0500 to 2230. Despite being tiring, I had a great time. I love every minute that I spend in this class and these field trips are no exception. We spent some more time practicing basic climbing techniques and then we roped up and headed out on the Nisqually glacier to find a crevasse. The snow was thick, so it took us some time to find even a small one. It was 1200 by the time we got to it and started the main event for the day. For the next 4 hours, the students took turns roping up and dropping into the small crevasse and thing climbing out on prussik slings. Both of the times that I've done this training, I've been nervous at the start because I'm afraid of heights. When my turn came I tied in, hesitated for a moment and then swung out and started to climb.

After I climbed a few feet, and instructor told me that I had started in the wrong spot and need to restart a few feet to my left. So with some trouble I untied and moved a few feet to the left so that I would be on two anchors and then restarted. The overhanging edge of the crevasse was very difficult to climb up because the rope was tight against the ice wall and I could not get the rope away from the wall enough to move the knots on the prussic slings up the rope. The instructor offered me another sling to help me climb up the final five feet, but I wanted to try to do it on my own first. I tried to clip in a carabiner to the rope at about chest level to use as a handhold, but that didn’t help me much. After sitting back in my harness for several minutes and thinking, I finally had the idea to take my ski cap, fold it up and put it under the rope to get it off the ice and enable me to move the knots up. By doing this a few times, I was able to get up another 2 feet and from there I just clawed my way up the last 5 feet to the top. I was proud of doing it by my own resources, but sad that the best part of the day was over. I walked back down to the rest of the class, dug myself a hole in the snow, lay down on my pack and went to sleep. Later on a few of us played hide and seek with the avalanche beacons. The weather was beautiful all day. It was warm, but not horribly so, and there was scattered cloud cover that made it beautiful. I’m climbing Mt Baker with the class in 4 weeks and I can’t wait.

More pictures to follow in a few days…
And Here they are...
This is me at the training on Thursday June 7. Never had more fun at a college.

Chenuis and Ranger Falls

On June 2nd I had the day off and family in town, so my wife, sister in law and niece and I headed out to the NW corner of Mt. Rainier NP to see the waterfalls. It was a very pretty drive to the Carbon river entrance to the park, mostly through rural backroad. There was a one lane bridge over the carbon river that was fun to cross. The Carbon river road was full of potholes and was a slow ride even in my Xterra. The trail to Chenuis falls was a short but fun trail that had 3 log bridges over the carbon river. There were two small streams, and the main fork of the Carbon river was flowing swiftly and was fun to watch. The falls were beautiful, and my niece and I were able to scramble up to a better viewpoint closer to the falls. By the time we got back to the car it was pouring rain, and so we headed back towards the entrance to the park. As we passed the green lake trailhead, it was clear again and so we decided to go for another hike. We hiked to ranger falls and then turned around. When we got back to the car it was partly sunny, but as we left the park it started to rain the hardest I've even seen in Washington state. By then we were are safe and dry in the car so it was fun to watch. Check back later to read about my adventures on Mt. Rainer this weekend.

Random thoughts

I'm into the second week of my class on climbing volcanoes and I'm enjoying every minute of it. I wish that I could have more than 2.5 hours of class but without losing any more personal time. On saturday we are going to Rainier for some field training and I'm excited. I have almost all of the gear I need, but I'm not sure about the boots. I'm really trying to do this without spending hordes of money, but I have already spent some. On saturday we are going to do self arrest and avalanche awareness training and next saturday we will do crevasse rescue training. I just wish I had more time and hiking partners. At least I will have both with this class for the next few weeks.
I still don't like my job. This afternoon a LT told me that every time he saw me I looked sad. Since every time he sees me I'm at work, that's probably true, but I didn't know it was that obvious. But then, no one that I work with every day has ever said anything, so maybe it's only obvious to those who care to notice. It want to push for a transfer, but I don't want to go to a unit that would interfere with my climbing schedule, so I'm torn.
My dog had surgery today. Poor little guy. The vet said it went well and that they got all of the tumor out. It will be a few weeks before we find out what it was.
I have the most wonderful amazing wife anyone could ask for. Jesus said: "If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!" He really meant it and demonstrated that when he gave me Ariele. She is truly a blessing from God.

Bridal Veil Falls

It was memorial day weekend, and I had planned to go hiking at least and a 2-3 day backpacking trip was what I really wanted, but it was not to be. I wasn't thrilled about going out in the rain, and it rained for a week straight and through the long weekend. I also couldn't find any friends that had time for such a trip. So on Friday and Saturday I just stayed home, rested and spent some time with my amazing wife.



On sunday afternoon I decided to call another friend and see if he was up for hiking. I had planned to climb mt index or mt persis and a check off one of my mountains to climb for the year (see april). Due to time and fitness constraints, we ended up hiking only to Bridal Veil Falls, at the base of Mt. Index. The trailhead was typical of an easy trail close to civilization, and I was most annoyed at the lack of parking and overcrowding of the trail.I had inadvertantly come to a tourist trail. There were even kids on the trail. It was a little muddy on the trail, and there were quite a few stairs for the last 1/3 of a mile of trail. The first mile was very easy. The falls were beautiful, and I didn't know what to expect but was pleasantly surprised. At one point about 10m downstream from the trail, there was a point where I could walk up alongside the falls, and it was almost as cool as the falls themselves. Since it was spring and had rained for the last week, the falls were roaring and an awesome sight.

Back to school

Tonight I went to my first college class in two years. The class was on my new favorite subject; climbing volcanoes. It's going to be twice a week through the end of June and then in July we are going to climb Mt. Baker and then Mt. Adams. I'm exicted to go back to school, and am enjoying college again.

My weekend so far

A few days ago I posted and said that I was tired and couldn't wait for the weekend. So now on Sunday morning I'm writing to let my readers know just what happened this weekend. IT startedon Friday when our officers reminded my supervisor that he had dropped the ball and she needed someone in my position to work a 24 hour shift from saturday to sunday morning. This was an hour and a half before the end of of the day on Friday. My supervisor remembered that I had gotten the shaft last time something like this came up, and so he was successfull in finding someone else to do it. Until 8am saturday morning when someone else called and said that the other person was nowhere to be found and I had to be at work in an hour for thenext 24 hours. And this was after I had worked half a day last weekend as well. I was not happy about working on such short notice and canceling all of my weekend plans. If only I had gone hiking saturday I wouldn't have been around to be called in. I wouldn't have even answered the phone and when asked about it later I would have said I was a moutain slope somewhere. I don't like my job partly because stupid stuff like this happens far too often. I lost my weekend because my supervisor can't plan. Someone said they'd talk to my supervisor about giving me another day off because it was on such short notice, but I doubt that will happen because my own supervisor doesn't care at all. On the plus side, I did get to go an 8 mile run and I had a great time. I don't normally run 8 miles for lack of time, but I love doing it. Yesterday the weather was perfect and there was an awe inspiring view of Mt. Rainier. I also got a decent amount of sleep last night. I finally watched Jarhead. Not something I'll watch again. Nothing will stop me from taking a 4 day next weekend and I'm going to the mountains, and planning for a 2-3 day backpacking trip.


Nothing except for horrible weather and lack of friends.

So tired. I can't wait for Saturday. too much work.

Samantha the Mountain Goat....and Mildred lakes

it was 1pm and the worst of my day was over already. I had spent 5 hours at work on a day when I should not have worked at all. But now I was free. It was my first day off since aquiring my new toys, and ice ax and crampons and I was excited and anxious to use them. I had also rented a set of snowshoes. I was trying to decide between Mt pilchuck and the Mildred lakes in the Olympic forest, and since I had no map of pilcuck, I headed west for the Olympics. It turned out to be a bad choice. When I finally got to the trailhead it was after 3 pm. I didn't think I'd need the snowshoes and I then realized I left the crampons at home. After some time rearranging my pack I set off at a slow pace. It had been a long week. The trail was hard to follow and blocked by many fallen trees. There was evidence of storms during the winter, because not only werethere fallen trees but also branches strewn everywhere.
It was very pretty and very green. After a time I heard something that shounded like drums far off in the distance. After a standing still for several minutes to be sure it was not my waterbottle, I determined that it must have been and animal somewhere. After about half an hour I decided I wasn't going to do the whole hike because I was having a hard time finding the trail, I didn't have as much daylight left as I'd like, and no one knew where I was. In spite of this decision, the forest lured my further for another 20 minutes before I reluctanly turned around. The trip back to the car went by much faster than the walk out, and when I returned I found 3 guys on thier way out to camp at the lake. Iwas a little envious. I wasn't ready yet to go home, so I looked at my map for other places to go and found a road that went close to the top of a ridge nearby, and I set out with Samantha (my '04 Xterra) to climb it. This proved to be a less than intelligent idea, when the road just got steeper and steeper and more and more potholed a gravelly and I was afraid I'd get stuck or slide off an edge. Still curiosity kept me going almost to the top until I got to a great view point and a good place to turn around. After parking on the most level ground that was there, I got out and enjoyed the view for a few minutes. The road was so steep that I only felt comfortable going down it in 4L in 1st and 2nd gear. I was home by 7:30pm and wished that I'd gone to Pilchuck instead. I'll need to buy more Green Trails. I lay down to take a nap and woke up 13 hours later. It had been a long week. I can't wait to go back.

He just couldn't make it

Monkey see, Monkey do...

It's been a long week. and only slightly longer than last week. there's just so much stuff going on. I leave at 0500 and don't get home until 2100 or later. My job is very stressful, and I rarely get off work on time. Last night I got off at 5pm for a change, and when I got home I didn't know what to do with all the extra time. I need a day off. Better yet, a few days off. Times like this I envy the dog. He just sits at home and sleeps all day. then people come home and feed him and spend time with him. he has the free time to rest and enjoy the best parts of life. As much as I want and try to be like the dog, it just doesn't work. I can't get away with it. But as I write this post and think about, there are many areas of life where I would not want to be like the dog. He'll never stand on top of a mountain in awe and wonder at God's creation. Because he knows so little about stress and heartache, he also knows little about joy and happiness. He doesn't have a relationship with God, and he doesn't have a wonderful wife and family that love him. But he does get enough sleep.