The Rudiments of Alpine

PanShiBo

Alpine Tip 69: Climb rock in summer, climb snow in winter.

Or in other words: avoid rock in winter, avoid snow in summer. This makes sense, no? If you are a  recreational alpine climber and your goal is to be safe and have fun in the  mountains (in that order), that's the way to go, obviously: the reasons for  that are plenty and you surely know what they are.

Bonus tip: What to do in shoulder seasons, fall and spring? Practice your skills, of course!

PanShiBo

Alpine Tip 70 Use tent footprint as a Rope Pad

We never use Tent Footprints as Tent Footprints. Instead, they are very good as a Rope Pads - compact and light. This one came included with  our new tent, so it has found a very good use for rope protection.

PanShiBo

Alpine Tip 71 When you take off your winter gloves, always have them attached to your body.

After taking them off, have your winter gloves / shells always clipped to something, e.g. your climbing harness or backpack (via rings or a lanyard).


Working with gear on steep exposed slopes, it is very easy to drop and lose your mittents. With the trouble ensuing. For illustration of what happens in the cold without gloves, refer to Joe Simpson's story (Touching The Void) or Tony Kurtz' (1936 Eiger north face climbing disaster)

PHOTO: 2018.10.30 To prove this tip, spend one entire day in training wearing thick gloves, and see for yourself. Like we did.

PanShiBo

Alpine Tip 72 Screen you belayer before she puts you on belay.

One of the toughest rock climbers of all times, Alex Honnold, had never tested his girlfriend's belay skills, and that almost cost him his life - even though she was using "idiot-proof" belay device (Grigri), she managed to drop him on her belay during his training for the El Capitan (see the movie "Free Solo"). He ended up in hospital, but certainly it could be a lot worse than that.

I know someone who hurt his neck, in the cllimbing gym, being dropped just a few meters. He can't climb anymore.

Never mind, once I was dropped myself in an indoor climbing gym. Even more, long time ago, I was dropped to the bottom of a small crevasse during training on Anniversary Glacier by one of the BCMC instructors, even though I clearly questioned his belay system. He insisted, "all is good, you are on belay, descend", so that in just a moment I was airborne landing on my back on ice below (luckily, I was wearing backpack which cushioned the impact).

All these accidents have one single root problem - belayer. Never trust anybody - test, and test hard, your belayer's skills. Go practice together and see for yourself. Or you know, things can happen.

Bonus Tip: on top-rope, you can protect yourself from belayer's fault with MicroTraxion and Hollowblock, or better yet, learn how to self-belay and become 100% belayer-independent.

PanShiBo

Alpine Tip 73 Emergen-C

In case you use electrolytes on your outdoor trips (we always do): COSTCO sells Emergen-C, which is  better than MEC's Nuun : 1 packet of Emergen-C is equal to two tablets of Nuun (good for 1L), but also has other essential vitamins. Price is a lot better too: for the same amount of money, with Emergen-C you can make drink x6 times of Nuun's.

PanShiBo

Alpine Tip 74 TOP 5 U.S. PEAKS

( from SummitPost )

1. Mount Whitney (4,421 m), CA

2. Mount Rainier (4,392 m), WA

3. Mount Hood (3,429 m), OR

4. Mount Shasta (4,322 m), CA

5. Longs Peak (4,346 m), CO

 

 

 

 

 

vera

Very happy we have visited all of them !

PanShiBo

Alpine Tip 75: On multi-day trips, do not boil water to cook Mountain House.

To cook Mountain House, it is not necessary to heat the water to boiling - or you will waste a lot of fuel to do that: 50°C (your kitchen tap temperature) is good enough to prepare Mountain House and keep it warm, IF you place it in thermos.

PanShiBo

Alpine Tip 76 Use bulk Mountain House instead of packages.
If you start using thermos (from the tip #75 above) to cook your MH, you willl not only save on fuel, but also a lot of money: by using bulk Mountain House instead of packages. WalMart US sells canned MH, three times cheaper than packaged.

PanShiBo

Alpine Tip 77 Rappel on fixed rope
If you are the first to rappel, make the rope fixed (e.g. with clove hitch). Should you be in trouble having to climb back up, jumaring a single strand is a lot easier and faster than climbing with leg loops on double. When you ascend on single strand, ask your second to make utlimate backup on free (and unloaded) strand with figure eight.

PanShiBo

Learning from mistakes
"..August 4, 33-year-old Ken Anderson was leading a 5.4 scrambly section on the traversing fourth-pitch of Parallel Passages, a 1,000-foot 5.10b/c on the Chief, Squamish. Ken, a Squamish local and a 5.13 trad climber, had free soloed this route before—including on his 33rd birthday, when he also soloed two other big routes on the Chief.

..Ken was partway up the pitch when a handhold broke, and he fell. He had not placed any protection on the previous section.. tumbled 25 meters, hitting three different ledges...Four hours after the accident, he was long-lined out by helicopter, but it was too late."
https://rockandice.com/climbing-accidents/squamish-fatality-ken-anderson-top-trad-climber-dies-in-fall/


Lesson: protect early, protect often

PanShiBo

Alpine Tip 78 Winter sleeping bag (~one size) bigger

Your winter sleeping bag should be roomy enough, so when you go to bed you can put all what you wear inside it. Jacket, pants, mid-layer: they will be warm in the morning; when it is below -20°C inside tent, it makes a lot of difference (at these temperatures sunscreen freezes solid). Besides, you will sleep a lot warmer - because of extra insulation, especially along bag's zip line.

PHOTO: Resting at 17K camp (5,218 m above sea level), tomorrow is a big day - summit bid. May 29, Denali 2019 expedition.  

PanShiBo

THE DAWN WALL

..you may find this film more "dimensional" than the "Free Solo"...

PanShiBo

Alpine Tip #79: How to choose food for expeditions   When selecting food for a big trip (weeks), look for these factors and choose best:   It has to be light (more calories per gram is better). It must be balanced: with at least of 100% of daily amount of protein, iron, carbs and calcium. It has to be compact (more calories per cup is better). Can be consumed without cooking (e.g. in emergency)   If you are good with numbers, you will find that Mountain House is a poor choice - it's bulky and heavy : 1 cup gives only 200 calories with energy 3.9 cal/g. But Five Grain GRANOLA by Rogers is a much better choice: with 480 calories in one cup and 4.4 cal/g ( ..and it is a lot cheaper too!)   We learned this hard way, only after our trip to Denali: although our food was well balanced, it was not compact nor was it light. Because of that we got into minor trouble on 17K camp (5,100m altitude), spending one night without fuel, water and food - it just didn't fit in our full  backpacks in one go and was left in cache which we had no time to retrieve same day.   Here is my choice of core food (3,000 calories) in grams: Five Grain GRANOLA by Rogers 480 Appeal, French Vanilla 200 Caveman Foods Caveman Nutrition Bar 80

 

PanShiBo

Alpine Tip #80: How to burn 1lb of body fat

Question: How many times are needed to hike Grouse Grind to burn 1lb of my body fat?

Answer: 8 times

One Grouse Grind needs: E = mgh = 70kg x 9.8 x 850m =   583,100 joules,so you burn 140 calories.

The body fat is 2.5 cal/g, so to burn 1lb you will need to spend 453 *2.5 = 1,132 calolries.

So to burn 1lb of body fat, you will need to hike GG 1,132 / 140 = 8 times.

*Or eat 4 bagels (~300cal each) just after your 8th hike and loose nothing. Next time you pick that extra bagel, remember, it will cost you 2 trips to Grouse Grind.

PanShiBo

Alpine Tip #81: Mountain House meal that can be eated uncooked

One of the desired features of expedition / backpacking food is ability to be eaten without cooking - in emergency or when out of fuel / water / time. This Mountain House meal can be cooked or consumed as is, right off the can. Tastes very good both dry and cooked. Sold by walmart.com.

PanShiBo

Learning from mistakes

We knew that the forecast was for considerable danger, but we were likely too complacent with that forecast..we knew that any avalanche would likely trigger on a deep layer with serious consequence and that the layer was unpredictable...the mountains don’t care about your level of training, preparation, or how casual your days are. They are dangerous and demand full attention and respect and discretion is always warranted.

https://www.facebook.com/adam.campbell.58/posts/10163268865230486

Canmore doctor Laura Kosakoski dies after avalanche north of Lake Louise

https://calgaryherald.com/news/local-news/canmore-doctor-laura-kosakoski-dies-after-avalanche-north-of-lake-louise

PanShiBo

Learning from mistakes

May 6, 2022
Talkeetna, AK - The body of a missing solo climber was located in Denali National Park and Preserve during a high elevation aerial search the morning of Friday, May 6. Matthias Rimml, a 35-year-old Austrian solo climber, had not been heard from since Saturday, April 30 when he made a routine check-in call via satellite phone to a friend from 18,000 feet on the West Buttress. Today, the third day of the search effort, aerial spotters on the park’s high altitude helicopter sighted Rimml’s body in the fall zone below Denali Pass.

Rimml likely fell on the steep traverse between Denali Pass at 18,200 feet and the 17,200-foot plateau, a notoriously treacherous stretch of the West Buttress route. Thirteen climbers, including Rimml, have died in falls along this traverse, the majority occurring on the descent.

Recovery efforts will not be attempted until an NPS ranger patrol is acclimated to high altitude and able to safely perform the recovery.

https://www.nps.gov/dena/learn/news/2022-05-06.htm

P.S. Exactly the same mistakes were made by a member of BCMC expedition a year prior, and at the same spot: climbing unroped and skipping High Camp: Climber in Critical Condition After Fall From Denali Pass

PanShiBo

Learning from mistakes

Climber Dies in Crevasse Fall near Mount Hunter

TALKEETNA, AK -- Denali National Park and Preserve mountaineering rangers were notified of a crevasse fall at the base of Mount Hunter’s North Buttress late Tuesday night, May 17.  A 43-year-old climber from Kanagawa, Japan, was un-roped from his teammates when he fell through a weak ice bridge near their camp at approximately 8,000 feet on the southeast fork of the Kahiltna Glacier.  

A teammate of the fallen climber sought help from the NPS mountaineering rangers at the Kahiltna Basecamp at approximately 11:30 pm Tuesday. Two NPS patrol members skied back to the accident site with the reporting teammate. One ranger rappelled into the crevasse as deep as possible, confirming that the ice bridge collapse had filled the narrow crevasse with a large volume of snow and ice approximately 80 feet below the glacier surface. The ranger was unable to descend further.  The climber is presumed dead based on the volume of ice, the distance of the fall, and the duration of the burial. The feasibility of a body recovery will be investigated in the days ahead.

***

In follow up to the mountaineering fatality at 17,000-feet on Denali at the beginning of May, the body of Austrian solo climber Matthias Rimml was recovered via a long-line helicopter operation on Tuesday, May 17.  

https://www.nps.gov/dena/learn/news/crevassefall5-18-22.htm

        

PanShiBo

Date: June 4, 2022

Talkeetna, AK - A climber collapsed at 19,700-feet on Denali during a summit attempt the evening of Friday, June 3. His mountain guides immediately initiated cardio-pulmonary resuscitation (CPR) at approximately 5:45 pm, but the climber, 48-year-old Fernando Birman, never regained a pulse. Birman, who comes from Stockton, New Jersey, was pronounced deceased on the scene. The cause of death is unknown, but consistent with sudden cardiac arrest.

Birman’s guides assisted in the body recovery, which was made from the 19,500-foot plateau known as the Football Field using a short-haul basket. Birman’s body was transferred to the State of Alaska medical examiner late Friday night.

https://www.nps.gov/dena/learn/news/climber-dies-near-summit-of-denali.htm