Down Town

One of the main streets in Clatskanie.

A Superior View

Well, the fall colors are taking their dear sweet time showing up this year. That doesn't mean, however, that you shouldn't get out and enjoy nature! There are still beautiful views to be enjoyed even without the colors of autumn. The view shown here is along the Middle Falls Trail in Grand Portage State Park. The trail crosses over a ridge and this is one of two magnificent views that are available from the top of the ridge. This view overlooks Lake Superior and the Susie Islands and is always beautiful no matter what time of year it is. Over the past year, CCM (Conservation Corps Minnesota) crews have been hard at work making improvements to the trail. Stairs have been constructed on the steepest portions of the trail and benches have been constructed in strategic locations where visitors can rest and appreciate the spectacular views of the Minnesota north woods. Although the fall colors are slow to appear this year, the leaves are changing and before long this view will be even more magnificent as the greens change to yellows and oranges!

On Mt. Taylor

We saw lots of pretty sights while we were driving up Mt. Taylor. The mountain is the remains of a very old volcano about2 million years old. It has been considered a very sacred place by the Native Americans that are in this area. Pueblo Indians from Acoma Pueblo, Laguna Pueblo, Zuni and the Navajo Indians. Some call the mountain The Sacred Mountain or The Turquoise Mountain, but it was named Taylor afterGeneral Zachery Taylor, famous in the Mexican War, and then became one of our presidents. It can be seen for over 100 miles around it as it seems to sit out in the middle of a large section of flat New Mexico landscape. It is just over 11,000 feet high at the highest peak. We did not get there this time, as the roads were sorough and washed out and because we neededto be back in time to feed the critters their evening meals.

This day we saw two deer, lots of Indian Paintbrush flowers, and aspens just leafing out.

Wildlife Along the Alaska Highway

In spite of eagerly obeying a multitude of signs imploring me to “Watch for Wildlife on the Highway” I saw very few wild things along the 1400+ miles of the Alaska Highway. But the lack of wildlife may have been due to my driving habits – starting the day on the road between 7 and 8 am and quitting by 6 pm. Apparently (very) early morning and late evening hours are best for seeing the critters.

A large billboard tells me what the signs mean...

Smaller signs, like this one, dotted the sides of the highway.

The guide book that I've used for the drive to and in Alaska is called “The Milepost” and it provides a mile-by-mile breakdown of what to expect along the various highways - from towns and attractions to highway conditions – and it has been a huge help. It too provided some dire warnings about what wildlife to expect and where it would be.

What little wildlife I did see was on August 3rd (my second day on the Alaska Highway) between Summit Lake and Watson Lake (milepost 373-613). Oh, and that bit about not stopping on the highway? Forget it – everyone was doing it whenever an animal was sighted. Besides, the shoulders were nonexistent in many places and those animals certainly never appeared where there were turnouts!

Stone Sheep at 8:20 am near Summit Lake, exactly where The Milepost said they would be! But there was only one, all alone. It was right along the highway just a few feet from the van.

It posed for me for several minutes and was still standing there as I drove away.

Bear at 10:35 am. On the off-chance that I'd see any wildlife I had gotten my other camera out (it has 15x zoom but takes lower resolution images). Otherwise this fella would have been a small dot in the photo! Berries were its idea of a good meal.

These two bears (taken at 12:58 pm) were some distance away when I saw them and stopped. I was able to get just one photo before they scurried off into the forest.

A small herd of Buffalo at 1:20 pm. Another small herd was several miles further on. It is possible that these are “domesticated” buffalo since several of them appear to be wearing a collar of some kind. Or perhaps it is a tracking device?

That's all folks! That's it. That's all there was!
(Well that's all that I saw...)

Note: This post was written at 11:30 pm Friday night using the available daylight only. There was still an orange tint to the western sky. Even later in the night the sky does not get dark. I haven't seen the stars in the night sky since leaving Montana. Temperature was about 55 degrees with a light breeze. And, this is being posted from the public library in the little town of North Pole, Alaska which is about 15 miles south of Fairbanks.

Rolling

Traveler is the only one of our horses that insists in rolling in the manure pile. I don't know why.

Crater Explorations

Late July brought a climbing team to Mount Rainier that was looking to do something a little bit different. Their mission was to explore the summit crater and it's ice caves, with the Kautz Glacier as their route of access. By the looks of their pictures it looks like they succeeded, big is the only way to look at them.













No significant in-depth exploration or research of the crater caves has been done since Willian Lokey in 1971 and 1972.William Lokey will be presenting about "Project Crater" and his crater explorations at the Paradise Inn Saturday, August 17th starting at 9:00 PM! This event is free however Park Admission is still required.










From Xavier:

"The climb went great. We spent 24th on the summit which was probably the hardest part of the whole climb. You know... altitude."










"The caves are amazing. We didn't get much time in them as everybody was feeling a bit altitude sick + cold and tired but I got some good shots nonetheless. See below. I would love to spend more time up there and document the phenomenon more thoroughly."










"Ice caves in crater, wicked!"



The summit craters and steam vents have provided mystery and refuge to climbers since the early days of climbing Rainier. For more information check out Dee Molenaar's classic The Challenge of Rainier.



-682

A Day in Stoney Clove

Ice climbing sure is fun.



I have very little experience doing it. On New Year's Day I went up to the Catskills with A for what would be only my third time trying it. I don't own any ice tools, crampons or appropriate boots, so I arranged to rent what I needed from Rock and Snow in New Paltz.



The forecast looked good as the day approached. It had been quite cold for weeks and the websites were reporting that many lines were in good condition. But then on New Year's Eve I started to get worried. Suddenly it was in the forties, in the city and up in the Catskills. The overnight low as turned into was above freezing. And the projected high for our climbing day had crept up all the way to 47. My last few rock climbing trips up to the Gunks in were on colder days than this! I thought we might be wasting our time heading up there looking for ice. But A thought it would take a few days for the ice to melt, so we decided to go for it despite the warm temperatures.



At Rock and Snow they gave me a pair of leashless Black Diamond Vipers. I had never climbed using leashless tools, so I asked if they had any leashes (the kind that attach to your wrist) for me. Instead, saying "leashes are overrated," the guy behind the counter gave me a spinner leash (which is more like a tether, attached to the harness, so the tools aren't lost if you drop them). Then headvised us to look for shady walls, and we were on our own.



My partner A has led a ton of ice over the years, but neverhere in theEast. He was interested in some grade 3 or 4 climbs just to get his bearings. We set out for the Stoney Clove area, since there are so many different options there. A was thinking we should check out the Little Black Dike (4-), which he felt he could comfortably lead, and while the dike ison the West (i.e., sunny) side of the road we thought it might still be in the shade given its corner location.



Upon arriving at the parking area, we got geared up and started back up the road to the top of the hill and the climbs. But as wewalked we got the sense that the climbs on the sunny, West side of the road might not be the best idea on this particular day. The climbs on that side were baking in the sun, and not long after we began walking wecould hearthe constant sound of large chunks of ice breaking off and smashing on the scree below.We werestill on the road, near the top of the hill, whenwe decided to just head up to some East side climbs and see if the ice seemed more solid in the shade.



We scrambled up through what seemed like an endless pile of loose choss to get up to the ice. Given the heavy snow that had fallen in the areajust afterChristmas, I was surprised that there wasn't more snow on the ground. In places the snow was quite thick over the sticks and rocks, making it much easier to work your way upward, but there was lots of territory with no snow cover at all, and these uncovered patches were kind of miserable to work through. Even though the approach was probably over within ten minutes, it seemed far longer.



Once we arrived at the nearest attractive wall of ice, we roped up and had a nice enough time. I'm still not exactly sure where we ended up. In retrospect, using Molitoris' guidebook, Ithink we climbed on the unnamed flows of ice mentioned in the book between the East Side Corner and the East Crag Pillar. We took a look at at least three different walls of ice, all of which had some nice steep flows, none of which were very tall. The ice was reasonably fat and in the warm temperatures it was really very plastic. Good sticks were easy to get.



This was my first time belaying a leader who placed screws in the ice.As I watchedA leading it almost seemed sane to me. At a couple different walls, A led up one route and then set a toprope from which we could try a few different lines. Cleaning the screwswas simple enough. The idea of relying on them while climbing on lead... now that's a different thing. It's something I'd have to consider after more than three tries at ice climbing, when I have more certainty about when my sticks are good and my feet are solid.



I started out a little shaky with the ice climbing technique; my last attempt was two years ago. On our firstpitch I found the feet really tenuous and my arms started to tire quickly. After A gave me some pointers on lowering my heels so that all four front points of the crampons were engaged with the ice, my footwork improved dramatically. I didn't take a single fall all day, althoughmy feet didfail mea couple times, leaving me hanging by my arms. In one spectacular sequence both of my feet skidded out and at the same time my glasses fell off my face. Somehow I managed to catch the glasses on my knee while hanging on with my arms. Then Igot one foot back on the ice while I kept the glasses balanced on my other bent knee,so thatthen I could let go of one axe, pick the glasses up off my leg and put them back on my head. All without weighting the rope.



In a lessheroic moment later in the day, I managed to put one of mytools right through one of my ropes. The rope wasn't severed but the pick definitely penetrated to the other side. Since we were climbing with 9mm doubles, I wasn't worried that I wouldn't be held in a fall,so I just finished the pitch and then rapped using the other rope. I wish I'd used my (limited) knowledge of knots; I could have tied the damaged portion of the rope into an alpine butterfly knot, taking it out of the system. But I didn't think of it. Now I either have to chop about ten feet off of the end of both ropes (to keep my doubles even), or buy a new pair.



I loved the BD Viper tools. Going leashless didn't seem like a big adjustment at all once I was out on the ice. I felt really confident using them all day. They felt good in my hands, very natural, and I never came remotely close to dropping one. I'm strongly considering buying a pair, since they're on the cheaper end of the market for ice tools and I don't mind aluminum.



Apart from my idiotic attempt to destroy one of my climbing ropes, there was one negative aspect to the day: the wetness. Because it was so warm, water was constantly running off the climbs. I was wearing clothes I've happily climbed ice in before, in much colder temperatures. I had a base layer, a fleece, and a thin water-resistant shell. I had two pairs of gloves. But it turned out none of these items was up to the wetness, and by the afternoon my shell was useless, and both pairs of gloves were soaked. I was wet all over and I started to shiver uncontrollably. We could have squeezed in another climb but I begged off and we headed back to New Paltz to return my rented gear. We grabbed a bite at the P & G and I shivered all through dinner.



I'm sure I'm making the day sound miserable but really it was a pretty nice time! The best moment for me was when we climbed a very fragile-looking column, which you can see on the left side of the photo above. It wasn't picked out at all but I was able to find several placementsin depressions in the column that did not require a potentially damaging swing of the axe.When I combined the gentlepick work withsome delicatefootsteps Iwas able to ascend the thing withoutdestroying it, a happy surprise. It gave me hope for an alpine climbing future that I might have, if I actuallymanage to ice climb a bit more often than once every two years.