This Summer's Trends

This has been an interesting season so far. The weather has been a challenge, which has made avalanche conditions a challenge, etc...

Well, it finally looks like summer is here and the climbing is in really good shape for this time of year.

This spring was much cooler than normal. That caused the snow to not melt as fast. At the end of February, we were hovering at about 75% of normal snowpack at Paradise. Then the cool weather hit. By 4th of July weekend, we were at 200% of normal snowpack!

Indeed, the glacier monitoring program found almost 1.5 meters more snow at the upper stake locations than normal for this time of year (7.5 meters instead of 6.0).

Everyone can remember the cycles of snow and avalanche conditions we were getting in June! Crazy, but not entirely unprecedented.

Summer has arrived. Temperatures are up. The snow is consolidating. The climbing has been great.

But wait, there's more!

There's still a lot more snow than normal for this time of year on the upper mountain. Typically, each route "peaks" in its usage at a particular time. The non-standard routes like Liberty Ridge peak mid-June, while the DC and Emmons peak later in July and even early August.

The added snow and cooler conditions this spring and early summer has allowed snow to linger on the non-standard routes longer than normal. This has pushed thegood snow/ice conditions we need to climb these routes into a time of year when there's better weather.


Take a look at this graph of this year's Lib Ridge usage:



The one consistent report from last week was that although there has been plenty of snow on the upper mountain, it has been loose and unconsolidated. This is often the case early season during high freezing levels / temperatures. Always evaluate your own avalanche conditions. Many a party has been hit by early summer, loose-snow,sun/heat affectedavalanches in Fuhrer Finger, the Turtle, Disappointment Cleaver, etc..

Also, just a few interesting trends. Here's a graph of the last 3 seasons of climbing use up to mid-July. You can see that during the snow/avalanche cycle in June that usage this year wavered in mid-June. However, climbing is strong and we are on track to have one of the biggest years ever.


One other point to remember is that even though it may be cloudy down in the Puget Sound, it often may be clear up at high camp with beautiful climbing conditions. Look at the NWSforecast discussions for Paradise (http://www.weather.gov/and type in Paradise, WA). At the bottom, you'll find the link to the forecast discussions. If they are mentioning things like on-shore flow and marine layer / push, then it is likely that the cloud tops are 7-10 thousand feet. These are usually stable conditions that indicate great climbing.

Don't let those clouds keep you from climbing!

Schooldaze

When I began posting my yearly school pictures, I didn't know that the footnoteMaven was going to make "School Days" the topic for the next edition of her "Smile For The Camera" carnival...

Hmm, since I'm in Kansas right now, it seems appropriate to send you off to a post from two years ago... Past its Prime. Or perhaps two posts from earlier in .. - Hale Brubaker was a teacher at Crow's Corner School in Whitley County, Indiana in 1904 and his niece and nephew attended Scott School in Troy Township in 1914.

Well, I suppose, since this is supposed to be a post for a "photo" carnival, I should include one here... so here 'tis, a portrait of me drawn by a schoolchild in 1978 while I was on assignment at the Navy base in Yokosuka, Japan.

Mt. Rainier, Lower Nisqually Glacier

Foursquare Mountaineering took a trip up to Mt. Rainier to have some fun and hone our mountaineering skills. We set out to find the biggest, baddest crevasse on the lower Nisqually Glacier. We found it! It had deep vertical walls made of hard ice. It was topped off with a layer of last winter's soft snow. We spent the day rappelling, ice climbing, prusiking and setting up a z-pulley rescue system.



The first thing we did was set up a few bombproof anchors and safety lines. Dan, Dennis, Jim and Caroline.

Dennis, Jim and Doug watching Dave finish his climb up from the bottom.



Jim rappelling into the abyss.

Dan moving up the rope with ascenders.



We even managed to find a snow bridge on the way out.




It was good to spend the day up on the mountain with friends. Now some of those harder routes on Rainier seem just a little bit easier and if one of us falls into a hidden crevasse, we will all know what to do.

First real day on ice

Sunday we spent the day at our favorite ice playground. We were joined by Dr. Bob, Regina, Felipe, Chip and several others. The weather was reasonable holding at about 10 degrees with some snow showers throughout the day.

Everyone eyeing the conditions

Routes are coming in nicely, but most big lines need a little more time. The crew decided to drop top ropes on G-Gully WI4+, Final Obligation WI5 and Son of Beast WI5+. Everyone enjoyed pumping out and running laps on the early season, steep, candlesticked lines.



While the others rigged ropes, etc. Laura and I started our season with Called on account of security WI4. Its currently in very nice condition and but took mostly short screws. This year, there's even some ice at the start making it easier than its usual rock start. Here are a few photos that I took of Laura on our first ice route of /11. We both enjoyed the line very much. Apparently Laura really had fun as she was giggling and smiling as she reached the anchors.

From the belay, Laura coming up Called on account of security WI4

Further up the route - Called on account of Security WI4

Final lip of Called on account of Security WI4

By next weekend we should have some really steep filled in lines. We all had a blast despite Felipe's tooth incident. Good Luck on your climbing trip to Thailand Felipe. Hope your tooth is OK. See you when you get back.

Yellowstone :: Grand Prismatic Spring

Wednesday, August 31st - - Upon leaving the West Thumb area I stopped to see Old Faithful. I waited a little over half an hour for the old fellow to erupt. I'll just say it was less than spectacular. Old Faithful can have eruptions that last from a minute and a half to over four minutes. I happened to be there during one of the short eruptions in which it does not reach its maximum height. The next eruption, 90 minutes later, would probably have been a long one but I decided to go on to the next site on my list of “must see” things.





This diagram shows the features within the Midway Geyser Basin, the largest of which is the colorful Grand Prismatic Spring.





The water from the springs and pools in the area eventually makes its way to the Firehole River flowing below. Even here you could feel the heat from the water as it passed by. The sulfur smell was quite strong also.





A boardwalk trail meanders through the area giving you an “up close” look at the pools and springs. This is at the lower edge of Excelsior Geyser, which is currently dormant.





A panoramic view of Excelsior Geyser from its northern side (as with all photos, double-click on the image to view a larger version). Water flows from the geyser pool, down the hill, and into the Firehole River.





Water from the Grand Prismatic Spring flows into the Excelsior Geyser.



A view of Excelsior Geyser from its southwestern side.



Looking to the west toward the boardwalk around Grand Prismatic Spring from the boardwalk on the west side of Excelsior Geyser. The water is only a few inches deep between the two features.





The Grand Prismatic Spring. Colorful tendrils are formed by the heat-loving microorganisms where the water flows over the edge of the spring.





Looking back toward Excelsior Geyser.



The Opal Pool. You can just barely see Firehole River in the upper center of the photograph and the mountains way off in the far distance.





It was late in the evening when I headed back to the campground. This photo was taken along the western side of the southern loop in part of the Hayden Valley – that's the Yellowstone River flowing through the valley.



It had been a great day despite a few quick moving rain showers. The temperature was in the upper 60s and lower 70s all afternoon – great weather for sightseeing and playing the tourist!

A Hint of Autumn

Monday afternoon. The first "bright" color I've seen in the area. There's still hope for a colorful fall after all.

A day off = A day in the woods!

(Above: Mt. Sophie fire tower framed by Maple trees)

This time of year, if its my day off from work and its a beautiful day, it means that I'm probably going to be spending the whole day out in the woods. And that's exactly what I did today. I spent all day wandering around the local logging roads and looking for fall color and any other interesting things I might come across.



(Above: Maple leaf on fern)

(Below: Fall colors and sun)



(Below: Moon Trees, Woodcock frozen in the headlights from my car)