Saturday, June 26
What a week. The training weeks have finally ended and work has at long last begun. This week we were scheduled to hike into North Inlet Ranger Campsite on Monday, and work that day, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday on fixing up the campsites all along the North Inlet trail. This included noting the number of trees that need to be cut down at campsites because of Mountain Pine beetle (we were originally supposed to cut them down ourselves, but that’s another long story), fixing the drainage at one site because a new stream was running right over the tent pad, getting the bear boxes, checking the privies, fixing up the tent pads, stumping trees (which by the way, gives you quite the back and arm workout when your doing it with the long 2 person saw), and cutting/moving trees that had fallen in the campsite.
So the highlight, or I should say funniest moment of our trip happened on the first day, on the walk in. We brought both llamas (Fabian and Mister) with us to help carry our food and tools. About 20 minutes int our hike, we were walking by a river. Mister (the older, less tamed, more obnoxious llama; he is such a complainer let me tell you), bent down to get a drink in the river, and ended up tripping in a hole on the side of the trail and falling into the water with the saddle bags on his back (which by the way, had our food in it. He almost bringing Tara with him too. The river was deep and fast flowing, though only about 10 meters across. And being mister, always trying to escape (Matt had to chase him 5 miles down a mountain last summer) he swam for the other bank. Matt and Ryan quickly (and I would say eagerly, at least on Matt’s part) stripped down to their boxers to go after Mister. Matt went into the water from the upriver side and swam across while Ryan waited downstream, ready to jump in if Mister decided to make a getaway down river. As soon as Matt got near him, Mister turned, and swam across the stream and there was a mad rush to grab his tether.
On our way up to the North Inlet campsite, we took turns stopping at the different campsites to make note of the work that needs to be done at each one and to get some before work pictures.
By the time we got to our campsite and set up, we were off work (5:00). We hung out the rest of the evening, talking, making dinner, and I joined Tara in an abdominal workout (her idea, not mine-she did show me a couple of good hip flexor workouts).
Tuesday, I joined Matt and Luke to work on the drainage at Grouseberry and we slowly work our way back to the North Inlet campsite as we stopped at all the campsites on the way back. The others headed up to the July campsite. We all ended up finishing so early, and getting the work we were supposed to do Wednesday done. Tara decided that night that we’d head back a day early to get some other work done on Thursday. However, the rest of us also decided that the trail up to Lake Nokoni and Lake Nanita needed to be “patrolled”-you know check for fallen trees on the trail, check hikers’ permits and give an help in needed. So we hiked up (everyone but Tara and Luke that is because Tara had to get back for a meeting) to the two lakes first thing in the morning. It was so nice out and we were all so hot from the hike up, we all ended up going for a dip in both lakes (ok, I only went in the first one, but still, they both had ice and snow coating the surface and I wasn’t sure if I would warm up enough after the second one because then we’d be hiking downhill from there. Plus, after seeing the other’s freaking out about the cold and saying how their muscles were going into spasms, I wasn’t to keen on the idea of following them in). After we got back to camp, we had lunch and then hiked out.
Thursday, I hiked with Ryan about 13ish miles as we checked four campsites for what trees needed to be cut for MPB, what bear boxes still needed still be removed, and the level of crap in the privies.
I just calculated the mileage I’ve hike this week. And in 5 days, I did about 47 miles of hiking-some of which was with a rather heavy backpack. I’m much to lazy to calculate the elevation gain, but it’s definitely over 14,000 ft. Sunday alone I think was 7000ish.
Oh and I have some really, really bad news. I did laundry last night and as I took my clothes out of the washer, what did I find? My cell phone. I tried to turn it on later that night. It turned on briefly, then the screen went blank and it started to vibrate nonstop. Even now I can see a lot of moisture still trapped behind the screen. I’m afraid now, the only way to contact me short of seeing me in person, is via email or snail mail. Hopefully in a couple of days it will be in working order again. I’m very sorry, because if you thought it was frustrating getting in contact with me before, it’s gonna be a real pain in the ass now.
Shoot, now I’m gonna have a hard time getting a hold of people to go climbing or hiking. I actually had to bike to Christina’s house this morning because we made plans yesterday evening to go climbing together this morning, but then she had no way of knowing my cell broke and we hadn’t made plans on what time or where we were headed out. Luckily I caught her before she left and we did get out for some climbing at the Iron Clads before the afternoon storms rolled in. It was quite an interesting getting to the ledges. The guide book said the road was fixed up so that normal cars can drive on it now. Well, there were a bunch of times we thought her Honda Civic was going to bottom out. If that was the road fixed up, you must have needed a ATV to get in before.
Saturday, June 27, 2009
Thursday, June 25, 2009
Practice to Reality, Run-out, and 1st 14,000 footer
Sunday, June 21
Friday, we were yet again practicing high angle rescue for SAR training. This time we went through the whole routine, everyone setting up a section of the mainline, belay line, or packaging the patient. After everything was set up, we practiced a couple of times the lowering and raising of a patient over a cliff edge. I do feel really bad for the first patient (who happened to be a really nice guy originally from Australia who lived in South Africa for a few years), who was stuck in the litter for about 2 hours because it took us so long to initially set everything up and review everything that needed to done. During our second run through in the afternoon, we were interrupted by not one, but two SAR calls. One conveniently only two miles from where we were (what a “lucky” guy). I believe both cases were heart issues. Unfortunately, I did not get to go on the calls, though about half our trainees left to help. I had to stay behind to help raise our fake patient back over the cliff and clean up the gear. Oh well, both calls didn’t really turn out to be much, all the rescuers that left us were back for the debriefing by the end of the day.
After training though, I got another evening of climbing. After training, I went with Brian Drew, Matt, Christina and a new friend, Sam (who I met through SAR training-he does something with fire education) to the Thomson Ledge. I got on 2 climbs, but I did one of them twice to clean it up.
So Saturday, I was determined to get some cardio in by going on a long bike ride and getting a few other things done. But all those plans were dropped when I got a phone call at 6:30 in the morning from Brian about going climbing. I figured we’d only have a morning to climb because there was a 50% chance of thunderstorms in the afternoon and the clouds in the sky weren’t looking promising already. So I planned to go biking afterwards. We ended up staying at the ledge until about 5:00. Oh, and now I have a new climbing friend who went climbing with Brain and I-Garritt, who is sort of in charge of coordinating cutting/spraying the pine trees with the pine beetle problem.
We went to the Combat Rock (slab), and started off our morning by doing 5.9 trad, the Diamond. It was actually a fun route, except that our two ropes continuously got tangled, so the route took us forever, even though it had only 3 sections on it. Then when we pulled the rope after rappelling down, they got stuck on a flake and Brian had to climb up to recover it, and then had trouble retrieving his gear (turned out he put one cam in a hollow flake that moved when he put his wait on it). It was just a mess. That incident wasted about an hour of our time.
After that, I was anxious to get on a hard route so I actually felt as though I really did a full day of climbing and didn’t just sit around on some ledges in a harness (which is mostly what I did). I decided to do this 3 star route a little over a 100 ft long, 5.10c. In the guidebook, it looked like the bolts were close together so I figured it wouldn’t be that bad to lead. The fact that there were only 6 bolts on the whole route didn’t click. After I clipped into the second hanger, I realized that there was a good 15-20 ft between bolts. I was just a tad bit scared a few times. I finished the route though, not cleanly, but well enough that I didn’t lose any skin off my knees, hands or face. I got to finish off the evening on this really short, easy, 5.8 with a large roof. I loved it-so much more calming than the previous route.
Today I reached new heights. I rose at 5 in the morning, to drive with Christinia to be at the trailhead to Longs Peak (the only 14000fter in RMNP) at 6 to meet Detterline. Due to some technical difficulties and an unexpected tour, we didn’t start our hike until 7:30 (and we all thought we weren’t going to make summit). Oh, but it turned out to be a beautiful day and a fantastic hike. Jim was great at guiding us and the views were fantastic. When we were going up the last 1000 ft on the North Face (completely covered in snow and very steep; ice axe and crampons required), we went at a good steady slow pace, so the altitude and the exertion didn’t bug us at all. The summit is like none in NH-it was really the size of a foot ball field. I tried to call dad for fathers day from the summit but unfortunately was unable to get a signal from the top. (oh did I mention that Jim did this hike in ripped jeans with long underwear? and he stayed drier than I did-I really need to buy a pair of gators. Oh and this was his 315th time up Longs. I guess you can say I had the best guide you can get for that hike)
After we got down, I went to meet with Bruce and his family for dinner. First time I had seen them in years and it was wonderful to catch up with them. Now, back at my place, I’m packing up for my 4 day long trip for work.
Friday, we were yet again practicing high angle rescue for SAR training. This time we went through the whole routine, everyone setting up a section of the mainline, belay line, or packaging the patient. After everything was set up, we practiced a couple of times the lowering and raising of a patient over a cliff edge. I do feel really bad for the first patient (who happened to be a really nice guy originally from Australia who lived in South Africa for a few years), who was stuck in the litter for about 2 hours because it took us so long to initially set everything up and review everything that needed to done. During our second run through in the afternoon, we were interrupted by not one, but two SAR calls. One conveniently only two miles from where we were (what a “lucky” guy). I believe both cases were heart issues. Unfortunately, I did not get to go on the calls, though about half our trainees left to help. I had to stay behind to help raise our fake patient back over the cliff and clean up the gear. Oh well, both calls didn’t really turn out to be much, all the rescuers that left us were back for the debriefing by the end of the day.
After training though, I got another evening of climbing. After training, I went with Brian Drew, Matt, Christina and a new friend, Sam (who I met through SAR training-he does something with fire education) to the Thomson Ledge. I got on 2 climbs, but I did one of them twice to clean it up.
So Saturday, I was determined to get some cardio in by going on a long bike ride and getting a few other things done. But all those plans were dropped when I got a phone call at 6:30 in the morning from Brian about going climbing. I figured we’d only have a morning to climb because there was a 50% chance of thunderstorms in the afternoon and the clouds in the sky weren’t looking promising already. So I planned to go biking afterwards. We ended up staying at the ledge until about 5:00. Oh, and now I have a new climbing friend who went climbing with Brain and I-Garritt, who is sort of in charge of coordinating cutting/spraying the pine trees with the pine beetle problem.
We went to the Combat Rock (slab), and started off our morning by doing 5.9 trad, the Diamond. It was actually a fun route, except that our two ropes continuously got tangled, so the route took us forever, even though it had only 3 sections on it. Then when we pulled the rope after rappelling down, they got stuck on a flake and Brian had to climb up to recover it, and then had trouble retrieving his gear (turned out he put one cam in a hollow flake that moved when he put his wait on it). It was just a mess. That incident wasted about an hour of our time.
After that, I was anxious to get on a hard route so I actually felt as though I really did a full day of climbing and didn’t just sit around on some ledges in a harness (which is mostly what I did). I decided to do this 3 star route a little over a 100 ft long, 5.10c. In the guidebook, it looked like the bolts were close together so I figured it wouldn’t be that bad to lead. The fact that there were only 6 bolts on the whole route didn’t click. After I clipped into the second hanger, I realized that there was a good 15-20 ft between bolts. I was just a tad bit scared a few times. I finished the route though, not cleanly, but well enough that I didn’t lose any skin off my knees, hands or face. I got to finish off the evening on this really short, easy, 5.8 with a large roof. I loved it-so much more calming than the previous route.
Today I reached new heights. I rose at 5 in the morning, to drive with Christinia to be at the trailhead to Longs Peak (the only 14000fter in RMNP) at 6 to meet Detterline. Due to some technical difficulties and an unexpected tour, we didn’t start our hike until 7:30 (and we all thought we weren’t going to make summit). Oh, but it turned out to be a beautiful day and a fantastic hike. Jim was great at guiding us and the views were fantastic. When we were going up the last 1000 ft on the North Face (completely covered in snow and very steep; ice axe and crampons required), we went at a good steady slow pace, so the altitude and the exertion didn’t bug us at all. The summit is like none in NH-it was really the size of a foot ball field. I tried to call dad for fathers day from the summit but unfortunately was unable to get a signal from the top. (oh did I mention that Jim did this hike in ripped jeans with long underwear? and he stayed drier than I did-I really need to buy a pair of gators. Oh and this was his 315th time up Longs. I guess you can say I had the best guide you can get for that hike)
After we got down, I went to meet with Bruce and his family for dinner. First time I had seen them in years and it was wonderful to catch up with them. Now, back at my place, I’m packing up for my 4 day long trip for work.
The First Trip, Climbing on “Thin Ice,” and Not All Who Wonder Are Lost (if they actually check their map).
Thursday, June 18
Overall. I’d have to say my week has been decent. I wouldn't say perfect, but it definitely had some good, exciting, and surprising moments.
I should probably tell it in a simple, logical manner and not jump around everywhere in a non-comprehensible, pointless, long-winded way (like I almost always do). Chronological order it is; may even help me to remember everything.
Sunday started off early. Due to bad weather predictions for the afternoon, my new climbing friend Brian (the LE person I met through Christina) and I decided to get an early start on climbing. We met at my house at 7:20 in the morning, along with two other people. Brian somehow convinced his roommate to come, though I'm not sure exactly how, he didn’t seem very excited to climb. His roommate only did two routes, but I did kind of like his poker face with the sarcastic humor. He also invited Paul, an older LE (Law Enforcer) originally from CT who has been climbing and hiking for years. Paul actually worked as an EMT on Bridgeport’s ambulance. That must have been quite the exciting job. He said you could always tell when it was going to be a busy night, when people gathered at 2 in the morning, and the first shot rang out.
We climbed for several hours at Jurassic park, hopping on the routes we were looking at the week before. I attempted to lead the 10a I had been eyeing. Now a project I need to do cleanly. I was also going to lead the classic “Edge of Time” problem, but unfortunately the afternoon storm that was predicted rolled in. I spent the afternoon making some phone calls, checking email and doing some quick shopping.
That evening I got some unexpected, but welcomed phone calls. One from a couple who were friends of my grandparents, and the other, relatives who live in Colorado. I was able to make plans with both to get together.
Monday was the first day of my first overnight trip in the Rockies. It was for training with my wilderness crew. There were also many of the Backcountry Office staff and LE staff there (we totaled about 25 people). The 4.7 mile hike in itself was exciting, what with the beautiful sights, slight wandering from the trail because of all the snow, and the traversing across steep snow slopes. Afterwards we had lunch and lessons. They discussed the pine beetles (which is sadly killing many of the pine trees in RMNP at an alarming rate), new park regulations on camping, how to check and maintain campsites, and LNT ethics. The ethics were played out wonderfully by Christina and Luke. They were a nature loving family from Texas with 8 kids, who unfortunately didn’t know some of the park regulations or LNT ethics. After this, while Jim was giving a lesson on survival, Tara and I went off to set up a short orienteering course. I really wish I had Tara’s endless energy and swiftness/agility. When we were bush whacking, she’d move so easily through the brush and over boulders, I struggled to keep up a. She’s sort of like a kid, there one second, gone the next; always going, unhindered by the weather.
After we arrived back from our adventure, work time was done, and we joined the others in the ranger cabin to help make dinner. There was time to hang out and have some “drinks." Some people did a lot less drinking of their preferred beverage and more drinking of water than they planned. Many forgot their flasks when they packed and the backups in the Emergency cabinet were gone.
At around 7 in the morning, everyone was rolling out of bed. Training resumed at 8. We did a pack check and went over a bunch of other regulations and rules. Then, while everyone went on the orienteering course, the wilderness crew stayed behind to clean the cabin. We ended up getting the work done quickly. With the spare time Jim Detterline (a really good alpinist, rescuer, rock climber and ice climber; and a long time employee/server of the NPS), and I obtained an obsession for chopping wood for the cabin. For having a dull ax, only one maul and many rotten/soaking wet pieces of wood, we made excellent progress and finished the pile by early afternoon. At which time, we began the 3ish mile hike out.
That evening after a short period of working on the traversing boulder problem by my home, I had dinner with the couple, Walt and Sally. It was a pleasant dinner and I loved to hear about their many years of camping experiences and of my grandparents. After a wonderful Italian dinner, I showed them some of my traveling pictures over coffee.
Wednesday, my first real work day! We went over to the west side of the park (via Trail Ridge Road) and hiked into the Big Meadows campground to make some new tent platforms. It was only an 1.8 mile easy hike in, but it ended up taking Jim D and I a little longer for us to get there than the others. When I fell behind the fast moving group to tie my boots, I waited a little to hike with Jim who was behind the rest. We were talking and hiking for a while and I soon started to grow suspicious that something was wrong, especially when I looked at my watch to see that we were hiking for an hour and I knew we were hiking much faster than 2-mile an hour pace. Finally, we stopped to look at the map, located where we were, and contacted the others by radio. Turns out we were about a mile past where we were supposed to be. So we turned around and headed back for the intersection. Our short 1.8 mile hike in just turned into a 3.8 mile hike. A minor mistake. I did feel bad that by the time we got to the new campsite, the others were basically done with putting the logs into the ground. Basically all was left was finding some filler (aka rotten wood) and spreading it over the tent spots.
After work, I joined Detterline for the ice-climbing trip he promised me the week before. We went to Wild Basin to Hidden Falls, where an easy 60 foot route was hopefully still there (I had my doubts). After a half mile hike in, when we could see the cliff through the trees, Jim became very excited. He could see the ice. When we got closer, we discovered that the ice was in fact not in very good shape at all. Maybe 15 feet tall, the narrowest part (a few inches thick, maybe a foot wide) was at the bottom of the chunk, detached from the cliff, and twisted out, leaning against the neighboring wall. I thought we were going to turn around and head out right then and there. I was so surprised and I’ll admit, a bit nervous when Jim put down his gear and said "Let’s get on our gear and give it a go." You must understand if you don’t know already, Jim is a Legend. He is an extremely good ice climber and alpinist, but many of the stories I have heard of him are about these crazy things he does or happens to him, that should have killed him. He’s been struck by lightning 3 times on the Diamond of Long’s Peak. He has more lives than a cat. I didn’t want to become a part of his legends. I asked him if he had climbed on ice this sketchy before. “Yes, unfortunately,” was his response. What a comfort.
After he soloed up the ice (which reverberated as he kicked in his front points), he began working on setting up a top rope system for me to be able to climb up “safely.” I tried to tell him that I didn’t really need to climb if it didn’t seem like the anchor system would be secure, or the ice might give way. But his hearing is not always the best (and I am not necessarily that loud). I don’t think he heard me quite right. Well next thing I know, I’m sticking my ice tools and crampons into the chunk of unsupported ice and climbing up it, with great delicacy. For a short route I have to say, it was really fun. I actually enjoyed it more than the last ice climbing routes I did in NH. It had a slight overhang and I got to stem off a little on rock behind me, and the questionability of the ice added a little extra rush to the experience.
After our little adventure, Jim was so kind as to treat me to dinner at Oskar Blues- a restaurant he enjoys going to after long climbing adventures. I enjoyed listening to all he had to say. I learned a bit about his past and about the NPS. I already know that I will be getting that education I want for my year off during this summer. After dinner, we did some some brisk grocery shopping and then headed home. I am excited to work with and have more adventures with Jim this summer (actually have one event already planned with him this Sunday-hiking Longs Peak-I do hope I don’t get struck by lightning).
Today was SAR training again. But this time we were going more in depth in high angle rescue and we went over aviation rescue protocols and safety. It was interesting; we went over the different pulley systems and how to set up the litter to be raised and lowered. And they brought in a helicopter with the flight vets to teach us what we need to know about rescues via helicopter.
Well, I realize this has been an excruciatingly long entry, I hope you did not suffer too much. I will try to keep the next entries a little more under control. And I promise, once I figure out how and have the time to do it, I will be posting my photos on my blog.
Overall. I’d have to say my week has been decent. I wouldn't say perfect, but it definitely had some good, exciting, and surprising moments.
I should probably tell it in a simple, logical manner and not jump around everywhere in a non-comprehensible, pointless, long-winded way (like I almost always do). Chronological order it is; may even help me to remember everything.
Sunday started off early. Due to bad weather predictions for the afternoon, my new climbing friend Brian (the LE person I met through Christina) and I decided to get an early start on climbing. We met at my house at 7:20 in the morning, along with two other people. Brian somehow convinced his roommate to come, though I'm not sure exactly how, he didn’t seem very excited to climb. His roommate only did two routes, but I did kind of like his poker face with the sarcastic humor. He also invited Paul, an older LE (Law Enforcer) originally from CT who has been climbing and hiking for years. Paul actually worked as an EMT on Bridgeport’s ambulance. That must have been quite the exciting job. He said you could always tell when it was going to be a busy night, when people gathered at 2 in the morning, and the first shot rang out.
We climbed for several hours at Jurassic park, hopping on the routes we were looking at the week before. I attempted to lead the 10a I had been eyeing. Now a project I need to do cleanly. I was also going to lead the classic “Edge of Time” problem, but unfortunately the afternoon storm that was predicted rolled in. I spent the afternoon making some phone calls, checking email and doing some quick shopping.
That evening I got some unexpected, but welcomed phone calls. One from a couple who were friends of my grandparents, and the other, relatives who live in Colorado. I was able to make plans with both to get together.
Monday was the first day of my first overnight trip in the Rockies. It was for training with my wilderness crew. There were also many of the Backcountry Office staff and LE staff there (we totaled about 25 people). The 4.7 mile hike in itself was exciting, what with the beautiful sights, slight wandering from the trail because of all the snow, and the traversing across steep snow slopes. Afterwards we had lunch and lessons. They discussed the pine beetles (which is sadly killing many of the pine trees in RMNP at an alarming rate), new park regulations on camping, how to check and maintain campsites, and LNT ethics. The ethics were played out wonderfully by Christina and Luke. They were a nature loving family from Texas with 8 kids, who unfortunately didn’t know some of the park regulations or LNT ethics. After this, while Jim was giving a lesson on survival, Tara and I went off to set up a short orienteering course. I really wish I had Tara’s endless energy and swiftness/agility. When we were bush whacking, she’d move so easily through the brush and over boulders, I struggled to keep up a. She’s sort of like a kid, there one second, gone the next; always going, unhindered by the weather.
After we arrived back from our adventure, work time was done, and we joined the others in the ranger cabin to help make dinner. There was time to hang out and have some “drinks." Some people did a lot less drinking of their preferred beverage and more drinking of water than they planned. Many forgot their flasks when they packed and the backups in the Emergency cabinet were gone.
At around 7 in the morning, everyone was rolling out of bed. Training resumed at 8. We did a pack check and went over a bunch of other regulations and rules. Then, while everyone went on the orienteering course, the wilderness crew stayed behind to clean the cabin. We ended up getting the work done quickly. With the spare time Jim Detterline (a really good alpinist, rescuer, rock climber and ice climber; and a long time employee/server of the NPS), and I obtained an obsession for chopping wood for the cabin. For having a dull ax, only one maul and many rotten/soaking wet pieces of wood, we made excellent progress and finished the pile by early afternoon. At which time, we began the 3ish mile hike out.
That evening after a short period of working on the traversing boulder problem by my home, I had dinner with the couple, Walt and Sally. It was a pleasant dinner and I loved to hear about their many years of camping experiences and of my grandparents. After a wonderful Italian dinner, I showed them some of my traveling pictures over coffee.
Wednesday, my first real work day! We went over to the west side of the park (via Trail Ridge Road) and hiked into the Big Meadows campground to make some new tent platforms. It was only an 1.8 mile easy hike in, but it ended up taking Jim D and I a little longer for us to get there than the others. When I fell behind the fast moving group to tie my boots, I waited a little to hike with Jim who was behind the rest. We were talking and hiking for a while and I soon started to grow suspicious that something was wrong, especially when I looked at my watch to see that we were hiking for an hour and I knew we were hiking much faster than 2-mile an hour pace. Finally, we stopped to look at the map, located where we were, and contacted the others by radio. Turns out we were about a mile past where we were supposed to be. So we turned around and headed back for the intersection. Our short 1.8 mile hike in just turned into a 3.8 mile hike. A minor mistake. I did feel bad that by the time we got to the new campsite, the others were basically done with putting the logs into the ground. Basically all was left was finding some filler (aka rotten wood) and spreading it over the tent spots.
After work, I joined Detterline for the ice-climbing trip he promised me the week before. We went to Wild Basin to Hidden Falls, where an easy 60 foot route was hopefully still there (I had my doubts). After a half mile hike in, when we could see the cliff through the trees, Jim became very excited. He could see the ice. When we got closer, we discovered that the ice was in fact not in very good shape at all. Maybe 15 feet tall, the narrowest part (a few inches thick, maybe a foot wide) was at the bottom of the chunk, detached from the cliff, and twisted out, leaning against the neighboring wall. I thought we were going to turn around and head out right then and there. I was so surprised and I’ll admit, a bit nervous when Jim put down his gear and said "Let’s get on our gear and give it a go." You must understand if you don’t know already, Jim is a Legend. He is an extremely good ice climber and alpinist, but many of the stories I have heard of him are about these crazy things he does or happens to him, that should have killed him. He’s been struck by lightning 3 times on the Diamond of Long’s Peak. He has more lives than a cat. I didn’t want to become a part of his legends. I asked him if he had climbed on ice this sketchy before. “Yes, unfortunately,” was his response. What a comfort.
After he soloed up the ice (which reverberated as he kicked in his front points), he began working on setting up a top rope system for me to be able to climb up “safely.” I tried to tell him that I didn’t really need to climb if it didn’t seem like the anchor system would be secure, or the ice might give way. But his hearing is not always the best (and I am not necessarily that loud). I don’t think he heard me quite right. Well next thing I know, I’m sticking my ice tools and crampons into the chunk of unsupported ice and climbing up it, with great delicacy. For a short route I have to say, it was really fun. I actually enjoyed it more than the last ice climbing routes I did in NH. It had a slight overhang and I got to stem off a little on rock behind me, and the questionability of the ice added a little extra rush to the experience.
After our little adventure, Jim was so kind as to treat me to dinner at Oskar Blues- a restaurant he enjoys going to after long climbing adventures. I enjoyed listening to all he had to say. I learned a bit about his past and about the NPS. I already know that I will be getting that education I want for my year off during this summer. After dinner, we did some some brisk grocery shopping and then headed home. I am excited to work with and have more adventures with Jim this summer (actually have one event already planned with him this Sunday-hiking Longs Peak-I do hope I don’t get struck by lightning).
Today was SAR training again. But this time we were going more in depth in high angle rescue and we went over aviation rescue protocols and safety. It was interesting; we went over the different pulley systems and how to set up the litter to be raised and lowered. And they brought in a helicopter with the flight vets to teach us what we need to know about rescues via helicopter.
Well, I realize this has been an excruciatingly long entry, I hope you did not suffer too much. I will try to keep the next entries a little more under control. And I promise, once I figure out how and have the time to do it, I will be posting my photos on my blog.
Monday, June 15, 2009
The Good, the Bad, and Ugly
Saturday, June 13
Ok, so….I have bunch of good news and a bunch of bad news.
Some good news is this has been an unexpectedly somewhat eventful week and I’ve already done some things that I have been looking forward to since I accepted this internship. Tuesday morning started off with a boring all employees meeting and getting my defensive driving training. This was done by driving around in “Beastie,” this huge old truck that doesn’t tell you what gear you’re in-let me tell you that sucked parallel parking on a hill. This was followed by being given gear and then receiving a call for a SAR (Search and Rescue)!
This guide was leading 2 or three other people on a steep snowfield, when someone tripped and the guide and one boy fell 300 ft down the snowfield. The guide broke his ankle, and the boy had a spinal injury (this is some bad news, but on the more positive note, it could have been a lot worst and the boy was released from the hospital the next day). Anyways, I helped to hike in some gear and then assisted with the litter carry for the guide. Some more good news that goes with this, I get paid for rescues! Now, in, I’m really hoping to go on more rescues, not only for the money, but the experience-to put some of my EMT training to use (not to be morbid of course). They had 350 rescues last year (this includes the winter though).
So after I was part of a real SAR, I had the training to be in a SAR all day Thursday and Friday. Thursday was just the basics on how to be prepared, who is in charge (the chain of command), driving safety, how to package a patient, and use the litters. Then we actually practiced a SAR scenario, where we carried the litter with the patient over various terrain. Friday we went to Wild Basin to learn Basic Technical SAR-with knots and setting up anchors, etc. (While I was there, I saw a couple of interesting climbing routes I want to get on eventually).
Wednesday…I actually can’t remember what we did in the morning, but in the afternoon we were working on setting up an orienteering course for training next week. With a partner we were all put at different points and had to follow the compass to the same spot so make sure all the given degrees were correct. My partner and I ended up going through some wetlands. It wasn’t that bad at first, then we hit the center where the streams were a good deal deeper, wider, and the brush much denser.
Oh, some more good news, I went climbing for the first time since I got here on Thursdays after training. We went to these cliffs called Jurassic Park. Can’t wait to try this 5.9 route called the “Edge of time” (aptly named)-it looks fantastic.
Ok, the rest of the bad news. Yesterday evening I got my bike (no that’s not the bad part, that comes next). So right away, I put it together and go for a bike ride. In the first 10 minutes, a bird FLIES INTO MY BIKE! I know it’s hard to believe! I can’t figure out whose fault it was, but either way, to my despair, it happened. So I turned around right away to check on it. I could see that its right wing is probably broken. I try calling some people to see if they knew anyone who might take in injured wildlife, but I couldn't get ahold of anyone. So I decide to continue my bike ride, and give the bird some space to recover, incase it was just a little ruffled up and needed time to recover. It was still there an hour later-looking a little better than before, but the wing was definitely broken-it kept it tight to it’s side, and the tail feathers were a little messed up. I was in a rush to get to the coffee shop (I swear I am not a shallow person) to look up recipes online for bread, check my online banking and that the SCA forms were finally set. All before it was too dark to bike back; so I decided to give the bird a little more time, to try to get a hold of people again before I did anything. 2 hours later when I came back, he was there and I had failed to find a place to take it too. I couldn’t leave him there to just suffer. I knew what I had to do, what was the more merciful thing to do, but I still hesitated. I stood there for about 10-15 min, and then finally, as I apologized while crying (a little-give me a break it was my first!), I picked up a rock, and smashed it. I will spare you the details. So much wanting to be a hunter.
With a heavy heart, I head home for a late night of baking granola and bread.
Today was a much brighter day! Weather wise and mood wise. I got a short run in the morning done, then went on a long hike with a friend who is one of my co-workers-Luke. We hiked a little past Lawn Lake (which is where we had stopped for lunch), hoping to reach the saddle which supposedly has wonderful views, only to turn around early because the once clear blue sky now showed signs of a likely thunderstorm. We still got about a 12-12.5 mile hike in, with about 2640ft elevation gain. And I have all summer to finish the hike. We then had dinner in Estes Park, went and checked out (or climbed) this huge boulder near my place that has this neat traversing problem on it.
Ok, so….I have bunch of good news and a bunch of bad news.
Some good news is this has been an unexpectedly somewhat eventful week and I’ve already done some things that I have been looking forward to since I accepted this internship. Tuesday morning started off with a boring all employees meeting and getting my defensive driving training. This was done by driving around in “Beastie,” this huge old truck that doesn’t tell you what gear you’re in-let me tell you that sucked parallel parking on a hill. This was followed by being given gear and then receiving a call for a SAR (Search and Rescue)!
This guide was leading 2 or three other people on a steep snowfield, when someone tripped and the guide and one boy fell 300 ft down the snowfield. The guide broke his ankle, and the boy had a spinal injury (this is some bad news, but on the more positive note, it could have been a lot worst and the boy was released from the hospital the next day). Anyways, I helped to hike in some gear and then assisted with the litter carry for the guide. Some more good news that goes with this, I get paid for rescues! Now, in, I’m really hoping to go on more rescues, not only for the money, but the experience-to put some of my EMT training to use (not to be morbid of course). They had 350 rescues last year (this includes the winter though).
So after I was part of a real SAR, I had the training to be in a SAR all day Thursday and Friday. Thursday was just the basics on how to be prepared, who is in charge (the chain of command), driving safety, how to package a patient, and use the litters. Then we actually practiced a SAR scenario, where we carried the litter with the patient over various terrain. Friday we went to Wild Basin to learn Basic Technical SAR-with knots and setting up anchors, etc. (While I was there, I saw a couple of interesting climbing routes I want to get on eventually).
Wednesday…I actually can’t remember what we did in the morning, but in the afternoon we were working on setting up an orienteering course for training next week. With a partner we were all put at different points and had to follow the compass to the same spot so make sure all the given degrees were correct. My partner and I ended up going through some wetlands. It wasn’t that bad at first, then we hit the center where the streams were a good deal deeper, wider, and the brush much denser.
Oh, some more good news, I went climbing for the first time since I got here on Thursdays after training. We went to these cliffs called Jurassic Park. Can’t wait to try this 5.9 route called the “Edge of time” (aptly named)-it looks fantastic.
Ok, the rest of the bad news. Yesterday evening I got my bike (no that’s not the bad part, that comes next). So right away, I put it together and go for a bike ride. In the first 10 minutes, a bird FLIES INTO MY BIKE! I know it’s hard to believe! I can’t figure out whose fault it was, but either way, to my despair, it happened. So I turned around right away to check on it. I could see that its right wing is probably broken. I try calling some people to see if they knew anyone who might take in injured wildlife, but I couldn't get ahold of anyone. So I decide to continue my bike ride, and give the bird some space to recover, incase it was just a little ruffled up and needed time to recover. It was still there an hour later-looking a little better than before, but the wing was definitely broken-it kept it tight to it’s side, and the tail feathers were a little messed up. I was in a rush to get to the coffee shop (I swear I am not a shallow person) to look up recipes online for bread, check my online banking and that the SCA forms were finally set. All before it was too dark to bike back; so I decided to give the bird a little more time, to try to get a hold of people again before I did anything. 2 hours later when I came back, he was there and I had failed to find a place to take it too. I couldn’t leave him there to just suffer. I knew what I had to do, what was the more merciful thing to do, but I still hesitated. I stood there for about 10-15 min, and then finally, as I apologized while crying (a little-give me a break it was my first!), I picked up a rock, and smashed it. I will spare you the details. So much wanting to be a hunter.
With a heavy heart, I head home for a late night of baking granola and bread.
Today was a much brighter day! Weather wise and mood wise. I got a short run in the morning done, then went on a long hike with a friend who is one of my co-workers-Luke. We hiked a little past Lawn Lake (which is where we had stopped for lunch), hoping to reach the saddle which supposedly has wonderful views, only to turn around early because the once clear blue sky now showed signs of a likely thunderstorm. We still got about a 12-12.5 mile hike in, with about 2640ft elevation gain. And I have all summer to finish the hike. We then had dinner in Estes Park, went and checked out (or climbed) this huge boulder near my place that has this neat traversing problem on it.
Thursday, June 11, 2009
My “alternative” education begins
Monday, June 8th
Ok, so first day of training down. It wasn't too eventful, but the information and socializing I did has made me so excited for the coming months.
Of course, with working with the government there was a ton of paper work to do that filled up part of the morning. Luckily, we got most of the stuff done before we arrived (I was actually doing them frantically the day before I flew out because the government fills the forms out in March and then sends them to me two days before I leave). Anyways, that stuff was done quickly enough and we were given our uniforms.
We talked in the morning with my “Wilderness Crew”. I have to say, I am really looking forward to working with these people. Some of them have done things I’ve been hoping to do in the coming year and they have so much experience, I will cherish what they have to tell and teach me. They’re a real laid back group of people who joke and don't have their noses stuck in the law book. Oh, and they're all hardcore. Ok, to go over who is in my group:
-- Tara, our coordinator, is this amazing young woman, who climbs, surfs, eats organically, and is extremely active (she was training for a half ironman last year).
- -Jim Dougan-our supervisor-a nice older man who is quite fit for his age. Easily banged out a 28-mile day with 8000 ft elevation gain in the Rockies just couple of years ago. I thought doing the presidential traverse was tough. He can kick my butt hiking any day.
- -Ryan- it’s his 2nd year here, don’t know too much about him yet, though he’s from Kansas, and I think he’s done some backcountry ski patrolling.
- -Matt-from Texas, but still cool-definitely not the stereotypical Texan. He’s a returnee who grew up hiking, getting his first backpack when he was 9. Very sarcastic humor, but nice.
- -Luke- returnee, a guy who I think really understands how important wilderness/nature is. It has done so much for him to get through life, and he’s devoting his life to helping it in anyway he can.
- -Christina- like me, grew up in a boring state (in her case, Michigan), and upon graduating high school, she worked on a college degree, hiking, rock climbing, and working at National Parks (in fact just did one last summer in Alaska). She also just spent about 6 weeks with a girlfriend in Peru, rock climbing. New role model for me?
- -Kevin-just graduated college, grew up in Boulder, and he enjoys mountain biking. That's about all I know about him, other than that he’s pretty shy and isn't quite ready yet to talk to us all. He’s slowly warming up though. I did manage to find out he majored in Journaling and political science, and they are not what he wants to do with the rest of his life. When I told him I’m taking next year off, he said he wishes he did the same.
So that’s basically my crew and some basic facts on them. We hung out tonight at a restaurant for a few hours just talking and joking.
After the intros in the morning, we got our schedule for the next 7 weeks. I won't give it all away at once, but I’ll give you the exciting expectations for this week.
Monday: besides the stuff already mentioned: building a llama fence and getting the llamas
Wednesday: training with ethics and whistle blowing, and we’ll be able to spend the afternoon hiking and checking out the campsite status, taking inventory
Thursday and Friday: we’ll have SAR training-or search and rescue.
You know, I think I’m really strongly considering a life of working at different national parks-it pays well, has great benefits, and oh man-besides the paper work, it does sound so exciting. I am looking forward to being in the best shape of my life, being outside doing what I love, all week long, and all summer long.
Oh, and first mishap-I lost my house key somehow (I think it fell out of my pocket or wallet) and so I was locked out of my house for about 40 minutes until my room mate got back. I really need to get a key chain. ASAP
Ok, so first day of training down. It wasn't too eventful, but the information and socializing I did has made me so excited for the coming months.
Of course, with working with the government there was a ton of paper work to do that filled up part of the morning. Luckily, we got most of the stuff done before we arrived (I was actually doing them frantically the day before I flew out because the government fills the forms out in March and then sends them to me two days before I leave). Anyways, that stuff was done quickly enough and we were given our uniforms.
We talked in the morning with my “Wilderness Crew”. I have to say, I am really looking forward to working with these people. Some of them have done things I’ve been hoping to do in the coming year and they have so much experience, I will cherish what they have to tell and teach me. They’re a real laid back group of people who joke and don't have their noses stuck in the law book. Oh, and they're all hardcore. Ok, to go over who is in my group:
-- Tara, our coordinator, is this amazing young woman, who climbs, surfs, eats organically, and is extremely active (she was training for a half ironman last year).
- -Jim Dougan-our supervisor-a nice older man who is quite fit for his age. Easily banged out a 28-mile day with 8000 ft elevation gain in the Rockies just couple of years ago. I thought doing the presidential traverse was tough. He can kick my butt hiking any day.
- -Ryan- it’s his 2nd year here, don’t know too much about him yet, though he’s from Kansas, and I think he’s done some backcountry ski patrolling.
- -Matt-from Texas, but still cool-definitely not the stereotypical Texan. He’s a returnee who grew up hiking, getting his first backpack when he was 9. Very sarcastic humor, but nice.
- -Luke- returnee, a guy who I think really understands how important wilderness/nature is. It has done so much for him to get through life, and he’s devoting his life to helping it in anyway he can.
- -Christina- like me, grew up in a boring state (in her case, Michigan), and upon graduating high school, she worked on a college degree, hiking, rock climbing, and working at National Parks (in fact just did one last summer in Alaska). She also just spent about 6 weeks with a girlfriend in Peru, rock climbing. New role model for me?
- -Kevin-just graduated college, grew up in Boulder, and he enjoys mountain biking. That's about all I know about him, other than that he’s pretty shy and isn't quite ready yet to talk to us all. He’s slowly warming up though. I did manage to find out he majored in Journaling and political science, and they are not what he wants to do with the rest of his life. When I told him I’m taking next year off, he said he wishes he did the same.
So that’s basically my crew and some basic facts on them. We hung out tonight at a restaurant for a few hours just talking and joking.
After the intros in the morning, we got our schedule for the next 7 weeks. I won't give it all away at once, but I’ll give you the exciting expectations for this week.
Monday: besides the stuff already mentioned: building a llama fence and getting the llamas
Wednesday: training with ethics and whistle blowing, and we’ll be able to spend the afternoon hiking and checking out the campsite status, taking inventory
Thursday and Friday: we’ll have SAR training-or search and rescue.
You know, I think I’m really strongly considering a life of working at different national parks-it pays well, has great benefits, and oh man-besides the paper work, it does sound so exciting. I am looking forward to being in the best shape of my life, being outside doing what I love, all week long, and all summer long.
Oh, and first mishap-I lost my house key somehow (I think it fell out of my pocket or wallet) and so I was locked out of my house for about 40 minutes until my room mate got back. I really need to get a key chain. ASAP
My “Rocky” summer has begun: End of the first day in Rocky Mountain National Park.
Sunday, June 7th
My flight landed at 7:30pm last night. I was riding toward Estes Park from Denver just in time to see the vast jagged mountains silhouetted by the setting sun. Even in the dim light, I could see that these titans are beautiful; their size stands out even more prominently against the flat open plains. Unfortunately, by the time I reach Estes Park, the sun has sunk below behind the peaks and I cannot see the scenery Jim Dougan (one of my supervisors) describes to me. Oh well, I have the whole summer to catch the view.
My new home…is actually not that bad. Not at all the rustic, man packed, B.O smelling place I was half expecting. It’s a small little house with one floor, 2 bedrooms, a living room, kitchen, full bathroom, and porch. And I have a roommate, Carmen, who is from Paw Paw, Michigan. She’s working for the Park's law enforcement. She’s really nice with a personality I may I aspire to be like one day. She’s worked for several parks including one up in Alaska. She went to this special law enforcement school this past winter in CA to work for National Parks. It was a 10-week intensive program that has sparked my interest. Already I am getting the impression I’ll be getting that education I want on my year off and I will be able to return to school with a better idea of where I want to go with my life.
Today, I was left to fend for myself in the morning. I woke to find my roommate had left for church early and not knowing the area at all, I walked around, found a couple of maps of the trails, and went for a run. FYI: my new home has quite the scenic views of the mountains with snow-capped peaks-it’s pretty cool…no wait, gorgeous.
When my roommate got back, she drove me into town about 2-3 miles away to do some food shopping. In the afternoon she brought me to the visitor center nearby so I could find out about the shuttle schedule. Here I talked with this one nice ranger, Alyssa ,who loves to hike all the time and has offered me to join her and her friends in bluegrass. I do love how the park rangers are such a welcoming community.
Ok, I know this is getting boring and long winded for a day that didn’t have much happen. One last story for now. I was walking back from the coffee shop that is 1.5 miles away and the closest place with wifi when I got caught in a brief rainstorm and these 3 young adults in a car driving by, offered me a ride back to my place. There was one couple from Michigan and the driver, Logan, is from Kentucky and it turns out they were just coming from climbing. We exchanged numbers so we could hopefully meet up for climbing sometime. I am so excited to be meeting such adventurous people who are so open to meeting new folks and going hiking/climbing with them. I can't wait to meet my coordinator-Tara, because she apparently is into everything I am into or hope to be into-hiking, climbing, biking, surfing, you name it. And from what Jim says, is one of the best climbers in the park. I hope to have the chance to climb with her so that I may not only improve my climbing skills and try whole new routes, but also to learn more about climbing (like practice trad leading).
Well that’s about all that’s happened to far, other than the short hike I went on that had some fantastic views. Sorry it's not so eventful or exciting to read. I’ll work on my writing skills. Unfortunately I am a bit rusty. Tomorrow though, training begins and once that starts and I start being apart of rescue missions, I’m sure my journal entries will become a lot less mundane.
My flight landed at 7:30pm last night. I was riding toward Estes Park from Denver just in time to see the vast jagged mountains silhouetted by the setting sun. Even in the dim light, I could see that these titans are beautiful; their size stands out even more prominently against the flat open plains. Unfortunately, by the time I reach Estes Park, the sun has sunk below behind the peaks and I cannot see the scenery Jim Dougan (one of my supervisors) describes to me. Oh well, I have the whole summer to catch the view.
My new home…is actually not that bad. Not at all the rustic, man packed, B.O smelling place I was half expecting. It’s a small little house with one floor, 2 bedrooms, a living room, kitchen, full bathroom, and porch. And I have a roommate, Carmen, who is from Paw Paw, Michigan. She’s working for the Park's law enforcement. She’s really nice with a personality I may I aspire to be like one day. She’s worked for several parks including one up in Alaska. She went to this special law enforcement school this past winter in CA to work for National Parks. It was a 10-week intensive program that has sparked my interest. Already I am getting the impression I’ll be getting that education I want on my year off and I will be able to return to school with a better idea of where I want to go with my life.
Today, I was left to fend for myself in the morning. I woke to find my roommate had left for church early and not knowing the area at all, I walked around, found a couple of maps of the trails, and went for a run. FYI: my new home has quite the scenic views of the mountains with snow-capped peaks-it’s pretty cool…no wait, gorgeous.
When my roommate got back, she drove me into town about 2-3 miles away to do some food shopping. In the afternoon she brought me to the visitor center nearby so I could find out about the shuttle schedule. Here I talked with this one nice ranger, Alyssa ,who loves to hike all the time and has offered me to join her and her friends in bluegrass. I do love how the park rangers are such a welcoming community.
Ok, I know this is getting boring and long winded for a day that didn’t have much happen. One last story for now. I was walking back from the coffee shop that is 1.5 miles away and the closest place with wifi when I got caught in a brief rainstorm and these 3 young adults in a car driving by, offered me a ride back to my place. There was one couple from Michigan and the driver, Logan, is from Kentucky and it turns out they were just coming from climbing. We exchanged numbers so we could hopefully meet up for climbing sometime. I am so excited to be meeting such adventurous people who are so open to meeting new folks and going hiking/climbing with them. I can't wait to meet my coordinator-Tara, because she apparently is into everything I am into or hope to be into-hiking, climbing, biking, surfing, you name it. And from what Jim says, is one of the best climbers in the park. I hope to have the chance to climb with her so that I may not only improve my climbing skills and try whole new routes, but also to learn more about climbing (like practice trad leading).
Well that’s about all that’s happened to far, other than the short hike I went on that had some fantastic views. Sorry it's not so eventful or exciting to read. I’ll work on my writing skills. Unfortunately I am a bit rusty. Tomorrow though, training begins and once that starts and I start being apart of rescue missions, I’m sure my journal entries will become a lot less mundane.
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