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.
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