Entries from Mount Rainier
Posted by:
Categories: Mount Rainier
“UNLEASH THE BEAST!”
That was the battle cry for RMI guide Geoff Schellens and I (Kel Rossiter) as we explored Red Rocks Canyon (Nevada) in preparation for the AMGA Rock Guide Exam in April. It seems that a few years back a friend of Geoff’s was climbing way above his last piece of rock protection and his belayer called up to him “Place a piece!” The fellow climbing heard the command as “Unleash the beast!” let out a yell, placed a piece, and successfully powered for the top. Throughout the course of our two weeks of training and the six-day exam in Red Rocks, Nevada, Geoff and I both placed lots of rock protection pieces and certainly unleashed the beast!
Familiarity with terrain is a useful advantage when guiding, so Geoff & I met up in late March to get oriented to the amazing range of climbing options and areas that Red Rocks offers and to hone our rock guiding skills in that terrain. It was a lot of hard work and it was a great experience. We’d done the same thing last year, prepping for the Rock Guide Course (the second level of the AMGA Rock program) and that was a great opportunity for me to work with another talented RMI guide toward a shared climbing objective. This year was similar, but different—we definitely enjoyed the climbing and good times together, but we were also definitely focused on the rigorous exam ahead.
Often, when people are a bit anxious about something they get a “tunnel vision” that causes them to overlook the big picture; fortunately, throughout the course of the prep and exam process the beauty of Red Rocks provided Geoff and I with many moments that prompted us to keep perspective and remember the big picture. On our first day of climbing, we headed out toward the Oak Creek area. Along the way we came across a boulder upon which someone had placed the majestic skull of a sun-bleached, full-curl desert bighorn sheep. Nothing like majesty and mortality to remind one to enjoy each moment! A few days later in White Rock Springs we encountered an entire herd of full-curl bighorns; their agility on the rock seemed to mock our efforts. On the exam, with a winter weather front coming in on high winds, I was topping out on the final pitch of a climb up the “Mescalito” and found a butterfly gently moving its wings in the shelter of the wide crack I was climbing. On another day, descending from the summit of Rainbow Mountain we entered into an astounding sinewy canyon of perfect sandstone baths and gigantic ponderosa trees rooted in the moist vein of desert soil. Moving through the anxieties and unknowns of the exam process, these moments helped to frame things in perspective indeed.
By the time the exam arrived, Geoff and I felt ready. In six short days the exam was over. It’ll be a week or so until we get the final marks from the exam, but regardless of outcome each of us feel positive about the entire event. It was a pleasure to connect with a fellow RMI guide and to work together toward this shared climbing goal. We’re thankful for the learning the course offered, the good times we had together climbing, the wonderful nature of Red Rocks that we enjoyed, and the support of the RMI/Eddie Bauer guide grant in a making all of possible for us—and we look forward to sharing the skills we honed there with RMI clients on many a future cliff and summit, “unleashing the beast!”
RMI Guide Kel Rossiter
Posted by: Pete Van Deventer
Categories: Mt. McKinley Mount Rainier
For twelve days in late March, 9 other guides and I convened in the Wasatch mountains of Utah for the AMGA Ski Guides Course. The course, first in the ski guide certification track of the American Mountain Guides Association, is aimed at teaching and honing the skills for ski guiding in technical but non-glaciated terrain (the majority of the skiing terrain in the lower 48!) Over the 12 days, we mixed evening classroom sessions of technical rope skills, coaching, soft skills, and video analysis for skiing, with days spent touring the incredible terrain surrounding Salt Lake City. The course culminated in a two night, three day yurt trip near Logan, UT.
The three day yurt trip allowed us to have lengthier and more realistic “mock guiding” leads. Acting as guide for a group of guides who are playing the part of clients can be a contrived situation, and often presents challenges that are above the typical demand of a normal day guiding. The pressure is ratcheted up, as one can imagine setting a steep kick turn in an uphill track, while four other guides and two instructors all judge that kick turn and comment. Besides the pressure of setting tracks and style, there was the pressure to find the group good snow on the descent, and more often than not, the classic problem of people seeing their own lines that were “better” and desperately wanting to step out of their roles. The challenges were often humorous, though, and the pressure pushed everybody to step up to the plate in a type of guiding that was unfamiliar to most of us. Almost everyone in the course came from a guiding background, however, most often this was alpine guiding, the kind of climbing we do here on Rainier, the North Cascades, and Mt. McKinley. Many of the skills from the alpine realm are readily transferable to ski guiding; client care, many of the technical rope systems and short roping, and uphill guiding are all very similar. But ski guiding presents its own challenge: Down guiding. Trying to guide a group of skiers safely down a line can be a totally different ball game. Balancing the safety issues of being out ahead first to assess snow pack, safe zones, and boundaries, with the desire for client satisfaction, first tracks, good snow, and an uninterrupted run can be tricky. In addition, all of this happens at much higher speed, and things can change quickly.
Guiding techniques are always changing and improving as people dream up new systems or improve on old ones, and I always take away a lot of new tricks. This course was no exception. Add to that new snow almost every day (several feet fell on the Wasatch while we were there) and a great group of fellow students, the ski guide course was a great experience and chance to get a lot of feedback from other guides! A big thanks to the First Ascent/Eddie Bauer and RMI guide grant for helping me to get there!
RMI Guide Pete Van Deventer
Here is one to write home about!
Today we woke at dawn to the clearest skies in a week. Mount Rainier and the surrounding volcanoes of Hood and Adams were clear and bathed in morning alpenglow without a breath of wind in the air. Below our home at Camp Muir we had quite a treat waiting for us, 4500 feet of untracked snow begging for our signature. We obliged and milked powder turns down the snowfield, grinning from ear to ear as we skied the best conditions our host had to offer. It doesn’t get better than this, skiing so much vertical with all the hard work done and a perfect day to match our enthusiasm. Our finest pitch was just into our old camp and we could admire our tracks while we clicked in for our last push to the parking lot. One last look up at Mount Rainier to admire our stellar morning and we could see our route down before a cloud swallowed Camp Muir and sealed the day.
Perfect weather, conditions, and team - couldn’t ask for more. Thanks Marci, Kirk and Uncle Bob for an excellent time skiing in the mountains,
RMI Guides Jake Beren, Solveig Gerhart and the RMI team
We wrapped up our seminar on Friday with more training amid the continuing snowfall. What a week – lots of snow, wind, and great training. Avalanche hazard awareness, beacon searches, and the decision-making process of travel in avy terrain dominated much of the week. We also spent quite a bit of time on camp craft and setting up expedition-style camps. Of course, rope and anchor work, fixed line travel, crevasse rescue systems and other Denali-prep skills kept us busy as well.
Good luck to the Ski Mountaineering Seminar that starts today. The ski conditions look great!
RMI Guide Casey Grom
Our RMI Expedition Skills Seminar- Winter checked in this morning from about 6,000 feet on Mt. Rainier. Six inches of snow yesterday and another foot through the night has kept Casey and Jake and the team busy training. Sturdy winter camp construction, a focus on avalanche awareness and how to travel in winter conditions have been the focus. Today’s plans include scouting the route uphill but waiting until the winds abate before attempting to move higher. Stay tuned!
RMI Guide Seth Waterfall radioed in from the summit of Mt. Rainier at 11:15 a.m. PT with 100% of the team on the top.
It is a beautiful, crisp, clear day and they enjoyed the views for a little while before starting their descent. They will return to Camp Muir to celebrate and warm up.
The team will spend tonight at Camp Muir (10,060') and begin their descent tomorrow after some additional training.
Congratulations to the team!
Hello!
We are checking in from Camp Muir. The team is enjoying the nice sun at 10,000'. We have had a great day of training. The weather has been pleasant with a cold wind from the north. Sunny conditions are warming everyone’s spirits. Today we are working on some advanced climbing techniques, and tonight if weather allows we may be going for a summit push. The weather looks good things are lining up in our favor but a strong north wind could thwart our summit attempt. We will check in tomorrow with our updated status.
Wish us luck!
RMI Guide Seth Waterfall
Thank you, Lord, for good weather, healthy bodies, kindred spirits and that sense of accomplishment. Take care.
Posted by: Martha Snyder on 2/9/2011 at 7:01 pm
Take care and good luck, at least it’s warmer then Antarctica
Posted by: Tom on 2/9/2011 at 2:50 pm
We had a really great week! Lots of super successful training!
I wish we could have gone to the summit on the first day because it was such a spectacular day to be in the mountains, beautiful, sunny and not a breath of wind! We couldn’t, though, because we hadn’t completed our basic mountaineering training yet, and then the weather just closed the window.
The winds seemed to have hammered the slopes pretty hard prior to our arrival as everything was sporting a windslab. Nothing had released naturally, but we saw several releases propagated by icefall.
We really focused on our training and spent a lot of time outside. Avalanche hazard awareness, beacon searches, and the decision-making process of travel in avy terrain dominated much of the week. We also spent quite a bit of time on camp craft – building bomber snowcaves and setting up expedition-style camps. Of course, rope and anchor work, fixed line travel, crevasse rescue systems and other Denali-prep skills kept us busy as well.
A great week!
The winter seminar had one of the most spectacular sunny and wind free days possible on Mount Rainier yesterday! Our entire team successfully made the long walk to Camp Muir just in time to watch the sun set. We had warm drinks, a hot meal, a lot of laughs, and a nice night's sleep in the bunkhouse.
Today we woke to a wonderful sunrise with great views of Mt. Adams, Hood, St. Helens, and Jefferson. This morning we worked on ice axe, crampon, and rope travel skills on the flanks of the Cowlitz Glacier. We plan to train in avalanche beacon skills and avalanche terrain assessment for the afternoon as clouds swirl and conditions remain reasonable.
We are enjoying the winter beauty up on Mount Rainier!
-RMI Guides Tyler Jones, Walter Hailes, Andy Bond and Solveig Garhart
Peter Whittaker gets blown around on the summit of Mount Rainier.
Previous Page
Next Page
Hi Elizabeth, we are thinking of you very much from Zinal! We are so proud to know you! A big hug from the bottom of our Heart! All the best for you and your team. Annick & Pieder
Posted by: Annick Chatellenaz Caduff on 3/18/2011 at 2:41 pm
Elizabeth,.. Jean just flicked me the link….wow, there’s a saying, ” if your not living life on the edge your taking up too much room”... Your on the edge!:).... You can do it:)....
Posted by: Andy patterson on 3/18/2011 at 1:50 pm
View All Comments