Basic Mountaineering Course

[jengt]

That sounds amazing Beth! Wow, first field trip and you're going straight to Mt. Ranier. That, in itself, would be fantastic.

[LostFarmboy]

Originally Posted by ScarlotteDorian

i learned alot more about gear as well and went and blew $400 today for mountaineering boots, a harness, helmet, carbiners, prusiks, runners and gloves.

What are the specifics of your gear? Brands, price, etc.

The course already sounds awesome. How often do you have classes?

[travelpunk]

Awesome, Beth. There's something great about being in a very specific course/class with people who have the exact same passion.

One of my favorite quotes is by Sir Edmund Hillary- "It's not the mountain that we conquer, but ourselves."

Nice pic and congrats on the course !

[ScarlotteDorian]

Originally Posted by LostFarmboy

What are the specifics of your gear? Brands, price, etc.

The course already sounds awesome. How often do you have classes?

*Black Diamond Primrose AL Harness - $50
*Black Diamond Half Dome Helmet - $60
*6 nonlocking Black Diamond Carabiners - $6 each
*3 locking carabiners that are big enough to use a munter belay system - $11 each
*Lowa Mountain Expert GTX - $100 (i was looking at these same ones upstairs for $300 and was totally prepared to buy them. then i headed down to the basement, where there is returned stuff for way cheap. i found the exact pair in my size for $200 cheaper! what are the chances of that!?!)
*Fingerless rappel gloves - $5
*Black Diamond rappel device (the old style kind) - $19
*most of the webbing and rope that i had cut was like .50 per cut. priamrly to use for anchors. totally cheap.

we are meeting for eight hour sessions once a week at this point. as we get further along, they will turn into all day outings once a week with a couple over nighters.

Originally Posted by travelpunk

One of my favorite quotes is by Sir Edmund Hillary- "It's not the mountain that we conquer, but ourselves."

this quote sums up the whole reason i love hiking mountains rather than taking the John Muir approach and just "wandering" in wilderness. the challenge is the high.

[ScarlotteDorian]

NEW POST! NEW POST!

okay, so in the last month we did weight drops, where we hoist up a 100lb wieght while someone is on the belay lie. That person has their eyes closed and we drop the weight without telling them. it's so people can get a feel for what it will be like and be prepared.

so about a month ago, we also did a chimney climb (tricky as hell and body intensive), sit and spin rappels, where you sit on a rock face and literally scoot off, spin around and rappel down (that one took me awhile) and basic rock climbing in our mountaineering boots as oppose to climbing shoes.

two weeks ago we did a conditioner on Mt Si (near Seattle). it has a sizeable elevation gain as well as snow and ice the last mile up. I got to use my new crampons. we had to carry ALL of our gear and haul ass up the mountain so that everyone could see what kind of shape the group was in. i can't lie, even though i work out 4 days a week as well as climb every week, i was breathing like a mutha". I realized that i need to start hiking bleachers with my pack on for a work out.

Yesterday, we met for an 8 hour session down at Spire rock near Tacoma (south of seattle) and did an evaluation of what we have learned so far. I got to climb an extremely hard chimney climb as well at a 5.8 route along a crack in the wall. this was the first climbing day that i knew enough and was actually having fun as hell.

New gear purchased:

*Black diamond crampons (model ?) - $110
*Black Diamond Ice Ax (model ?) - $60

I still need to get a glacier coat and possibly a new pair of boots, since the one's i have tore up my feet on Mt Si.

That's the update.

[simply_angelic]

Ugh. Jealous. So So Sooooo jealous. *sigh*

[ScarlotteDorian]

been awhile since i've updated this. So in the last three months i've completed my rock and snow evaluation, so now i can climb outdoors (i'm actually climbing a popular rockface out here called The Tooth next weekend). We also practiced glissading, how to use an ice ax and how to rope into teams for a traverse. we have been on outings every single weekend up in the mountains. i come back all beat up and sore from being roped into a team and pushed down a snowy mountain face by my instructor and having to self arrest to theoretically save my own life.

i have crevasse rescue this weekend (we are going to Rainier to be lowered into crevasses! i'm so excited!) and then I am done with my five months of training. I am scheduled to climb a mountain up north in a week called White Horse which is, and i quote a long time mountaineer, "an ass-kicker". The week after that, my group is driving down to portland oregon to summit Mt Hood (glaciated volcano).

So i'm pretty much done with the coarse at the end of this month. I'm looking forward to climbing to all this summer.

here are a few pics.



I'm the one in the front and yes that's a fresh avalanche right next to us.


Base Camp


me at the crack of dawn traversing pineapple pass