On August 21-26 Kirah Solomon and I worked the last Alpine Ascents 6-day mountaineering course of the season, on Mt. Baker. I like the 6-day courses because I get to spend more time up on the mountain, and comparatively less time driving.
Food choices are important. Kirah brought the donuts, I brought the stove in the foreground that allowed us to make coffee in the tent. For a guide, the tent is home. There we get privacy, it's a place we can be off-duty. So making it comfy is important, and donuts and coffee go a long way!
The 6-day course covers all the skills needed to get out there and climb snowy glaciated mountains. There's alot of material. Here a student is practicing ascending a rope in a tree, before doing it for real in a crevasse.
Crevasse rescue practice takes place at a real crevasse, in this case at about 8000', just above our high camp. Here Kirah is lowering a climber into a crevasse on a backup line.
There's nothing like the real thing:
By day 6 we've gotten the team ready for an ascent. This time we got the sunrise right as we were reaching the summit plateau. Good stuff!
No comments:
Post a Comment