Every Day Should Be Summit Day
If you’re just looking for pictures, then you can find them here … but humor me and read on..
There’s not really much to say about mountaineering. Well, at least not to anyone who hasn’t a clue how or why it’s done. That’s the response I seem to get when I mention my involvement in the ECP Mountaineering School.
For instance:
“You’re doing WHAT?! It’s COLD out there! It’s December! I’ll see you in UPMC Monday when you’ve got hypothermia!”
And I must admit.. I had apprehensions of my own. I’ve not had what you might call good experiences with cold weather camping. As a youth I was heavily involved with the Boy Scouts and can remember numerous weekends in November (one in particular named ‘A November to Remember’) and February of absolute miserable cold. I, of course, was un-prepared to deal with such conditions. I’m not sure I remember why: Perhaps inadequate gear, perhaps not being willing to suffer a mild discomfort in order to enjoy the time outdoors. Whatever the reason, going out in the ‘cold’ didn’t exactly appeal to me.
Needless to say, my opinions have since changed. I would have to say that my first real exposure was my recent summit of Grand Teton in August 2006. The trip was fist conceived when my girlfriend Collene, first endeared me to spend our first vacation together in Yellowstone National Park (I’ll post these pictures later) in August 2005. One of our adventures was to head down to Grand Teton National Park and just drive. The sight was amazing. Those peaks were so valiantly majestic that it took my breath away. (yes, probably too much of a flair for the dramatic) Anyways, she suggested that we should attempt to climb the Grand…
I thought she was nuts. (well, only a little) One year later, we endeavored on our quest to climb this peak. We hadn’t been climbing very long and didn’t have the gear or the experience to do the climb ourselves. The only reasonable option was to hire a guide. This was a bit pricey, but well worth it for flatlanders such as oursleves un-akin to the ways of the mountain.
The sheer experience was all I needed. Standing at 13,000′ just about to start the ‘real’ climbing: It was about 6 am and just starting to get light, fairly cold and an absolutely howling wind. It was the kind of wind that made you feel very very small. I distinctly remember having the thought, “What the hell am I doing here?!”. This all changed when we hit the summit. The view was fantastic, and it made the grueling 12 hour day well worth it.
So here I find myself, yet again tempted into another activity that I probably didn’t have time (or money) for. Why? Well, the allure of the mountain was at it again.. The Mountaineering School provided a means for training, as well as quite a few experienced (if not mildly enthusiastic) members of ECP that contained a wealth of information.
Unfortunately, I haven’t been logging prior activities up until this point due to sheer time constraints. There just hasn’t been time to sit down and write about any of this. Prior activities included a ropes course, climbing checkout, a backpacking trip, and a bit of map and compass. This is also the first outing that I’ve actually taken pictures myself. (still not sure why)
This past weekend was the culmination of all of the previously taught skills of cold weather camping, backpacking, and land navigation. This outing was held in the Monongahela National Forest in West Virginia, with the final destination (summit) being that of Spruce Knob, which is the highest point in West Virginia at 4863 feet.
This was the course layout:
UTM Grid - NAD27 Projection - 1:100K Garmin US TOPO (digital)
The legend is fairly simple:
- Green: Driving route to get to Gatewood Campgorund
- Blue: Route Taken Saturday to reach various waypoints
- Red: Return Route
- Magenta: Initial Plotted Course
Here is the elevation plot for Saturday’s course:
Our group consisted of myself, Collene, Ron, Joe, and Rich. Ron pointed so a few general areas on the map and said to find points and plot out a reasonable course. Our proposed course was going to land just under 9 miles. Perhaps I didn’t do the math immediately, or perhaps it was early and I was deliriously enthusiastic about making all the waypoints. We did well for most of the day, finishing out ’skills challenge’ (a stream crossing, Tyrolean Traverse style) relatively quickly and without any problems. The second waypoint (B) on the map also went well. As we headed for (C), the going started to get rough. The terrain was beginning to get fairly ‘thick’ with brush, rocks, and deadfall. Our proposed handrail was what we assumed to be an old trail, which proved difficult to find, and even more difficult to follow. This took the better part of a few hours until finally, when we were within sight of (C) we decided that there wouldn’t be enough time to reach all the waypoints. It was already late in the day, and we only had about 2 - 3 hours of daylight remaining (this point is marked ‘Route Changed Here’ on the map). From here, we headed straight up to the top of a large ridge to hit the road going up to the Spruce Knob Lookout. Since there was no water on the summit, Collene and I wanted to make sure that we had enough for the evening and at leas the beginning of the descent in the morning. We headed down the road (back toward route 33) to find a stream marked on the map. Luckily we found a small stream flowing down from the summit and under the road so we filled up. We then made a straight shot up and to the right of the radio tower, using a contour on the map as a handrail to make our way through a saddle in the terrain back to the road. The road took us right to the summit (as well as dinner and a good night’s rest).
From looking at the map, I would have to say that the deviation of our actual course from the plotted one isn’t too bad. When taking into consideration the terrain and the fact that traveling in a straight line through dense forest is nearly impossible, the tracks on this map nearly follow the plotted course to the T. Terrain is most definitely a big factor when considering travel time, particularly when the terrain is unknown. Had we started earlier, moved faster, and been a bit more confident in our navigation abilities, I think we could have very well made all the waypoints.
Dinner Saturday evening was a welcome break. Despite cutting of the last few waypoints from our route, we had gone a little over 8 miles and I was feeling like it was a very long 8 miles. We stood around for a bit after eating and then headed to bed. It was 8 pm. We were awoken by the sound of people moving at about 1:30 am, some of whom had decided it was time to head back and to get a feel for a true ‘alpine start’. A few individuals were also not feeling well and decided it was best they head back early. Another group left at about 4 am.
Our group (minus Rich) decided to stay and stick to our original plan of leaving at 7 am sharp. Morning met us with a cold and windy teardown. The plan was simple: B-line for the car. We headed down off the summit and over the hillside to cut off a few switchbacks in the road. We would then follow the road back to Gatewood. Just as we hit the second road, a vehicle appeared. Ron remakred, “That looks like my car… (long pause).. It IS my car!”. Driving the vehicle was Brian who had left with one of the early groups on account of not feeling well. He had slept in Ron’s car all morning and decided to wait for our group instead of head home early. Since the remaining route was on the road, we opted for getting a ride back to the parking area.
That about sums it up! Maybe not the most exciting trip, but it was definitely a blast (even with the ‘cold’).
My takeaways form this trip:
- Warmth
- Staying warm seems to involve alot of factors that I’ve never really considered before. Just having the gear doesn’t always mean you’ll be warm. I slept fairly cold Friday night, and I believe the reason was that I was fairly dehydrated (and I had beer before I went to bed). It seems that if you don’t have to make a bathroom break in the middle of the night, you’re not doing something right (this may not always be the case). A good meal before bed also helped immensely (alcohol did not).
- Gear
- There are definitely things that I brought that I know I didn’t use. Besides the essentials, I seem to bring too much food. It was much less than the last trip, but still more than I needed. This is something that I need to work on. I always feel like I’m not bringing enough, either in terms of variety or just sheer amount.
- Navigation
- Always trust your map and compass. But keep in mind that features on the map may not necessarily be as easy to find in the real world. Elevation and contour are invaluable tools for figuring location. This was a feature I had not used previously. Having an altimeter was a great help. It should also be noted that GPS is a helpful tool but should not be relied on. It does however serve as a very useful metric for trips such as this one.
- Weather
- Using information available before a trip helps immensely with prediction of conditions during a trek. It can also serve as a guideline for the appropriate gear to bring (maybe more so with shorter trips). The weather can also change very quickly and can be a hazard on any summit. Within a matter of hours, the weather on Spruce Knob changed from a calm evening to a very very windy one. Several people were up at 1 am to get back to the car to beat the weather (can’t say I blame them).
All in all, this was a fantastic weekend! I look forward to doing it again next year..