Terry Lets It All Hang Out For American Lung Association

2010 Reach The Summit Mt. Adams Climb - August 1st ~ 3rd, 2010

2010-08-07T14:30:00.000-07:00

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In the early morning of August 3rd, 2010, my seven fellow Reach The Summit climbers and I summited Mt. Adams to benefit the American Lung Association.

In the climbing party were, Laura Pope, Larissa Bradford, Geoff Janke, Wendy Barnes, Wendy Forrester, Matt Kress, Matt Costigan, and myself. We very much missed Karlene McCabe who unfortunately injured her foot the week before and was unable to join our climb.

The three guides from Timberline Mountain Guides who provided us with their technical expertise and guide service were Joe Owens, Phil (last name?), and Tiko (last name?).

Jennifer Baldwin (the Reach The Summit program's head honcho) and Abby Britton (Reach The Summit training hike assistant) also were climbing but they were technically not in our group as only twelve people were allowed to be in any one group in the wilderness area.

We were pleasantly surprised to see Andy Nuhring (Reach The Summit training hike assistant), who volunteered his service as an unofficial photographer, and his son on the mountain as well.

I would like to thank all my sponsors who have stepped forward to go the distance with me and graciously supported this journey.

I would like to thank all my friends and family members who have given me their tremendous encouragements to keep putting one foot in front or the other.

I would like to thank the training hike leaders and assistants, the guides from Timberline Mountain Guides, and all those who volunteered their talents and time to this year's Reach The Summit program.

I would like to thank those at the American Lung Association of Oregon who put together this program and worked tirelessly to take care of all the behind-the-scene matters.

I would like to thank in advance all those who let me use your photos online for this blog site.

And, last but not least, I would like to thank my wife, Sharona, for riding alongside with me from the beginning to the end on this wonderful journey.

To see all my photos and the ones uploaded by my fellow climbers, please click here.

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August 1st, 2010 - Mt. Adams Lodge

I drove over to Geoff's house to pick him up around noon. He had everything packed up and ready to go and we were on the road in a matter of ten minutes to Mt. Adams Lodge where we would meet everyone between 3pm and 4pm to check in and spend the night. Once we crossed a bridge in Hood River over the Columbia River to the Washington side, we turned onto a back road that meandered through beautiful hills and valleys that I had no idea they existed so close to where we lived.

As we were crossing the bridge, we were struck by how many people were kite boarding on the water, so much so that we were able to spot only few wind surfers. Strong wind was blowing down the Columbia River Gorge as usual providing what seemed to us like a great condition to do this sort of thing.

The back road followed beautiful White Salmon River, one of the many tributaries to the Columbia River, where river rafting businesses were booming. In about another eight miles or so, we picked up another local highway that generally pointed north. As we went on, we noticed we were seeing less and less vehicles on the road until we were seeing nobody else at all on the road. Mt. Adams was starting to become very visible and it was getting bigger and bigger in my windshield by the minute, which was a good sign. Then we turned onto a road that barely fit the definition of highway which eventually led to a small town called Glenwood where the lodge stood in its outskirt.

Following the direction Jennifer had provided us, it was easy to find the lodge. Almost at the same time, two of the three mountain guides, Phil and Tiko, rolled into the parking lot as we did. (Joe Owens would not be able to join us until the next day as August 2nd was his wife's birthday.) We were a bit too early to check in so we decided to make a beer run after the owner showed us around the property. (Geoff and I could not help but look at each other in amazement when the clerk at the general store told us that he had been expecting us picking up some beer..) As we got back to the lodge with ample supply of brew, others were also starting to arrive.

The lodge was a beautiful piece of property. I was sure it took a lot of maintenance to keep it this way but, if I were to get to have a pick on where my ultimate house would be, this certainly would be near the top of my list. The lodge was situated on a twenty or so acres of wooded land with a view of the south aspect of Mt. Adams in its backdrop. And best of all, there was hardly any noise at all.

There were two buildings in which we had our rooms, the guest house and the lodge. All the rooms had the views of Mt. Adams out their windows. The living room with a big fireplace and the kitchen in the lodge set the mountain lodge atmosphere. There were a Frisbee golf course, hiking trails and a volley ball court for guest's pleasure. And no mountain lodge would be complete without lodge pooches.

My next task was to put together a "Poop Tube" which I dedicated to our climb with a Timberline Mountain Guides sticker on it as a token of my appreciation for their services. It consisted of 3" x 24" plastic tube with an end cap on one end and a screw top on the other. We would be required to pack out all solid waste on Mt. Adams in the "Human Waste Pack-Out System" provided to us at the ranger station when we picked up our permits the next day. The idea was to put the used HWPOS buritos in it. Poop tubes were carried typically on rock climbing trips but this device would make the matter much less unpleasant for us than the alternative methods of packing out the waste.

There was one more chore to be done before we could plant ourselves on the Adirondack chairs for the evening. The lodge owner rounded us up to have us help her swap out the refrigerator in one of the rooms with a new one. In exchange, each of us got a cool Mt. Adams Lodge hat. Of course we were happy to help her out. Ironically, we found out that the new fridge was an inch too wide to fit in the space so we had to take out a smaller fridge from the upstairs of The Guest House and put it in as a temporary measure.

Geoff and I could not help but gawk at and marvel jealously this old Toyota Land Cruiser that hauled in the new fridge. What a beautiful piece of machinery!!

Now that we had earned our keeps (actually, Geoff and Matt C. did - me, not so much), it was time to do some nothing. We sank into the Adirondack chairs in the shades of tall evergreen trees and commenced the ritual with the cold bottles clutched firmly in our hands. (Actually, we had had few already in the kitchen before our moving duty...) Ahhhh. Gotta love it! Chilling with good friends - what could be better than this??

There were few more things for us to do before dinner though. First thing first, Jennifer pulled out and handed out some more release forms for us to sign. Apparently, this served as an official change of jurisdiction from the American Lung Association to the Timberline Mountain Guides. As our pro bono de facto legal counsel, Matt K. showed us how it's done and we all followed his lead.

Lastly, Phil and Tiko put a pile of dehydrated dinner packages on the ground for us to pick and take the next day. Mmmmm... yum... can't wait.. Also, the tent parts were brought out and distributed among us to be carried in our packs. Then they checked our gears one last time before our climb.

The folks at the lodge threw an amazing burger and chicken tenderloin dinner cooked on their BBQ grill for us. We washed them down with yet more beer as we enjoyed each other's company in the twilight that blanketed the foothill of Mt. Adams until we reluctantly retired to our rooms for the night one by one.

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August 2nd - Lunch Counter

After taking one last shower at 5am, I headed downstairs to the dining room in the office building for a breakfast. I was a little early but Phil was already there as well and they offered us coffee while we waited for the breakfast to be ready. And it was as fantastic as the dinner the night before, consisting of toasts, scrambled eggs, sausages, oat meal with raisins, walnuts and brown sugar, fresh orange juice, coffee, etc. More than worthy of the most important meal of the day, especially on a day like this.

I was quite certain that the porcelain goddess smiled when I made my one last offering before I headed out of my room. Then we drove to the ranger station to meet up with Joe Owens who would be leading our party, to obtain our Cascades Volcano Passes required to be in the wilderness area, and, last but not least, to pick up our HWPOSs. There was some confusion as to how to get to the station which caused some of us to end up getting lost on our ways there but we all managed to find it eventually.

The HWPOS consisted of the following: 1) Human Waste Pack-Out System instruction manual, 2) a bull's-eye target with a large "X" in the middle, 3) two brown bags containing some kitty litter, 4) a paper towel, and 5) a zip-lock bag.

After we finally took care of all the formalities and finished repacking our cars for car-pooling, we set off for the South Climb trail head at Cold Springs. Phil and Joe led the convoy out of Glenwood. The road got narrower and narrower as we drove deeper into the woods. We were not anywhere near in short supply of pot holes as the paved road turned into a gravel surface that tested the front ends of our cars. After about forty five minutes to an hour of stunningly beautiful but bone jarring ride, we finally arrived at the trail head.

The trail head was much better equipped and maintained than I had imagined, complete with a campground and, much to our delight, a couple of outhouses. However, it felt to me like it was taking a lot of time for us to get ready this morning and, sure enough, by the time our packs were strapped onto our backs and we were ready to start hiking in, my watch was already pushing 10am. We were roughly at 5,600' in elevation at this point.

As usual, the first fifteen minutes was toughest for me until my body revved up to speed. Then it all of sudden got much easier. The trail started out as what looked like an old roadway that snaked through the forest. In a little over a half an hour or so, we had the first glimpse of the Mt. Adams' summit through the trees. It was an inspiring sight that boosted our already good moral.

Not long after that, we came across a sign that read "No fire above 6,000'". According to Joe, this would serve as a sign on our way down the next day indicating we were one hour from our cars (pronounced "beer"). There also was another sign reassuring us we were on the right trail (#183) as well as at a cross trail (#9), which meant we were at Timberline Campground at 6,300' according to the map.

And sure enough, we were at the timberline shortly around 11:15am. From there, the trail seemed to enter a basin and go up on top of the ridge on it's west side. The South Butte was visible on the east side. There was a gorgeous view of Mt. St. Helens to the west as well. But before we marched on forward, it was time for us to rehydrate and to replenish the calories we burnt thus far.

It took another forty minutes or so to cross few strips of moraines and snow fields, and to reach the moraine just below the ridge on the west side of the basin. Now that we would be spending a lot of time traveling on snow which was like being on a giant sun tan reflector for hours on end, we had to make sure that all our skin surfaces including underneath our noses, thighs inside our the shorts if worn, under our arms, etc. were well covered by sun screen. We also caught up with Jennifer and Abby who had started out before us a little earlier. The time now was around 12:15pm.

As we kick stepped up a relatively steep slope towards the top of the ridge, there was a climber coming down from it. He informed us that the warmer rocks underneath the snow at the top of the ridge had created big hallow spaces under the snow, creating a hazardous condition, and that his party was going to take a different route for this section. Phil who was leading the pack decided to go investigate it while we waited mid slope and he confirmed that we needed to bypass this section. So we traversed on a small patch of moraine to the left to where we could easily go up onto the ridge with only few steps up. It was a bit awkward so Joe and Phil lent us their hands as we did so. We all safely made it atop the ridge at 12:44pm when we took another small break at 7,400' just past abeam the South Butte to the east.

We spent the next an hour and a half going up the western edge of the Crescent Glacier and through another glaciated snow field above it until we finally reached the Lunch Counter where we would camp for the night. There was nothing noteworty about the slog but I would say that I was glad we didn't have to do this on scree, thanks to the unusually plentiful snow this year.

As we approached the Lunch Counter, we were very pleasantly surprised to see Andy and his son on a moraine to our right taking photos of us. They said they had arrived the night before. You da man!! Thank you, Andy, for kindly being our photographer!!

The Lunch Counter was a well established camp site just above 9,000' on a large, relatively flat area where climbers typically spent the night before their summit attempts. This helped them acclimatize to the altitude where the air was noticeably thinner and also provided a place for them to rest and replenish their energy. We arrived around 3:15pm and we were glad to be there. Joe measured our blood oxygen saturation levels and noted on his iPhone. Mine was around 90%. Not too bad even though it didn't feel like it.

After a short breather, Joe assigned us some chores that needed to be taken care of. To start with, he gathered all the empty Nalgene bottles from us and handed them to Phil and Laura who volunteered to fill them up using a hand pumped filter at a small stream created by the snow melt just below where we were. In the mean time, we gathered all our tent parts and Joe demonstrated how to pitch those big tents. Interestingly, unlike other typical tents I was used to, the fly was pitched first by threading the poles span-wise into the sleeves and pulling the both ends of the fly lengthwise with guy ropes. He then zipped open the entrance on its side and crawled inside to hang the inside piece from the ceiling created by the fly. The result was a space big enough to house four people plus a cavernous vestibule. There were two of these red tents plus a yellow dome tent that could sleep three.

Now that our living quarters were set up and Laura was back from the stream with fresh water, it was time to start boiling some water. Joe and Phil cranked up a couple of liquid fuel stoves and put a big aluminum pot full of water on each one. I was actually surprised to see how quickly the water boiled. Joe hustled us to come over with our cups for tea before it got cold. Then it was dinner time. Our first course was tortilla soup with real tortillas (brought up strapped on my pack, I might add..). Phil tore open a big bag of the dehydrated soup and we had our cups refilled with hot water as he scooped out few spoons full of the powder and dumped it in each cup. It's true though that eating outdoor like this made anything taste fantastic!! In the mean time, Joe boiled more water for the main course. As soon as it was ready, I ripped open my packet of dehydrated chicken curry with rice and Joe poured some hot water in it. It was important to let the food get reconstituted fully. Eating it prematurely could hinder your effort to stay hydrated. Not to mention it would taste horrible.

The panoramic view from the Lunch Counter was nothing short of incredible. Directly to the south, Mt. Hood stood prominently on the horizon. Looking to the west, it was a bit weird to realize that we now were sitting higher than the top of Mt. St. Helens where I was only a month before. Looking up, we could see the snow field we would be climbing the next day. (What appears to be the summit in the photo below was actually a false summit called Pikers Peak.)

Across a narrow strip of snow field, Jennifer and Abby's tent perched on a moraine near Andy and his son's. They came over to hang out with us while we relaxed for the rest of the day until it was time for us to get some Zs. I made some Jiffy Pop popcorns over the stove to share with everybody.

Since there was virtually no wind and the weather was gorgeous, I elected to open bivouac under the starry sky rather than to sleep in the tent. But before I settled in for the night, I dumped out of my pack everything I wouldn't need for summiting the next morning. I crawled into my sleeping bag around 7pm-ish once everything was ready to go.

It was still pretty bright outside - the sun had not set yet - but I had no problem falling asleep after a day full of excitement. I tossed and turned from time to time as it was like a furnace in my sleeping bag but too cold outside for me to keep it zipped open. I awoke briefly around 10pm and found myself staring at the dark sky filled with a dizzying display of zillion stars. The milky way that bisected the heaven reminded me of an old Japanese tale. Occasionally, bright satellites mixed in with shooting starts would streak across the sky.

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August 3rd - Summit

I woke up around 1am as Joe went around the camp with his bright head lamp. Phil had already started boiling water for some tea and oat meal for us. We also had bagels which Phil put some cream cheese on them. The plan now was to be ready to leave for the summit by 2am. Phil demonstrated to everyone how to put on their climbing harnesses as well, which was the first time for most of us. Not that they anticipated the need for ropes this morning but just in case.

Shortly after we left the camp, we stopped at the top end of the Lunch Counter to strap on our crampons before we proceeded up onto the steeper snow field above. From there, we would follow Suksdorf Ridge up all the way to the summit. The half moon was out but it was nearly pitch dark so we could see only whatever our head lamps illuminated. (They tended to be the boots belonging to the person several feet in front.) The snow was hard and well consolidated, making the condition nearly ideal for climbing. There were lots of already established steps on certain sections that made kick stepping feel as easy as going up stairs. In other places, we had to make our own switchbacks as we ascended diagonally back and forth. Joe would stop every 40 minutes or so for a little break when we rehydrated and ate our snacks.

Around 5:10am, we reached Pikers Peak at 11,657' which was also known as a false summit to those who didn't know it wasn't the real summit. This was what looked like the summit looking up from the Lunch Counter the day before. (See the photo above.) The sun was starting to come out and we had a gorgeous view of a sun rise painting the sky orange near the horizon and blue above. We all turned off our had lamps as it was getting brighter rapidly.

From Pikers Peak, our route would go over and down the peak slightly to the last 676' of climb to the summit. The snow had been horribly sun-cupped making it somewhat awkward but we didn't care. We just wanted to be up there!!

This one was for you, Joe Toscano!!!! I hope you could see me, buddy!!! At 6:33am, I made the summit of Mt. Adams at 12,276'. I had dedicated this climb and everything that went into it in the preceding six month in memory of my close friend and mentor, Joe Toscano, who passed away from cancer several years ago at age of 36. As I closed my eyes standing on the summit and lost myself in this timeless moment, my memories of Joe who shared the passion and struggles in our aviation careers all of sudden came flooding back to me.

Now, I am going to shut up for a while and let the photos do my talking. Enjoy!!

We stayed at the summit for about thirty minutes but it was getting very cold just standing around even with our down jackets on. As much as we would have loved to savor this moment as long as possible, it was time to start going down. We reversed the route we just came up on and began our descent. In a way, the sun cupped snow sort of made it easier for me - I was able to hop from one cup edge to another rapidly and to be back at Pikers Peak in no time.

There were few well used glissade chutes from Pikers Peak. Glissading was essentially butt sledding and was a very quick way of going down the mountain. We were very tempted but the snow had not loosened at all yet and it was still very icy and hard. Plus given the steepness of the slope, we were afraid that it would be very difficult at best to control our speeds. Joe was going to volunteer Phil to go first to see what it was like down there but even they thought better of it. So we decided to continue down on foot for the time being to the lower portion of this slope where its gradient would not be as steep.

Once we got down to a place where it looked like it was reasonably safe for us to glissade, Geoff pulled out and put on his secret(?) glissading weapon - a trash bag worn like a diaper. This not only protected his expensive pants from abrasion but also reduced the friction between his butt and the snow, making it very efficient for glissading.

But before we got on the chute, Phil gave us a quick and dirty on glissading and disappeared down the chute. Now it was time for us to have some serious fun!! Wendy B. went first and Laura followed. After I waited to make sure I had enough spacing behind them, I hopped down on the chute. Larissa soon came rocketing down. Wendy F. was next. I saw Joe coming down on the chute next to us. Geoff, Matt K. and Matt C. were somewhere among us and we all were down at the Lunch Counter in no time. It really was hard to beat glissading.

Check out this video clip of Jennifer glissading in style!

Our guides made sure that we didn't waste any time at our camp site. We kept moving and quickly took down the tents, packed up everything and were ready to head down in just under an hour. We continued glissading whenever possible until we reached the bottom of the basin. I'd say we were able to glissade over half the way, saving some time and knees on our descent. At one point, we needed to refill our water bottles so Laura volunteered to go down to a stream near by. Once we joined the South Climb trail at the bottom of the basin, it was just a matter of pounding the dirt all the way down to the trail head. It's funny that it always seemed to take a lot longer going down than going up.

Once back to the parking lot around 5:30pm, we were utterly exhausted to our cores. The best part of it was taking off our boots and socks we had had on our feet since 1am this morning. Ohhhhhh, what a relief!! But we still had the most hazardous part of our trip ahead of us - driving back home. We drove back to the ranger station in Glenwood to pick up the cars we left in its parking lot. Understandably, most of us just wanted to get home now so we said our good byes.

There was a great looking small cafe just down the road from the ranger station where Geoff, Laura, Joe and I stopped to get some calories we badly needed to replace. We each ordered a big burger and their marionberry milk shake to go with it. Not to mention a giant pitcher of water.

Mt. Adams Climb Photos - Trip Report to Follow Soon.

2010-08-04T14:42:00.000-07:00

In the early morning of August 3rd, 2001, my fellow climbers and I reached the summit of Mt. Adams. I'm working on my trip report but I want to share my photos from the trip in the mean time. I posted them on both Picasa (downloadable in original high resolution) and Facebook (you must be on Facebook to view).

Stay tuned!

Mt. Adams Team Overnight Snow Training - Hayden Glacier, Middle Sister July 24th - 25th, 2010

2010-07-26T00:41:00.000-07:00

This was our "rehearsal climb" hike that gave us a chance to test out our gears such as our mountaineering boots, to spend a night at a camp site, and to do some more technical training. For whatever reason, Hayden Glacier on Middle Sister was chosen as this year's site. But this turned out to be a great choice as this trip was simply gorgeous.

Hayden Glacier carpeted the northeast slope just below the col between Middle Sister (the left peak in the above image) and North Sister.

The plan was that Geoff and I would camp the night before at the trail head and meet the group in the morning there. In the party were all nine Mt. Adams team members: Matt K, Matt C, Wendy F, Wendy B, Larissa, Laura, Karlene, Geoff, and myself. Joe Owens from Timberline Mountain Guides led the trip assisted by Jennifer and Heather.

I would like thank Wendy F. and Laura in advance for letting me use their photos in this post.

Here's the itinerary Jennifer sent us.

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RTS MT ADAMS PREP COURSE

Itinerary:

Meet at the Pole Creek Trail head. Please see directions below.

Time: 9:00 AM Date: July 24, 2010

Special Notes: Please be aware that you will need a trail head parking pass to park here. You can purchase a trail head parking pass from any Forest Service Ranger Station.

DIRECTIONS TO POLE CREEK TRAIL HEAD:

From the town of Sisters, take HWY 242 West. Take a left on FS Road 15, which is Pole Creek Road. Follow the road to its end, always following the signs for Pole Creek. At the end of the road is the trail head. Allow approximately 30 minutes from HWY 242 to the trail head as it is dirt. A trail head parking pass is required.

Day 1: Please bring all of the gear on the equipment list to the meeting point. After a gear check, orientation and dispersal of group gear, we will then hike in to and set up base camp. The approach to camp takes approximately 4 to 5 hours. Depending on the site we choose, the elevation of camp is between 6000’ and 7000’. After setting up our tents and eating lunch, we’ll conduct some basic mountaineering skills instruction.

Day 2: We may cover basic snow camping and advanced climbing techniques, glacier travel and roping techniques. After completing the instruction we will break camp and descend back to the trail head.

What’s Included:

We supply the tents, cooking gear, and stoves. You will pick up your boots, crampons, ice axe and helmet at The Mountain Shoppe. The Lung Association will cover the cost on the rental equipment.

What You Must Bring:

Please bring all the gear that is on the equipment list. Please read the list carefully and call if you have any questions. Be sure to bring lunch and snacks for each day of your program and water for the first day. Once we arrive at camp we will be melting snow for water. Please bring a dehydrated meal for dinner and oatmeal for breakfast.

Rental Equipment:

We are making arrangements to have you pick up your rental equipment at the Mountain Shoppe on NE Broadway. Please let me know if there is a piece of equipment that you do not need.

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July 23rd

As luck would have it, I had to work until 9:15pm. So by the time I met up with Geoff in the parking lot of REI in Tualatin, it was pushing almost 10pm. But first thing first - I had not eaten all day and I needed to swing by a fast food Chinese joint on my way there. Geoff was already waiting for me in the parking lot and we quickly transferred all his gear in my Jeep.

I realized that he didn't have an ice axe or boots with him. It turned out the people at the Reach The Summit designated climbing shop told him that he didn't need to take the equipment with him when he went over there. Huh?? But we completely lucked out this time. It just so happened REI was having a used gear sale the next day and the employees were still working in the store getting ready for it even though it closed at 9pm. Geoff somehow managed to talk one of the managers into letting him rent the necessary equipment from them. Phew!!

Once all that was taken care of, we hit the road and started driving southbound on I-5 towards Salem, OR. From there, we would take Hwy 22 and 20 to Sisters, OR. The Forest Service Road 15 meandered through the woods just southwest of Sisters for a little over ten miles to the trail head. I was actually surprised to see how wide this road was and how well it was maintained. Then we realized we forgot to bring a NW Forest Pass that was needed to park there. But there was nothing we could do about that at this point so we just decided to hope for the best.

The campground at the trail head was well equipped, complete with picnic tables and a very clean outhouse. We saw a dozen or so cars already parked there. We quickly set up a tent and crashed for the night. We didn't even bother to tie down the tent. In fact, we probably didn't even need to put the fly on either We planed to get up at 7am the next morning. It was already 2am.

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July 24th

I woke up just before 7am and started getting ready. We were supposed to meet with the group at 9am. I started boiling water on my Coleman stove set up on a tree stump while I sorted my gear in the trunk of my Jeep. I had no time to deal with packing the night before and had all my gear just thrown together in my backpack and my gear bag. What a mess!

We were starting to get worried if we were even at the right trail head when 9am came and went. We let another fifteen minutes go by before we called Jennifer's cell phone and left a message. Just then, we saw a big black Beamer rolling in with Jennifer (the RTS head honcho), Heather, and Joe (Timberline Mountain Guides) in it. They apparently got stuck behind a slow moving vehicle. And all the other members of the Mt. Adams team started to arrive.

We gathered at the picnic table next to the outhouse and started dividing up the communal items such as tent parts, cooking pots, etc. Joe also talked a little bit to give us some tips on the subject of packing as well. I volunteered to carry the main body of the big tent Josh (one of the Reach The Summit training hike assistant) kindly loaned us for this occasion. Around 10:30am, we were finally ready to start hiking towards our camp site. This trail head was at around 5,300'.

The trail meandered through an utterly beautiful evergreen forest. This must be the kind of places where they take those perfect pictures they put in hiking guide books. Thankfully, unlike the South Sister climb the week before, we were not bothered by the mosquitoes as much either. As we hiked the gentle climb, we came across a couple of picturesque streams, Pole Creek and Soap Creek where we trotted across the log bridges. (I almost fell over on one of them...)

There were a lot of mountain flowers (I didn't know the names) all along the trail and near those streams. Rather than trying to put into words that wouldn't do justice, I'd just let some pictures do my talking.

And, every now and then, Middle Sister showed itself between tree tops go give us what was to come ahead of us. And so did Broke Top, North Sister and South Sister.

Thanks to the gorgeous sights that kept appearing around every other bend in the trail, it seemed like we were at our destination campground in no time although my watch was showing 3:30pm by then. The campground was a well established place right by a narrow snow field just below Hayden Glacier. It was roomy enough to set up all our tents and more. Next to the campground was a beautiful small stream created by the snow melt where we we had all our water bottles filled up and brought them up to the "kitchen" where Joe had cranked up all our stoves to boil the water.

In the mean time, we gathered our tent parts and started figuring out how to pitch those things. It was almost straight forward to pitch the one we borrowed from Josh but we ended up with several mystery parts. After looking at the instruction, scratching our heads, and looking at the instruction some more, Matt C. figured it out and saved the evening. There would be four guys crammed into this shake-n-bake contraption.

Jennifer and Heather had their big bomb shelter tent next to ours and were already in there giggling about something. There were two other smaller dome tents shared by the ladies as well. Joe had his personal "single room" next to the kitchen.

Once all our sleeping quarters were erected, it was time to walk over to the snow field for some snow climbing lessons. We took all our climbing gears and marched over to the moraine next to it.

Joe went over everything we had done during the Climber's Clinic in the spring. And it was a good thing - it had been few months since then and we all could use a chance to review and practice the basic snow climbing techniques, such as kick stepping, duck feet steps, traversing, plunge stepping, ice axe usage, crampon techniques, etc., etc. These probably would be the most relevant skills on our ultimate climb on Mt. Adams. We spent the rest of the afternoon on the snow field until the sun started to get lower on the horizon.

Back at the camp, Joe boiled more water for our dinner. I had a packet of dehydrated kung pao chicken with rice. Actually, I think I put too much hot water in it though - it came out all soupy. Note to myself: use a little less hot water to reconstitute those dehydrated gourmet dishes from now on.

As the sun set over the horizon, the moon started to take its place. The moonlight gave a strong sense of 3D to everything we were seeing around us, making the mountains pop out in our views like we were in an IMAX theatre.

For the rest of the evening, we hang out and enjoyed each other's company around the until we started to retire one by one. I stayed up until it got completely dark outside - I almost felt like I was somehow missing out on something by going to sleep.

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July 25th

I awoke with the sun rise. Besides, it was way too ripe inside the tent with four guys sleeping in it and doing things that went along with sleeping. I zipped open the tent, stepped outside and took a deep breath of much needed fresh air. Phew! Then I went down to the stream to brush my teeth and to wash my face with the icy cold water. In the mean time, others came crawling out of their tents one by one.

My breakfast consisted of a brie and salami sandwich in a couple of pieces of curry flavored nan at a Trader Joe's. I washed it down with two cups of hot coffee. I was kind of skeptical about the overpriced VIA from Starbucks but it was surprisingly palatable. (No, I didn't pay for the VIA. Those were trial packets...)

This morning, the plan was to pack everything up and watch Joe demonstrated roped travel with Jennifer and Heather's assistance. Because ropes are one of the most useful tools guides carried to maintain high degree of control, I guess Joe wanted to have everyone see it at least once or twice although he said ropes most likely wouldn't be necessary on Mt. Adams.

It was about 9am when we strapped our backpacks on and moved out our camp. Having gotten almost eaten alive by mosquitoes when Geoff and I were coming down from South Sisters in the evening on the weekend before, I was grateful that we would be back at the trail head well before that time of the day.

The stroll back was as fun and pleasant as it was getting there since we were well rested and there was not much of strenuous activities involved on this trip. It's funny that the sceneries could look completely different when we were going in the reverse direction.

Though some of us were having some boot issues and I felt bad for them, it was actually good that they were at least finding out about them now rather than on our ultimate climb the following week. Joe tried to help them with a limited degree of success.

Jennifer made sure we kept moving by yanking on the invisible "short rope" she got on Joe whenever he stopped and started telling us some stories in the middle of the trail.

When we were taking a real break at one point, something quite magical happened. There was an orange butterfly that landed on Wendy F's hand and apparently became quite fond of her. Since she had an orange shirt on and carrying an orange Nalgene bottle, may be that was his thing. Even after she gently let the butterfly off her hand, he insisted on landing on her anywhere it could.

We were back at the trail head by 12:30pm when I saw somebody standing by the trail head sign with a clip board in his hand. There was what looked like a ranger badge stitched on his backpack too. All of sudden I remembered that I didn't have my NW Forest Pass in my car and cursed under my breath. When Geoff returned from fetching my Jeep and told me that there was no ticket, we both had a big sigh of relief. It would have been an expensive one. We lucked out - Phew!!!

I threw all my gear back in the Jeep. Ahhhhhh! I love this part - taking off my boots and socks. There is no relief quite like it. (It always reminds me of a scene from "Plane, Train, and Automobile" where John Candy takes off his nylon socks in a crowded airplane :D) I changed into a fresh T-shirt and a pair of shorts as well. Simple things like these could really make one feel reborn. Once everyone was back down safely, we congratulated each other and departed our ways. Geoff and I were going to get something to eat with Jennifer, Heather, Joe, Wendy F. and Larissa at a small burger joint called Snow Cap in Sisters but there was a long long line of crowd when we got there. We gave up on that idea and said our good byes.

Next weekend, nine of us will be doing our ultimate climb at Mt. Adams!!! This is what we've been training hard for the past several months. STAY TUNED!!!!!!!!

Non-RTS Climb - South Sister July 18th, 2010

2010-07-23T15:18:00.000-07:00

Geoff Janke, one of the many friends I met through the American Lung Association's Reach The Summit program, and I set out to climb South Sister on July 17th - 19th, 2010. His wife, Hilary, his ten years old son, James, Geoff and I drove down to spend few nights in Bend, OR where his sister, Erin, and her fiance, Chris, generously let us stay at their house.

July 17th

I drove over to Geoff's house bright and early around 8am and piled into their Jeep with his family. I had never spent any significant amount of time with Hilary or James so it was a great chance for us to get acquainted with each other as well. We took I-5 to Salem, OR where we picked up Hwy 22 and 20 that followed pristine North Santiam River southeast bound via Detroit and Sisters to Bend. The weather was gorgeous like it had been ever since the summer finally arrived in the Northwest and the drive through the Cascade was absolutely beautiful. Every time I saw something like this, I could not help but appreciate how lucky I was to be able to actually live here. As expected, there were a lot of weekend warriors on the road equipped with RVs, boats, etc. but we never hit a traffic surprisingly.

We arrived at Erin and Chris's house around 1pm. After exchanging hellos, we headed out to one of their favorite microbreweries for lunch. One of the benefits of living in Oregon - you would never be short of great breweries to go to and food was fantastic. It was only several blocks away from their house so we just walked over to the restaurant.

The climate in the central Oregon east of the Cascade was dramatically different from that in Portland area. It was more typical of high desert - the sun baked us during the day time to push the temperature to mid 90s but the extremely dry air made it comfortably tolerable. At night, the thermometer reading plummeted to low 40s but nothing like a layer of jacket could not take care of. Ever since my wife and I moved to Oregon, I had always felt this was like a place where somebody just took the best parts of what this country had to offer and threw them all into this area. All within few hours of driving distance at most, we had mountains, rivers and streams, ocean, and deserts.

After the lunch, Geoff and I borrowed Erin's pickup to run some errands in preparation for our climb the next day. The first stop was REI to pick up the liner gloves Geoff had had put on hold along with few other things. After that, we went over to Mountain Supply of Oregon to rent climbing boots and an ice axe for Geoff. They carried Koflachs which I had heard a lot of good things about in terms of comfort. (Even here, there was a sign that read "Free Beer" :D) The last stop was Trader Joe's. I had a standard list of food that I had fine tuned down to the ones that worked well in climbing situations. I was a bit disappointed that they did not carry the kind of salami virtually all other TJs carried. But not a big deal.

After we dropped off the stuff at the house, we went back out again to go check out the trailhead. It was located right on Cascade Lakes Highway about 28 miles west of Bend, directly south of South Sister by the lake called Devils Lake. And it was a good thing we decided to scout it out too. All the information we had led us to believe that it would be on the north side of the highway but, in reality, the sign for it and its parking lot was on the south side. So we ended up passing it and found it after we made a U turn only because we happened to decide to check out the signed entrance into the parking area on the "wrong side" of the highway. I would have hated to have to do all this super early next morning.

By the time we returned to the house, it was already 7pm and they were getting ready to throw a BBQ dinner in their backyard. Sweet! Geoff started a nice fire in the pit in the mean time. That was when we truly realized how dry it was there. It almost instantly caught fire and we had a blazing flame shooting out of the pit only within few minutes. And the food was great!! There was nothing like cooking and eating outside. Beer flowed generously and we quickly settled around the warm fire under the starry sky.

July 18th

I woke up around 4am to get ready and leave for the climb. Geoff was already in the kitchen cooking up some breakfast burritos for us. Our goal was to leave the house by 5am so that we'd be able to start our approach by 6am. Once again, we borrowed Erin's pickup and started driving to the trailhead we scouted out the day before.

About a half way there, we realized that it looked like the pickup was burning more fuel than we expected. We had a quarter of a tank when we left the house but the fuel gauge was already showing less than a eighth of a tank! But we were at a point where, even if we decided to turn back, we may not make it back to any gas station open at that hour anyway. Oh, well.. So we just decided to continue to the trailhead and not worry about it for the time being. There were about a couple of dozen cars in the trailhead parking lot.

By the time we got everything together and started hiking in, it was already 6:40am. Once we crossed the highway to the north side, there was a well established trail that led to the bottom of South Sister. It took us through a beautiful wooded area typically found in this region where tall evergreen trees were common and vegetation were lush. The approach itself was much harder than we expected and there were a lot of sections that were quite steep. It would have made a great Reach The Summit training hike if it were in the Portland area actually. As usual, the first fifteen minutes was the toughest when I wondered what I was doing there. But then that went away, also as usual. The trail followed a gully between the Devil's Butte and another hill next to it so there was no way we could get lost but somehow we kept finding ourselves veering off the trail several times.

After seemingly hours of pounding the dirt, we finally arrive at the top of the approach at 8:06am where the terrain plateaued off and the southern view of South Sister all of sudden loomed ahead of us. As on Mt. St. Helens few weeks before, I was very pleased to see there still was relatively a lot of snow however severely sun cupped. We also agreed on the hard turn around time of 3pm. We'd either summit by then or turn around and start heading down where ever we happened to be by that time.

There was a sign for the summit of South Sister that seemed to point straight ahead from where we were standing. (By the way, at the time, we did not have the map drawing at the top of this posting which would have made things a lot more straight forward for us.) And it made sense as what we thought was the summit of South Sister was straight ahead of us as well. So we decided to strap on our crampons and pressed on straight ahead heading for the right side of Clark Glacier. At 9:40am, we ran into another sign buried deep in the six foot snow and only the top of it was showing but confirming that we were going the right way.

We also had a spectacular view of Broken Top to the southeast throughout the whole time we were climbing. The terrain was progressively getting steeper as we pressed on and it was becoming necessary to kick step up the snow field. When we reached another plateau, it was becoming very apparent that Clark Glacier we were aiming for was a lot steeper than it looked from the top of the approach. And something was not quite right here either. Where were all those climbers who supposedly got here by the two dozen or so cars we saw parked in the lot anyway?? Earlier we saw a couple of hikers as well as a couple of snow boarders but they were nowhere to be found. After looking around carefully, we spotted far to the right and above us some people going up more or less towards Lewis Glacier. They were those snow boarders!! Obviously they knew something we didn't know.

So we decided to traverse climb to the right in order to join the route they were going up on. We were still kick stepping up the snow field. By the time we took another break around 10:30am, we had gained quite a bit of elevation and we had an incredible view below of the rock mesa and what appeared to be an eruption crater. From here, the plan was to continue up towards Teardrop Lake, which was the highest lake in the state of Oregon.

But before we even got there, we had to negotiate a couple of steep moraines separated by a small patch of snow. The rocks and the scree were incredibly unstable and we had to be extremely careful of our footings. This definitely was a no-fall zone where sliding down over the cheese grater below us would have been rather unpleasant.

We reached Teardrop Lake at about 9,000' around 1:25pm. It was starting to get very questionable if we would be able to reach the summit by our hard turn around time of 3pm. From there, we had a bird's eye view of the path we took and also the "standard" route everyone else seemed to have taken. Geoff guesstimated that we probably lost about two hours of precious time before we changed our course. This would become even clearer later on our way back to the top of approach. Mt. Bachelor was looking mighty pretty to the south.

Since we were there, we decided that we would go as far as we could. There was a trail on top of the moraine/ridge that lead straight to the summit. We could see other climbers coming down on it and it looked like the trail was well developed. So we opted to take off our crampons a this point and climb the rest of our way without them.

About another hour into it, at 2:26pm, it became very obvious to us that there was no way we would make the summit by 3pm. Rather than climbing for another a half an hour only to prolong the agony of descent, we decided to call it our summit for this climb. We were around 9,800'. (In this picture, I might look like I was wearing a diaper but that's because I had my fleece jacket tucked in my shell pants...)

Now we had to reverse our course and go down the way we just came up. The only section that was very tricky was the moraines just below Teardrop Lake. It seemed to us that it was even more unstable than when we climbed it for some reason. I went down first and, despite my careful stepping, a small debris fall almost started at the top of it. We were careful not to be on each other's fall line as we made our way down this very precarious area. Once we got back to the snow field below, we were pretty much home free from there on. We were able to glissade down most of our way.

We kept running into people who were rather, say, out of place. For instance, there was a group of guys and girls who appeared to be college students. Some of them were glissading with only athletic shorts on. And then there was this guy we saw almost two thirds of our way down around 4pm. He was dressed only in a polo shirt, a pair of athletic shorts, and a pair of moccasins. He was not carrying anything either. Not even a bottle of water. We asked him where he was going and he said he was going all the way up to the summit!! Geoff had to tell him that he would freeze to death if he got stuck up there and convinced him to turn around. What the ....???

Once we got back to the bottom plateau area, we stuck with the "standard" trail that took us by Moraine Lake. Actually, it was more of a well maintained narrow road than a mountain trail. Like Geoff was saying earlier, it definitely would have saved us a couple of hours had we gone this way when we saw the first sign. Much faster than walking over the sun cupped snow field for sure.

But this "standard" trail seemed to go on and on forever. It should take us right back to the first sign we saw at the top of our approach. However, the sign was nowhere to be seen and we were starting to think that maybe we somehow strayed off the trail somewhere. So much so that, we decided to take a compass bearing off of a prominent land mark, Devil's Butte in this case, to make sure that we knew where we were going. Geoff also pointed out the unique foot prints he had been tracking and we were quite certain where we were. Sure enough, after walking another ten minutes or so, we found the sign in question.

Because of the time pressure, we were yet to have our lunch. By then, we were so hungry that we had to stop to have some meal before we started down on the approach trail. And what a diffence it made!! we felt so much better now.

It was a hell getting back to the parking lot. We almost got eaten alive by thousands of huge mosquitoes quite literally. It was dusk and the worst time of day to be in the woods too. Because I kept my fleece jacket on, I was not as affected by them as Geoff was. By the time we finally jumped in our pickup and drove off, he must have had at least a hundred mosquito bites all over himself. This was something to remember for our RTS overnight training the following weekend as well as for our Mt. Adams climb two weeks later - I made a mental note to myself to email Jennifer, the Reach The Summit head honcho, about bringing bug sprays. It was about 7:30pm.

We were so thankful that there was just enough gas in the tank for us to get back into town. Running out of gas was the last thing we needed. We were utterly exhausted when we finally made it back to the house. Erin and Chris offered to crank up their BBQ grill and cook up some burgers and franks for dinner. Hilary made fantastic potatoes to go with them. Like the night before, we sat around the fire for the rest of the evening enjoying hanging out with beers in our hands.

July 19th

All good things must come to an end. We all went out for a breakfast together before we thanked and said good bye to Erin and Chris. We took a different route going back to Portland - we headed north towards Smith Rock State Park to pick up Hwy 26 that took us all the way back to Portland. This was the first time for me to see this part of the state so I was very much enjoying the view from the backseat while we did Mad Libs with James. We stopped for lunch at Ice Axe, a restaurant on the foothill of Mt. Hood.

Erin & Chris - Thank you again for everything!!

Congratulations - Grand Teton Team!!!

2010-07-22T10:44:00.000-07:00

Reach the Summit

Grand Teton Trip Report

July 17-20

The entire RTS team—five participants and a staff person—summited the Grand Teton on Monday, July 19, 2010! Participants were Brian Coble and Jeannie Keller of Helena, Montana; Brandon Kelley of Bozeman, Montana; Diego Irizarry of New Jersey; and Eric Bersen of Florida. The staff person was Alison James, from the ALA in Montana/Wyoming office. She replaced Jennifer Baldwin who could not make the trip due to a death in the family.

Friday, July 16:

Alison and Eric met for breakfast and then went to the Jackson Hole Mountain Guides office at 8:30 a.m. so Eric could meet Rob Hess for a day of climbing training. The Montana participants had trained earlier in the week near Helena, with a guide from the Base Camp outdoor store. Alison, Brian, Jeannie, Brandon and Eric then met at the JHMG office in the afternoon for the gear check. The JHMG staff went through all the gear the participants planned to bring on the climb, checking to make sure everyone was adequately prepared, and that no one packed a family-sized tube of toothpaste. The staff made gentle—and sometimes not so gentle—suggestions on what to bring and what to leave behind. Puffy down jackets were strongly encouraged (to Alison’s delight)! Each participant was provided a sleeping bag liner (sleeping bags, tents and climbing gear are provided at Corbet High Camp).

The team did some last minute shopping at the local thrift store and the local outdoor store and then had a delicious pre-climb celebration dinner at the Snake River Brewing Company. Diego arrived around 8:00 p.m. Unconfirmed reports indicate further celebration at the Snake River Brewing Company.

Saturday, July 17

Diego went to the JHMG office at 8:30 a.m. for his gear check, and the rest of the team met at the office at 9:00 a.m. to carpool to the Lupine Meadows trailhead. Rob Hess once again led the Reach the Summit team, along with Lauren—who guided RTS two years ago—and a new guide to RTS, Mark Postle. At the trailhead, each participant was given a bag of food for their packs and a handful of Rest Stops—the Corbet High Camp waste management system (pack it in, pack it out).

A beautiful 7 mile hike, with 4,000 feet elevation gain, led us to the high camp. Highlights of the hike were the spectacular vista across the valley, hillsides of alpine wildflowers, and drinking icy, cold water straight from source at the side of the mountain.

Once we arrived at camp, we were assigned tents and got a tour of the kitchen and toilet facilities. More fauna was present at the camp this year, including a pack rat, a pika, a weasel, and a marmot. Dinner was guacamole and chips, followed by “microwave” meals steamed in the camp’s big steamer. We visited with the guides and talked about all our reasons for participating with the American Lung Association’s Reach the Summit program. We went to bed before dark, to be ready for an early morning of climbing training.

Sunday, July 18

After a breakfast of omelets from the steamer and Rob’s extremely strong coffee, we convened outside the kitchen hut to get gear and practice basic climbing on the rocks around camp. We then split into teams of two to practice on the sling ladder and do some multi-pitch climbing and rappelling near camp. Unusual snow drifting this year dammed in the glacial melt and created an aqua blue pool tucked in behind the cliffs. Though the wind blew us around a little on our ropes, the sun was shining and we had a spectacular day of climbing.

We returned to camp for another delicious dinner. Several more climbers had joined us at high camp, and we enjoyed visiting with them and their guides. We went to bed around 7:30 to get ready for an alpine start up the Grand.

Monday, July 19

The guides roused us around 3:00 to 3:30 a.m. to get ready to leave between 4:00 and 4:30 a.m. After chowing down on breakfast burritos (some more reluctantly than others), we hit the trail. The climb to the lower saddle required ice axes and crampons, which we stashed once we made it through the snow. As we approached the lower saddle, the sun slowly began to illuminate the valley, though we were still in shade.

We climbed up above the lower saddle, where the Exum guides’ and climbing rangers’ huts are located, to “the black dike,” where darker colored rocks mark the beginning of the more serious scrambling. Teams were short roped or provided belays across the more technical and exposed parts of the climb. Patches of snow and ice sometimes made the route more challenging. Mark, Eric and Diego hung the sling ladder, just past the Upper Saddle. Though considered the most difficult part of the climb, all the climbers made it past the sling ladder and technical climbing above it. From there, the summit was just around the corner! The guides expertly navigated the snow and verglas (ice on the rocks) to help everyone arrive at the top safely. From the summit, we could see four states—across Yellowstone Park, and across Wyoming to the Wind River Range, and Gannett Peak, the tallest mountain in Wyoming.

As each team reached the top, we congratulated each other, attempted phone calls, and took photos. Then, it was back down for the second half of the climb.

The highlight of the descent is the rappel, which drops 120 vertical feet, with all of the Teton Range behind and below you. The cliff drops away about 70 feet down, so that climbers have to lower themselves to solid ground without the psychological security of having their feet against the wall. If you’re lucky, the rope will start to spin, so you can see the glaciers and the mountains and the bright blue glacial lakes laid out before you as you dangle in mid-air. Touching your feet to the ground below the rappel is almost as exciting as reaching the summit. From there, it’s many hours of down climbing and scrambling, back to the lower saddle. Then we strapped on our crampons and grabbed our ice axes and shuffled our way down the snow, to the moraine campground. Finally, after passing many fresh-

faced campers getting ready to climb the next day, we started up the rocky trail back to high camp. Though we felt like we might never arrive, high camp finally appeared behind the rocks. The first group to arrive—Mark, Eric and Diego—were able to grab a nap before dinner. When everyone returned, we gathered in the kitchen hut and told stories about the climb and our amazing day. We were all so pleased that everyone made it to the summit, and back, safely. Rob promised us we would sleep well that night, and we did.

Tuesday, July 20

After more omelets, breakfast burritos and oatmeal, we packed up all our gear and headed down the trail. Our guides continued to keep us safe across the rocks and the snow. Once we hit the trail, we kept up a quick pace all the way to the parking lot. We passed many hikers who looked and smelled a lot nicer than we did, but we wore our dirt and sweat proudly. We ate oranges at the car and took more pictures. Then we said goodbye and many thanks to our guides, who were ready to get home too. The Reach the Summit team then went to Moose for pizza. We took a group photograph with the ALA banner with the Grand and the rest of the Tetons shining in the background.

Many thanks to our guides—Rob, Lauren and Mark--as well as to the staff at JHMG. Patrick, Mark (the other Mark) and Doug, especially, answered all our questions with patience and respect. We were also all thoroughly entertained by JHMG guides Nate and Greg; though they weren’t officially part of our team, I know their stories and anecdotes will be almost as memorable as the climb itself.

We had a really wonderful, supportive team this year, and I feel like I have made some great friends in Eric, Diego, Brandon, Jeannie and Brian. I’m so glad each of you took on this challenge and were a part of this amazing trip! I’m so sorry that Jennifer wasn’t able to be a part of the climb this year, but I’m honored that I had the opportunity. Congratulations to all of you!

Non-RTS Climb - Mt. St. Helens July 6th, 2010

2010-07-08T00:15:00.000-07:00

It was just INSANELY FUN! We were all worried about the hot weather that was heading our way as we headed out to Mt. St. Helens just after the Independence Day.

July 5th / Climbers Bivouac

Several of us met up at Oak Tree Restaurant just off of I-5 at the Woodland exit to have a dinner before we headed off down the highway to Cougar, WA where we were required to obtain the permits for our climbs and to register for our climbs. The members in this climbing party were: Geoff - one of the 2010 Reach The Summit Mt. Adams climber, John - Geoff's friend he grew up with, Leisa - a Reach The Summit assistant, Daniel - another Reach The Summit assistant, and myself.

Even though it was after the three day weekend over the Independence Day, I was rather surprised by how quickly the permits sold out as our climb date approached. There were over fifty permits available at the time when I bought mine and remained that way for the longest time. On Mt. St. Helens, they sell only 100 climbing permits a day to mitigate the impact on the mountain. It was only when Leisa emailed me to let me know that the number dwindled down to just ten permits as she got hers. There were few other Reach The Summit climbers who wanted to join us but, unfortunately, the permits were sold out by the time they tried to buy theirs.

After eating our last real meal, we headed east on highway 503 to Lone Fir Motel (Resort?) in Cougar, WA where we picked up our climbing permits and registered for the climb. All climbers were required to have their permits tied to either on their jackets or their backpacks. The parking permits also came with the climbing permits.

We're now finally ready to start our adventure. By the time we arrived at Climber's Bivouac which was sort of like a small roundabout at the end of the access road, the daylight was already starting to fade away and we quickly set up our tents. We were rather pleasantly surprised when we discovered Climber's Bivouac to be a well equipped and maintained campground, complete with a clean outhouse and BBQ/fire pits. There were lots of climbers camping there and we were lucky to be able to find few spots for ourselves arriving so late in the evening.

John was tasked to start a fire in the pit but any wood we found was too wet so Geoff, Leisa and Daniel decided to drive back to Cougar to pick up some firewood along with few other things. In the mean time, John continued his effort with no success. So I sort of casually suggested he might want to try using the camping stove fuel as a starter. We almost blew up the campground to oblivion when the an Innocent looking match flame ignited the generous amount of camping fuel John poured all over the fire pit. And the stubbornly lifeless pile of wood was instantly engulfed in flame.

Since we were car camping, we had brought with us all sorts of luxury items. A big cooler full of beer and food, camping chairs, a big Coleman stove, etc., etc. Of course, no camp fire experience would be complete without smores. Under the dizzying cover of stars, we sat around the fire until almost midnight yakking about important things.

July 6th / Mt. St. Helens climb

I woke up around 4am even before my alarm clock went off. The sky was already starting to get bright. It was pretty chilly outside but warm and toasty inside my tent. I quickly changed into my cloths for the climb, started sorting my gear and packed all I needed for the day. As I poked my head outside my tent, Geoff and John were awake as well. I fired up my Coleman stove and started boiling some water for our morning coffee. I also started mixing the pancake mix I brought with me for breakfast. I realized that I totally forgot to bring cooking oil but Geoff had brought some bacon slices so we decided to fry them up first and make the pancakes in the freshly rendered bacon grease. And it was unbelievably good!!! Highly recommended!!!!!!! Once again, it just went to prove that bacon was the solution to everything. In fact, it was truly up there with duct tape. We devoured them like bears coming out of their hibernation. Our goal was to start the approach by 6am.

Climber's Bevouac was located at 3,765'. We put everything but our tents back into the car and started hiking in around 6:40am. A little late but still not too bad. Our gentle approach on Ptarmigan Trail took us through a beautiful wooded area. Occasionally, we were afforded with gorgeous view to the south with Mt. Hood prominently standing in the distance. We popped out above the timberline around 8am. I have to admit this was the most thoughtfully equipped climbing trail - interestingly, there was an outhouse there with a sign declaring "Toilet". From there, our plan was to go straight up the south side of the mountain.

Now that we were on the snow field, we started the long series of kick stepping up the slope. I was very glad to see unseasonably plentiful snow as it surely would beat fighting dusty and loose volcanic scree for the next several thousand feet. We reached the first plateau around 8:45am. To the east, Mt. Adams was clearly visible.

In another 20 minutes or so, we reached a moraine where we took one of the short breaks. By then, the sun was getting super intense. We were slogging up a giant sun tan reflector effectively, particularly on a day like this when the air was so clear that it was not providing much of natural filtration. On top of my SPF 100 sunscreen, I kept applying zinc oxide cream on my nose, underneath my nose, in my nostrils, on my upper lip and anywhere else that could potentially get fried. We reached roughly 6,100' around 9:35am.

Around 6,900, there was a small weather station standing in the middle of a moraine. There was even a US Geological Survey's marker but, interestingly, the elevation had not been inscribed on it for some reason. The wind was starting to pick up seriously so it was time for us to put on our shells. It was 10:35am.

Even though we had only another 1,400' to go at this point, it seemed like it was just taking forever. And it was. We were still kick stepping straight up and it was proving to be a very time consuming process.

We found a small crevasse that we could take a peek inside right next to another moraine. There was a hole that seemed to lead to who knew where.

So we came across a skier who appeared to be in his late 60s or even early 70s just as we were almost reaching the rim of Mt. St. Helens. We had seen him earlier near the timberline as well and were impressed by his fitness. Well, it turned out that he had actually been up here already and skied down once since then. This was his second run!! How demoralizing was that?! Anyway, at 12:30pm, after six hours of slogging up the big pile of snow covered dirt, we finally reach the south rim.

The rim was still badly corniced and, especially given this day's warm temperature, it was not safe for anybody to get closer than 20' away from it. In fact there was a line of red wands to keep the people from getting any closer even though some were obviously not getting the hint. I was able to take photos only by holding my camera as high as possible above my head.

It was absolutely incredible to see the destruction that the eruption in 1980 caused. The north side of the mountain had been completely blown off and there was nothing but a ginormous void where the other half of Mt. St. Helens used to be.

We could also see Mt. Rainier and Mt. Adams clearly in the distance.

As I mentioned earlier, the condition on the rim was not stable for us to traverse to the true summit which was a couple of hundred more feet higher than where we were. Therefore we decided to call it our summit and to break out our lunch. The elevation was roughly 8,100' at this point. But wait, that's not all, folks. Daniel topped it off by pulling a bottle of bubbly and orange juice out of his backpack to celebrate our summit with mimosa!! You rock, Daniel!!

Now that we had been well refueled, the best part of the climb was yet to come. It's glissading time!! (Simply put, it's sledding on our butts.) Daniel pulled out his secret(?) weapon - trash bags. The idea was to cut a hole at each bottom corner and to wear it like a giant diaper. This reduced the friction and made it significantly more efficient to slide down the snow slope. It probably would help keep our expensive Gore-Tex pants from wearing out on the bottoms as well

And here we went!! We were able to descend pretty much most of our way down like this.

Just before we got back down to the timberline only after two hours since we left the rim, there was an insanely steep glissade chute at the end. It was more than 6' deep and it felt like we were going straight down in it. Looking back at it from the bottom, we were glad we didn't know what it looked like before we started down on it. By 4:50pm we were back down at our camp site at Climber's Bivouac.

As usual, we were hungry like a bunch of unfed wild animals by the time we were ready to leave the camp. The burgers had never tasted so good back at Lone Fir Motel in Cougar.

2010 Reach The Summit Celebration Party June 27th, 2010

2010-07-02T17:11:00.000-07:00

Surrounded in feeling of euphoria, everybody involved in this program and their guests gathered at Timberline Lodge to celebrate our amazing achievements. For the Mt. Hood climbers, this would officially conclude their participation in this year's Reach The Summit program. Not knowing what was going to happen to me at this party tonight, my wife, Sharona, and I opted to drive separately to the lodge, which was a good thing. If it came to it, I was going to just crash in my car before I went home.  Not that that would be anything entirely new to me anyway.

The cocktail hour started at 5pm when we started priming ourselves with some recreational beverages of our choices before the evening shifted to higher gears. It was very exciting to listen to my fellow climbers talk about their summit experience and feel the common bond developed amongst ourselves over the past several months simply as a group of fellow human beings who came together to meet this once-in-a-lifetime challenge to serve something much greater than ourselves.

Once we were properly prepped, we moved downstairs for our dinner. There were a lot of us. It was really the first time when we had a chance to get a sense of and appreciate just how many people had been involved in supporting us throughout this endeavor. I managed to snap some photos before I was ushered back to my seat to start eating.

As the head of Reach The Summit program, Jennifer kicked off the main program, and recognized and thanked many on behalf of the American Lung Association and the climbers. In the excitement generated in the wake of Mt. Hood climbers' ascent, the real reason why we were there in the first place could have been easily overshadowed but Marlene gave a heartfelt speech that reminded all of us that it was not only about climbing or raising fund but also about spreading awareness of the issues that affected all of us.

Then it was time for the show! John Waller who had contributed his talent as the official photographer of Reach The Summit premiered the incredible video and photos he took of Mt. Hood climbers' ascent this weekend.  John imparted to the audience the essence of why we did what we did with eloquence only visual images could have delivered. (If you are on Facebook, you should be able see his trailer clip at http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=10150213863495114 . I will be sure to repost this if non-Facebook one becomes available.) WOW!! Such amazing sights - the climbers might as well have been astronauts on the moon! While I was watching his show, I really had to appreciate the fact that John must have had to summit Mt. Hood practically four times in order to capture the images from different angles. Before we ended the program, surprise gifts were presented on behalf of all 2010 Reach The Summit climbers to those who had volunteered their talent and time to provide us with the fitness training and technical expertise as tokens of our appreciation. Thank you, April, Paula, Debbie, and Sue, for doing a great job putting together the gifts!!

I leave it to your imagination what ensued amongst the mountaineers after we headed back up to the bar where our rehydrating recommenced and fermented beverages flowed freely.  Big thanks to those who provided me with a bed in your room so I didn't have to sleep in my car that night!

Just after the Independence Day, several of us are heading out to climb Mt. St. Helens. I will be back with the play by play next. Stay tuned!!

17th Training Hike - Mt. Adams Team, Crator Rock, June 26th, 2010

2010-07-01T15:40:00.000-07:00

Inspired by the incredible pictures from the first Mt. Hood team's ascent to the summit the day before, 3 Mt. Adams climbers and 6 training hike leaders/assistants headed out to Timberline Lodge on Mt. Hood to climb this time to Crater Rock just above 10,000'. It would be a good simulation of the long approach we would have to make on the first day of our eventual Mt. Adams climb. The Crater Rock is the giant rock sticking out in the middle of Mt. Hood's crater rim as you can see in the zoom photo of the top section. It would put us only a thousand feet below the summit. This hike would be the last Reach The Summit training hike aimed for physical conditioning.

Like our last hike on Mt. Hood, the weather was incredible especially after the long rainy season. As we drove to Mt. Hood on Hwy 26, I was rather surprised by how much snow had melted since we were there last time few weeks before. There were practically no clouds in the sky by the time we gathered in front of the climber's registration. I was glad I put tons of sunscreen lotion on since it was going to be like being on one of those old fashioned sun tan reflector for over several hours.

As expected, the snow was already turning into mush as the temperature soared and we decided to put on our snowshoes from the beginning. None of us even bothered to put on outer shells of course. I had stubbornly packed my bag again to the max as if I was climbing Mt. Adams. I figured I'd be alright on my real climb if I can do this day's hike with this much weight on my back. However, since I did this last time for the hike to the top of Palmer, I had wised up just a little and gone through all my stuff in the pack at home to ask myself if each item was an absolutely necessary item or just a luxury item. I also put all my stuff in a pack liner to prevent them from getting wet from the snow melting through the pack fabric, which would double as a cache in the tent when we camp at "the Lunch Counter" on Mt. Adams. I wore my trusty mountaineering boots instead of my hiking boots to determine if there was any hot spot that could potentially become a source of blister. I usually pre-moleskin my feet on all my hikes but I had also skipped this step this day for this purpose. At some point, I will have to invest in another set of poles with external locking mechanisms though. On our last hike to Nesmith Point, the internal locking mechanism on one of my current poles refused to cooperate and I ended up hiking with only one pole. It was do-able but made things rather awkward at times. I would not want to have to mess with them particularly in mountaineering situations in which it could be rather difficult to twist the poles to engage the locking mechanism, especially with frozen hands. It's really too bad because I really love my poles otherwise.

Once our slog commenced, our goal was to reach the top of Palmer Glacier by 1pm. Then we would enter the backcountry area to start climbing the steeper section towards the Crater Rock. Matt Weaver led the group doing a great job of pacing ourselves with that in mind. But even then, it felt like we were making faster progress up the hill than before - I noticed only after the fact that we had already gone passed Sicox Hut where the second Mt. Hood team would be spending the night before their climb to the summit tonight. Wind was blowing from west today and getting stronger as the hike went on. We could see a standing lenticular cloud starting to form and also some rotating clouds over the ridge above the twin rock. It was time to put on a layer when we made a pit stop several hundred feet below the top of Palmer Glacier. Instead of my eVent shell, I opted for my Mountain Hardware's Monkeyman Jacket. It was one of the most comfortable things I had put on my skin. Even though this furry synthetic material was very warm, it maintained just the right level of warmness at all time because the air could go right through it.

We made the top of Palmer around 1:15pm. A little late but not too bad. After we took another breather and ate some food, we marched on upward toward the Crater Rock. But, unlike the groomed trail we took up to this point, it proved much more difficult and time consuming to make progress from there on. The snow on the south facing slope had become so mushy that Matt was post-holing thigh deep practically every step. I was positioned just behind him and kept filling those holes with snow to make the steps more secure for the climbers behind me. It was already 2:30pm by the time we reached the point abeam and level with the Twin Rock sticking out on the western ridge. Matt's altimeter read 9,100 at this point. This meant that we made only 600' in 1:15 and we had another 1,100' to go. There was no question in our minds that we were out of time.

In the mean time, Eric, another training hike leader, followed us on his skies which I was becoming envious of. And I didn't think he even broke sweat at all actually. (Later that day, Eric went out to re-hydrate with us and climbed back up again to summit Mt. Hood that evening!) Like I mentioned, the snow was utterly a slushy mushy mess and I was kind of concerned that I might end up hyper extending one of my knees on our way down which made me hesitant to commit my weight decisively as I plunge stepped down. We all just about had it by the time we reached the top of Palmer Glacier and it was time to put our snowshoes back on again for the rest of our way down. Not that that made it much easier for us but at least we were not post holing. At one point, there was a snowcat coming down the trail sprinkling salt and the snow went from mushy to crunchy instantly. Thank god we weren't too far from the parking lot, the ultimate destination of every climb. We were tempted to swing by Silcox Hut to crash the second Mt. Hood team's party but it was decided that keep-Jennifer-happy was still the standing mantra and that we'd probably better leave them be. (Jennifer, a.k.a Swimbo, was the head honcho of Reach The Summit program.)

For us the Mt. Adams climbers, we will have about four weeks of blank period in which no official activity has been scheduled so it will be up to the individuals to go out and keep up on conditioning on their own. Towards the end of July, we will be getting together with the guides from Timberline Mountain Guides for an overnight camping event that will be aimed for more of technical training. That is going to be lots of fun!

Just Released! 2010 Reach The Summit Mt. Hood Climb Trailer

2010-06-29T18:53:00.000-07:00

Chech this out!! Simply amazing!!!!!!

http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=10150213863495114

(** Sorry - you will need to be on Facebook to view it. If non-Facebook one becomes available, I'll be sure to repost this **)

Mt. Hood Climbers - Congratulations!!

2010-06-29T13:34:00.000-07:00

This weekend, the Mt. Hood climbers realized their dreams. They climbed on two days, June 25th and 27th. The following are the reports by Jennifer, the organizer of Reach The Summit.
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Reach The Summit
Mt. Hood Trip Report
June 25, 2010

The first Reach The Summit climb of 2010 was a big success with 14 of the 15 attempting climbers making it to the top!

After spending the day in snow climb class with Timberline Mountain Guides on June 24, Team "Hood Fruit Salad” (ask one of them to explain the name to you) had dinner and a brief nap at Silcox Hut before their climbs. The RTS Hood climbers were joined by RTS volunteers Joe G and Marty and myself.

We had a midnight and 1:00 am snow cat so the entire team was above 8500 feet by 2:00 am. The snow conditions did not require crampons for the first hour or so but we had great “steps” and the team progressed up the mountain without incident. Just elow Crater Rock snow conditions hardened up a bit and we all put on the crampons and the snow conditions continued to be generally ideal for the rest of the climb. No icy spots or post-holing! The weather was clear and warm early in the climb and we were treated to a beautiful full moon. Many climbers did not even need their headlamps and opted to climb by moonlight. About an hour into the climb the wind picked up making the air temps colder and some high level clouds rolled in making for an incredibly cool moon-set over the lights of Portland. Of course everyone had enough gear to keep reasonably warm cold and the wind all but stopped once we hit the Hogsback.

At about a third of the way up (about 1,000 vertical feet into the climb), Christine Hansen made the tough decision to return to Silcox Hut with “take-down” guide Sheldon. The rest of the climbers continued the ascent to the Hogsback, traversed the Hot Rocks and ascended via the Old Chute route. Conditions remained excellent and the teams made their way up the steepest part of the climb without incident. Despite high clouds, the summit had spectacular 360 degree views of Rainier, St. Helens, Adams and Jefferson. Summit stays lasted about 30 minutes giving climbers a chance to snap photos, call and text friends and family and enjoy the spectacular view from the top of Oregon! The teams then made their way back down the same route to Silcox for some well-earned hot waffles and eggs!

The first teams returned to Silcox Hut by around 9:30 am and the last group arrived around 11:30 am.

Special thanks to our amazing TMG guides – Joe, Nick, Chris, Ben, Rodney, and Sheldon for leading the way and keeping us safe.

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Reach The Summit

Mt. Hood Trip Report
June 27, 2010

The second Reach The Summit climb of 2010 was a big success with 14 of the 15 attempting climbers making it to the top! Hillarie and April were not able to climb with the team due to medical reasons but they will have a chance to do so with Timberline Mountain Guides when they are feeling better. They both came up to Silcox Hut to support and encourage the team last night and this morning!

After spending the day in snow climb class with Timberline Mountain Guides on June 26, Team "Lunar-Tics” had dinner and a brief nap at Silcox Hut before their climbs. The RTS Hood climbers were joined by Montana RTS Coordinator Alison James and me.

We had a midnight which made it to the top of the Palmer but because of slushy snow conditions the 1:00 am snow cat was only made to 8100 feet, adding a 400 “bonus” in elevation to gain for the 1:00 group. Weather and snow conditions on Sunday’s climb were very similar to Fridays. The snow did not require crampons for the first hour or so but we had great “steps” and the team progressed up the mountain. Just below Crater Rock snow conditions hardened up a bit and we all put on the crampons and the snow conditions continued to be generally ideal for the rest of the climb. No icy spots or post-holing! The weather was clear and warm early in the climb and we were treated to a beautiful full moon. About an hour into the climb the wind picked up making the air temps colder. Of course everyone had enough gear to keep reasonably warm and the wind decreased considerably once we hit the Hogsback.

At about the Triangle Moraine, Charles made the tough decision to return to Silcox Hut with his guide. The rest of the climbers continued the ascent to the Hogsback, traversed the Hot Rocks and ascended via the Old Chute route. Conditions remained excellent and the teams made their way up the steepest part of the climb without incident. With bluebird skies, the summit had spectacular 360 degree views of Rainier, St. Helens, Adams and Jefferson. Summit stays varied but everyone got to enjoy the spectacular view from the top of Oregon! The teams then made their way back down the same route to Silcox for some well-earned hot waffles and eggs prepared by representatives of our sponsor Columbia Sportswear!

The first teams returned to Silcox Hut by around 10:30 am and the last group arrived around 12:30 pm. RTS alumni/volunteers on the mountain this morning included Josh, Daniel, Bob and Eric. It was great to see the friendly and encouraging faces of the volunteers who helped the team get ready for the climb.

Special thanks to our amazing TMG guides – Joe, Nick, Rodney, Tikco, John, Sheldon and Pete for leading the way and keeping us safe.

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At Last, Mt. Hood Climb This Weekend!!

2010-06-24T14:44:00.000-07:00

Congratulations!!

This weekend, the Mt. Hood climbers of 2010 Reach The Summit team will summit this iconic mountain, Mt. Hood. Each climber has worked hard to raise awareness and fund to benefit the American Lung Association for the past several months while we trained together to reach the summit of the northwest's most beautiful mountains.

16th Training Hike - Mt. Adams team, Nesmith Point June 19th, 2010

2010-06-21T00:58:00.000-07:00

It was pretty weird to be hiking without the rest of the RTS teammates today. In fact, there were more training hike leaders/assistants than the climbers. Joe the training supervisor took a survey earlier this month to see if we preferred to hike Nesmith Point or Ruckel Creek and apparently it was decided on hiking Nesmith Point again for today.

We met up at the parking lot of a nearby grocery store as usual and went through the ritual of splitting into groups, except that there were only two groups instead of three, the fast group and the faster group. I let you guess which one I ended up in. The weather was sort of misty and drizzly type for the entire duration. Driving down I-84 to get to the trail head, we could only see the bases of the hills and the clouds blanketed the rest entirely. Great!

Eric kicked off the hike by leading the faster group up the hill. Having the thoughts in the back of our heads that it was going to be practically viewless had pretty much set the tone of this hike even before it got started - it's all about busting our respective butts up to the top as fast as we could. Actually, the last part of the training, re-hydrating at Edgefield, was all I remember thinking about to be honest.

And, we zoomed up the trail alright. Including the three short breaks we took, we ascended 3,800 over 5 miles in 2:45. That translated to roughly the sustained average vertical speed of 1,381' per hour. Not bad! In fact I was so zoned into it that I remembered to take no photo except for only one. The rest of the hike is sort of a big blur.

It had never disappointed me - there's nothing like that first sip! I ordered a tall cold pint of Rubby, one of the in-house brews at Edgefield, and a small pizza to replenish the calories I had just left on the hill. Then another tall cold one for a good measure. By the way, I had always admired the training leaders/assistants for their impeccable commitment to always finishing up the hikes in time for the happy hours.

Next weekend, we the Mt. Adams team will be going back to Mt. Hood, to go from the Timberline Lodge to Crater Rock at just over 10,000' in elevation, only 1,000' below its summit. Some of the Mt. Hood climbers will be summiting that morning so we might run into them on their way down too. I can't wait to see the photos they took and to hear about their climbs. But, even if we don't get to see them for some reason, I will be congratulating them at the celebration party the following day!

2010 Reach The Summit Photo Collage

2010-06-18T00:29:00.000-07:00

15th & Final Training Hike - Top of Palmer, Mt. Hood June 12, 2010

2010-06-17T23:48:00.000-07:00

It was sort of a bitter sweet day today as this was the last training hike we would do together as the entire 201 Reach The Summit Team. But what a gorgeous day it was! After weeks of rain, the weather had swung to the other end of the pendulum.

The Timberline Lodge operated the ski resort on Palmer Glacier on the southern slope of Mt. Hood. We would hike today from the Timberline Lodge at just shy of 6,000' to the upper limit of the non-backcountry area around 8,500'. With the temperature expected to approach the 60s even at this elevation, we anicipated the snow to be loose and slushy so it was a good thing that we were carrying snowshoes with us. There were some avalanche concerns in the backcountry area because of the new snow falls in the preceding days followed by the warm weather today however it was determined not to be a concern of ours as we were remaining in the ski resort area where the snow had been meticulously groomed.

I wanted to simulate my Mt. Adams climb today so I decided to pack everything I'd carry on that day, my sleeping bag & pad, ice axes helmet, harness, crampons, etc., etc., on top of everything else I had been carrying on all our training hikes (though I won't be carrying snowshoes on my real climb). It turned out be roughly 55lbs altogether.

As usual, we all met up in the parking lot of a grocery store nearby and went through the usual rituals of getting briefed by our training hike supervisor, Joe, and splitting into three groups, the fast group, the medium group, and the "endurance" group. Because of the weight I would be carrying today, I was tempted to join the "endurance" group but I decided against it and stuck with the medium group led by Matt, Leisa and Joe. Altogether we started with 13 people in the medium group.

I always enjoyed the picturesque drive on the Hwy 26 looking at a windshield full of Mt. Hood. Sometimes, I had to try consciously not to get distracted and thus not to become another source of crater on its slope actually. Charles, the climber with whom I shared the ride, no doubt appreciated that. In today's amazingly clear air, the mountain looked even closer than it actually was. There was not even a spec of puffy clouds anywhere or standing lenticular clouds that would indicate strong wind aloft. I couldn't wait to get on the mountain!!!!

Once we strapped our gears onto ourselves, we gathered in front of the climber registration at the lodge. You'd be required to register and get a permit for your climbing party if you were to venture into the backcountry area. It wouldn't cost anything to do this but this was so that the rescue folks would have some sort of idea who and how many people were up there in case some unfortunate things happened. (Not to mention how many permanent bivy sacks they'd need to bring with them...)

Now we were ready to go out there. But as soon as we set our feet on the snow, it was pretty apparent that we'd need to put on our snowshoes right away. The snow was as soft as Seven Eleven's Slurpee. Without my snowshoes, I would have definitely kept sinking into it on every step I took with this heavy pack on my back and all.

This was also a good chance for me to try out the "heel lifters" that came with my snowshoes. They were metal bars that flipped up underneath my heels to give my heels few inches of lifts. The idea was that, by having the angles of my feet relative to the snow slope somewhat flatter, the climbing will be more like going up stairs than walking up a steep slope thus keeping my calves happier. And it worked!! In fact, it worked fantastically well. I was totally sold on this little feature.

Anyway, the familiar slog commenced. The first 10 minutes was always the roughest until my heart revved up to speed. From there on, it was still tough but manageable. I just settled into a nice constant rhythm of rest stepping - putting one foot in front of the other, transferring my weight on it, and locking the knee for a brief moment, over and over.

The "trail", if you could call it that, paralleled the skiing and snowboarding area all the way up the slope. It was more of an alley for the snowcats to travel up and down on than a trail actually. Next to the trail, there was a bunny slope as well as jump platforms for freestylers in addition to groomed slopes. It was nice distraction from otherwise the monotonous climbing task watching the skiers and the snowboarders launch into the air. Now, I didn't know a lot about freestyling but it's probably safe for me to guess that the old saying, "take off is optional, landing is mandatory", applied in this situation as well.

As you can see from the pictures of us at our gear check, we were quick to take off any extra layers we started in. Because the snow reflected 80% of the sun light, which was twice as strong at this elevation as at the sea level to begin with, the glacier had instantly turned into a broiler in this windless air that cooked us relentlessly, not only from above but also from directly below us. It was not too long before the mixture of sweat and sunscreen started pouring down my face, rendering the sun glasses useless and stinging my eyes in the process. (Note to myself - use a bandanna from now on!)

One different thing about climbing mountains from hiking is that, more often than not, you would be able to see where you were headed for the entire time you were climbing. Especially in good weather like this obviously. And it was very difficult to guage the distance. Here we were on Mt. Hood, everything looked so much closer than it appeared in the vastness of Palmer Glacier with gigantic Mt. Hood's headwalls looming right above us.

Then we popped out onto a small col only several hundred feet below the top of Palmer through which the wind accelerated owing to the venturi effect. All that body heat we could not seem to get rid of fast enough up until now was suddenly valuable commodity. However, that did not last very long as we soon reached our today's destination, the top of Palmer.

We hurriedly put on our jackets back on before we got chilled to our bones once we stopped. Then it was a reward time! Sitting against the snow at the backcountry boarder, we chewed on the lunch of our choices together for the last time enjoying the southern view from the 8,500' elevation. In this seemingly unlimited visibility, the mountain ranges of the central Oregon was clearly visible from here, with Mt. Jefferson being the most prominent in the foreground, and Sisters and Broken Tops defining the ruggedness of the Cascade Range.

At this elevation where the temperature was low enough for the snow to remain somewhat firmer, we started plunge stepping down rather than putting our snowshoeing. We also saw other climbers glisadeing down which was probably the next best thing to skiing down. Although we were no longer subjected to the strenuousness of climbing, it still was difficult to proceed because of the unstable snow condition. But who cares about that when you're having fun with cool people like us!! Ha!

So now that we've done our final training hike, what happens now? Like I mentioned earlier, the big weekend for the Mt. Hood climbers are coming up at the end of this month. After that, I am looking forward to joining them at our celebration party where we will be letting loose!

But in the mean time, we the Mt. Adams climbers will continue to have our training hikes, at least three of them, through the end of July. This weekend, we will revisit Nesmith Point, followed by a hike from the Timberline Lodge (5,800') to the Crater Rock (10,000') on Mt. Hood. At some point in July, we will have another overnight training event somewhere on Mt. Hood. Also, a group of us are going to climb Mt. St. Helens few days after the Independence Day as well (non-RTS).

14th Training Hike - Devil's Peak, Cold Creek Trail June 6th, 2010

2010-06-10T14:49:00.000-07:00

I've heard people say the weather on the climb would be good if it's crappy on training hikes. I truly hope so after this very wet and muddy hike. Where is the summer anyway?? It's already June and we continued to have spring like weather here in the northwest.

I was feeling not as confident as I had felt on most of our past hikes when I stepped onto the trail in the morning. I had not been able to do much of physical activities for this past couple of weeks due to a little knee issue that crept up on me. So I was rather pleasantly surprised at how good I felt on this hike, notwithstanding its difficulty.

I brought a pair of YakTraks, traction devices that strapped onto the bottom of my hiking boots, however I left them in my car in my haste to get on with the hike. They would have come in very handy today. Our supervisor also warned us that there would be lots of roots and downed trees along the way, making it somewhat of an obstacle course.

The trail started off very steeply right from the trailhead. For some reason, I was way overdressed for the occasion and, in a matter of several minutes, I felt like I had a kettle full of boiling water tucked under my shell. Apparently, others needed to take early gear check breaks as well. And that's what we did. Actually, we knew that it would be almost pointless to be wearing a waterproof shells as, from our past experiences, we had known that we would be utterly wet inside and out anyway on a day like this with 1,000% humidity. So we all decided to to pack them up and layered down to nothing but our base layers. This worked pretty well - the rain had backed off a bit on its relentlessness mostly by this time and it was warm enough.

Devil's Peak was located in the southwestern foothills of Mt. Hood in its wilderness area along a small backroad just off of Hwy 26. If not for the sign, we would have completely missed the trailhead hidden in the bushes actually. Although one might imagine from the name of the trail, Cool Creek Trail, that it would follow right along a nice mountain stream cascading down boulders, we found out that it was not exactly like that at all. However I am going to keep this one on my list of places I must revisit later in the season when I can expect dryer weather for the views it offers throughout the hike. Unlike our last hike at Ruckel Creek Trail (another misleading name), this trail had actually had a final destination around 4,800' that we could look forward to reaching. I think this helped keeping our morals up while slogged up 3,200' over the course of 4.1 miles or so.

Like I mentioned earlier, we did see lots of fallen trees blocking our path. But it was fairly easy to overcome them by going over or under their trunks. I actually enjoyed having varying features like these as it made the hike a bit more enjoyable. We only took one 5 minute break along the way. Our hiking leader, Eric, later took a vote to see if we wanted to take the second break and we unanimously decided to keep pushing instead.

Somewhere around 4,000', we started to see some snow patches on the ground. Soon, the snow covered the entire ridge this trail followed and our paces slowed down significantly. This was where we appreciated what we learned during our climbers clinic last month - the value of making a good platform as we took each step, particularly when our footings were made somewhat precarious on half frozen snow pack. Oddly, I ended up straying off form the path at one point so I had to cross over a woody section in order to rejoin them.

Soon we found ourselves at the summit of Devil's Peak where a small lookout stood. Unlike at the trail head, it was freezing cold there especially wearing only a base layer that had been completely soaked in rain and sweat as we remained in the clouds pretty much the whole way up. The first order of my business was to change into a dry base layer and put back on the mid and outer layer immediately before I lost too much of my body heat. And what a difference it made! It certainly made my lunch break far more enjoyable. A note to myself - get a light weight thermos. A cup of hot coco was the only thing missing from otherwise a complete picture.

I went up into the lookout structure to see what it looked like. It was actually pretty nice complete with a small table, a wood burning stove and a couple of beds!! I could see this would be a very good place to be if I found my hike here in the snowier season turned into an imprompeau overnight trip. It surely would beat bivying - that's for sure!

So what were those sayings - "What goes up must come down", "Summiting is optional, descent is mandatory", "What floats up must sink"?? Yes indeed. It was a lot more precarious going down on this trail than climbing up as you probably can imagine. The constant rain has made the snow near the top much slicker and the muddy trail lot looser. Those roots sticking out everywhere didn't exactly help either. But we just had to do it - that's all. The bottom of my feet were starting to get pretty sore by the time we were half way down the mountain. All I could think about was how a hot shower was going to feel sooooo goooooood after getting home. I couldn't wait!!

Next week, we will be hiking together as a whole Reach The Summit team for the last time from the Timberline Lodge to about half way up to the summit of Mt. Hood. After that, 9 of us climbing Mt. Adams will continue to train through the end of July.

It's time to bring it all home! Stay tuned...

13th Training Hike - Ruckel Creek May 22nd, 2010

2010-06-08T19:57:00.000-07:00

Did someone say it was a butt kicker of hike?? May I take the liberty to edit it a little in order to reflect the reality better by saying it was an @$$ kicker of hike?? To top it off, it was one of those hikes to nowhere that had no particular final destination. The sole purpose of its existence was to serve those who had not gotten their seconds after eating their own guts. And to give another chances to those who thought they already had their seconds in the past. Scanning online about what other people said about this place, I found one of them said "Every foot of Oregon's Ruckel Creek Trail is a poem." Huh??!!

In terms of numbers, Ruckel Creek Trail launched almost 3,800' vertically over the distance of about five miles via its rather precarious path. We were thankful that the weather held off while we were out there as it would have made it a muddy mess as if we would need that.

The only thing that made it mildly interesting was the variety of features the trail showed us. Though we stayed almost entirely in the forests, there were meadowy sections with rocky features, including the rocky pits that were made over 1,000 years ago by the native Americans where we took a little breather. Also there were some wild flowers blooming to look at and few breaks in the woods where we had the bird's eye views of the Gorge.

You must excuse me for not having stayed on top my photo taking duties while we slogged on upward to nowhere. We started to see some patches of snow and even a little flurries here and there once we got near the end of hike. Later, I found out that we were actually at a place called Benson Plateau where the terrain leveled off for miles. It got significantly colder at the end of the hike - so much so that most of us were pulling out down jackets out of our packs to keep warm while we devoured our food.

On a hike like this with a wickedly steep trail, it was very strenuous to climb to put it mildly of course but the real kicker came going the other way. And this was when we had to pay deliberate and close attention to what we are doing most. It was easy to roll ankles, twist knees, do face plants, etc. because we were pretty fatigued. Generally speaking, 80% of injuries occured during the descent phase as a matter of fact and thus this was where our fitness levels counted the most - the less we were fatigued, the better our chances of making it down in one piece.

Just as I was starting to wonder if I should have knee replacement surgeries scheduled for myself, we were back down to where we started. Or so we thought - I forgot that there was a teaser section there that we still had to climb back up a little before we found the parking lot.

Later that week, our training hike supervisor sent us emails to ask if we wanted to do Nesmith Point or Ruckel Creek again for one of our hikes in June. I let you guess which one I voted for.

Next week, we'll be hiking Devil's Peak in the foothills of Mt. Hood, which we missed earlier because of the winter like weather condition. Stay tuned!!

Reach The Summit BBQ Party - May 21st, 2010

2010-06-02T14:25:00.000-07:00

Thank You!!

We had a great turn out and had a blast this past Friday chilling at Burdigala Wine in Sellwood listening to awesome music while we chowed down on tasty BBQ and sipped delicious wine! Geoff and Terry would like to thank all of you who came to and participated in this fundraiser despite the wet weather. We have raised $500 to benefit the American Lung Association!

Event Sponsors

Venue:

Burdigala Wine, Didier Sudre

BBQ Grill:

Traeger Grills

Entertainment:

Hutson

Press:

The Oregonian

Raffle:

Arbonne International, Kelly Hobson
ChiRoweYoga, Linda Rowe
Hilton Garden Inn, Beaverton, MacKenzie Upchurch
Image by Karen Radique, Karen Radique
In Great Spirits, Sharona Tsubota
Juice Plus+, Beth Genly
Kim's Therapeutic Massage, Kim Hess, LMT
Marsha Cosgrove - Hair Stylist & Color Specialist, Marsha
Cosgrove
Memories by Harvey, Harvey Thomas
Notes of Celebration, Linda Smith
Phoenix Inn Suite - Beaverton, DeEsta Denver
Poise Studio, Sarah Balmer & Victoria Marchese
Photo Images by Susan Gould, Susan Gould
The Plumbers Inc., Judah Hamnes

12th Training Hike - Nesmith Point May 16, 2010

2010-06-02T14:23:00.000-07:00

I'm finally catching up with my training hike blogs that I slacked off in the midst of the BBQ Party preparations.

Although many of us were kind of sleep deprived and tired from the night hike training we had just done only the day before, we showed up again to take some more at Nesmith Point.

The training location was changed to Nesmith Point because we had already hiked Dog Mountain twice. It would be the longest and the highest one we would do yet at 3,800' of elevation gain over a five mile trail each way. (Of course we had been spoiled by all those hikes in the past with incredible views at every other turn too. So a hike for the sake of being butt kicked was probably long over due at this point..)

The first mile or so from the parking lot took us through dense forests to a junction with another trail called Gorge Trail. From there on, we got to savor the sweet suffering we asked for, step by step, on the countless switchbacks that promised to dish out the relentlessly steep climb up a gully. Once we left the gully, the trail took us traversing a steep slope that was seemingly almost vertical, followed by another series of switchbacks, though short, back up the ridge.

So was the hike all about the building our mountaineer characters? There were few brief moments that allowed us to take our minds off the gradual build-up of lactic acid in our muscle tissues. For instance, there were many wild flowers like trilliums and wild roses that were absolutely lovely all along the trail. We also got to see some views of the Gorge through the breaks in the vegetations with Mt. Adams off to the distance which was still covered in snow. (Sorry, it was a bit too hazy to capture it on my camera.)

About 1,000' (?) or so before the summit, we took a nice break in a rocky section where we refueled before the final push. I was surprised about how good I was still feeling at this point despite the lack of sleep. From there, we kept following the trail that eventually intersected with an old road that was used to take people up in the early half of the last century. The summit was finally near. So where was it??

The climax of our hike was accentuated by the broken down outhouse that had been there for decades as I was told. Otherwise it was a small clearing that faced opposite to the direction of the Gorge.

I am going to cheat a little bit now and post a bunch of pictures at the bottom to call it a blog.

Our next hike is going to be at Ruckel Creek which has been described by one of our training hike assistants as "butt kicker of a hike." Stay tuned!!

Fundraising Goal Reached!!

2010-06-01T11:58:00.000-07:00

Fund raised: $3,000

I have no words to describe my appreciation today. It would have never been possible without the support provided in all forms by those who have stepped forward to go the distance with me in this extraordinary endeavour. And I have been truly humbled most of all by your graciousness displayed simply as fellow human beings.

Again, thank you.

Terry Tsubota
2010 Reach The Summit Climber, Mt. Adams

Night Hike Training May 15th, 2010

2010-05-19T22:42:00.000-07:00

This was another one of our big training events that we looked forward to. It was not so much about training for fitness but more about getting used to doing things in the dark under our headlamps such as doing gear checks, putting on/off the crampons, adjusting the boots, etc., since we will be summitting under similar conditions on our actual climbs. Tonight, we would start our "simulated" climb from the Timberline Lodge and go up about 1,500' to a mountaineering hut called Silcox Hut where we would turn around and come back down.

Some of us had decided to go up to the Timberline Lodge early to get few hours of naps in before the hike. By the time I finished work and managed to get on the road, it was already past 4pm and the traffic on the freeway had already come to an agonizingly slow crawl. It took me over two hours to get to the lodge where an hour would usually be enough. Though the plan was to join everybody at 6pm to have a dinner with them before the nap, this obviously was not going to happen at this point. So I decided that I would stop at Ice Axe, a beer and burger joint in the area, where I had a $12 Philly sandwich, fries and a glass of ice tea to wash them down.

When I got up to the Timberline Lodge's parking lot, the one end of its overnight parking section was lined with cars with climbers in them getting some Zs already. I was somewhat surprised by the number of cars but I probably shouldn't have considering Mt. Hood was the second most climbed mountain in the world (the first was Mt. Fuji in Japan.) I backed my car into an open parking space, made sure it was in gear so that it wouldn't start rolling by accident while I'm sleeping in it, and hopped out of it to go use the facility in the lodge.

As I was walking up the inclined parking lot, I saw Marty and Kristen coming down from the lodge to their car. The weather was crystal clear that night and the visibility was unlimited in all directions. I saw Mt. Jefferson to the south and Mt. Hood looked a lot bigger than usual.

Now the challenge was to create a little nook in my car where I would be able to unroll my sleeping bag and pad, not to mention myself. If you've ridden in a Jeep Liberty before, you probably can see how awkward this arrangement would be. The fact that I had so much junk in my car didn't help either. I folded down one of the rear seats' seat backs so that it would make a small area that somewhat resembled a reclining hospital bed, except that it was only about 5' long. However, once I got settled into my sleeping bag, it really wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. In fact it was surprisingly comfortable even though I was having to curl up in a fetus position in order to fit in the space I just created. Geoff, a friend I met through Reach The Summit program, was also pulling up next to my car as I was fussing with my napping space.

"Quack, quack quack! Quack, quack, quack! Quack, quack, quack! ..." My alarm clock was already... well... quacking. It didn't feel like I fell asleep at all but I must have - two hours went by as if it was merely 15 minutes. In an hour or so, we were to meet up with the rest of the climbers in the climber registration area and start our climb around midnight. Where's the nearest bathroom anyway??

After nursing a hot cup of strong Earl Grey, I was all decked out in mountaineering gear and ready to start the hike. We split into three different groups as usual but, this time, there was no particular category, such as a fast group, an intermediate group or an "endurance group" since it was going to be fairly a short hike. Once we completed this process, we headed out to the Timberline Trail that stretched pretty much straight up from there to Silcox Hut. In 10 minutes or so, we stopped to check our gear and to strap on our crampons. The temperature outside was a bit high at around 50 degrees and the snow felt heavy and mushy under our feet.

Then the usual and familiar slog started. Step by step we started our way up the foothill of Mt. Hood. There were lots of other groups on the trail as well. All probably aiming to summit. At one of our breaks, we turned off our torches to look up and admired the dizzying display of stars in the new moon. I wish I could have taken pictures of them but they wouldn't even resemble any sort of justice anyway.

The major difference between the training hikes we had been doing and this hike was that the snow was so soft and mushy that it was sort of like walking on the beach. The fact that the snowcats had been chewing up the trail earlier didn't exactly help either. We also stopped as often as necessary to practice making adjustments to our plastic mountaineering boots. I think almost all of us hated the plastic boots because it felt much like walking around in ski boots. Not that we had much other choices.

By the time we reached the level slightly above the Silcox Hut, we were roughly around 7,000 in elevation where we turned around and started going down. The gradient of the slope seemed to significantly increase from that point on and many of the groups continuing higher were putting their harnesses on to be ready for their eventual roped traveling.

Going down was much rougher than climbing up. The snow was completely chewed up by then by both the foot traffic and the snowcats making it difficult to make any step even close to decent. Mercifully, it took only about an hour or so to make our way down to the Timberline Lodge. By then, I was ready to head home and to squeeze in few hours of Zs before I had to head back out for the volunteer activities I promised to attend that day. What a hike!!

As if this was not enough this weekend, our next hike is scheduled tomorrow, a day after this night hike, at Nesmith Point in the Columbia River Gorge. This will be our longest and toughest hike yet with the vertical elevation gain of 3,800 over a distance of 10 miles round trip. Stay tuned!!

10th Training Hike - Dog Mountain May 8th, 2010

2010-05-07T15:24:00.000-07:00

The location for this lung and quad burning session was changed to Dog Mountain due to the winter like condition in the Mt. Hood area.

Under the crystal clear sky that would warm us up in its 70 degrees air today, we sucked it up and started pounding the trail that launched steeply via a series of switch backs until we reached a split in the trail where, once again, it offered us a choice between "More Difficult" and "Less Difficult." At glance, it would be somewhat deceiving to first-timers as the "More Difficult" trail continued from that point with a short flat section while the other one climbed on. I'm sure you can guess by now which way we went.

Jason led my group, the intermediate group, with good spirit. From the beginning, he did a great job of reminding us about the abundance of poison oak on both sides of the trail whenever we made brief stops to adjust our gear, etc. We were also very wary of any dog dragging a hiker as it most likely had been going in and out of the poison oak bushes and looking for some victims to brush up against.

Since we had been on this trail before on one of our training hikes, we were more zoned into the task of climbing than the last time and not getting distracted by the gorgeous scenery, I think. Not that that was much possible at the pace we were going. I was actually hoping to see a knoll covered by spring flowers as we broke out of the wooded section but it was obviously premature despite the warm weather today. There were some flowers blooming but not to the extent Dog Mountain was known for.

But we thoroughly enjoyed the panoramic view of the Columbia River Gorge while we devoured our feed at the summit. Especially after beating the time from our last hike here by 15 minutes, at 1:45 to slither up from the trail head to the top, gaining 2850' in elevation. That's 1,629'/hour!

Now the only carrots hanging in front of our noses were the nice tall cold ones down at Edgefield which had become our regular hang-out in this area. We were thankful that we started our hike early enough in the morning before the temperature shot up to bake anyone going up that south facing trail. It also helped that we descended via the "Less Difficult" trail flanked on the shadier side of Dog Mountain. About a half way down the mountain, we found Jennifer, Abby and Hilary sitting at a nice little trail side bench enjoying their lunches.

Edgefield was packed with weekend warriors and alike outside. Every single table was taken so we planted ourselves on the lawn just behind a huge water tower. The cool grass felt great after the rigorous exercises. Our waitress was nice enough to accommodate us there for much needed beverages and even some real food. Couldn't get much better than that!

Now that our climb dates are getting closer, we will be going back to Mt. Hood next weekend to get some night hike time under our belts. We will start climbing around midnight from Timberline Lodge to Silcox Hut where the Mt. Hood climbers will be spending a night just before their summit. Stay tuned!!

8th Training Hike - Tilly Jane April 24th, 2010

2010-05-02T17:59:00.000-07:00

With only few hours of sleep after a rough night out in town, I once again whipped myself out of my bed at 5:15am to strap on a backpack. It's going to be a looooooooong day today - I had a fundraiser event that I promised to go to after the hike too!!!

It was rather a long drive to the trail head. I was thankful that I did not have to drive that morning. The trail head was located on the east side of Mt. Hood right next to Cooper Spur Sno-Park. Marty had a flat tire on his way up so we waited a little while until he and his occupants rolled into the parking lot. Today, I decided to join the "endurance" group to mingle with them as I had been hiking in the intermediate group on most of our hikes.

Tilly Jane Trail would take us way into Mt. Hood's alpine backcountry via a 3.5 miles trail that ascended 2,000' until we eventually arrived at Cloud Cap Inn. This Inn was originally built in 1889 as a resort for tourists with lots of money. Today, it serves as a headquarter for Crag Rats Alpine Club that offers itself as a mountain rescue group when needed.

This hike was originally meant to be a snowshoeing trip. And, as far as we could see, it looked like the trail was going to be kind of icy so we strapped on our snowshoes from the outset. However the snow/ice on the trail vanished only after few hundred feet or so and we were forced to take off the snowshoe to lash them back on our backpacks.

Because the temperature was in the mid 40s already, the run off from the snow was making the trail quite muddy and slippery in some parts. We meandered through the woods typical of the northwest dominated by the evergreens for the first half of the hike. I felt unexpectedly well once we were on our way up the trail despite how tired I was feeling at the meetup point earlier. As we ascended through the woody area, we found ourselves walking through a section that was charred by a fire few years ago. Some of the burnt trees looked quite interesting - only the burnt outer parts of the trunks remained standing while their cores had relented to decay.

We were starting to see some snow again on the trail as we gained elevation. The snow base thickened exponentially once we crossed the freezing level and the training we had last week at the Climbers Clinic came in pretty handy particularly in sections that required us to traverse. Matt who was leading our group reminded us how to edge our boots in order to make more secure steps. But some parts were just too icy to get any boot penetration - I wished I had my crampons with me, which I left in the back of my car! Though we had snowshoes, Matt elected not to have us put them on as they in fact would have made it even more precarious in such conditions. In some other parts, I kept sinking into the snow up to my knees every other step as I put full weight on the foot, making it rather laborious to keep marching.

We enjoyed chewing our lunches in an A-frame shelter at the Tilly Jane campground. It was a quintessential alpine log cabin on one of Mt. Hood's ridges that housed a wood burning stove, tables and benches inside among other odds and ends. From there, our final destination, Cloud Cap Inn, was only a half an hour away. By the time our group arrived there, the fast group was already getting ready to start their final push. Their leader, Marty, organized his climbers into two groups, a group of people who wished to continue up to the Inn and another of those who opted to call it a day and to head down. Because we carpooled from the meetup point to the trail head, there was some logistical issues that needed to be taken into consideration as well.

All members of the "endurance" group were all for going up to Cloud Cap Inn. I was actually feeling very good at this point. It had crossed my mind that maybe I was being mildly hypoxic even though we were only around 5,500' in elevation - euphoria was one of the first sign of hypoxia in general. And the more I thought about it, the more sense it made, taking into account my lack of sleep, high level of physical activity, etc., etc.

As soon as we departed the shelter, we went down a steep ravine to cross a snow bridge across a creek (Tilly Jane Creek?) one by one. By this point, the base of the snow was about a dozen feet and we certainly didn't need to risk collapsing the bridge. There was no visible trail in particular so Matt plowed ahead stomping new steps along the way. Indeed after about a half an hour or so, we popped up on another ridge where Cloud Cap Inn stood.

And what a gorgeous view it had! we were awarded with the panoramic view of Mt. Hood's eastern foothill. Even better than that, the rocky top half of Mt. Hood showed itself as a veil of clouds flirted with its undeniable existence. In less than a couple of months, many of us will be setting foot on the summit of this very mountain. That was pretty awesome even just to think about. As we milled around taking pictures, etc., a flurry of snow started to whirl around us. In order to avoid getting caught in an unexpected weather, we started descending by reversing our path. In some ways, descending was not much easier than climbing up as we still needed to keep ourselves focused traversing the sections we struggled on earlier and to pay close attention on our footings despite the fatigue that was starting to set in all of us.

Sadly, I am not going to be able to join the Salmon Butte hike next weekend. I hope everyone will have a great one. Take lots of pictures!

Climbers Clinic - Mt. Hood April 17th, 2010

2010-04-26T16:43:00.000-07:00

Many of us had been looking forward to our Climbers Clinic ever since we joined the Reach The Summit program few months ago. We had been doing lots of training since then but this was the first time we had a chance to interact with the guides from the Timberline Mountain Guides and to do some mountaineering stuff! We gathered today in a conference room at the historic Timberline Lodge to meet up with the guides who would be instructing us on the basic mountaineering skills.

In the email distributed prior to the clinic, they told us to bring all the gear we have so far that we would use on our actual climb. And everything we brought. I had a 65 litter pack but I ended up using every cubic centimeters of it to fit all the gear in it:

• Backpack - Osprey Atmos 65
• Pack cover - Gregory
• Sleeping bag - Mont Bell UL Super Stretch #1 (15 degrees F)
• Sleeping pad - Therm-A-Rest Toughskin Regular
• Balaclava - Fleece
• Fleece hat - Mountain Hardware
• 3 pairs of Gloves - Heavy warm gloves, Medium weight fleece gloves, and a glove liner
• Snow shovel - Black Diamond D7
• Ice Axe, 70cm - REI (made by Grivel), rented from REI
• Crampons - 12 points, semi flexible, stepin type with horizontal front points, rented from REI
• Climbing helmet - Petzl Ecrin Roc, rented from REI
• Map
• Compass
• Knife
• Small shovel for digging cat holes, etc.
• TP
• A small baggy containing odds and ends such as batteries, band-aids, accessory cords, matches, a lighter, mole skins, an emergency "blanket", a pen and a waterproof pad, etc.
• Packable towel - MSR
• A flask of whiskey
• First aid kit
• A bag of food
• Small cooking pot - Snow Peak titanium
• Insulated mug/cup
• Stove - Brunton
• Stove fuel
• 2 1q containers of water
• Extra cloths, long underwear (top and bottom), underwear, pants
• Outer shells - REI rain pants and Columbia jacket
• Warm insulating jacket: Columbia down jacket - borrowed from Jennifer today
• An assortment of carabiners
• Climbing harness - Black Diamond Blizzard
• An Assortment of runners/slings - 5 singles, 3 doubles, and 2 triples made of 1" webbings
• Prusik cords made of 7mm accessory cords
• Pulley
• Head lamp
• Waterproof notepad & pencil
• Glacier glasses
• Snow goggles
• Fire starter

I'm sure I missed few things but the total weight came to about 45 pounds or so. On the actual day of climb, after adding food, pieces of tents, etc., it might top 55lbs.

As we settled in the conference room, Mat was the first guide to introduce himself and talk to us. He had been a mountain guide for about ten years and he had been volunteering every year for the Reach The Summit program to train and guide the climbers. Soon, Joe, the guide who would be guiding my group climbing Mt. Adams, joined us.

Joe started by laying out few of the concepts that went into mountaineering. One reason why I have enjoyed mountaineering, I think, is because it requires the thought processes that are very similar to those in aviation (I'm a professional pilot by trade.) That might sound complicated but it really isn't. To me, the issue is pretty simple whether I'm climbing a mountain or flying an airplane, though it takes practice to get in a habit of thinking in this term - it is all about not getting yourself cornered into a situation you cannot get out of and making sure that you always have a way out (preferably more than one, actually.) I really enjoy putting together all the elements that goes into climbing mountains, from the initial planning to the actual climb and the descent. Not to mention the Plan Bs.

For example, Joe stressed the importance of keeping the exposure low while maintaining the control high when we are on the mountain. And that in fact it would be one of the guides' primary roles on our trips. The topic of conserving energy in order to maintain high level of reserve was another one. He pointed out the differences between cycling with his friends and climbing mountains with his friends as an example. When bicycling, Joe would go fast uphill so that he could savor the sight of the pain in his friend's face struggling to keep up with him. However, on the mountains, it would be the opposite extreme. On the mountains, he would like to make sure that his climbing partners are well taken care of so that they would be able to take care of him as well.

He talked a little about the equipment unique to mountaineering such as helmets, ice axes, crampons, and mountaineering boots, emphasizing particularly the importance of being cognizant of the sharp parts that could cause injuries if one was not being careful, like sitting on the pack with the crampons strapped on it. He also showed us how to carry the ice axes on our packs, a trick on how to carry the crampons, etc.

Then it was time for Jennifer to split us into three groups. Joe led the group that would be climbing Mt. Adams plus Charles who would be climbing Mt. Hood. Jennifer took the "girl power" group's helm. And Mat took charge of the rest. Once this task was completed, it was time to have our gear inspected by our respective leaders.

When my turn came, I dumped everything out on the floor and Joe looked at them one by one. He seemed mostly happy with what I had. Particularly my whiskey flask. About the only thing he mentioned was that I would not need to bring any of my webbings, pullies, carabiners, Prusik cords, etc. as each guide would be carrying a set. However, he also left it kind of up to me. I have not decided yet but I think I will probably carry a minimal set of things at least anyway. It's sort of a security blanket thing for me - I remember there were more than one occasions in my past when I wished I had certain equipment with me that I didn't take with me. They wouldn't do any good just hanging in my closet for sure. Joe also showed me how to tie cords and webbings into small bundles to keep them from flapping around in the wind.

Once our gear inspections were complete, we put on our plastic mountaineering boots and headed out to meet back up by the training ground. I remember when plastic boots were just starting to become popular in Japan. The first double mountaineering boots I had had leather outer shell, actually. Plastic boots are well suited for snow/glacier travels in very cold temperatures as they are very stiff soled and your digits would be well preserved in the dry, toasty warm inner boots. They are not particularly suited for more technical stuff like trips involving rock/ice climbing because they do not give you very good feels for what's underneath your feet. It kind of feels like you're walking around in ski boots actually. On such occasions, leather or synthetic single boots typically work better. If you need warm boots for technical trips, nowadays you can actually find boots that are compromise between the plastic and the leather/synthetic kinds.

We marched out to the bottom of a small gully next to the Timberline Lodge's overflow parking lot where we could practice safely. The snow was very soft, loose and heavy as my thermometer was threatening to shoot past 60 degrees. Joe had explained to us earlier what boot penetration meant, which basically was the measurements of how far your boot would sink into snow as you put your full weight on your foot each step. The boot penetration was probably nearly two feet or so in some sections.

From there on, we spent few hours learning and practicing various basic steps that are used in mountaineering such as kick steps, duck steps, traversing, climbing/descending in balance, plunge steps, etc. Mushy snow made it more difficult but the conditions in the warmer section of our actual climb probably is going to be similar anyway.

Now that we knew how to maneuver in snow, we strapped on our crampons to try some of the same steps we just learned. It felt much more secure as my feet would not slide each time I took a step. I was thankful that our crampons came with antiballing plates that prevented snow from sticking to the bottom our feet. Without them we would have been turning into a bunch of snow balls ourselves in a condition like this.

Then it was time to play with our ice axes. Joe explained what each part was and how it worked. He demonstrated the two ways to hold the head, the self belay mode and the self arrest mode. There were two schools of thoughts in general as to the uses of leashes on them. One was that a leash would prevent you from loosing the ice axe in the mountain and also it could function as a self belay clipped into your harness. The draw backs were that the ice axe could become a hazard in the event of a fall if you lose the grip on it and also that it could become a source of entanglement as we switched hands back and forth while roped. In general, I guess it's a judgement call but, as a matter of the Timberline Mountain Guides' policy, we were told not to use our leashes on our ice axes. Once again, we practiced climbing, descending and traversing using the steps we have learned already with our ice axes held in the cane position and the stake position.

Now the last item on our syllabus for the day. With Josh, Marty, and Heather's help, Joe briefly demonstrated how we might be climbing roped up together on the mountains. Joe showed us the equipment such as the rope and the carabiners and how they worked. Once Josh, Marty and Heather strapped themselves up in their harnesses, they tied into the rope with Joe in the lead to demonstrate how a group of climbers would proceed without belay, with running belays, or with a quick belay. In the middle of all that, a dog showed up from nowhere and poked his head over the edge of the practice slope, obviously amused by the sight of people tied to a rope for a change..

Next week, we will be coming back to the foothill of Mt. Hood on the east side of the mountain this time to get more experience in climbing in snow. With a little cooperation from the weather, we might even get a closer look at the top half of Mt. Hood where many of us will be climbing in a couple of months. Stay tuned!!!

7th Training Hike - Dog Mountain

2010-04-13T09:17:00.000-07:00

Now that my taxes have been signed, sealed and delivered, I can get back to more important stuff now!

Much anticipated Dog Mountain hike took place in wonderful gentle sunny weather with the temperature starting in the mid 50s in the morning. Many of us looked forward to this hike because of its reputation for the views from the top that any photographer would die for.

Once again, with my pack loaded to 35lbs, I joined the intermediate group led by our training leader, Kelly. From the large parking area, the trail began steeply. In several minutes into the hike, I tried to take a sip of water from my hydration tube when I realized that there was no water coming out! I thought perhaps the mouth piece was malfunctioning so I dug out the spare mouth piece and replaced it during our gear check break. Ugh, still no water!! Luckily the problem was pretty simple - somehow the tube got twisted when I put it in my back pack the night before. Thank goodness!! Though I had another bladder of water in my pack as a weight, it would have been a major hassle if I had to use that.

After gaining about 700' already in the first 1/2 mile, we came to a fork in the trail. There was a Roadrunner cartoon style sign post with two planks of wood nailed to it. One read "More difficult" that pointed to the left, and the other "Less difficult" etched on to it. Both trails before us would lead to the top after 2850 ft of elevation gain. On normal hikes, your choice would be dictated by whether you liked pain in your lungs better than in your knees or vice versa.

On any Reach The Summit hike, there was only one choice for us by default. The left fork climbed steeply up the northern flank of the mountain (the brown dotted line) with only few brief, relatively flatter sections. Though I felt like my level of fitness has regressed somewhat in the past couple of weeks as I had not been able to do much of physical exercises during that time due to some family stuff going on, I was actually surprised by how quickly we ascended this steep mountain.

After an hour and fifteen minutes or so of pounding this wickedly steep trail, we were already popping out of the woods and were rewarded by the incredible panoramic view of the Columbia River Gorge as we emerged into the summit meadows. In fact, the view was so amazing to the point of distraction that I really had to remind myself from time to time to bring my focus back to the task of climbing at hand. At this point, we had only another 500' in elevation to go to get to the summit.

We enjoyed our lunch sitting near a small patch of snow. Mt. Hood (left) was showing off its gnarly summit blanketed in clouds behind the Gorge. Mt. St. Helens (right) was probably the most prominent of all - even though its east half had been blown off by its last eruption, it exerted its massive presence. I almost missed Mt. Adams (left) as it was sort of hidden behind the trees from where we were sitting. I couldn't wait to set my foot on it this August!

Mercifully, we descended via the "Less difficult" route that took us to the east side of the mountain that was supposed to give us a little break from having to jack hammer the dirt with our poor knees. Notice I said "was supposed to". As tough as going up was on our quads, going down was torturous to say the least. But it's true, though, that the most important part of climbing is the going down part. I was at one of the REI's seminar, "Climbing the Cascades," last night and the guy who threw the talk put it best: "The best place to be on any mountaineering trip is the parking lot."

This weekend, we are going to have tons of fun at Mt. Hood!! The guides from the Timberline Mountain Guides, who are volunteering to provide us with the technical training and guide services, are going to spend all day giving us instructions on basic mountaineering techniques. Stay tuned!!

Early Bird Special Contest Winner

2010-04-12T19:21:00.000-07:00

And the Winner Is.... Click Here

non-RTS Training Hike - Saddle Mountain

2010-04-02T15:17:00.000-07:00

April 2nd, 2010

Today's training hike to Saddle Mountain was postponed to 4/5 (Mon) due to hazardous weather in the area.

Stay tuned!!

April 5th, 2010

WOW, what a hike we had today!!! I was really itching to do something since I had not had a chance to hike at all for the past couple of weeks due a series of family events. On top of that, our postponing this hike due to the storm this past Friday had added to my itch like poison oak rubbing on already a raw spot.

Geoff, Charles and I met up at Target at the usual time this morning to hike Saddle Mountain. It was raining lightly when we left the Target's parking lot about 8am or so. The trail head was located about 10 miles inland from the coast near the highway 26 that ran westward from Portland. We started to see some traces of snow on the ground just as I made a remark about how we were lucky that we did not to see any snow when we were passing the 1,000' elevation marker. After driving for about an hour, we turned off onto a paved road that took us north for about another 7 miles to the trail head. After about a half way into this road, an awesome view of Saddle Mountain all of sudden appeared through the beautiful evergreen trees as we came around a curve in the road. We were the only ones in the parking lot.

So the plan was sort of to follow the regular regiment, i.e. to take a gear check break after the first 20 minutes and a break every 45 minutes or so thereafter. All three of us were dressed in layers with full rain garments that gave us protections from the elements. The trail on Saddle Mountain stretched only about 2.5 miles to the top but it gained respectable 1,700' in elevation altogether.

It was amazing how much I could go out of shape in a matter of a couple weeks though. I struggled to maintain a decent pace until we took our gear check break. But then it got much easier from there on. I guess my body needed a little jump start to get going again.

We started to see gradual increase in snow accumulation as we ascended through the wood. Little did we know that we were about to walk into a blizzard and near white out condition as we got above the tree line. The wind was blowing furiously up the side of the mountain and the trail had completely disappeared under two feet of snow in front of us. We could barely make out where it used to be.

We were at the decision point. After few minutes of observing and discussing, we decided to proceed another few hundred feet or so to see if the condition on the other side of this section would be better, or at least good enough to go further. Don't ask us why but there we went.

Where were the goggles when we needed them anyway?? We might as well have stuck our heads in front of a sand blaster actually. The wind mercilessly drove ice pellets into us like machine guns. Any exposed portion of our skin got thoroughly exfoliated in the process and, by the time we got to the other side of this section and took refuge behind a lone evergreen tree, there was no doubt in our minds that we were at the end of our little adventure for the day. Not to mention the fact that we were starting to follow a false trail (right) that led off a cliff. Great!!

After a few Kodak moments taking pictures of each other for the record, we turned around and reversed our direction to trace our foot prints back to the beginning of this section where the trees would give us some protection. To our amazement, our foot prints were almost completely gone. They had been blown over by the wind and snow to the point where we could barely see them in a matter of five to ten minutes. We proceeded step by step VERY CAREFULLY so as not to end up sliding down into an oblivion.

Even after we were back under the trees' protection, snow had accumulated as much as about a foot or so on the trail and we had to be very cautious about our footings on our descent. But the sights were gorgeous in sort of surreal ways. On one of the sections, the snow covered tree branches formed a tunnel like path for us to walk through. I had always loved hiking in snow despite its unique challenges. About a half way down the mountain, we saw another set of foot prints leading down the trail. There must have been somebody set off on a hike but decided to turn around and go back. Smart!

I had always wanted to check out Camp 18 Restaurant on highway 26 which had a lot of memorabilia from the old days in the logging industry on display in a log cabin style structure. I finally got my chance on our way back when we stopped there for a lunch. We were in awe of the purely enormous sizes of everything, such as the chain saws that were at least 10 feet in length with handles on both ends, the bar counter downstairs made of a wood slab at least two feet thick and twenty feet long, and the front register carved out of a tree stump several feet in diameter. Pretty cool.

Climbers ascend Mount Hood in memory of woman

2010-04-01T18:15:00.000-07:00

This article appeared on a Butte, MT paper on 3/9/10. (Click here for the link to the article.)

In 2005, Cathy Davis was a healthy wife and mother, a Boeing employee who had recently been promoted to a new position in China.

The wife of Butte resident Tom Davis, Cathy ate healthy, exercised and never smoked. And she never suspected the nagging back pain she suffered could be lung cancer.

But four months later, Davis fell victim to one of the deadliest cancers in the country, one which killed more than 160,000 Americans last year.

"It really came out of nowhere," said Tom Davis, a 1984 graduate of Butte Central, in a phone interview with The Montana Standard. "By the time Cathy knew she had it, it was too late." Tom and Cathy met at Carroll College in Helena, where she was a star athlete. They moved to Oregon, then Seattle and then to Beijing. It was there that she got sick.

For Tom it was a tough introduction to the disease, one that carries a taboo when it comes to fundraising and research efforts.

"There is this feeling like you did it to yourself, or it's your fault if you have lung cancer. Cathy never did anything, she never smoked, she ate healthy, she was very active," said Tom.

It's in memory of people like Cathy that the American Lung Association started its "Reach the Summit" program, which trains people in mountain climbing. The program includes guided trips to the summit of Mount Hood in Oregon, Mount Adams in Washington State, the Grand Tetons in Wyoming, and summits in Ecuador, including the Cayambe volcano. The climbers all raise money for the association.

Patty Unfred, of Oregon, Cathy's sister, ascended Mount Hood in 2008 as a way to honor and stay connected to her sister.

"It's hard to make sense of this kind of stuff," said Unfred. "This was a way for me to feel close to her." It wasn't something that she could imagine herself doing.

"Cathy was the athlete, not me," Unfred said with a laugh.

But she persevered with the help of her climbing group, and since conquering Mount Hood she's been motivated to continue the sport on her own.

"It really inspired me," said Unfred. "It's become a passion of mine." Alison James, Helena, development manager for the lung association's Montana and Wyoming branch, said they are still looking for people to take part in the program.

"It's a really cool adventure," said James. "Most people who join with us have never climbed before, and we will be doing a lot of training as a group." The climbs occur from June through December. The climbers are asked to raise money to take part, from $3,000 for Mount Hood to $10,000 for the South America trip.

5th Training Hike - Indian Point March 21st, 2010

2010-03-23T09:40:00.000-07:00

OK, I slacked off on my blogging duties due to a series of family events for a little while but I'm back now.

Finally - Rain, mud, and more rain! Now I feel like I'm in the Northwest! However, our training continued, wet or dry. It was the first chance for us to put our wet gear to the test and to gain some experience using the equipment in real conditions. We quickly found out that it didn't really matter if our rain jackets and pants were made of super-duper high tech breathable fabrics when the humidity was 10,000%. It also revalidated the importance of adjusting our layers religiously in order to keep our temperatures in check.

We gathered to hike Indian Point, another picturesque site along the Columbia River Gorge. It was actually a big arrow shaped rock that stuck out from a point that we didn't get to see on this hike as we were feeling very wet and kind of cold by the time we got to that point and couldn't wait to get back to the car. This hike was probably the most strenuous one among all the hikes we had done so far. The trail stretched over an 8.5 miles of loop that gained over 2,700 feet all within the first third. All the hiking guide books that I had looked at suggested to proceed on the loop in the opposite direction to ours. However we were thankful that we did not do that because it would have had us landing on our behinds many times descending down the very steep, muddy and slippery surface.

But the magical thing about this area was that, even though it poured pretty much non-stop the whole time, it provided us with the views in different light through the low scuds hugging the hill sides that was just as beautiful. Too bad that I was able to take no picture on this hike except one. I was kind of looking forward to firing up and using my brand new Costco special digital camera too.

I weighed my pack to about 35 lbs again. On our previous hike, I felt that this was a reasonable load that kept me challenged without killing myself. Marty Houston led the medium group I was in this time. Because the gate to the campground behind which the trail head was located was closed at the time, we parked on the side of the road by the gate and hiked up to it. After a potty break, we set off on the trail. It gradually started up gently to the bottom of a dozen or so switchbacks. From there the trail got significantly steeper. Even though we were well covered under the tree canopies pretty much the whole time, the rain relentlessly drove down on us and we were soaked inside and out by the time we took our gear check break after 15 minutes despite the high tech rain jackets and pants that promised to keep us dry. Of course the source of the moisture was not only the rain but also the steam we generated inside the rain garments as we hustled up the trail. One positive note - my hiking boots worked wonderfully in keeping my feet dry the entire time we were walking through the muddy mess. This was good not only because our feet were the most important equipment we had but also because it kept the level of our mumbling expletives to minimum.

I kept practicing rest step throughout this whole hike and I could tell it made a measurable difference in conserving my energy. After we were back to the parking area, I really felt like I would be able to go up and do it again. Not that that would have been a good idea, as that's just the sort of situations in which I typically got injured in the past.

On our past hikes, we would typically take a short lunch break once we reached the top but we were more eager to get back to the nice dry cabins of our cars than to eat soggy sandwiches. That's OK though - we made it up by making a stop at our usual beer and burger joint.

I missed our gear clinic which I really wanted to go to and the 6th Training Hike at Kings Mountain but a couple of us are organizing hikes on our own this coming holiday weekend, as Reach The Summit has no hikes scheduled. I will be hiking Saddle Mountain on the Coastal Range so please stay tuned!

Online Raffle Ticket Sale!!

2010-03-17T18:51:00.000-07:00

In an effort to reach my fundraising goal for the American Lung Association, I am having an online raffle ticket sale on the following items:

1 new special made Titanium technical T-shirt (men's large, navy blue) from Columbia Sportswear Company with a Reach The Summit logo on the back. I have received this from the Reach The Summit program for reaching $500 total donation milestone and I am passing the chance to own it to you! - Minimum 3 tickets.

1 new Cathedral Peak technical fleece vest (men's large, grey) from Columbia Sportswear Company I have received this from the Reach The Summit program for reaching $1000 total donation milestone and I am passing the chance to own it to you! - Minimum 3 tickets.

1 unused Talus 23, a 3 season tent, from The North Face with a foot print. Click here to read about this tent. - Minimum 10 tickets.

1 new signed copy of "Beyond the Limits: A Woman's Triumph on Everest" by Stacy Allison. I first met Stacy at our kickoff party in February, who was the first American woman to climb Mt. Everest. Click here to read more about Stacy Allison's incredible profile. - Minimum 5 tickets.

You can buy raffle tickets for $5/ticket until April 11th, 2010 11:59pm.

All proceeds will go to support the American Lung Association. Your name will appear in my sponsor list and you will receive a photo of me at the summit of Mt. Adams holding a special flag with your name on it among all my generous sponsors. SHOW THE WORLD YOU WENT THE DISTANCE WITH ME!!

It's easy to buy raffle tickets:

Credit Card: Please Click here to go to my donation page and put in the total amount for your raffle ticket purchase. (Example: $50 if you are buying 10 raffle tickets.) In the Personal Note section, specify how many raffle tickets you want to put in for which item. (Example: "5 raffle tickets for the Columbia fleece vest") Then, click "Next" and follow the direction to complete the transaction.

Check: Please make your check payable to the American Lung Association for the total amount of your raffle ticket purchase and mail to me at: Terry Tsubota, 2498 SW Schmidt Way #387, Beaverton, OR 97006. Be sure to attach a note specifying how many raffle tickets you want to put in for which item.

After April 11th, 2010, I will hold a drawing and announce the winners on this blog site!!!

For questions, please email me at HelpTerryClimb@gmail.com .

Thank you in advance and good luck!!!

Terry

4th Training Hike - Mt Hood Govenment Camp Trails March 14th, 2010

2010-03-14T15:04:00.000-07:00

We just kept on having the best luck on our training hikes - not warm and sunny this time!! And that's very good because we went to the southern foothill of Mt. Hood for a round of snowshoeing on this hike. There were numerous trails that meandered around the town of Government Camp covered with a blanket of fresh snow. (Click on the map on the left for a blowup of the map.) A week ago, we were all worried that there might not be enough snow and that it was going to be a muddy and miserable experience!! The condition was a lot better than we could have ever hoped for. We were to start our hike at the very western end of the Crosstown Trail, follow it up to Glade Trail, and go as high as we could until noon when we stopped for lunch.

Mercifully, the trail started this time almost flat or with very little incline if any for the first 20 minutes or so until we took our quick gear check. From there on, it got steeper and steeper as we gained elevation. It gave us a nice way to warm up and to get used to walking with those plastic planks strapped on our feet.

Almost everybody was using MSR's snowshoes which were two pieces of plastic boards with crampon teeth on the bottom and a set of bindings on the top. I had used them few time this season and had been very pleased with how they performed. The only complaints I'd had with MSR's snowshoes so far were that the bindings were not as easy to operate as, say, Tubbs' and that those plastic planks made rather loud clop clop noise. The noise issue probably wouldn't have been much of anything if only few of us were using MSR's but, when that many people were stomping on them, it made it kind of hard to have conversations at times.

But then, one of our training hike leaders, Daniel, in front of the group maintained our pace just fast enough to keep us panting at all time and therefore not yakking whole a lot anyway. I could feel that my effort to bike everyday had started to pay off a little though. Despite the increase in my pack weight from 23 lbs last time to about 35 lbs this time, and even though I was still pushing myself pretty hard, I felt like my comfort and confidence level had gone up a notch or two since we started our training hikes. I have to remember to take the side shield off my glacier glasses before our next hike as they kept fogging up every time we stopped.

In the steeper section near the end of the uphill hike, I wanted to try to practice a little a climbing technique called rest step that would give the leg muscles a momentary relief each step while climbing. I wish I could find a video clip online to show what it looks like though. Put simply, the technique goes something like this: Take a step. Straighten that leg and lock the knee. As you move to take the next step, place the weight of your entire body on the locked bone structure of your back leg. As you swing your leg forward to take the next step relax the muscles in that leg. Though our faster pace made it a little difficult to do that, it seemed to have made the slug a bit less slug like once I got the rhythm down. I am hoping that they would teach us how to do this properly when we go back to Mt. Hood for our climbing clinic in April. I have always thought this was an easy yet very effective way to conserve energy. It could make our climbs a lot more enjoyable for everyone.

By the time we took our lunch break around noon, we had gone from 3,600' at the trail head to several hundred feet below the Timberline Lodge, about 5,200' or so. One of the training hike leaders said that that was the highest they've gone on any Mt. Hood training hike. We probably started around 10:15am so that was a pretty good pace considering we were snowshoeing. We picked relatively a flat spot off the side of the trail and started devouring our lunches. My standard meal had always consisted of salami, cheese, trail mix, and dried fruits since we started training. They always tasted ten times better in the woods but I think I will try to come up with a little more variations for the future hikes. TMI: I was reminded by the dark color of my pee that I needed to increase my water intake. It's so easy to slack off on hydrating on the trail. Not good. Steve, another training hike leader and also a physician, said that he would usually drink about 8 quarts of water on a day of hiking.

We probably scared the people at the restaurant when we showed up like a pack of wild animals drawn to the smell of a wounded prey with our fangs showing and our eyes glaring. It's funny that I had never noticed this place in Government Camp though. It's not like there were much other choices. In any event, we needed to replace the calories we had just burnt and that we did. I have a feeling we will be ready to eat our own guts and ask for seconds by the time our big days come.

Making of An Outdoor Geek, Part 3

2010-03-12T15:29:00.000-08:00

But then, why would we need any more money?? We'd got everything covered after all. Subtracting $39 ($13/person/night x 3) from the money we had, we still had 63 cents.!! It ought to be fine. Why wouldn't it??

Next, we needed to make a packing list.

Duffel bags (Substitute them with the "sports bags" that were popular among the grade schoolers for carrying school supplies back and forth. They were fairly water resistant too.)
Wool blankets (I snatched mine from the linen closet.)
A Tent (we didn't have one. Improvise it with ponchos if it rains.)
Ponchos (Funny that was fairly common back then.)
Change of cloths (Whatever we each had had to do it. No, no high tech $400 The North Face stuff back then.)
4 days worth of food (We'd see what we could find in our respective mothers' pantries.)
A map (I had already "borrowed" it from the dining room in my house.)
Matches (There were plenty of them in my house. My dad smoked practically anything he could light.)
Pots and pans (I'd have to see what I could find in my mom's kitchen.)
The comic book (Couldn't forget that. In case we needed to refer to it for what to do.)
A point-n-shoot camera (I knew where my mom put hers.)
A rope (Not sure why we'd need it but since the kid in the comic book carried it, we'd take one.)
A can opener (Good idea!)
Flashlights & spare batteries (Self explanatory)

I think that was about it. We'd cram all this stuff in our bicycle saddle bags (Oddly, kids' bicycles in Japan back then typically came with some sorts of saddle bags that straddled the rack in the rear.) and the sports bags strapped on the back our bicycles with bungee cords.

To be continued...

3rd Training Hike - Mt. Hamilton Loop March 7th, 2010

2010-03-08T17:24:00.000-08:00

This is getting almost unreal - great weather, sunny with scattered clouds, yet again - three weekends in a row!!! I thought this was the Northwest but we'd take all we could take!!

This time, we gathered once again to hike Mt. Hamilton loop this time. The trail started out near Beacon Rock, another picturesque site along the Columbia River Gorge on Washington side, gradually northward for few miles until a couple of series of somewhat steep switch backs took us to the top of Mt. Hamilton concluding the 2000' vertical gain. From there, we'd take the path going around and down the back side of Mt. Hamilton rejoining the lower part of the trail we went up on earlier. All together the hike was about 9 miles but many of us thought it went quicker than we had thought.

I think there were few reasons why it seemed that way. For one thing, there were so many stunning sites along the trail that had gorgeous water fall views and expansive panorama of the Columbia Gorge, letting us take our minds off the strenuousness from time to time. Also, for me, hiking with the intermediate group rather than the fast group helped me tremendously to enjoy the hike better as it didn't feel like I was in a triathlon tryout.

Nevertheless, I felt like my heart was going to pop out of my rib cage for the first 10 to 20 minutes or so until the first gear check break. Then it would get a lot easier all of sudden. In fact, I am starting to think this might be my new normal pattern. My pack weight came in at about 23 lbs this time which felt very comfortable. Note to myself - I need to add back few more pounds though. These are training hikes after all. I'd also like to think that my effort to ride my bicycle to run errands, etc. for at least an hour or so each day for the week before contributed to making some of the difference.

I also have to credit Bob, our Training Hike Leader, who was very conscious about keeping the tab on how the group was doing and judiciously stopped the group for breaks not only as our chances to catch our breaths but also as opportunities for us to practice the basic skills like taking on and off our packs, temperature control through adding or removing layers, keeping our level of hydration in check, taking small calorie intakes through out the hike, and not sitting around too long, which all might sound simple but would be important when our big days came. During one of the breaks, Eva, another Training Hike Leader hiking in our group, gave us very helpful insights on energy boosting products available on the market and also on how to use our trecking poles.

I am starting to better shape my non-hike training stuff to fit my daily schedule. So far, I have come up with plans for two of the three parts, aerobic/anaerobic training, flexibility/core strength/balance training (also injury prevention), and strength training at least to start with.

As I mentioned earlier, I started using my bicycle to go everywhere as much as possible. This has saved me from having to set aside an hour or so every day just to do aerobic/anaerobic stuff by replacing some of the time I would otherwise spend in my car. The only minor draw back, I have come to be reminded, has been that the traffic law is somewhat optional in nature to some drivers and I'd best not get flattened if at all possible. On the very first day when I took out my bicycle out for a trial run, I narrowly escaped getting T-boned by a Fast-n-Furious who sped through a stop sign with a phone buried in his ear.

Regardless of the Reach The Summit program, yoga has become an important part of my daily life in the recent months. Yoga has really helped me develop my better flexibility, core strength, and balance that are important in preventing injuries, which is as important as getting fit - it would really s#$k if I had to abort my climb after all this. In fact, it got to the point where, if I did't get to do yoga for few days, I would almost feel like I hadn't washed my hair or something for a couple of days. Bicycling a half an hour each way to and from the yoga studio has also been an added bonus. (Who thought that would ever be considered a "bonus"?)

The part I need to weave into my program is the strength training. I am toying with the idea of checking out a climbing gym as a part of it. Based on my past history, I know that I wouldn't last very long if the activities were repetitive and boring so I need to do things that are actually fun and challenging at the same time. I think trying out sport climbing would fit that category well. It would also be something new for me to do since most of my past climbing experiences were in alpine settings when I was very young. (More about this later in my series, "Making of An Outdoor Geek".) Besides, it would be something similar to what we will be doing this summer. Can anybody give me a good input on sport climbing?

As always, getting to the top was a satisfying moment for all of us accomplishing another small step towards reaching our ultimate summits. The wind was surprisingly calm and we actually had to take off the layers we had just put on not too long before. We savored the moment in this amazing weather as we chewed our lunches. 15 minutes or so later, the "endurance" group was arriving and it was time for us to start descending after our kodak moments. It's funny that it seemed like it took longer to go down than to go up - looking at the map, that might have been actually the case, in distance at least.

We congratulated ourselves afterwards at a bar/restaurant type near our meetup point with the highest caloric looking sandwiches we could find on our menus and generous pours of the locally brewed beverages for good measures.

Making of An Outdoor Geek, Part 2

2010-03-05T16:44:00.000-08:00

Now that we had the issues surrounding our accomodation costs all figured out, it was time to call the hostel and make a reservation. The question was - which night?? There were going to be three nights on this trip.

To figure that out, we started guestimating how long it would take for us to get to the hostel at our destination, the big lake at the western end of Tokyo. 50 miles might not sound like much but we had to take into consideration it was going to be all uphill pretty much all the way after about 15 miles. Not to mention the heavy weight of the bicycle rig and the rather mountaineous topography of the western Tokyo. Not like in European Alps but sort of like in Virginia. But I was confident we should be able to comfortablly do it in two days at most. So we decided to call the hostel to make a reservation for the second night.

Ring, ring, .....
"Hello?"
"Hi, I'd like to make a reservation."
"For which night?" "Two weeks from today."
"For how many?" "Three."
"How old are you??" "...uh... fifteen..." Liar!!
"......"
"OK. It's gonna be $15/person/night."
"Huh? Well, I saw $10/person/night in my guide book." "Oh, yeah.. That's changed."
("@#$%!!!") "..$13 a night is all we can do."
"Fine." Click.

This was a problem. It was good that we managed to have our second night covered at the hostel but this also meant we would have barely a dollar in our collective pockets altogether after our accomodation costs.

To be continued...

Status: Early Bird Contest

2010-03-05T15:07:00.000-08:00

The Early Bird Contest ended yesterday on 03/04/10. Thank you!!! - Wu & Susan, Marty & Janet, Stacey, Lynda & Rob, Jim, Valerie, Mat, Diana, Scott & Teanna, Sharona, Craig, Fred, Bank of America (Matching Gift), Maria, Barry, and Al & Gwen.

I will hold a drawing from the 15 entries and announce on this blog site the winner of the special flag that I will be carrying to the summit of Mt. Adams. This flag will bare the names of all my generous sponsors like you who stepped forward to go the distance with me to support the American Lung Association.

I plan to run more fundraisers such as ruffle ticket drawings (online), etc. in the near future so please stay tuned!!

Re-commitment Letter

2010-03-02T22:46:00.000-08:00

Signed and delivered:

"I am fully committed to the Reach The Summit Team and accept the financial
responsibility of my commitment to turn in the required donations for my climb
to the American Lung Association by June 1, 2010. If I am unable to raise the
required amount, I am authorizing the American Lung Association to charge the
credit card below for the difference after June 1st, 2010."

There, done! I just delivered today my re-commitment letter to Jennifer, the head honcho of the Reach The Summit program, which was due this coming Friday. Now it's truly official!!

Worried? NO!! Have I thought about backing out? ABSOLUTELY NOT!!! You stepped forward to go the distance with me - It sincerely is my privilege to represent you in this awesome program and to take it to the summit.

I have been totally overwhelmed and encouraged by the gracious sponsorship and support of my friends like you. It has been only just over a month since I first sent out my first appeal letters and I have already received $1,140 (as of 03/02/10) out of the $3000 I have pledged. I have no words to describe my appreciation. Thank you!

I am making this re-commitment not only as a financial one to the American Lung Association but also as a token of my promise to you and Joe to continue to work hard to reach my goal and the summit of Mt. Adams with my fellow climbers.

STAY TUNED!!

2nd Training Hike - Multnomah/Wahkeena Falls Loop Feb 27, 2010

2010-02-27T21:50:00.000-08:00

Once again, the climbers gathered in the same grocery store parking lot as the last time around 7:45am to hike Multmomah Falls - Wahkeena Falls Loop this time. For those of you not familiar, Multhomah Falls is probably one of the most popular destinations among both the locals and the out-of-towners. The water plunges from the height of of 620" down this multi level falls providing a post-card picture perfect scenery. Our hike would take us to a ridge above the falls via a series of steep switch backs to gain roughly 1600'. From there the trail would follow the ridge westbound for about 1/2 mile or so until we hike down along Wahkeena Falls.

I couldn't believe the luck we had two weekends in a row - the weather was once again gorgeous! Sunny with few clouds with the temperature starting in the 40s, reaching the 60s by midday. What were the chances of that happening in this area!! I was expecting that it would be a wet day so I even left home with my rain pants on!

This time I carpooled with a fellow climber, Charles, who lived in Downtown Portland. I picked him up around 6:45am and we were in the grocery store parking lot by 7am, leaving us enough time to get some breakfast before the hike, and time for me to shed the rain pants and change into a pair of regular nylon hiking pants. Like the last time, we split up into three groups, the faster group, intermediate group, and the "endurance" group. I selected the faster group as a subscriber of the principle that said one should keep pounding harder until the pain went away.

The small detail was probably left out though - the pain might not actually go away. This time, I could not blame it on my heavy pack as I left home the extra water container that I carried last time to weight my pack for training purpose. My pack came in at about 22lbs this time, as opposed to 30lbs.

Like the last time, after about 10 minutes into the hike, I was once again struggling to keep up with the group. There is no doubt I would need to bring the level of my cardio work out up a notch in the coming weeks. I started out in the middle of the group but I was slowly slipping back to the rear of the pack as we went higher. It got to the point where I had to take a minute to catch my breath few switch-backs before we got to the top of the ridge. Leisa (Left in the photo), one of the Training Hike Assistants, stayed with me to make sure that I was with the group.

As we got to the top of the switch-backs, we found ourselves by a creek that had gorgeous water cascading down the boulders. Having been a fly fisher, I couldn't help looking at the water habitually. There was a small vista point that looked over the Columbia River Gorge where we snapped few photos each. From there the hike became fairly moderate for the next a mile and a half until we got to the top of the ridge.

The group took a quick lunch break at a junction where several trails came together. Even though it was a very simple meal, it tasted 10 times better outdoors as always. From there it was all down hill. We continued on the ridge for another few tenth of a mile to pick up a trail that followed down Wahkeena Falls. Though this fall was not as big in scale and imposing as Multhomah Falls, it provided us with another opportunity to take some pictures and enjoy the incredible weather before we concluded our training hike.

Next weekend, we will be hitting Hamilton Loop in Columbia Gorge. Stay tuned!!

Making of An Outdoor Geek

2010-02-25T19:10:00.000-08:00

I think my first outdoor adventure experience occurred when I was 8 but could have been 10 when I still lived in Japan. A couple of buddies of mine and I decided that we were going to take a 4 day bicycle trip to this big lake in the western end of Tokyo, which was about about 50 miles from the area we lived. I still have few photos somewhere in one of my shoe boxes but I can't find them right now..

You're probably thinking "How in the hell did you get your parents to let you do that??" And I agree you shouldn't let your children wander off like that for four days here in the States because you'd probably get arrested for child endangerment or something like that. But that was in Japan back in the early '70s when there was no such concept yet existed. But even then, it was rather surprising to hear my mother nonchalantly said "You be careful.." as I headed out to our meeting spot.

I remember, when we put together all the money we had among the three of us, we counted barely about $40, if that. Those were the days my allowance was something like 70 cents a week. (Now, that's pretty stingy!) That was all we had. We had no idea how much anything would cost so we started figuring out.

We were pretty confident that we should be able to procure all the food we would need by rummaging through our respective mother's kitchens so we knew we wouldn't starve if we just stayed smart about rationing. Total cost = $0 so far. What else would we need aside from places to stay? Not much, really..

I had read a comic series before featuring a kid traveled all over Japan on a touring bike and I remembered that there was a scene in which the main character looked up a guide book of some sort that had a list of all the hostels in Japan. Next day, I went to a local bookstore to look for one and, to my amazement, there it was!! Problem solved!!! (not...) Of course I couldn't afford to buy it so I spent few hours standing in the isle copying down all the information we would potentially need. Everything looked good except one small detail.. The prices. The cheapest place wanted about $10/person/night. This was a problem. How were we to get our accommodations? We could certainly afford to stay at a hostel for one night but what about two other nights?

So we went back to our bible - the comic book. That kid in that story did this all the time after all. There was absolutely no reason why we couldn't do what he did - camping in the woods.. Why didn't we think of this before?? It'd be free!! It's so obvious!! Man, we're so dumb..

To be continued...

Fundraising Clinic 101 - Feb 24, 2010

2010-02-25T16:03:00.000-08:00

Yesterday (Feb 24, 2010), I went to Reach The Summit Fundraising Clinic 101. Let's face it.. Raising $3000 or more can be a daunting task, especially in this economic environment. I have to admit I had to do a lot of soul searching myself. It didn't help that I had had absolutely no past experience in charity fundraising at all. But then, if not now, when?? At the end, it came down to this - sometimes you just had to act and that's all there was to it...

I could get all the help I could get, that's for sure. So, I decided to drop in. They had a conference room reserved in this giant hospital complex in Portland. Was there a law prohibiting hospitals from building a structure that's navigable?? It took me 15 minutes of going back and forth before I was able to find this non-descript room. Good thing I wasn't there to get my heart jump started or something..

Please meet Jennifer, the head-honcho of Reach The Summit (one of the right), and her right hand person, Colleen (One on the left). When I walked in, there were Colleen, and two fellow climbers (Charles and Paula) already there. Colleen said, Jennifer had to go get one of her teeth re-rootcanaled (that's weird.. re-rootcanal.. what exactly was that?? And she had to get that done without getting knocked out?? eww..) few days before and she might not make it that day. However, determined to be a shining example of Reach The Summit cannon ball, Jennifer made her appearance to join us! Now, that's a commitment.. There were altogether about 8 climbers by the time we got started. (Charles, Paula, Mat, Hillary, Tamara, Nathan, Jeff, and me. Sorry if I missed anyone..)

They said in the previous gathering the issue of fundraising had been the single biggest reason why people would hesitate to sign up as a climber but the success rate of reaching the minimum commitment level ($3000 for Mt. Adams, $3250 for Mt. Hood, $4500 for Grand Teton) had been around 90%. And , that the primary cause of difficulties had been usually not getting started in the first place. I'm happy to report that that was never a problem for me - the anxiety of worrying about not making the goal was so big that I had to do something, anything!

They gave us lots of very helpful pointers on how to write appeal letters and how to follow up, etc.. But, inevitably, we would hit a plateau at some point so they talked a little bit about other forms of fundraisers we could do to help ourselves reach our goals. Then the talk sort of shifted towards how to procure the necessary gears for our training and the actual climbs. Colleen said she was planning to organize an used gear sales where all the people involved, past and present, would bring in the gears they didn't need anymore to pass them on to those who would need them.

Another training hike is coming up this Saturday. See you guys then!!

Status:

Thanks to the support of all my friends like you, I have been able to raise $965 so far since I sent out my first appeal emails on February 1st. That's almost 1/3 of the commitment I made!!! This is fantastic!!!!!!!

Trining Hike Schedule

2010-02-24T12:18:00.000-08:00

Sun Feb 21 Angel’s Rest (Columbia Gorge)
Sat Feb 27 Multnomah Falls/Wahkeena Falls Loop (Columbia Gorge)
Sun Mar 7 Hamilton Loop (Columbia Gorge)
Sat Mar 13 Glacier View Sno-Park Snowshoe (Mt. Hood)
Sun Mar 21 Indian Point (Columbia Gorge)
Sat Mar 27 King’s Mountain (Coastal Range)
Apr 3-4 Easter weekend – No Hike
Sun Apr 11 Dog Mountain (Columbia Gorge)
Sat Apr 17 Climbers Clinic (Mt. Hood)
Sat Apr 24 Tilly Jane Snowshoe (Mt. Hood)
Sun May 2 Salmon Butte (Mt. Hood)
Sat May 8 Devil’s Peak (Mt. Hood)
Sat May 15 1:00 am Mt. Hood Night Hike Training (snowshoe)
Sun May 16 Dog Mountain (Columbia Gorge)
Sat May 22 Ruckel Creek (Columbia Gorge)
May 29-30 Memorial Day weekend – No Hike
Sun Jun 6 Nesmith Pt. (Columbia Gorge)
Sat Jun 12 Top of Palmer (Mt. Hood, Snowshoe)
Sat Jun 19 Sat Jun 26 TBD for non-Hood climbers

1st Training Hike: Angel's Rest Feb 21, 2010

2010-02-23T16:11:00.000-08:00

We did our very first training hike this past Sunday (2/21/10). It took place at Angel's Rest in the Columbia Gorge, OR which covered a relatively short distance of about 4 miles and roughly 1500' of elevation gain.

Altogether, about 30 Reach The Summit participants met up in a parking lot of a nearby grocery store at 7:45am to car-pool to the trail head. I was really looking forward to meeting the fellow climbers I will be training with for the next several months.

We couldn't have asked for better weather to kick off our training. CAVU (Clear And Visibility Unlimited) and the temperature was in the 30s in the morning but it warmed up to probably 60s. I knew it couldn't be this way on all of our hikes but I'd take all we could get!

We will be meeting up for a training hike almost every weekend around Portland, OR. All along the Columbia Gorge, there are numerous hiking trails of varying difficulties that are often associated with gorgeous waterfalls. We will be also hitting some of the trails in the Coastal Range as well as in Mt. Hood National Forest. Qualified mountaineering professionals will be providing us with hands-on training on mountain safety and proper alpine climbing techniques.

There were about 10 or so volunteer Training Hike Leaders and Assistants, of whom many of them were participating climbers themselves in the past. They had been training since November to be ready for our training and were trained in first aid. There were also a couple of medical professionals, just in case.

In the grocery store's parking lot, we split up into three groups: the fast group, the intermediate group, and the "endurance" group. I wanted to be in the intermediate group but, by the time I got there, there were way too many people in it so I chose to be in the fast group, knowing that I could always slip back into another group if necessary. (More on that little later..) One of our Training Hike Leaders, Eva, gave us a quick show-n-tell on how to select a backpack for those who had not gotten one yet and good tips on how to pack. Jennifer, the head of Reach The Summit program, nervously added that we were not to get too close the edge of the cliff when we got there. (...uh... sure, Jennifer..., right...) Now, we were all ready to go!!

Once we got to and gathered around the trail head, we set off for the hike. My group went first. Within no more than 10 minutes into the hike, I realized that I was waaaaaaaayyyy toooooo out of shape. I thought my heart was going to burst out of my rib cage by the time we took a small break about 15 minutes into the hike for a "gear check" where each of us took off a layer or two of clothings. This fact was accentuated by the fact that the rest of the people in my group were hiking as if it was just a saunter around a park. Something was definitely not right here.. Then, I realized why.. Most of them were carrying relatively light packs, while my pack weighed about 30lbs (The night before, I added some water containers to bring it up to this weight for training purpose.) Something to think about for the next hike..

After about 35 minutes into the hike, to my amazement, it got much easier all of sudden. It was as if the slope of the trail just disappeared. (No, I didn't dump the water..) Is this what they call a "zone"?? But then, now that I think about it, it's entirely possible that was a flat part of the trail.. Just before we got to the top of Angel's rest, we took another 10 minutes break. All along the trail, the gorgeous view of the Columbia Gorge would come into view from time to time. The visibility was truly amazing - it had to be at least 100 miles of clear view. When we reached the top, the "gorge wind" was so strong that we had to go over the leeward side of the ridge to take another break. From there, the top part of Mt. Adams was clearly visible. Awesome!!! Can't wait to climb it!!!!!

No hiking is complete without some proper beverage afterwards. The training supervisor directed us to one of the bar/restaurant types nearby for an optional "non-Reach The Summit" extra curricular activities, where we behaved accordingly..

This weekend, we will be doing it again around Multnomah Falls/Wahkeena Falls which are arguably some of the Portland's most scenic.. Stay tuned!!!

In a word: breathtaking

2010-02-23T00:32:00.000-08:00

More press coverage on Reach The Summit program.

Going to great heights to fight lung cancer : KATU.com - Portland, Oregon

2010-02-22T23:02:00.000-08:00

Watch this recent video on Reach The Summit on KATU News!