2019.3.21 Chief - Alpine Edition (Practice)
California Climbers' Salute at the Chief's 1st Peak
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That's what they call "Via Ferrata" - very popular in Europe, not so in N America
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Nice view from the summit of 1st peak. And no people.
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Tossing rappel rope down "Raven's Castle"
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On rappel, with nice views.
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Collecting rappel rope, 100m of it.
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Nice four-hours stint is over.
2019.3.27 Alpine Practice before work. Sugarloaf at Murrin.
Alpine rappel, climbing fixed ropes 1:1, 2:1, 3:1, climbing fixed ropes in pairs, ascending rope with leg loop, passing rappel knot.
今天是非常特别的一天，因为有突破：解决了Free Air 情况下如何运用不同的上升器（而不是传统的prussik knot）轻松攀绳而上（3：1）、再如何在中途转换成绳降模式（Rappel）下降。这以前一直是困扰着我们的大问题（至少对我是这样，因为力量弱，博士可以完成的，有些对我就特别挣扎）。哈哈，终于不再为此费神，这效果太令人满意。嗯，又温习了喜悦的滋味，谢谢博士的指导！
I was forced to admit that on this, my first trip to Denali, I too had grossly underestimated the mountain. I had listened to the rangers' warnings; I had heard no less experienced an alpinist than Peter Habeler pronounce that McKinley's storms "are some of the worst I have ever experienced"; I knew that when Dougal Haston and Doug Scott had climbed McKinley together just six months after standing upon the summit of Everest, Haston had said they'd been forced to draw ton all our Himalayan experience just to survive." And yet, somehow-like Adrian in 1986-I hadn't really believed any of it.
--Jon Krakauer. Eiger Dreams: Ventures Among Men and Mountains
After two years of training, Vera and I have climbed Denali, "the highest mountain peak in North America, with a summit elevation of 20,310 feet (6,190 m) above sea level." As for June-3, Vera was the only Chinese national to have successfully summited in the season of 2019.
..walking the ridgecrest from 16,000 to 17,000 feet is the penultimate mountaineering experience next to summiting. On a good day, you can revel in a three-mile drop to the tundra below--a greater drop than most Himalayan giants. Or you can look east and see Mount Sanford, more than 200 miles away. Or you can meet legendary international mountaineers stumbling down after having suffered up high.
--Jonathan Waterman, In the Shadow of Denali: Life and Death on Alaska's Mt. McKinley.
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PHOTO: Vera climbing on 16K ridge at 5,000m, after exiting fixed lines. At this altitude the oxygen is only 50% of the sea level's. Down below is our belowed 14K camp where we spent 10 days. That's at 4,295 m elevation, roughly top of Mt. Rainier, WA.
On left is Mt. Hunter (4,442 m) where the airstrip with Base Camp are located. On right is famous Mt. Foraker (5,304 m) - tough peak to climb.
Next day a snow storm will destroy Mongolian client-guide team's tent here - it will blow a snow brick from snow wall which will hit and break it. They will have no other choice but to descend down to 14K camp. "I was really scared. Cold is OK. Fear to die is not" - Zhula (client) will tell us later.
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Another shot at 16K ridge. Even on belay, it is a bad idea to fall here. .
.Our tent broke too, at the exactly same spot where two Mongolians attempted to bivy in the storm a few days ago. At 5,000 m on open ridgecrest, trying to figure out how to fix a broken tent's pole was not fun at all, when all you want is to crawl into your warm sleeping bag and remain there till next morning. .
16K ridge
We have been waiting for this day for the last two years. And it came!
Our expedition gear, total weight 260 lbs. Checked-in.
At the "airport"
On board of Talkeetna Air Taxi.
At the Base Camp.
Our first cache. Food and fuel. The food will taste unreal great when we will be back in 22 days.
On this route (West Buttress), every next section is harder that the previous, in geometrical progression. The first leg begins with 150m downhill, called Heartbreak Hill - the exact reason for calling it so we will fully understand on return (Day 22). .
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The combined effect of cold, wind, and altitude may well present one of the most hostile climates on Earth.
--Jon Krakauer. Eiger Dreams: Ventures Among Men and Mountains
Although we trained for Denali "hard" for the last two years, we found it to be at least twice harder than what we expected: would it be"just" pulling expeditions sleds, or climbing/descending fixed lines or traversing Windy Corner or Autobahn, or finishing the Pig Hill. We now both 100% agree that whoever makes it to the summit, guided or independent, deserves full respect: there is no easy way up.
PHOTO: DAY 1, short rest stop at Kahiltna glacier - although it looks flat, you can easily drop into a crevasse anywhere, even on the trail. Which we did, more than once.
This is Denali:
..The climber was out overnight without any camping gear, is reported to be hallucinating, vomiting and extremely exhausted. ..Aside from his hand, the climber has nine deep frostbitten toes. Hemorrhagic blebs will form in the coming days and chances are good he’ll lose multiple digits... the climber kept asking me in poor English if they will “cut off."
"..there were several similar bad decisions in a very short period of time while we were on patrol. A solo Korean climber made a similar decision to push on to the summit overnight and had to be helped down the Autobahn as well and then continue to be helped from Washburn’s Thumb down through the fixed lines to Camp 4..."
"..A trio of Japanese climbers made it to High Camp one evening before realizing they didn’t have any tent poles. Instead of going down to Camp 4 to retrieve poles they all piled into the tent (sans poles) and spent several nights in high wind huddling in the frameless nylon shell. They eventually made a summit attempt, were out for 18 hours and one of their team members got deep frostbite on two fingers..."
"..one of the climbers lost a boot near Washburn’s Thumb on the descent because the loss of sensation in his foot from frostbite prevented him from feeling that his boot had become untied and eventually loose enough to fall off his foot and tumble down to the Peters Glacier. I’m not making this up"
"..a group of three Americans made an attempt for the summit from camp at 14,200 feet up the Upper West Rib. One started experiencing altitude illness, but instead of all turning around to help the sick climber, the other two flipped a coin for who would have to go down and who could go up alone. So much for solid teamwork. The “lucky” climber who didn’t have to help his teammate down continued up, got stuck in bad weather, had a full epic on his way back down to camp and ended up with seven frostbitten fingers and a helicopter ride off the mountain. He chose poorly..."
"..The worst case, in my opinion, was a guided team whose lead guide chose to go up in very poor weather, continued up after all other teams (guided and private) had turned around, were out for about 20 hours and at least one of the clients got frostbite. The clients of guided groups pay a lot of money and put a tremendous amount of trust in their guides to make good decisions. While it is by no means always the fault of the guide if a client gets frostbite, to keep a group out in high winds and -20°F weather for 20 hours and return to high camp at 0430 is arguably a bad decision. One might even argue that frostbite is a foreseeable outcome of this decision…maybe. .."
PHOTO: At 14K camp, Day 16. A shot with friendly Americans from West Rib (mentioned above). They climbed on the day when rangers' forecast was "heavy snow, strong wind up to 45mph" - that's when we dropped our plan to move to 17K and wait it over..wise decision..
DENALI 2019
One of the reasons we love Denali - it's never dark in summer, even at mignight.
PHOTO: Day 7, 23:58. Mt. Foraker (5,304 m) as seen from our camp at 14K, our first night here. Temperature -20°C. We decide we not gonna move up until it warms up to -10°C. We will stay here 10 days.
DENALI 2019 "..great snow conditions have perhaps led some climbers to forget that crevasses could be a problem -- with at least a dozen crevasse falls cited between Windy Corner and 14K...Lots of crevasse falls and self-rescue at 13,200 feet.."
- From Denali Dispatches
PHOTO: Just one step off the trail and Vera drops into a crevasse. That feeling when your feet have nothing to touch - below is empty and you will never know how deep it was.
DENALI 2019
DAY 21
PHOTO: Leaving our semi-emergency unplanned camp at 16K ridge (elevation 5,000m).That's our 7th camp so far. Vera's full expedition backpack looks to be bigger than her. At least as big as her. Ahead (and down) are fixed lines, Windy Corner and Squirrel Hill...only until after 11K camp we can relax.
Back at 14K camp. Souvenirs for friends from 16K ridge.
DAY 8
Our tent at 14K. In total, we had moved entire camp 9 times - carrying camping stuff, fuel, food and gear. Every time taking it down, packing, actual moving, unpacking, making platform and setting the tent.
"..White gas stoves continue to provide reliable performance in cold weather and at high altitude. Cartridge stoves don't tend to perform as well in cold conditions, and they aren't as efficient for making large batches of water and food..." https://www.nps.gov/dena/planyourvisit/mountaingear.htm
Although we brought a MSR Whisperlite white-gas stove as a backup, we never touched it. Our cartridge-based Reactor was super efficient and very fast, worked at all 9 camps, from Base Camp to 17K at 5,220m at -20°C, in wind. If you want to know more about it (or tips on kitchen equipment like snow bag or using a digital thermometer to save gas, or other common Denali myths), come this Tuesday. Don't forget to post your question here ( https://forms.gle/UiFGocCQP1CBFfty8 ).
PHOTO: Insulated MSR Reactor was so fast melting snow that it was hard to do something else or the water will boil.
5,000 calories per day, really? I know my daily need is exactly 2,000 calories, and that's with excercise in indoor gym or alpine training oudoors / hiking BCMC trail. Vera needs even less. So no, we didn't bring 10,000 x 21 = 210,000 calories of food. Contrary to common weight loss on Denali (15lbs on average), we lost no body weight. Through entire expedition, we had excellent appetite, but never missed food back home or craved for something like a cake or apple. And after 22 days on the mountain, we even gave some food away.
To know how much food we brought (and what food, how we "cooked" it, what we liked the best, etc.), come tomorrow, don't forget to post your question(s) here: https://forms.gle/UiFGocCQP1CBFfty8
PHOTO: after two years of research and trials, our food is ready to pack.
I used to be fan of double boots, I owned 4(!) different pairs. None of them were good - a day climb at 3,000m will end with wet feet - double plastic boots don't breathe. I met a guide on Rainier in 2018. He was wearing a pair of modern Spantics. "Not so good" he said - "your Nepals look great though". Consider this: Denali Base Camp is located 4,000 meters below the summit. If your boots are warm enough for the summit, they will be boiling hot 4,000 meters below - no single pair of boots will be good in the range of 25°C difference. So you will have wet socks, and probably blisters, and that's what often happens. Inner boot liners will get wet too. Once liners are wet, the insulation stops working, so the boots effectively lose insulation power. And then, people buy even warmer boots, which of course become wet even sooner.
We have climbed at temperatures below -20°C with our core "regular" alpine boots, just added two layers of extra insulation. Were warm and dry, and never understood why we would need Phantoms or Millets.
So we climbed Denali in our "regular" alpine boots. Only above 14K camp we added one extra insualtion layer, and on the summit day added one more (it was -19.7°C at 17K camp). Universal approach of layer system is the key, as always. If cold - add layer, if warm - remove layer. If you want to know our boot system (including camp footwear and other tips how to keep your feet warm), come tomorrow, don't forget to post your question(s) here: https://forms.gle/UiFGocCQP1CBFfty8
PHOTO: I used to be fan and proud owner of these. Not anymore.
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IP卡
狗仔卡
楼主
显身卡
发表于 2019-3-27 14:04:16
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