2015 02.28-03.02 * Mamquam Mountain

PanShiBo

Two of us climbed Mamquam Mountain (2,588m), "Darling Lake route". 8)

"Many parties routinely fail to climb this summit"

http://bivouac.com/MtnPg.asp?MtnId=29

Also, Vera increased her English vocabulary by three words she most likely will never forget: bushwhack, devil's club and whiteout. 8)

PHOTO: Delusion SW1 and Mamquam Mtn.

PanShiBo

We camped on the ridge above Darling Lake and below Delusion Peak.

PHOTO: Delusion SW1

PanShiBo

TOPO of the entire trip ( 3 days Feb.29-Mar.02)

PanShiBo

Paranoid Creek has a good reason for its name.

PHOTO: Crossing the Creek better be done with crampons on. Jumping rocks is not so good idea as we learned on the way back.  8)

边走边唱

老潘，很精彩哦！ :favor:

vera

vera

这次Mamquam之行，我就是主观上想忘但客观上一定是忘不了的。（除非被人施了“忘忧香” 才有可能）

先说一说这个有点令人谈之色变的paranoid creek。去时一路艰难跋涉暂且不谈，终于见到了它，水流湍急，博士上看下看，左看右看，试图找到最合适的过溪点，试探一下，发现石头上有冰，便决定启用crampon。我呢，像以前一样，照葫芦画瓢，万分警惕，终于安全到了对岸。没少听博士讲它的传说，在收拾帐篷回程时，我便意气风发地说，“啊，这次我要给Paranoid Creek一个大大的hug！” 心想，我已经踏过它了，应该没什么问题，很自信哦！可是，人算不如天算，我真是搬起石头砸自己的脚，登山杖放到水里都放不住，用力才能不让它顺着水流走，一步一步到了最后，啊，还有一步！我便得意忘形，手舞（当然不能足蹈）起来，做出胜利者的姿势，然后右脚踏向最后一块斜放但是大面的石头，这样的石头在我看来，是多么难遇难求的，这么大，虽然表面是斜的，可是踏实呀，而且有crampon，怎么可能有问题？谁知就在右脚踏上去用力时，一下子整条腿顺着石面向外斜滑下去，至少大半gaiter被溪水淹没了，我呢，不是给了paranoid　creek一个大大的ｈｕｇ，而是给了这块大石头一个大大的拥抱！另外的副产品是，我同时弄伤了左脚的脚踝，现在肿得像个馒头，事后还被博士大大地现场教导了一番，分析了我错在哪里，教了我如何在过溪时选择落脚点，就像下棋一样，放下去时就要考虑到后三步，要想到一旦滑了，滑下去的空间有多大，这些都是安全的因素，不能不想。

你看，获得一点经验要付出多大的代价！我也懊恼自己为什么事先要口无遮拦。据博士说，这还是他所看到的这条小溪状况最平和的一次，可想而知，水多的时候又会是什么样子。我心有余悸，但也明白了，crampon必备，但不能以为有了它就万事大吉了，涉及到安全的，该想的一个也不能漏掉。

PanShiBo

Wearing a helmet is often a good thing.


Ironically falling into Paranoid Creek is not uncommon: below is photo of our Creek crossing in 2010. 8)

beijihu

关节受伤应及时处理，72小时内对肿胀部位冰袋加压消肿10至20分钟，间隔1至2小时，尽可能不受力或者抬起受伤部位。

如果止不住内出血肿胀加剧非常麻烦，建议三天内以物理治疗为主。

之后应咨询专业医生。

祝尽快康复！

vera

Thanks a lot, Beijihu. Just read your kind suggestion. I am using icepack now.
Thanks again.

vera

博士说的没错，这次不仅爬了山，还学了英语新词汇，“Devil's CLub”就是其中一个。

这个魔鬼般的没有trail的trail，时不时就会出现一片浑身从上到下没有一片树叶的像干稻草颜色的植物，有张开的枝杈，密密麻麻的刺是它的唯一。我从来没想过路上会有这样的东西，披荆斩棘之时猛一定睛，看到你眼前出现这样的怪物，真是倒吸一口凉气，可是没有退路，它们的高度差不多齐肩，要完全踩过去躲开它是不可能的，因为不是一棵，是成片，即便海拔高的地方还是有它，我一边尽量让它少刺我，一边恨恨地想，这是什么样的trail啊，我怎么会走这样的trail啊？可是只能意识流，断断不能抱怨出来的。


天色渐渐黑了，过了Paranoid Creek之后，一路上升，很陡，还是一路没有trail，还没上去，我就在担心两天后我怎么下山。背着重重的背包，加上路上有薄雪，还有bush带来的阻力，我很容易失去平衡，不知道已经摔了多少次，谁知道更可怕的事情发生了，我照例又摔了，我像往常一样转过身来，准备卸掉背包(否则是站不起来的)。这本是兵家常事，但是，我转过来坐在地上时，一下子觉得糟了，再抬起撑在地上的左手，在头灯下，一根根刺穿过手套刺到了手掌，更糟的是，我还坐在了上面！（回来后的折磨以后再叙）


这样的事可能忘掉吗？博士在回来的路上还笑着问我，“这样的过程你是不是很享受？”是啊，真的很“享受”，很享受到你都不能忘记它。我真是欲哭无泪。相比之下，大峡谷简直就是天堂里的天堂，这里就像是地狱里的地狱。博士说，“你要学会怎么去爱它们”。爱它们？爱什么？我怎么去爱这些刺？我一直在路上想，可是也没想出什么来。回来traverse的时候，有好几次要必须经过它们，我真是想一下都觉得害怕。(If you don't believe, I will share some pictures with you.)

I'd like to try to change my attitude if it is possible, so I did some research about this plant:

Devil's club is a plant. People use the inner bark of the root for medicine.

Devil's club is used for arthritis, wounds, fever, tuberculosis, stomach trouble, cough, colds, sore throat, diabetes, low blood sugar, and pneumonia. It is also used for emptying the bowels and causing vomiting.

Some people apply devil’s club directly to the skin for swollen glands, boils, sores, and skin infections. The ashes have been used to treat burns.

Ok, it is useful. I try to persuade myself to like it, but still not that close; however, Aha moment came finally! Love has many ways to be expressed. Whatever being hated or liked, as long as being remembered, maybe that's one kind of love wants to be.

PanShiBo

Our camp was at 1,630 m ASL, ( = Mt. Harvey height ). Mamquam summit is still 1km (vertical) up.

PHOTO: Having air temps well below freezing (-8C) is always a good news for safe glacier travel. No worries about heat-caused slab avalanches either.

PanShiBo

PHOTO: Garibaldi Massif from Darling Lake ridge.

PanShiBo

Using cliche one would say "this is definitely  a building character part", but I would rather say it is fighting with evil forces of alder, alpine style. That's Mamquam, like it or not: in the battle we lost one piece of gear and almost lost another. 8)

PHOTO: Alder on old Skookum S Line.

lulululu

想起三年前和我家ld的一次爬野---vertical bushwacking在Selkirk Mountain，一路都是Devil's CLub，ld领爬，穿的是较厚重一些的工业野外装备---比如厚手套厚些的衣物，我穿得单薄一些hiking的衣服-快干长袖长裤薄手套，ld带的一个刚从queen's地质系毕业的小助手穿的是短袖无手套，我们让他换上ld备用的快干长袖手套，我俩因为衣服单薄，吃了不少Devil's CLub苦头...

vera

这是我的第一次真正的bushwhacking经历。记得去年夏天HSCT的路上，有时trail很窄，两旁时有枝杈，我就以为那已经是在bushwhacking，到这次才知道自己太孤陋寡闻，这里整个路上都是Mountain Alder树，就像照片中的，走在里面，真是无比受罪，加上背包还外挂着头盔/睡垫/帐篷/冰镐等等，连手中的登山杖也成了累赘，因为总是被无尽的树枝缠着，成为你前行的阻力。树枝不断地鞭打到脸上，腿上（回来后发现腿上至少有十几道划痕，裤子的膝盖处也破了几个洞），还有几次，细小的枝条扫进了眼里，当时真担心眼球会被刮破。

我一路被这些乱长的树枝弄得跌跌撞撞，歪歪扭扭，两小时还不知道有没有走到一公里，当然更不知道更可怕的devil's club还在前面等我，当时的心力交瘁真是可想而知，也明白了爬山前千万别只看公里数，因为那根本就不作数。如果trail难走一点，花两三倍甚至更多的时间都是没准的。博士很会心理辅导，他让我想象一下，如果是在蚊虫满天飞的夏天，加上天气炎热，若再来点雨，走在同样的路上，又会是什么滋味？这样想来，我这还算是”幸福“的。

我想，如果还有下一次，我会事先准备好这些：
1. 尽量把所有东西装进背包，不要外挂，这样省得被树枝缠来绕去。
2. 连衣帽。这样那些小树叶就不太会掉进脖子里。这次一开始没注意，休息时一摸脖子后，发现尽是小叶子，粘在皮肤上，想想都会起鸡皮疙瘩。
3. 所有东西放在口袋里的，尽量都用拉链拉好口袋。像相机这样本身带绳子的更要注意别把绳子露在外面。通常我会把绳子一头留在口袋的外面，这样一拎就可以拿出相机，很方便。但是在bushwhacking时，千万不能！(我走了一段后，发现相机丢了，当时的沮丧一言难尽，我说要回去找，博士拗不过我，而且原则上group又不能分散，所以他只能陪我回头重受二茬罪。好在很幸运，不是太远就被博士找到了。特别感谢。）
4. 我可能会改穿Goretex 的裤子，厚一点，可能不太容易刮伤皮肤。(这些树枝，它们回弹时抽在身上真的挺疼的。）

快回到trailhead时，我看着这些alder树，对博士说，你看这样的树，无数枝杈，大部分很细，有什么用呢？又不能做家具之类的。但是，”存在即合理“，它一定有它的价值，只是不被我知罢了。我不想让自己误会它真的一无是处，所以搜索了一下，与大家共享：

Mountain alder
Uses
Because of its hardness, some Interior aboriginal people used mountain alder wood for making bows and snowshoes. Because it doesn't flavour the food, they also used it for smoking and drying salmon and meat. Like red alder, it was a source of dye and a substance for tanning hides. The Carrier made fish nets out of mountain alder and dyed them black by boiling them in their own juice. Fish cannot see the black nets.

PanShiBo

Bushwack no more !

PHOTO: Climbing above Darling Lake just below Mamquam Icefield.

PanShiBo

Atwell Peak, 2655m - a dramatic pyramid shaped peak at the southern edge of the Mount Garibaldi massif. This is the peak commonly called Mount Garibaldi when viewed from Squamish, since the main peak is hidden. The rock on this mountain is very loose and rotten. It should only be climbed when coated by hard snow or ice.

http://bivouac.com/MtnPg.asp?MtnId=5018

PHOTO: Garibaldi Group: from L to R - Diamond Head, Atwell, Dalton, Garibaldi, The Tent.

PanShiBo

Although we always carry enough gear to spend emergency night in the snow (snowsaw, snowshovels, warm clothes, avalanche beacons, food, water, Satellite Messenger, headlights) plus glacier rescue equipment, we never venture in the alpine knowing it's going to be bad weather - our only goal is to have fun enjoying the views of pristine backcountry and not to battle with forces of nature.

Yet contrary to perfect weather forecast which we checked and rechecked before leaving Vancouver, the skies suddenly started getting darker.  Memories of epic "The 1998 Garibaldi Neve Traverse: Cold, Confusion and Clouded Judgement" made me automatically double check my dear GPS is securely attached to my climbing harness and won't get dropped or lost, and is tracking our path.

PHOTO: Delusion SW1 from Mamquam Icefield.

PanShiBo

Getting windy. We started preparations for protecting last 20 meters to the main summit.

PHOTO: 20m below main summit of Mamquam.