Some photos

PanShiBo

2017.12.03 Alpine Practice - Climbing Steep Snow at Mount Seymour Provincial Park (contd.)

"Are you guys training for McKinley?" a passing hiker asked pointing to our equipment. He turned out to be the former BCMC instructor, and has climbed mount McKinley himself, but since then the mountain has changed its name to Denali (Alaska).

vera

2017.12.03 Alpine Practice - Climbing Steep Snow at Mount Seymour Provincial Park (contd.)

PanShiBo

2017.12.09 Alpine Practice - Crevasse Rescue Response

This group of people share a few things in common:

1. Except one, all had been students of the Alpine 101 course and are still around! Even more - some have made a remarkable progress (impressed!)
2. A BD Magnetron Rocklock carabiner (or two!) as Xmas gift will make any of them very happy. (Do you know anybody else for whom finding an Xmas gift would be as easy as this!?) 8)
3. Passion towards learning (respect!). Not many folks will spend sunny Saturday (after a month of rainy weekends) on a training, but if you know those who will, better stick around them - they are the source of a rare-type energy. After eight hours of drills in the snow they are still smiling!

PHOTO: Alpine Practice at Dinky Peak, Mt. Seymour Provincial Park

PanShiBo

2017.12.10

Do you think all these will fit in a single backpack?  (It always does!) 8)



2017.12.11 Foggy interstate I5 in Oregon.

PanShiBo

2017.12.12 Entering sunny California.

PHOTO: At the view point "Mt. Shasta". The peak is shrouded in mist and can't be seen. We are wondering: if here the altitude is 850m and temperature -5°C, then how cold is it at the summit of 4,300m? Every 1,000m of elevation gain results in -7°C drop. Unless it is an inversion taking place,  we get something like -25°C? ( Add a bit of wind, and with chill factor, will be approaching -30°C. ). However, the weather forecast reports only -3°C, even warmer than here!



:arrow: Thank you our weather / avalanche watch volunteer 数码叮叮, your daily satellite SMS updates are really appreciated! 8)

vera

1900整，我插进钥匙，车启动的声音响起来，我长吁一口气，看着坐在旁边的博士，我们相视一笑，同时举起右掌对击，“Finally！” 终于出发了！

临行前的list check，一项接一项，让急于离开的我疲惫不堪，可是面对特”较真“ 的博士，我是一点儿辙也没有，拗不过他，只能耐着性子消极地应付着：feet/lower body/upper body/hand/face/gear/food...  简直是endless的感觉。看着外面的阳光，心早就飞到了路上，可那又怎么样？干着急呗！其间我已经忍不住问了博士“我们今天还走吗”，“走啊，今天离开。“ 这样，我才稍稍定了点心。

Shasta, 去年我们就Day hike过，那么漂亮的一座山，路上经过的horse camp/helen lake/misery hill/ thumb rock/ red banks... ，一切还记忆犹新。得知博士计划着要来，就开始期待着，生怕他改了主意，也一直祷告着天气能保持现状。但是，即便这样，仍有一事觉得蹊跷：在peakbagger的report里，这个月份的找不到。原因不得而知，但又觉得一定有什么原因。这次Shasta之行，也许可以解开这个疑问吧？又或许，等我们发现了答案，也会带来同样无法攀登的结论？

既然没有记录，是否意味着我们都不得不break the trail，一直到最后？那难度明显要大很多，而且会需要更多时间。“要不，我也开路吧，我们轮流？” 博士听我这样说，笑起来，大概是我这样的自告奋勇太没有自知之明了。我们讨论着这些问题，欣赏着沿途的风景，不管怎么说，road trip都是令人开心、放松的，哪怕什么地方也不去，就这样开着开着，随便开到哪里。

Shasta快到了，那个熟悉的Vista Point到了，虽然看不到想象中白雪皑皑的Shasta，但我们都知道它就在那里，在那里等着我们。快了快了，我们一小时后见！

Electronics - check! 4lb of total weight.

数码叮叮

Boshi and Vera: You are in the so called Tule fog, which is thick ground fog that settles in the California's Great Central Valley from late fall through early spring every year.  Tule fog is a low cloud, usually below 2,000 feet (600 m) in altitude. Tule fog is normally caused  by temperature inversion, i.e., the temperature increases with the height in this layer.  That's why you'd observe lower temperature on the ground than the temperature on the summit.  Above the cold, foggy layer, the air is typically mild, dry and clear,  then we could convert the temperature with the elevation.  Based on the forecast temperatures at different elevations,  the lapse rate at Mount Shasta could be approximately 0.5C/100m in this season.

lulululu

路线(AVALANCHE GULCH ROUTE)的雪况如何？虽然记得博士说过“the route is max 25 degrees walk"，还是有些担心这个大长雪坡的雪崩风险（下了Red Banks一路大雪坡一直到Horse Camp）

PanShiBo

lulululu
路线(AVALANCHE GULCH ROUTE)的雪况如何？虽然记得博士说过“the route is max 25 degrees walk"，还是有些担心这个大长雪坡的雪崩风险（下了Red Banks一路大雪坡一直到Horse Camp）

Avalanche danger was low. But ice-fall from Red banks was for real. New impact dents on our helmets have a proof of that..

PanShiBo

数码叮叮
Boshi and Vera: You are in the so called Tule fog, which is thick ground fog that settles in the California's Great Central Valley from late fall through early spring every year.  Tule fog is a low cloud, usually below 2,000 feet (600 m) in altitude. Tule fog is normally caused  by temperature inversion, i.e., the temperature increases with the height in this layer.  That's why you'd observe lower temperature on the ground than the temperature on the summit.  Above the cold, foggy layer, the air is typically mild, dry and clear,  then we could convert the temperature with the elevation.  Based on the forecast temperatures at different elevations,  the lapse rate at Mount Shasta could be approximately 0.5C/100m in this season.

Your update sent to us in the climbing day morning was super accurate! We measured air temperature at the summit with digital thermometer, and it was exactly as reported:-2°C!

数码叮叮

PanShiBo

Your update sent to us in the climbing day morning was super accurate! We measured air temperature at the summit with digital thermometer, and it was exactly as reported:-2°C!

Thanks for the feedback! Very good validation to the mountain forecast!

PanShiBo

2017.12.20 Random Alpine Tips (Presentation)

The event would not be possible without great-great organizers: starlight , LilyQ,  Lulu and support volunteers. Impressed! 8)

Photo: fun part, Random Alpine Tips Presentation 2017.12.20


More photos here.

PanShiBo

2017.12.26 Chief - Alpine Edition

Catching the last good climbing day of year 2017! 8)

Itinerary
Climb Stawamus Chief's "1st peak" via the "Mountaineer's route" (A0, rebars)
Rappel down to the rim off the west face (The Raven's Castle) - (bolts, low-angle, 2 pitches 30m)
Join tourist trail at the Upper Black Dyke's exit, return to cars.

PHOTO: RARE! with otherwise zero crowd at the summit of Stawamus Chief's "1st peak", just before rappelling down off the west face (The Raven's Castle) - on the right, facing Howe Sound.

PanShiBo

2017.12.26 Chief - Alpine Edition (contd.)

Stawamus Chief's Grand  Wall as seen from the parking lot. Black Dyke became white - it is water ice..

PanShiBo

2017.12.26 Chief - Alpine Edition (contd.)

Approaching first section, a.k.a. "Climbers trail"

PanShiBo

2017.12.26 Chief - Alpine Edition (contd.)

As if a sad reminder to this sign, a memorial plaque can be seen higher up.






Second peak as seen from the climber''s trail.

PanShiBo

2017.12.26 Chief - Alpine Edition (contd.)

The Track "Chief - Alpine Edition"

PanShiBo

2017.12.26 Chief - Alpine Edition (contd.)

The rappel off the First Peak was supposed to be short (as it used to be in summer time), but the hard-snow run-out at the bottom required longer rope, which we didn't carry. So we executed a multi-pitch mode for a change. New and good practice for the students of Alpine 101 course. 8)

PanShiBo

2017 Summary - TOP TWELVE

It was a very big year, 2017! Here are the top highlights.

1. Alpine 101 Course
2. Elephant Butte, Utah, the highest point or peak in Arches National Park.
3. Mount Kinesava, Utah
4. Lady Mountain, Utah
5. Grand Wall Rappel (an epic, "..everything that kills me makes me feel alive..")
6. Mt. Yushan, the tallest peak in Taiwan and also  the highest mountain in East Asia and the Far East.
7. Fuji-san, Japan,  the country’s tallest peak.
8. Mount Wilcox, Alberta
9. Longs Peak, Colorado,  the highest point in Rocky Mountain National Park
10. 四姑娘大峰 (5,025m), China
11. Mount Hood, Oregon
12. Mt. Shasta, CA

PanShiBo

2017 TOP TWELVE

1. Alpine 101 Course

28 days of hard work! The results are impressive - one of the students, an absolute beginner with no knowledge of mountaineering (even simple alpine knots) after the course climbing real technical peaks, in the same year! Make the instructors proud! 8)


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2017 TOP TWELVE LIST here