yea, we’re different.

runners. yea, we're different.

back in the 90s, i remember an ad campaign by nike running.  the ads were simple and usually featured runners in less than hospitible scenes with a four word caption:  runners.  yea, we’re different.   my favorite ad from this campaign showed a picture of a runner blowing a “snot rocket” with the caption “yea, we’re different.” 

to me, that simple phrase says so much and can be applied to so many aspects of life, particularly sports.   sleeping in -37 degree temperatures?  “climbers.  yea, we’re different.”   endure years of studying and pressuring yourself to earn perfect grades?  “doctors.  yea, we’re different.”

this phrase embodies the will push to through the initial discomfort of a challenge in order to enjoy the reward that it can provide.   it’s about ignoring short term obstacles and focusing on long-term benefits.  it’s about taking the road less traveled.

i love it.

nearly there

mike is headed for the summit!  as of 18 minutes ago, he is at 19.6k on an area known as the football field.   he’ll have to crest pig hill before tagging the summit.  awesome work mike!

the good life

mike is moving up!   i’ve been watching the weather and it looks like he’s been stuck at 14k camp and digging out of a lot of snow.   it looks like the weather improved and according to his spot tracker, he is almost into 17k camp as i type.  which means he’s only a few days away from a summit attempt.  awesome — wish i was there!

however, i’ll be in new hampster again this weekend.   chuck and i have a camping trip planned with some of our favorite people.  i’m going to try to get a trail run in on saturday morning, but otherwise we just have big plans for some relaxin’, guitar strummin’, and campfire sittin’. 

ahhh…..  i always try to live the good life!

Bond and Back

Over the last 6 months, my weekend adventures were training-focused.  I enjoyed my training hikes as an opportunity to get outside and enjoy nature, but carrying 50lbs of dumbbells in your backpack limits the amount of fun one can have in the mountains.   Toward the end of my training, I started dreaming about warm summer days with long speed hikes and trail runs with a lightweight pack.  This weekend I that dream became a reality.

I started planning for the weekend’s adventure on Wednesday.  I didn’t have a specific plan, but I knew I wanted to cover at least 20 miles in new territory.  After pouring over a map of the Whites, I decided to make a trip out to the Bonds, heading up Mt Hale before joining the Twinway over to Mt Guyot.  My route would take me out to Bondcliff and cover 24.9 miles.

On Friday night, I packed my DayRunner Camelback.   I went out to dinner with friends, but knew I wanted to be home early for my 3:30am alpine start.  Somewhere during the night, I opted for more margaritas and less sleep.   I woke at 5am on Saturday morning, already running late.  

Still, I made it to the trailhead at 8:07, an hour behind schedule.  Knowing that I was already running late, I left open the option to cut my hike short if I started to run out of time.  I made a schedule of the hike and gave myself cut-off times for all the major waypoints.  Since the trip was out-and-back, I could easily turn around whenever I felt I was running behind schedule. 

But, I never ran behind schedule.  In fact, I was quite pleased with my pace.  I started at the Mt Hale trailhead and climbed to the top of Mt Hale in 1:10, 30 minutes ahead of my schedule.  I quickly realized that I was too conservative on my time estimates.   However, I didn’t know if I had the stamina to continue at that pace, so I headed down Lend-A-Hand trail without stopping on the summit. 

I tried to stay regimented during the entire hike.  At every waypoint, I assigned myself a target time to reach the next waypoint.  I only drank water on the hour.   I didn’t linger on the summits.  I ate a Snickers every 3 hrs and had a handful of snack mix every 2 hours.   I ran downhill when the terrain would allow.

 

I stayed ahead of pace until the stretch of trail between Zeacliff and Mt Guyot where I got behind a large and very slow AMC group.  The trail was rocky and narrow and was difficult to pass the hikers.  I finally moved past the last of the group and made my way over to Guyot .  I had never been this far into the Pemi Wilderness before and I absolutely loved the remoteness.  As I moved toward the Bonds, I absorbed the 360 views of the blue skies and green mountains. On top of Mt Bond, I heard voices.  Aside from the large AMC group back at Zealand, I didn’t see too many people on the trail.  I was a little surprised to hear voices just below the summit of Bond, since we were at 10 miles from the nearest trailhead.   The first hiker popped above the summit, looking rather familiar.  We both did a double take and then said, “Zophia?”  “Yea, Sara?”  “Yea.”  “Victor and Steph are coming up too.”  What a random place to meet up with three friends!

I spent an hour on the summit talking with Steph and making plans for a late summer trip up Mt Rainier before we parted ways.   Of course, chatting with friends slowed down my pace, but it was worth it.    I decided to skip Bondcliff since I lost an hour and I headed back. 

I stopped at the Zealand Hut and treated myself to a glass of lemonade.  At the hut, two hikers made the comment that they had seen me earlier on the trail.   Although I didn’t specifically recognize them, I knew that I passed several hikers that I saw on the way out.  The hut caretaker said I was 2.6 mi from the Zealand trailhead and that it was all downhill.  I wanted to get back to my car (which was an additional mile down the road), so I started running.  I made it back to the car in about 45 minutes.  

Great hike.  It was fun to cover so many miles in a day. 

The stats:

I carried 1.5 liters of water, 3 Snickers, 11oz of trail mix, Sport Beans, map, compass, camera, and Marmot DriClime jacket, EMS System II rain jacket and pants.

 

Waypoint	Dist	Elev
Mt Hale TH to Mt Hale		1770
Mt Hale	2.2	4054
Mt Hale  to Zealand Hut	2.7	2730
Zealand Hut to Zeacliff	1.6	3740
Zealand	1.3	4250
Mt Guyot	1.6	4580
Mt Bond	1.3	4698
back to Guyot	1.3	4580
Mt Guyot to Zealand	1.3	4250
Zealand to Zeacliff	1.3	3740
Zeacliff to Hut	1.6	2730
Hut to Zealand Falls Tr	1.3	2460
Zealand Falls Tr to TH	0.4	2000
Zealand Falls TH to Mt Hale TH	2.3	1770
	1.0	1770
Total Mileage	21.2

Moving into Fourteen Camp

According to Mike’s SPOT page, he is at 14k camp today.   The tracker suggests that they moved up there two days ago and returned to 13k to pick up their cache yesterday.   They will probably take a rest day today and try to put a cache up on the 17k ridge on the next good weather day.  This is the point of the trip where the waiting game begins!  

Following Mike is causing me to relive my trip.  And it is making me miss the mountains.   Is it possible to be homesick for a place that you only lived for 18 days?   I miss Talkeetna, the tent life, the freedom of not having a daily schedule, the feeling of self-sufficiency, the humility that the mountains impose on you….. 

ahh…. time to start planning my next adventure!

tragedy on the mountain

A local climber fell to his death on Denali this week. 

Several friends sent me this article from Boston.com.  I received the article via Blackberry and could only read the headline.  Until I could read the entire article, I simply saw the headline with “local climber” and “dies on McKinley” I was very concerned that it could be my friend Mike, or other friends that I know on the mountain right now.  Scary thoughts.

These deaths mark the 3rd and 4th of this season, which is rather high considering the season is still not over.  Also, these two climbers died in the Messner Coulior, the suspected site of another death on the mountain earlier this season.  Although the body of the previous climber was never found, he mentioned to me and several other people that he was going to “ski the Messner” the day before he was reported missing.  It is assumed that he fell while trying to locate the top of the  Messner.

I also wanted to note that the Newton doctor mentioned in the article was the receipient of the Denali Pro award in 2000.   This award is given out to climbers by the National Park Service, in an effort to honor “members of the climbing community for exhibiting high standards for safety, self-sufficiency, Leave No Trace ethics, and assisting fellow mountaineers.”

Typically when stories of lost mountaineers appear on mainstream newspapers websites, such as the Boston Globe, the public will respond with vitriol in the comments section.  Comments range from “these men terrible people for orphaning their children in pursuit of extreme thrills” to “these inexperienced crackpots deserved to die.”    I am pleased to see that the article mentioned they were Denali Pro recipients and therefore accomplished and experienced climbers.   Clearly an accident or objective hazard caused these men to perish, not inexperience or careless risk taking.  

Another terrible loss for the climbing community.

follow along at home

My friend Mike is on Denali right now.  He is carrying a SPOT with him, so you can follow his progress.   

Click on “Satellite” and zoom in.  You can see the route across the Kahiltna Glacier and how the route snakes around crevasses. 

It looks like Mike landed at basecamp around 2:45p yesterday and it took about 7hrs to reach Camp 1, which is around 7800ft and located at the base of Ski Hill.  Right now he is beneath the shadow of Mt Crosson on his left and is looking up the Northeast Fork of the Kahiltna on his right.   I remember looking up the NE fork, knowing that the fork was the approach route to classic climbs like the Cassin Ridge and the West Rib.   Where the fork meets the Kahiltna proper, there is a huge nasty icefall.  Also, the NE Fork is much narrower than the Kahiltna so avalanches that slide off the surrounding peaks will sometimes reach from one side of the glacier to the other — prompting climbers to call this area the “valley of death.” 

The West Buttress route on Denali (the route I climbed and that Mike is climbing) avoids these dangers by following the Kahiltna up Ski Hill and through Windy Corner.

The Third Week

Sorry to leave you guys hanging….  here is the final installment of my Denali journal…

May 20^th – Day 14 and Day 6 at 14 camp Another weather day.  I can tell that Mike really wanted to move today but looking at the summit you can tell it’s the right call to stay at 14k camp.  The clouds are fiercely swirling around the summit.  It’s so deceiving since it’s sunny and not too windy here at 14k camp.  Several people on our team are starting to think about our timeframe.  We’re starting to run out of time to make the summit.

I spoke to Bruce (a team next to us) and they said that a climber is missing on the ridge.  He left his 3 teammates at 4am yesterday to summit and ski down the Orient Express.  I talked to that guy a few days ago.  He was from Colorado and trying to decide if he was going to ski down the Express or the Messner.   He sounded a little crazy but I just assumed he knew what he was getting into.  As of noon today, he still hadn’t returned.  He didn’t have any overnight supplies – bag, stove, or tent.  His roommates and rangers are looking for him but it doesn’t sound good for this guy.   2 weeks on the mountain and the potential for 2 deaths.  That’s high considering it’s still early in the season.

Two of our guides are descending to 11k to pick up some food today, which makes me think that Mike is preparing for a few more days at this camp. 

I met a cool guy named Rob from CA who is retired guide.   He tried to climb Denali 5 years ago but didn’t make it due to weather.  The next year he climbed Everest.  He said he thought Denali was harder because you have to carry such big loads up this mountain.   The temps are comparable though.  Always good to know that your personal endeavors are similar to climbing the world’s tallest mountain.

May 21^st – Day 15 and Day 7 at 14 Camp  I woke up at 8am with the severe urge to pee, but my pee bottle was full so I had to venture outside.  The sun hadn’t crested the summit yet and the winds were shaking the tent.  I wasn’t looking forward to the mad dash to the plywood toilet.  The temperatures weren’t that cold, despite my first thought, but the winds made it pretty chilly on my bare legs as I attended to nature’s call.  There were only 2 people stirring in camp at that hour, both of them out for the same reason that I was.  The clouds covered 17k ridge and snow was blowing through camp.  It wasn’t a complete white out, but visibility was less than ¼ mile.  It reminded me of a scene from the planet Tatooine in Star Wars – desolate.  Small igloo type structures.  Warnings not too go out after the sun sets.  Hell, we even have sand people looking creatures with climbers behind face masks, googles, and nose guards.  The only thing missing is a sand cruiser to carry our gear. 

Needless to say, with this weather we aren’t moving up today.  Another day to read Atlas Shrugged.

May 22^nd – Day 16  Today is our “up or down” day.  We decided last night that if we don’t move up to 17k today, we will have to descend. 

I couldn’t sleep all night just thinking about the possibility of descending without the summit.  We went to bed around 11p and I lay awake in my sleeping bag until 3am.  I finally caught a few winks of sleep but woke up again around 6am just to see what the weather was like.  The guides said they would wake us around 7am if we were headed up.  At 6am I was awake just listening for the sounds of stoves in the cook tent.  7am came and went without the sound of stoves.  8am came and went as well.  Finally, around 9am, I gave up hope that we were going up.  Joe and I sat up in our tent and looked at each other…. Knowing what it meant to sleep in.  Joe said, “No regrets” and I said, “just a lot of disappointment” as I teared up.  I am definitely disappointed that we didn’t summit, but I am still incredibly pleased about the trip. 

I still don’t understand why we didn’t move up.  The weather was beautiful at 14k, but the winds were supposed to be 25 – 35mph.  Mike says he doesn’t want to move up in winds, but I can’t imagine the winds getting any lower than that on this mountain.

Regardless….we’re descending.  We left 14k at 1p after some effort to get camp packed up.  I was not looking forward to the 8-9hr slog down to basecamp.  The weather was rather warm and I left camp in minimal baselayers.  Once past Windy Corner, it started snowing.  Descending Motorcycle Hill was a little dicey in the limited visibility.  We picked up our cache at 11k camp and prepped our sleds for the hike out.  I stole some of Steve’s cache since I didn’t have much lunch food left and I was afraid we might get stuck at basecamp waiting a few days for a plane out.

We continued down the Kahiltna in a complete white out.  Pete had a GPS but was following wands on the trail.  The sight was very surreal.  We would pass thru abandoned camps with nothing but snow walls. It looked so much different than just 16 days earlier. 

Snow conditions got a little softer further down on the glacier.  Several crevasses had opened up since we pass thru on our way up the mountain.  Any area with an ash layer (from Mt Redoubt) had melted wide open like a cancer in the snow.  I would hate to see what the glacier looks like in July if 3 weeks in early May can make that big of a difference. 

Finally, we arrived at the base of Heartbreak Hill and learned all about its namesake.  The planes overhead, which previously were coming in frequently, had started to subside.  Just as I was on the brink of giving up, we crested Heartbreak Hill and rolled into camp.  Pete checked with Basecamp Lisa as we set up the tents.  The last flights ended at 9pm and we rolled in at 9:15pm. 

I crawled into the tent because I was freezing.  I soaked my baselayers during the hike and once the sun set, I was freezing in my wet clothes.  We were parched from the long hike out, but none of us had water left in our bottles.  Pete fired up the stove to melt water and cook dinner.  Finally, around midnight we had a dinner of broccoli and cheese rice.  We all sat outside talking about the climb and eating.  It was almost like sitting around a campfire surrounded by Hunter and Foraker.  It was a great way to spend the last night on the glacier. 

May 23^rd – Day 18  We skipped breakfast and caught the first flight out.  Dennis from Hudson Air picked us up and flew us through One Shot Pass on the way out.  Of course, the flight was amazing.

We landed in Talkeetna around 10am and was amazed by the green colors and the smells.  We unpacked our gear and dried it out in the sun.  I walked into town to get my first cup of real coffee.  We hung out at the hangar most of the day and had lunch with our pilots, Jaques and Dennis, at Mountain High Pizza.  

Around 6pm, we finally headed into town for our first showers.  I went into the bathroom and took off my clothes.  It was very weird to see my body in the mirror.  It was the first time I saw myself in 18 days.  My face was very dark, but my body is pasty white.  I hopped in the shower and soacked in every last drop of warm water.  I washed my hair several times since it was well on its way to developing dreadlocks.

The Second Week

May 14^th – Day 8 – Move from 11k to 14k 

 We have officially been on the mountain for over a week.    Today we moved from 11k to 14k camp.  It was hard.  Even though we essentially made the trip yesterday to make the cashe at 13.5k, the extra bit to 14k camp wore on all of us.  I felt good through Windy Corner, however when the winds picked up at Windy Corner, Pete threw down a little harder to get us out of the wind.  I lost my breath and couldn’t get it back.  I’ve never been in an anaerobic state for so long.

We took a rest break at our cache spot and Steve was feeling pretty bad.  He can’t get a deep breath and is hacking up fluid with every cough.  Joel & Pete’s rope teams took off and Mike’s team (Rob, Steve, Dianna) took off later and at a slower pace.   Although the trail from cache to camp had little vertical gain (700ft) it was hard.  Andrea and I had to ask for a few pauses in travel just to catch our breaths.  The hills kept rolling and I kept hoping that camp would be over the next rise.   By the time we rolled into camp we were exhausted.  The day’s climb took us up 3000ft which was the largest vertical gain of the trip so far.

building walls

Of course, once we pulled into camp we began the arduous task of building walls.  We cut many, many blocks but it seemed like Joel cut all of them in half in order to make them square and fit them into the wall.  I understand the need to build a solid wall, but it seemed his perfection wasn’t yielding results.  The sun was sinking fast behind the West Buttress and I was concerned that we weren’t going to have walls built before nightfall.

We built camp before dark but didn’t have time to set up the cook tent.  Rob and I crawled in the tent rested while the guides cooked a Dinty Moore meal and delivered to us.  It was great – beef stew and chocolate chip cookies.  Great ending to a tough day.

May 15^th – Day 9 – Back carry to 13k cache   Today was a pretty laid back day since we only descended 700ft to pick up our cache and return to camp.  We slept in and started pretty late.  Steve has become very sick with HAPE (high altitude pulmonary edema) and has to go down.  We suited up to travel down to our cache when the guides told us to sit tight while they decided who would descend with Steve.  While they were talking  an NPS official told the guides that they would fly Steve out on a scheduled helicopter flight tomorrow.  In the mean time, Steve would hang out in the medical tent and breathe Os.

Since Steve is descending, he added his extra lunch foods to the group food.  Within minutes, all of his Pringles were gone – no surprise there!   We had another good meal – chili.  Breakfast was grits…also good.

May 16^th – Day 10 – Rest Day   Today was our first official (non weather induced) rest day.   We woke up late and had a breakfast of a granola bar and mini-wheats.  I even had a little coffee.

Edge of the World

This afternoon we took a side trip to a lookout dubbed “Edge of the World” which was pretty awesome.  The view reached from Hunter to Foraker and down the big Kahiltna Glacier.  You could even faintly make out the trail and one of the lower camps below.

After the trip, we came back and started planning for tomorrow’s cache.  We are taking 4 or 5 days of food and whatever clothes we don’t think we’ll need until 17k camp.  I have planned for trail mix, granola bars, and chocolate up high.  I saved some of my best food for that camp. 

Today’s weather was beautiful at 5 degrees and even warmer in the tent.  The skies are clear and there was no wind.  It’s amazing how such cold temps can be so warm in the sun.    Mike said a ranger came by and mentioned that the temps dropped to -37 degrees last night.  It really didn’t seem that cold.

May 17^th – Day 11 –  Cache at 16k  We had good weather today so we made a carry to 16.4k.  A new altitude record for me as well was most of the group.  We woke up before the sun had completely crested the ridge so it was a little chilly.  Joe said it was -5 in the tent at 7am.  Temperatures are just numbers at altitude though and it’s the sun and wind that make all the difference.   I packed up my items for the cache, which consisted of trail mix, chocolate, Perryville sausage sticks, wheat thins, overmitts, my last pair of clean underwear, and extra socks. 

This morning, as we got ready to carry, the guides pointed out which rope teams we would be on – it was the first time they didn’t let us decide.  I was on the back end of a team with Rob and Pete.  We did alright until the base of the fixed lines when Rob struggled with the ascender.  The bottom of the lines featured a bergschrund that requires one or two little technical moves to get over.   Rob struggled to get over the ‘schrung.  He flailed and Pete and Joel yelled at him to keep moving.  Rob kept saying, “I can’t make it” and all Joel would yell back is “Rob, you have to keep climbing and get over this.”  Rob yelled back, “I know that Joel but you yelling at me won’t help me do it.”  Finally, I walked up to Rob and pointed out where he should put his feet.  Once he frontpointed those spots, he was able to clear the bulge.   We continued up the fixed lines  and made it to 17k ridge toward Washburn’s Thumb.  I had a slight headache at the top of the ridge, but attributed it more to dehydration than altitude.  We were on the fixed lines for 2 hrs without a break and the sun was beating down on us.  I was in my baselayers and still sweating.

Descending the fixed lines

After we settled into bed, we heard the team of Navy Seals walk past our tent.  They left 14k at 7am to make a summit bid (usually summit bids are made from 17k camp).  Around 10p we heard them walk by and Rob yelled, “did you make it?” they responded, “yes.”   We cheered from inside our tent and Rob said, “Glad they are on our side!”  What an awesome display of strength.  They were really cool guys too – friendly and fun to talk to. 

May 18^th – Day 12 – Rest day at 14k  Today we chill out.  We slept late and made our way into the cook tent for some cream of wheat and coffee.  Ahhh…

We did a lot of hanging out today.  Rob, Pete, Andrea, and I played a game of hearts.  It was pretty fun and easy to learn.  Even though I normally hate to learn new cards games, it wasn’t too bad since I didn’t have anything else to do at 14,000ft.  Andrea won, Pete lost, I was in the middle…. Which was good because the main reason I hate to learn new games is because I’m not good at them and I hate to lose. 

Basin camp was bustling with activity today.   A camp near us was playing baseball with snowballs and tossing around a snow football.  Another camp built a table out of snow that includes a small trench around the edges that they poured their trail mix.  It looked like a very nice poker table. 

Andrea and I have developed some really nice dreads.  I usually sleep with a winter hat on and this morning I couldn’t tell if it was on or off since my hair is permanently matted down in the same of the hat.   Andrea’s hair has titled off to the side and given her a sort of “side ponytail” look.  Mike has nicknamed her “Rollergirl.”  The look must have worked for her because after talking to the Navy Seals, she scored some extra Miso soups and energy drinks from them!

May 19^th – Day 13 – another weather day at 14k   We’re still trying to keep ourselves busy and sane at 14 camp.  We’ve been here 5 days and starting to run out of things to do.  Joe and I spent most of the day in the tent licking our wounds. 

We’re starting to do the math – we cached 5 days of food at 16.4k and 2 days at 11k.  We are on day 13 of 21 days of food, which means we are almost out of food at 14k camp.  I think two of the guides will probably head back to 11k to retrieve the cache if we don’t move up to 17k tomorrow.

the descent of sara

i’m working on the second week recap…but until then, please enjoy the collage of me descending from good personal hygiene to the 18 day funk i wore at the end of the trip ….  note how the altitude made my face puffy.  one morning i woke up and my eyes were so puffy that i couldn’t put my contacts in my eyes.