March Club Meeting
Wednesday Mar 3rd - 7 pm, 911 Center, 2911 E College Way

Bob Kandiko - Kayaking the South Pacific-Palau

Bob Kandiko presents "Kayaking Palau", a slide show featuring amazing images from one of the worlds smallest countries. "The trip was an 11 day paddle through the Rock Islands. These 300 limestone islands rise out of the tropical Pacific. At times we paddled for hours along vertical and overhanging karst walls.  Rich with WWII history, we hiked among Japanese artillery sites and snorkeled over Zeros. The snorkeling was world class with 100 foot visibility allowing us to see rays, sharks, turtles and 4 foot clams. An amazing piece of paradise not yet discovered by the ecotourists or adventure travel junkies."

Snacks will be provided by Lynn Postler

Secretary’s Report
Feb 4, 2004

Old Business: Chris Danilson reported on the Scholarship Committee’s recommendation. The recommended that a call for applications would occur the first week of the Mountaineering Class and any reimbursement would occur upon completion of the class. The question was posed: “What does SAC gain, or hope to achieve, by giving out a scholarship?” Chris responded that the scholarship will provide someone who may not be financially able to complete the course the opportunity to do so, promote the class, and build enthusiasm. Rick Rogers moved to accept the recommendation and the motion passed 9-5. Wade Bessett moved to have the Committee reconvene and provide a more focused example of what the scholarship is and the approval process. Unanimous vote in favor. It was also suggested that a mention of the available scholarship be made in the class prospectus.

Wade Bessett brought up the issue that per SAC by-laws, a Climbing Committee should exist to provide expertise, structure, and support of the Mountaineering Class. Request was made to President Monrad to do so at the Mountaineering Class general meeting on February 11, 2004.

Additional comments from Wade: Instructor development is something that should be pursued to help develop skills through trips. Club trips haven’t been organized to a large degree in the recent past and Wade asked that those interested in instructing or assisting with the Class consider sponsoring one climbing trip over the course of the summer to assist with the development of instructors and basic climbing skills.

One more reminder: SAC dues are, well, due. Pay up. $25. Your faithful scribe will have paid by the time you read this (Thanks, George!).

The New Zealand climbing trip slide by Jason and Kim Griffith was incredible. Thank you for the fantastic photos and presentation of the bottom of the world. My lone experience with New Zealand is the babes that work at Whistler, so it was nice to see where they hail from. Anyone else just melt for that Down Under accent?

Respectfully submitted,
Brian Heinrich


Route to Artist Point
by Kathleen Grimbly

Here's a thought in the vein of "most car accidents happen within 6 miles of home". For years I followed the beaten path to Artists' Point, veering right to the road cut below the ridge, which is prone to slide due to it's angle and the cut itself. Why is this the usual route? Because there's a road. Is this a criteria for backcountry route selection? No.

After a patroller suggested skiing Austin Ridge trees into the Lake Ann drainage for short shots on slidy days, I decided that continuing along that ridge is the route I prefer for being out of harm's way enroute to The Point. There's usually a trail there from yo-yoers looking for the next virgin shot. Then one usually has to break trail across the flat, (well away from Kulshan Ridge!), but I like it better than holding my breath traversing on the road cut, which slides frequently.


Outings

SAC Rock Skills Outing
SAC Rock Climbing Skills Review and Standards Development Outing

When:
Feb 29 (Sunday), 9:00 am to as long as you are willing to stay (hopefully at least until 1:00 p.m.)

Where:
Mt. Erie; meet at the parking lot at the Mt. Erie Rd base (we will leave by 9:05). We will likely carpool to another location such as the summit parking lot or the access pullout near the Mt. Erie Store.

What:
Review basic climbing skills that we are teaching the students in the mountaineering class and discuss whether certain methods of performing the skills are preferred for teaching the students (if there are any “preferred” methods agreed upon the they will be provided to Allen Grenz and Maggie Sullivan for consideration in the rock-climbing curriculum)

Also, to climb on rock together (scramble, top rope, and possibly lead climb) and be merry

Who:
SAC members (all are welcome)

Why:
To have fun, get to know each other better, practice skills, and get prepared to teach the students in a clear and cohesive manner

Alternative:
If the weather is forecasted to be exceedingly bad then we may change the outing to indoor climbing in someone’s barn or a climbing gym (such as Cascade Crags in Everett or the Bellingham YMCA)

Minimum gear to bring to the outing:
Helmet, seat harness, leather gloves, belay device, 4 carabiners (two locking at least), personal anchor sling (such as a loop from 10-feet of 1-inch webbing), prusik loop (1-3 feet in length), climbing rope (if you have one), and a backpack with food/liquid/clothing to keep you happy

The basic of topics to review, practice, and discuss will be (but not limited to):
Using different types of harnesses properly; anchoring climbers to an anchor (i.e. webbing tied to a big tree); helmet and leather glove use, belaying (including: relationship to the anchor, using a munter hitch, and belaying directly off the anchor), rappelling, prusik and klemheist knot uses, coiling ropes, and washing ropes

Please let me know if you are attending (call or email), provide a contact number that I can use to reach you Friday night before the outing, and feel free to ask me questions. Several members are already planning on attending.

See you there,

Wade Bessett
Home 360-595-9563
Work 360-336-9380
Email bessettw@hotmail.com

Lake Whatcom Hike
March 13th

LakeWhatcom, 6 mi RT, 100 eg. This is an easy local favorite. The trail follows the old Blue Canyon mine railroad grade along the shores of Lake Whatcom. A beautiful trail snuggled tightly between Stewart Mountain and Lake Whatcom. There are very scenic, tranquil spots along the shoreline that include waterfalls, big cliffs, and large trees - wheelchair accessible. Will plan to meet at 9am. Call Ruth if interested at 360-445-3520 or grw.realenergy@verizon.net.

2004 Mountaineering Class Organization Meeting Minutes
by Wade Bessett

The meeting went very well despite my best attempts to confuse and distract everyone from the main goal of the evening (fill in the class lecturers and outing trip leaders/Senior instructors). It was great to have 17 members attend the meeting and a few more who called beforehand (that could not attend) to commit time and share ideas to make this year?s class great in terms in instruction, leadership, and last but not least, fun.

The lecture and outings schedule will be posted to the SAC web site and will be emailed or letter-mailed to any who wish to have it (all those who attended the organizational meeting and contacted Wade about helping with the class will get a copy automatically). Tuesday night classes will begin at 6:00 pm and end no later than 8:30 pm. Weekly quizzes will be take-home.. The first 15 minutes of class will be for reviewing the quiz, previous outing discussion, and answering questions about the upcoming outing. Unless otherwise noted on the lecture schedule, the 1st lecture will be from 6:15-7:15, then there is a 15 minute break, and the 2nd lecture will be from 7:30-8:30. All lecturers should read the pertinent chapters of ‘Freedom of the Hills’, 7th Edition prior to the lecture. We will try to make copies of the 7th edition of ‘Freedom’ available for lecturers to review if they do not have the book or a very recent edition.

If you want to help with an outing or lecture you need to contact that lecturer or trip leader to see how you can help or if it is ok to just come along. If you don’t know how to contact that trip leader then contact Allen (he returns from his trip Feb. 24 and will be very busy for a couple of weeks upon returning) or Wade (contact info below).

Everyone seemed to welcome the idea of having instructor/helper outings to review technical rock climbing and snow/glacier travel skills that we will be teaching the students (and therefore need to be proficient at ourselves). So, we have two outings planned that are optional for instructors, helpers, and anyone else in the club that wants to join in on the fun. See the upcoming article by Rick for complete details.

Snow/glacier travel outing March 6 (Saturday): contact Rick or Mike.

Thanks,

Wade Bessett home 360-595-9563, work 360-336-9380, email bessettw@hotmail.com

Allen Grenz cell 360-661-6325, work 360-424-1811, email


Welcome to Avalanche Safety 101
by Jill Youde

Attention powder hogs: There’s a new Michael Jackson in town. And his passion is not little boys. It’s avalanche safety.

It was a dark and stormy night in January. Participants of a Level 1 Avalanche Course congregated in a mountain chalet near Glacier. Amidst an incongruously festive atmosphere of wine and cheese tasting, we viewed a few heinous avy videos to put us “in the mood” for the next two days.

The next morning our intrepid leader Michael Jackson (yes, that’s really his name) arrived with his frisky assistant Mike. After a few hours of lecture, we drove to the Mount Baker Ski Resort, donned skies, and headed into the winter wonderland. First we practiced using avy transceivers to locate single and multiple victims buried in the snow. After mastering that skill, we learned to perform a variety of bonding tests to assess the snowpack. That night we gorged on Michael’s mouthwatering salmon and enjoyed another lecture and the reveling and camaraderie that a day in the mountains always seems to encourage. It was an almost perfect night. Alas, Paul Sherman forgot to bring his karaoke machine, so we never got to hear him perform “Who Let the Dogs Out”.

Sunday morning dawned excruciatingly early. Michael appeared like the Energizer bunny at our door. His seemingly endless energy is surpassed only by his tireless enthusiasm for teaching avalanche awareness to yahoos such as our group. We mainlined caffeine while he volleyed another few hours of avy information at us. We then returned to Mount Baker and skied into the backcountry. As we trudged towards Austin Pass, a hysterical man ran towards us, yelling that his buddies had just been buried in an avalanche. Chaos ensued. This staged scenario proved how difficult a multiple body search in the field is, and how the remaining survivors can be detrimental to the rescue effort. It was a sobering lesson.

Slightly rattled, we continued on, skiing (the majority of the group) and floundering in the voluminous powder (me), stopping to evaluate the terrain and weather, and to dig snow pits to test the condition of the snow. It was another good day in the mountains, and I believe we were all sad to see our weekend come to an end. Except Michael, who was probably tired of our endless questions and gear problems.

I would highly recommend this course to anyone interested in avalanche safety. Michael emphasizes avy awareness over avy rescue, and his approach to teaching is very practical, with a lot of fieldwork to supplement the computer-enhanced lectures and reading material. He taught us to be vigilant about our surroundings, constantly reassessing the terrain, weather, and snowpack while in the backcountry. I’m willing to bet my firstborn that you’ll never meet an individual more passionate about avalanche safety than Michael Jackson, and his enthusiasm is very contagious. You will not be disappointed.

Special thanks to: Michael Jackson for unsurpassed patience and knowledge, assistant Mike for quiet moral support, Laurie Sherman for organizing the class and for endless lox, Beth Walsh for showing up, Maggie Sullivan for unflagging cheerfulness, Brian Heinhaak [sic] for the hairy eyeball, Nils Larsen for being a worse skier than me, Paul Sherman for driving the Sherminator shuttle bus, and Angelica Heinhaak for drinking more wine than me.


Trip Report

The Triad
Aug 24 & 29, 2003
by Thad Hink

On a particularly nice Sunday, Jim Lapp, Doug Bruland and myself set out to climb the middle peak of The Triad. We headed up the Cascade River Road and then left up a side road to the Sibley Creek trailhead. Despite the fine weather the atmosphere was hazy and smelled of smoke from the nearby forest fires that plagued the park during this dry summer. We hiked the Sibley Creek trail up the valley until we reached the top of the basin, then we headed up to the pass via the first creek which we found out later was more difficult then taking the second creek bed. From the pass we followed a boot path up to a high point and then followed the ridge eventually ending up in an easterly direction.

The route along the ridge becomes impeded and we dropped down the north side to a snowfield. The steep upper part of the slope was hard firn and we had not brought crampons with. We could see that lower down the snowfield had softer snow and less of an angle that would permit us to cross. We ended up wasting a fair amount of time trying to find a way down on to the snowfield. After a bite of lunch we crossed the slope heading for the second notch. From there we climbed to a flat spot and found the descent gully (the east one). The gully was in pretty good shape but we still chose to space ourselves out to protect the lower climber from rock fall. After descending maybe 200’ we traversed to climbers right around the bowl to notch.

>From the notch we crossed over large rock and talus to a couple of bivy sites and a short boot path. By this point it was nearly 3pm and it was obvious that we could not make the summit and back to the ridge before dark. So we turned around headed back.

Five days later (Friday) Jim and I decided to make another run at it and this time we brought crampons and climbing gear with so as not to be deterred. We followed our previous route to the snowfield and this time traversed the higher icy slope with crampons, giving the calves a good workout with sidestepping. We reached out furthest spot from the previous trip three hours earlier than on Sunday. We traversed past two ribs and then up the basin under the summit and had a bite of lunch.

>From there we headed up to the ridge between the east and middle summits and scrambled the few rock impediments to the final walkup to the middle summit. We attained the summit (7520’) just before 3 pm. After signing the register and taking some photos we reversed our route and were back at the truck by sunset.

The climbing part of the trip wasn’t technical though there some rappel slings toward the top were there was a lot of exposure. There was a fair amount of loose talus and one needs to be careful of rockfall in the gullies and on some of the traversing. The views of Eldorado and surrounding peaks from the summit are excellent making dealing with the loose rock and talus worth the climb.


Mission Statement
To promote the use, and prevent the abuse, of all outdoor recreational areas, particularly the North Cascade area and Olympic Mountains, the San Juan Islands, and the Pacific Beaches; to provide companionship and fellowship between outdoorsmen; to disseminate information regarding the safe and pleasant usage of the outdoors; to function as a group dedicated to the preservation of reasonable recreational and wilderness areas on the county, state, and national level.

Skagit Alpine Club
PO Box 1054
Mount Vernon Washington 98273
www.skagitalpineclub.com

Officers
President Kathy Monrad 853-8901
Vice President Sylvia Trask 856-4050
Secretary Brian Heinrich 756-6950
mtkulshan@yahoo.com

Treasurer George Reeves 293-3417
Climbingfool2000@yahoo.com

Directors Keith Kraft 428-8568
Eric Sandbo 755-0746

Committees
Conservation Fred Darvill 424-5854

Lookout Fred & Ginny Darvill 424-5854
John & Marie Erbstoeszer336-5896

Programs Maggie Sullivan 724-3158
Outings Lynn Postler 428-4237
sancho@fidalgo.net

Website Allen Grenz 422-7593
allen@gotooasys.com

Newsletter Thad Hink 770-4528
sacnews@thinkstudios.net


Skagit Alpine Club Membership Form
$25 per year - beginning January 2004

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Mail To: Skagit Alpine Club
George Reeves, Treasurer
11134 O Avenue
Anacortes Washington 98221