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October Club
Meeting Wednesday Oct 1st - 7 pm 911 Center 2911 E College Way Hudson Dodd Presentation & 2003 Charity Giveaway Hudson Dodd is from the Northwest Ecosystem Alliance and will come and speak about Blanchard Mountain’s past , present, and future. The NEA and the DNR has asked that the public become involved in determining the substance of the management plan for Blachard. Hudson will explain how we can make an impact on Blanchard Mountain’s future. Afterwards the membership is invited to introduce charities whom you feel worthy for club financial support. Rick Rogers will moderate the give away. Bring your soap box and tell everyone about your favorite charitiy. Secretary’s Report August 6, 2003 New Business There was much discussion on the financial well-being of the Club. A brief synopsis: the Club has $4,000 in the bank. This is the result of having minimal expenses and little to no overhead. Much of what we have is the result of the Mountaineering Course and Backpacking courses that are offered through Skagit Valley College. In addition, the increase of annual dues from $15 to $25, effective January 1, 2004, will add to our financial well-being. With this in mind, a motion was made to ask George, the Treasurer, for an accounting of our expenses. Unanimously approved. More discussion was centered on the SAC web-site and the efforts that Allen Grenz has put in to that have undoubtedly cost him time and money. There was a motion and second to reimburse Allen for his expenses. This motion was tabled for the future so that we can first find out what expenses have been incurred and if Allen would like to be reimbursed. Rick Rogers volunteered to speak with Allen. Finally, it was brought to the attention of the Club that in the past SAC used to donate a portion of its funds to other non-profit organizations that we feel warrant financial support from the Club. For those interested, be prepared to offer your suggestions and partake in what I’m sure will be a stimulating discussion on how to best spend SAC resources. With this in mind, it’s worth mentioning that the Skagit Alpine Club is a non-profit 501(C)(3) organization itself. Lynn Postler announced that the trail maintenance for Easy Pass will occur on 9/14 and/or 9/21 and she passed around a sign-up sheet for volunteers. For those that volunteer, thank you to the many SAC members who annually participate in keeping this trail passable, if not easy as well. Lynn also spoke highly of the Pacific Northwest Trail Association and their efforts to maintain the Pacific Northwest Trail and other trails in our area. They can be reached at www.pnt.org or by calling 360-424-0407 for work party information. Maggie Sullivan announced that the Northwest Ecosystem Alliance, in Bellingham, has been working with the Department of Natural Resources in regards to the imminent logging of Blanchard Mountain and that SAC will host a NWEA speaker in the near future. Watch this space for more information on our own Blanchard Mountain. In the meantime, visit www.ecosystem.org for more information about NWEA www.leg.wa.gov for more information about our elected officials in the Legislature www.wa.gov/dnr to learn more about the Department of Natural Resources or call 360-336-9300 to speak to a Skagit County Commissioner about Blanchard Mountain Program – Alan Kearny, noted Northwest climber, photographer, and author gave a great slide show with mostly Northwest peaks in it. Thanks Alan! Thanks to Harold and Maggie for providing the refreshments. Announcement The North Cascades Institute is having a fundraiser at Boundary Bay in Bellingham on Thursday, September 25 starting at 5pm. There will be a raffle and prizes. Some Opinions On Money by Rick Rogers There's been some concern about money lately in the SAC. In December, folks will start paying their membership dues for 2004. These dues will be $25 per family, up from the $15 that we've been paying for the last decade and a half. The climbing class is currently well stocked with ropes and new helmets. The newsletter is being sent largely by email, at a significant cost savings. And we've got about $4000 in the bank right now near the end of our fiscal year. Do we have too much money? It's a valid question. As many have pointed out, the Skagit Alpine Club is a non-profit organization and we're not supposed to be accumulating wealth for wealth's sake. We are supposed to eventually spend everything we take in, and admittedly, the easiest way to do that is to take in as little as possible in the first place. True enough. That is the easiest, but I don't believe the best way to serve our members or the greater community at large. I lived for a time (not too long ago) in what was pretty much a state of poverty. I know some folks profess to truly enjoy living that way, but I'm not one of them. As a matter of fact, I found that several aspects of the condition pretty much suck. There is one thing however, that poverty does make simple: deciding what to do with extra money. And that is- nothing. There isn't any. Undoubtedly, having no extra money may be a good thing if the choice in front of you is whether to buy a second gas-guzzling SUV or not. But it's quite another if you are wondering whether to, for example say, pay a damage deposit, and first & last months' rent to help your sister get her own apartment and away from her abusive boyfriend. Not having any money makes its disposition easy. The good thing about not having any money is that you can't use it for something stupid or foolish. The bad thing is that you can't use it for good, either. I hate to sound too old, or too conservative, but I gotta say that every once in a while when I come across some young fella in dreadlocks, with dirty feet in sandals, and a nipple ring showing through tears in his T-shirt, earnestly trying to educate me about some sort of awareness and the sacrifices of being a Vegan, that rather than feeling guilt over my relative affluence and consumption, I'm kinda glad he's got that ostentatious poverty thing going on there. I kind of figure that chances are a noodle head like that, if he had any money, would probably spend it on something stupid anyways. Let him just talk till he grows up a bit. (Before anyone gets too offended, know that I do appreciate sweat and labor for a legitimate cause without pay.) Anyway, the point I was trying to make before I went off on a tangent there, is that along with a lack of money comes a commensurate low level of expectations and responsibility. In other words, without money, no one expects us to do anything more than talk. And in the case of the Alpine Club, that's about all we've done for the last several years. There are a lot of useful things our club could do with a few more bucks in the coffers. Over the past several years I've heard ideas as varied as giving out environmental scholarships to high school graduates, maintaining climbing gear for members' use, trail building, to buying snowmobiles for Mountain Search & Rescue. There's no shortage of worthy and useful causes that could make a difference. Our dues will still be cheap at $25/year, and that extra ten bucks won't pose much of a burden on a family. And collectively, those dues will add up to a sum that could make a difference, if put to wise uses. Deciding as a club what those uses will be is sure to be a real job. But that job itself, the process of deciding as a club what to do or who to give to, can't help but to educate and raise the awareness of our club's members. And I would think that awareness and resolve to do something would be exported and carried outside the boundaries of the Skagit Alpine Club. Next month we'll be giving away $300 to three charities that we will choose at the October meeting. Think of it as a practice run. Your assignment for next month's meeting is to come with a favorite charity in mind that you can tell us about. It can be anything that has to do with the environment, social justice, or politics. It can be big picture, regional scale, or local; spectacularly unusual or mundane; it doesn't matter as long as it's a cause that's close to your heart. Or, if you want to, tell us about a couple. You can bet I won’t limit myself to talking about just one… editor’s note: It costs approximately 80 cents for production and mailing per six page issue of the Skagit Alpine newsletter every month. Lightening the Load by Craig Emery In August 2002 Lynn and I went out on our annual week long hike. I had what I thought was a light pack at 45 pounds, but was surprised when I ran into a guy with a 25 pound pack, and another guy with a 28 pound pack. This was such a difference that I couldn't imagine how they did it, I didn't think it was possible. I finally decided to see if there might be something else I could learn about hiking gear, bought a couple books, parted with some cash, and in July 2003, completed the Stevens pass to Snoqualmie pass trail in three days with a starting pack weight of eighteen pounds even. This is a list of what I carried: Pack 18 Kelty Cloud, Removed frame, pockets, unused straps Tent 43 Sierra Designs Ultralight Year, Modified Ground Cloth 3 Tyvek Housewrap, cut to size Sleeping Bag 18 Western Mountineering (Summer only) Sleeping Pad 5 Cut to length, Shoulders to knees Stove/Pot/Fuel 15 Ti pot, Snow Peak Ti stove Cup & Spoon 3 Goretex Parka 14 Marmot Rain Pants 6 Marmot Gloves 3 Hat 1 OR Hat 4 Socks 1 Poly Pants 5 Patagonia Lightweight long underwear Poly Shirt 6 Pile Jacket 14 Patagonia R2 Bandana 1 Towel 1 First Aid Kit 6 Food Bag 6 URSACK Bear bag 1L Water Btl. 4 .5L Water Btl. 3 Map 2 Knife * Lighters * Compass * Altim. * Flashlight * Deet * Sun Screen * Iodine * Sunglasses * Tooth Brush * Coils * Prell * TP * Trash Bags * * = 27 TOTAL 209 oz = 13#, 1oz Does not include: T-shirt, shorts, shoes, sox, water, food Does include: fuel for 3 nights + for one person Park Butte Lookout Update A work party was held August 22-24 at the Park Butte Lookout. Great weather made it a spectacular weekend and perfect for painting. We’re grateful to Ed, Carolyn, Jana, and Heather Gastellum who hiked in on the 22nd and carried some paint and did the priming coat on the railings. John and Marie Erbstoeszer went in a day later with more paint and completed the final coat of paint. Thanks also to Karl’s Paints- they again gave us a discount on the paint. The Lookout looks great and appears to be in good condition. Thanks to Lief Hazelet of the National Forest Service a new Coleman Stove was carried up and replaced the old one. We had about 5 parties visit while we were at the Lookout and all remarked about what a special place it is and were grateful that the SAC maintains it in partnership with the National Forest Service. If anyone is headed up to the Park Butte Lookout we have a few other supplies kindly provided by the Darvills that need to be taken up there. Please contact the Erbstoeszers at 336-5896 or erbst@cnw.com if you could carry these items up to the Lookout. Thanks to the Darvill’s network, Herb Hofstad of Fire Extinguisher Service of Mount Vernon refilled the fire extinguisher at no cost. Lynn Postler and Craig Emery brought a new fire extinguisher up to the Park Butte Lookout. Thanks to their efforts we again have two good extinguishers at the Lookout. Trip Report Mt. Daniel September 12-13, by Jim Lapp John Mosher and I headed down to Mt Daniel (7960 ft.) in the alpine lakes district. I5 to 405 to 90, got off route in Issaquah trying to refuel (difficult left turn move), over Snoqualmie pass and down to Roslyn, north on 903, right on 2405 to Cathedral Rock trailhead. The hike to Cathedral pass is an easy and picturesque highway, loaded with horses and mules (only way to go I was told), day hikers and campers. The views of Cathedral Rock, (an ancient volcanic plug) really are stunning. From Cathedral Pass an easy climbers trail skirts the peak on the west to beautiful Peggy’s Pond nestled in on the NW side. The skies were clearing with sun forecast for the climb so we left the tent at home and bivied. We had decided on the drive down, plenty of time to talk, to take the ridge route, which meant no rope, harness, or gear etc. After scouting out where to get on the ridge we made dinner, two dinners and an appetizer for me, MRE’s, that’s military lingo, for John, and hit the sack. Frost settled in as soon as the sun set and we spent a cozy night in a little grass hollow under a full moon. The SE ridge of Daniel starts right at Peggy's pond. A small trail takes you up some heather slopes to the ridge proper which is about 2 1/2 miles long of mostly easy hiking with the occasional light scramble. On the left far below is Circle Lake with the weathered reddish rock of the Citadel plunging into the water, looking very much like pictures I’ve seen in Tibet. On the right is the Hyas Creek glacier situated at the upper end of its cirque. At about 11/2 miles the route skirts steep rock to the right with strange volcanic towers on the left. Moderate firn can also be taken to the right of this rock tower from lower down. Both routes join at East peak (easy hike- scramble) which is in view the whole time, maybe 2 mules from Peggy's. East to middle peak late in season is loose rubble and scree, not unpleasant but would be better on snow earlier in year. Skirt left and above Daniel Glacier or cruise across upper edge of it to the Summit of Middle peak, and on more scree to West peak, the highest, an easy short class 2 scramble. Views down to Venus Lake on south, and Lynch glacier , just below on the North, flowing into glacier silted Pea Soup Lake. Mt. Daniel is the highest peak in the area and the views are expansive, volcanoes to south along with Chimney Rock, Summit Chief, Bears Breast, and Hinman close up to the SW. From west to east are Index, Baring, Three Fingers, Monte Christo group, Sloan, Glacier, Cathedral, and Stuart. There is also an interesting looking short glacier route that is in the Selected Climbs book. If you bring glacier gear you can take one route up and the other down. See "Selected climbs in the Cascades," Nelson and Pottersfield Also Becky #1, the brown book. NAVIGATION 201 - Fixing erroneous maps -by Eric Sandbo At the end of the last Mountaineering class Lorelei asked what students could do to further sharpen their map and navigation skills. Here's the perfect exercise: it's educational, it requires a scenic, enjoyable hike (even in October), and it will prepare you for a climb that combines scenery, moderate technical difficulty, relatively easy access, and solitude. The solitude part is because the map is wrong. The US Geological Survey (USGS) had pretty much completed contour mapping of the entire US when they started over making new maps in greater detail. The old maps covered 1/4 degree of latitude by 1/4 degree of longitude. A degree is divided into 60 minutes, so 1/4 degree is 15 minutes, hence the maps are called 15-minute maps. The new, 7 1/2-minute maps cover only 1/4 of the area, but in much greater detail at 1:24,000 scale (1 inch = 2,000 feet). We local climbers were lucky, getting some of the first 7 1/2-minute maps in Washington in the area of some of our favorite mountains. The Washington Pass map, including the Liberty Bell and Cutthroat Peak areas was published in 1963, before the North Cascades Highway opened. It's not on the map. The USGS has been busy mapping all the rest of the US in the new map size, and hasn't come around to remapping Washington Pass. The most modern, detailed, topographic map available from the USGS and on the internet* omits little details like Highway 20 and the Pacific Crest Trail. Oh, and they put the name “Cutthroat Peak” on the wrong summit. Do you see the do-it-yourself project coming? THE PROJECT: Shell out a few bucks for the USGS “WASHINGTON PASS, WA” map and put it in your pack with some munchies. Drive to Rainy Pass, noting about where the road goes in relation to the valley floor. There are trailhead parking lots hidden in the trees on both sides of the highway at the pass. Park in the north one, for the Crest Trail northbound. Check the time. Hike the trail to Cutthroat Pass. Check the time again and find out how fast you hike five miles of trail. Enjoy the view. The larch trees are usually in their prime around the first week of October. Pull out your map and sketch in the highway and trail. You don't have to survey the thing; just guess, based on what you hiked and where you'd fit a trail between the contour lines if it was your decision. The Crest Trail continues to the border from here, but there's also a trail down to Cutthroat Lake and out. It makes an enjoyable one-way dayhike if you park vehicles at both ends. THE CLIMB: Get out Beckey's Cascade Alpine Guide, Volume 3: Rainy Pass to the Fraser River. Find the description of the climb of the North Ridge of Cutthroat Peak. You're supposed to hike up the Crest Trail and turn into the woods to follow the trackless valley into the basin on the west side of the North Ridge. You now have a detailed, large-scale map with the trail marked on it, and you know how fast you hike. Now you can measure how far up the trail you need to hike before you turn off and infer about how much time that means. Practically nobody else has that. You can find solitude. Start just past the stream, and stay close to it at first. There's no trail, but the woods are relatively flat and open. Jenny and I went farther on the trail and started up through meadow, but it was steep and slippery. You've studied the contour lines enough to notice the left side of the valley is generally a little flatter. There's some bushwhacking to be done, but it's tolerable. As you approach treeline, you'll see where you need to climb left to avoid headwalls, then cross the upper basin to the right. Beautiful up here, isn't it? Lonely, too. You're aiming for a deep, narrow notch in the ridge above. You can't see it, but keep hiking toward where it ought to be, and it will show up. Don't go all the way to the notch; start the rockclimbing at a ledge on the right, well below the notch, and enjoy. DESCENT: Jenny and I rappelled directly into the notch. That was a mistake. The anchor was iffy, the rock was crumbly, and the rope stuck so bad I had to return for it the next week. On that second trip we climbed to our anchor above the notch, pulled the ropes, then worked down west to a better anchor that got us down in one clean rap. WARNINGS: Don't get lost, and don't fall off any mountains. It'll make me look bad. NAVIGATION 287 - Commitment to Accuracy: You know the rest area at Deception Falls, west of Stevens Pass, on Highway 2? There's a trail up Deception Creek that leads to near the Crest. In fact, a marathon dayhiker could probably go cross-country and connect to the Icicle Creek Trail if he (she) plotted a course carefully and followed it, using a compass & estimated distances. A GPS unit would be handy if you calculated waypoints in advance. You'd have to travel so light that the penalty for bad route-finding could be high. Maybe that's a 300-level project. * Internet maps: Try National Geographic: For topographic maps, highlight “US Themes” on the left, and select “Physical”. Another window will appear with a list. Pick “Topographic.“ As you zoom in on Washington State, county lines will appear. Cutthroat is a few hundred yards south of the meeting point of Skagit, Okanogan, and Chelan counties at 8,050 feet, though the map puts the name on the 7,865-foot summit farther north. Open Campfire Ban Lifted in Western Cascades Forests CONTACT: Tim Manns(360) 856-5700 ext.365 Prepared September 17, 2003 A restriction on open campfires imposed more than a month ago will be lifted at midnight Wednesday, Sept. 17, in all areas of the Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest and the North Cascades National Park Service Complex. Recent precipitation and cooler temperatures have reduced the fire danger in many undeveloped backcountry areas of the Western Cascades, according to Dave Johnson, Fire Staff Officer for the Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest. Superintendent Bill Paleck of the North Cascades National Park Service Complex announced removal of campfire restrictions in North Cascades National Park and Ross Lake and Lake Chelan National Recreation Areas. Campers and other park visitors are allowed to have campfires in the grates provided at frontcountry and backcountry sites. "Rain, cooler weather and decreasing day length have reduced the fire danger enough to allow campfires again," Paleck said. "Campers should continue to exercise special caution because conditions in many portions of the park are still quite dry. The change in the fire situation is also permitting the National Park Service to reopen the 7 miles of the Big Beaver Trail, which have been closed due to a fire in that drainage west of Ross Lake. Park visitors should note that at certain higher elevation camps, fires are not permitted at any time of the year because of the scarcity of available wood. For more information, go to www.fs.fed.us/r6/mbs or www.nps.gov/noca/ PO Box 513, Mount Vernon, WA 98273 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 Erbstoeszer 336-5896 Programs: Maggie Sullivan 724-3158 Outings: Lynn Postler 428-4237 lypo@Itis.com Website: Allen Grenz 422-7593 ryan@gotooasys.com Newsletter: Thad Hink 770-4528 sacnews@thinkstudios.net |
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