Tuesday May 27, 2008

Chris making the 5.9 move into the Beast Flake on Recom-Beast

I have been pretty busy the last week and a half. Since May 17th I have been teaching and American Mountain Guides 10 day Rock Instructor Course. I was hired by two guide candidates Mark from Colorado and Chris from Washington to teach this course, they know each other from working together on Mount Rainier. The Rock Instructor curriculum is the entry level guide course for the AMGA's rock program. Although the term entry level is used it is only entry level from a guiding perspective. The candidates taking this course have to show that they have extensive experience in climbing by meeting prerequisites that include at least 10 traditional routes rated 5.10a or greater, 5 Grade III's (8-10 pitches long) and 4 Grade IV's (longer than 10 pitches). Both Mark and Chris had strong resumes and the course went very well.

The course starts with a day of clinics and then progresses to an instructor demonstration guided climb. From that point the majority of the days are spent with the candidates mock guiding the instructor and the other candidate with half day clinics interspersed as the candidates learn and practice new techniques and are critiqued on their risk management, this includes fall line management for the second, managing technical descents, and mitigating risks as seconds transition from belaying to climbing among many other things. Most climbers unfamiliar with the AMGA programs often assume most of the course is spent on self rescue but that is not the case. Because the Rock Instructor Course is the first of the AMGA guide courses it spends the most amount of time on self rescue and that is only one day. Most of the course is spent on specialized technical systems, skills and the ability to see and use terrain advantages to move new climbers through technical terrain in an efficient, smooth manner that reduces risk far more than what the average second experiences during a recreational climb. This has to be done in a way that is seamless and does not appear to patronize the climber climbing with the guide. In short the guide needs the skill to move the party in a professional way and take responsibility for the entire party and determine and control the risks everyone is exposed to.

This is a challenging course to teach and I have never done one without learning new ways to see things and without feeling I am improving as a guide. Over the past few years I have had the opportunity to teach numerous AMGA courses in the rock and alpine disciplines in this area, Red Rocks, North Carolina and the North Cascades. I will be teaching another Advanced Alpine Guide Course in the Cascades this August and I am looking forward to that.

As far as conditions of the cliffs the bugs are now out, during the day it is not too bad but first thing in the morning and between 5pm and 7pm they seem to be the most active. Overall however I did not need to use bug dope any of the 10 days I was out teaching this course but I was close. Most of the course was done on a very quiet cliff, Memorial Day Weekend however saw a remarkable increase in the number of climbers but as Monday afternoon came the cliff was quiet again. I suspect things will get busier than they have been now that colleges and universities are getting out.

Here is the route list from this past ten days that Mark and Chris led, because they were not local all of these routes were done onsight while practicing new guiding techniques and methods, both did a great job and it was a pleasure being guided by them these past 10 days!

Climbs	Descents/Rappels
Toe-Crack to ThinAir Thinner Short Order Standard to Wavelength Sliding Board Still and Miss Saigon Bombardment Funhouse Upper Refuse Book of Solemnity The Booklet Recom-Beast	Still in Saigon x 3 Lower Refuse x 2 Book of Solemnity x 2 Sliding Board to Slabs Direct The Booklet Short Order Ego Trip Windfall Nutcracker

Mark guiding at the top of Bombardment

Mark leading up to the steep dike on Sliding Board from Wavelength

Chris getting guided up the 2nd pitch of the Book of Solemnity

Chris doing the crux of the 2nd pitch of the Book of Solemnity

Chris on Thinner

Chris starting up Recom-Beast

Looking down the 1st pitch of Recom-Beast

Chris climbing the Beast Flake

Mark on the wide section getting up to the Recompense Corner

Mark getting out of the wide section and into a good stem

 

Wednesday May 14, 2008

Jay starting Rapid Transit with climbers on Thin Air in the background

The good spring weather continues with sunny cool days. Jay and I went climbing yesterday and today. Of all the days we have been out the last two were some of the nicest. The cliff was dry, the temperatures were pleasant, the sun was out and the bugs were nonexistent.

Both days we climbed in the morning and on the Thin Air Face. Yesterday we climbed an interesting combination of pitches, mater of fact the first pitch combined two different pitches from two different routes. We started with the 5.8 direct start to Toe Crack (see pitch 1 variation #3), once we got to the start of Toe Crack we traversed left to the Turner Flake and climbed that to the bolted anchor at the top of Windfall. This is a long pitch that stretches out a 200 foot rope so you have to be careful of rope drag. From the Windfall anchor we headed to the 3rd pitch of Repulsion. The last pitch traversed to Standard Route then up that to the top, finishing below Pine Tree Eliminate. We did Pine Tree as our last pitch. We then hiked down from the top back to the base of Pine Tree then traversed roped to Still in Saigon and rappelled. This is a great link up of 5.8 pitches that includes slab, liebacks, face and steep crack, at least four 5.8 cruxes. Three of those are 5.8+ with some tricky protection placement. Today the climb was harder but much easier to describe. We did the classic line of Rapid Transit then rappelled.

Jay on the 1st pitch of Rapid Transit

Jay on the 2nd pitch f Rapid Transit

Topping out on Rapid Transit

 

Saturday May 10, 2008

The summit of Whitehorse

This last week has been another good one weather wise. Tuesday I climbed with Rand, we headed over to the Whitehorse Slabs and climbed The Booklet. This is a nice 5.9 pitch to the left of the Wedge pitch on Wedge. After a rappel we climbed up Wavelength. The 5.8 pitch of Wavelength and the 5.9 pitch of The Booklet are in my opinion the two best pitches on the Whitehorse Slabs. On Wednesday Jay and I had a few hours so we did Still in Saigon and Miss Saigon. Thursday I was in a training session to learn more about the new AMGA Single Pitch Instructor curriculum. The AMGA SPI course replaces the AMGA Top Rope Site Manager. The new course and assessment is much improved and will make a great addition to the AMGA. Friday was another nice day despite earlier predictions so Jay and I went and did another afternoon climb of Short Order and then top-roped the route to the left of that called Avenger. Today I climbed with my wife Jane on Whitehorse. We had only a couple of hours so we headed up Sliding Board to the summit then had a nice walk down.

The conditions this week started out pretty dry despite the wet weekend and things got progressively drier. I would say that right now the cliffs are in summer conditions except for the snow, yes snow at the base of Whitehorse, altogether though most things are dry.. There have been a few black flies about but they are not biting yet and are few and far between. As is typical around here they should be starting out in force for Memorial Day. The past few years however they have been mild and with things as dry as they are I hope this year continues that trend. Soon however evening climbing will be more difficult because that's when they really come out. One big observation is how few people are out climbing. Jane and I saw only 3 other parties on Whitehorse today, the parking lot only had a couple of cars. Midweek is even quieter.

Still snow at the base of Whitehorse

Jay on Short Order

Topping out on Short Order

Jane on Sliding Board

Topping out amongst the May flowers on Whitehorse

 

Monday May 5, 2008

With a nice day today I was anxious to get out and see how the climbing was after our wet weekend. Jay and I made plans to climb this afternoon, we were in the shade all day. Conditions could not have been much better, the cliff was dry for the most part and the temperatures were warm but not too hot. We headed over to the Lower Left Wall and climbed Bombardment we then crossed the Tree Covered Ledge and headed up Black Lung / Upper Refuse.

After our climb I headed out for another trail run, this time I ran in the area of the cliffs, this has been a standard run for me for some time. I started up Cathedral by the climbers trail on the north end of the cliff. From the top of Cathedral I headed down the Bryce Path to the col between Cathedral and Whitehorse then down towards the White Mountain Hotel. From the hotel I ran up the trail that goes up the south end of Whitehorse to the summit of that cliff then I went down the Red Ridge Connector to the Red Ridge Trail then followed that to Diana's Bath then back to the Cathedral Road by some unofficial trails. The entire loop is about 5 miles long with an elevation gain and loss of about 1700 feet. Here is a map of the run.

Jay on Bombardment

After the crux on Bombardment

At the crux of Black Lung

Jay finishing Upper Refuse

 

Sunday May 4, 2008

May has started and I have been shifting my focus from the winter sports to summer. I am writing this now after a little weekend getaway to the coast for some relaxation and good seafood. Before I left for the weekend however I had a decidedly summer like week. I have started to do some trail runs and got out a day for some rock climbing. First, last weekend I was able to run in the Mud Muck and Moose Trail Race in Bartlett NH. Normally this run involves just what the name implies but this year it was more snow covered than muddy.

The race got me motivated to start my trail running up for the season, I had noticed that the Nature Conservancy Green Hills Preserve just east of North Conway seemed to be pretty free of snow. I had been running the trails in that area at the end of last year so I was eager to get out to see how conditions were. One of my favorite runs in that area goes to the top of Black Cap from the Thompson Road Trailhead. There was a little bit of snow left but for the most part it was snow free and even though I was doing the run soon after a rainy day it was not too muddy. Here is a link to the map put out by the Nature Conservancy. I have also made a map of the area which include some unmarked trails that are on the edge of the Conservancy Land and are not included on their map and you can find that map here. Another running day last week included a track workout at the new Kennett High School Track. This track was completed late last year and it was nice to do some speed training on such a nice new track.

On Thursday Jay and I went over to Cathedral Ledge for a little climbing. We had gotten quite a bit of rain on Tuesday and the cliff was pretty wet on Wednesday but by Thursday the cliff had dried nicely. Our goal was to climb up onto the Thin Air Face and top rope a few climbs. We led up Thinner then lowered down Wind Fall and Pro Choice to top rope those climbs. After doing those climbs we headed out. Since then it has been rainy so I am sure the cliff is wet right now. I will be getting out more this week and will try to get some condition reports up with some pictures.