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Scree for February, 1999
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This is the EScree - the Electronic version of the Scree newsletter from
the Peak Climbing Section of the Loma Prieta Chapter of the Sierra Club.
It should be viewed or printed with a fixed-pitch font such as Courier.
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This publication may not be posted on any public news group.
February, 1999 Vol. 33 No. 2
Deadline for submissions to the next Scree is Sunday 2/21/99
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This issue of Scree will be on the Official PCS Website at
http://lomaprieta.sierraclub.org/pcs/scree
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Next general meeting (PCS meetings are the second tuesday of each month)
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Date: Tuesday, February 9
Time: 8:00 PM
Program: Mont Blanc, The Matterhorn, Eiger
See slides on a trip Bob Suzuki, David Harris
and Bruce Bousfield took to Switzerland last
summer. They climbed Mont Blanc, the
Matterhorn, and tried for a route on the Eiger
(not the North face!) but got stopped by weather.
However they still climbed two other mountains
right next to the Eiger (Jungfrau and Monch).
Location: Western Mountaineering, Santa Clara
(PDF version has a drawn map here)
2344 El Camino Real, Santa Clara (between San
Thomas and Los Padres), parking in the rear.
From 101: Exit at San Thomas Expressway, Go
South to El Camino Real. Turn left and the Western
Mountaineering will be immediately to your right.
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Wilderness First Aid
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To help trip leaders and would-be leaders get the required First
Aid certificate, the Chapter sponsors a First Aid class each
quarter, based on a nationally recognized first aid text, but with
added material and emphasis on wilderness situations with no
phone to dial 911. The next First Aid classes will be Saturday,
February 20 and Sunday, February 21 at the Peninsula
Conservation Center in Palo Alto (from Bayshore/Hwy. 101 at
San Antonio, turn toward the Bay; turn left at 1st stoplight, then
right at Corporation Way to park behind PCC). Class is 8:30 a.m.
to 5:30 p.m. (1 hour for your bag lunch) and is limited to 12
people. To sign up, send choice of day, and a check for $38 with a
stamped, self-addressed business-sized envelope to: Health
Education Services, 200 Waverly, Menlo Park, CA 94025.
Cancellations get partial refund if a substitute attends (you get to
keep the Wilderness First Aid book). For more information, call
650-321-6500.
-- Marg Ottenberg
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Official (PCS) Trips
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PCS trips must be submitted through the Scheduler (see back
cover for details). Trips not received from the Scheduler will
be listed as PRIVATE, without recourse.
*** Pyramid Peak
Peak: Pyramid Peak, Class 2 - 9,983'
Date: February 13/14/15 Saturday-Monday
Leader: Palmer Dyal, H: 650-941-5321 pdyal@msn.com
Co-Leader: Wanted
Topo: Pyramid Peak 7.5'
This will be a moderately-paced 3 mile snowshoe trip to climb a
relatively easy peak in the Desolation Wilderness area southwest
of Lake Tahoe. The elevation gain is about 1000' per mile and we
plan to camp at tree line.
We will have time to build snow caves on the first day and view
the marvelous glaciated scenery of the whole Tahoe basin from
the peak on the second day.
There will be a choice of returning on Sunday or Monday
depending on the weather, etc. This will be a good trip for
beginning climbers.
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Anza Borrego Climb - December 1998
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Ten miles north of Bridgeport, Pat Callery and I awoke after a
restful night in the sagebrush to gray skies from horizon to
horizon. Throwing our wet sleeping bags in the car, we drove
down to the familiar trailhead at Twin Lakes, where we were
soon joined by Jim Curl, Dot Reilly, Milushe Kudnrnovska, and
trip leader Kai Wiedman. It was early Saturday morning on
Memorial Day weekend and time for another one of Kai's assaults
on the Sawtooth Ridge.
Borrego Palm Canyon is a magical place. It is an oasis in the
desert. It is a swath of green among rocks and sand. Over 1000
native fan palms (Washingtonia folifera) grace the canyon with
their gray/green fronds. Beneath them water flows amid the
welcome shade. Here also are surprises: deciduous sycamores and
alders among the expected desert willow.
All this beauty is found at Anza Borrego State Park two hours
east of San Diego. Between Christmas and New Year's Richard
Stover, Patricia Crane, and I climbed 3960' Indianhead Peak the
long way beginning the climb by hiking 2.5 miles up Borrego
Palm Canyon.
There is an excellent trail for the first 1.5 miles, a fair use trail
the next mile up the canyon. Then it's boulder hopping and
cactus/agave dodging for the 1400' climb up the ridge to the 3200'
saddle. From there it's a puzzle of boulder scrambling and route
finding to the relatively flat summit which offers a spectacular
view of California's Colorado desert, the Salton Sea on the
eastern horizon, irrigated ag. land, irreverent development and
the campground below.
We descended on the well traveled DPS direct route which turned
out to have far fewer agave lying in wait than reported in the DPS
guide. In all the climb took 11 hours since we had a few route
finding delays in the canyon and a one hour detour caused by
ascending the wrong side of the ridge heading toward the 3200'
saddle. We carried 2 liters of water apiece and replenished one
empty bottle each before we left the main canyon and our last
water. By hike's end we had finished all 3 liters and were grateful
for the water fountain at the trailhead.
Earlier that week we were joined by Jackie Stroud of Sacramento
for our climbs of Jacumba and Sombrero. Jacumba (4512') is
more of a hill climb at the end of a mogul-filled, high clearance
dirt road. The view from the summit into the Carriso Gorge
affords glimpses of the fabulous San Diego & Arizona Eastern
Railroad. The only excitement came at the end of the hike when I
stepped on a large boulder which rolled, throwing me into a
yucca bayonet which deeply pierced my underarm. Either the
yucca injects an anesthetic-like agent or the spine hit a nerve,
because my arm felt numb after the incident. The initial pain was
considerable.
Sombrero (4229'), while not difficult, is quite satisfying,
particularly the rock scrambling at the summit. On the desert
floor at 800' the chuparosa was in bloom attracting numerous
bees and hummingbirds. The desert lavender (my favorite) was
starting to show bits of deep violet. Canyon wrens sang
melodiously as we climbed. What a wonderful Christmas
vacation!
-- Debbie Bulger
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A Snowshoe Field Test
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To follow up on my request for opinions on snowshoes, I took two
different pairs of snowshoes on the Freel Peak trip in mid
December. For a true head-to-head test, I did all my snowshoeing
that weekend with an MSR (Denali Lama) on one foot and an
Atlas (smallest size mountaineering model) on the other. I hiked
both with and without a full pack. This was my second time ever
on showshoes.
My primary impression was that they were surprisingly similar in
overall performance. I didn't have to step differently with my two
feet. And when I was "skiing" down steep powdery sections,
there was no performance difference between them. Flotation
was very similar.
There were some minor differences. The MSR is noisier on
crusty snow and is a bit more "klunky". But when traversing a
hardpacked slope, the MSR gripped much better due to it's full
length rails. This was the biggest difference, and an important
one in my mind. I didn't test the MSR add-on tails.
Caveat: I didn't test for durability, and I did not get to test in all
possible snow conditions.
Many thanks to Dot and Nancy for making this test possible.
-- Kelly Maas
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Davis in December - December 28, 1999
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Mt Davis, at 12311', is a class 2 lump in the shadow of great
peaks like Ritter/Banner, Lyell, etc. According to the register, it's
mostly climbed in August and September. Apparently almost as
many people from out of state make their way there as do the
locals, which is quite surprising. After a busy December full of
overeating and socializing, Craig Taylor, Hal Tompkins, and I
headed up the Rush Creek trail (from the June Lake Loop) on
12/28/98 for one last peak of the year and a bit of winter solitude.
We saw no one once we lost sight of the road.
Craig had contacted an east-side guide who warned us there was
no snow, and indeed we walked to Gem Lake at 9000' barely
needing gaiters. On the other hand, the rest of our route was
snowy enough to make skis or snowshoes useful (we had a mix).
There was a lot of breakable windslab that made the skiing less
than perfect but there was also a 2-mile flat run across Thousand
Island Lake that made the snowshoers jealous. The snowpack
was surprisingly heavy in the valleys given that all the ridges and
faces were patchy to bare. Up high it's a great area for
intermediate skiers, and there were lots of roped ice climbers
near the road.
The first day, we chopped a hole in the ice near the outlet of
Thousand Island for water, and made camp as darkness fell.
Overnight it dipped to zero degrees, but the next day
temperatures were in the 50s as we covered easy terrain to the
peak in perfect weather. No significant wind, no clouds, no deep
powder, no ice. We could have left all the heavy clothes and
crampons and ice axes at home! We saw no evidence of any
cornices, slumps, or avalanches on any slopes. It's a dry year.
We all summitted in thin shirts with no gloves, only a week after
the winter solstice. The toughest part of the climb, other than the
slog back across the lake, was the bare boulder field you have to
traverse just north of North Glacier Pass - Hal bypassed it on the
way down by skiing a chute down to Lake Catherine but it didn't
really save time. (OK, I suppose hoisting the packs over those
spiky gates on the Gem Lake spillway had objective danger, but
we rated it no more than class 3 and we didn't rope up.)
Winter can be cruel, but [insert politically correct deity or deities
here] arranged a very nice weather window for us. Clouds on the
way out never turned into a storm, it was so warm that Gem Lake
ice was groaning like whale song, and we had dry empty roads
for driving home.
-- Steve Eckert
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ADVANCED TRIPS LIST
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February
13-15 (Pres day weekend) Red Slate (ski/snowshoe) Steve Eckert, Tim Hult
13-15 (Pres day weekend) Pyramid Peak Palmer Dyal
13-15 (Pres day weekend) Any Mountain Aaron Schuman
March
14 (Sunday) Roundtop (winter day hike) George Van Gordon, Arun Mahajan
21 (Sunday) Mt Sizer (Henry Coe, day hike) Nancy Fitzsimmons
26-28 Death Valley Trip (Back Pack) Bill Kirkpatrick, Nancy Fitzsimmons
April
2-4 Sawtooth, Spanish, Rockhouse Bob Suzuki, Rich Leiker
3-4 Lassen, Brockoff Ron Karpel
3-5 Shasta George Van Gordon
16-18 Black Mountain, Diamond Peak Steve Eckert, Aaron Schuman
24-25 Lassen George Van Gordon
24-25 Yosemite Valley (class-3/4) George Sinclair
May
1-2 Shasta Ron Karpel
1-2 Moser,Maggie,Taylor,Siretta Bob Suzuki, Rich Leiker
8-9 Mt Gorgonio George Van Gordon
15-16 (weather delays 1) Mt Tinemaha Steve Eckert
23 (Sunday) Crevasse Rescue Practice Kelly Mass
29-31 (Memorial Day) Stanford and Morgan Steve Eckert, Charles Schafer
29-31 (Memorial Day) Shasta (via Bolam Glacier) George Van Gordon
29-31 (Memorial Day) Rainier Ron Karpel, Nancy Fitzsimmons
June
11-13 Williamson Kelly Mass, Ron Karpel
19-20 Goethe, Emerson Aaron Schuman
19-20 Royce Pk and Merriam Pk Steve Eckert
July
3 Snake Dike (Half Dome) Ron Karpel
3-5 (July 4th weekend) Middle Pal Kelly Mass
3-5 (July 4th weekend) Tower Peak Charles Schafer
3-11 (July 4th week) Taboose Pass Climb-O-Rama Steve Eckert, Bob Suzuki
17-18 Matterhorn, Whorl Ron Karpel
17-25 North Kaweah Charles Schafer
23-26 Finger Pk and Tunemah Pk Steve Eckert, Erik Siering
24-25 Conness Bob Suzuki, Bonnie
26-31 Ritter, Banner Alan Ritter
30-August 2 Whitney, Russell Ron Karpel, Nancy Fitzsimmons
31-August 1 Palisade Crest Peter Maxwell
31-August 1 Bear Creek Spire (Class-4) Bob Suzuki, Jim Ramaker
August
early august Whaleback,Glacier,Picket,etc Steve Eckert (joining Secor's 2-week trip??)
7-14 Fiske, Huxley, Black Giant... Bob Suzuki, Charles Schafer
13-16 Hilgard, Recess, Gabb Steve Eckert
16 ... 20 TBD in Colorado Ron Karpel, George Van Gordon
21-22 Red Slate (North Couloir) Charles Schafer
28-29 Winchell, Agassiz Bob Suzuki, Nancy Fitzsimmons
September
3-6 (Labor Day) Pettit, Piute, Volunteer Steve Eckert
4-6 (Labor Day) Middle Pal, Norma Clyde Bob Suzuki, Rich Leiker
11-12 Clarence King Aaron Schuman
17-18 Needham and Sawtooth Steve Eckert
17-19 TBD Peter Maxwell
26 Dana Couloir Ron Karpel
October
2-3 Tuolumne Peak (car camp) Debbie Benham
2-3 Kern Peak Steve Eckert (SPS list finish)
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Unofficial Trips
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Private trips may be submitted directly to the Scree Editor,
but are not insured, sponsored, or supervised by the Sierra
Club. They are listed here because they may be of interest to
PCS members.
*** Red Slate
Peak: Red Slate Mtn (13163) Class 2 / snow
Dates: Feb 13-15 (Sat-Mon)
Map: Mt Morrison 15' quad
Contact: Steve Eckert
650-508-0500
Co-Contact: Tim Hult
Secor notes that this is the highest peak north of Mt Abbot, and
calls it "a big pile of rubble" with "a swell view". When it's covered
with snow WHO CARES if it's a pile of rubble? The view still
works!
We'll probably go up Convict Creek, bypassing Lake Dorothy in
favor of Lake Witsonahpah but McGee Creek is an option. From
Convict, we can stay on or near a ridge for the steepest part (the
approach to Gemini Pass on the west ridge of Red Slate). If
conditions are perfect, this might be a two day trip, but I'm
assuming three days with an early return on day 3. Skis or
snowshoes could work. This is not a beginner's trip: shovel,
avalanche beacon, experience required.
*** Mt. Reba
Peak: Mt. Reba
Date: March 6-7
Leader: George Van Gorden, 408-779-2320, before 9PM
Mt. Reba is near Bear Valley ski area. From the road the elevation
gain is just over 1000 feet, but we will travel along a long ridge and
the looking is good. We will meet at the end of highway 4 on Sat.
at 12:00. We will ski or snowshoe in a short distance and make
camp and then we can start having fun. For those interested in
skiing, this area provides some good intermediate terrain.
*** Telescope Peak via Surprise Canyon,
Peaks: Telescope Peak
Dates: March 26, 27, 28
Maps: Telescope Peak
Contacts: Bill Kirkpatrick, W (408) 279-3450;
H (408) 293-2447, Wmkirk@earthlink.net
Nancy Fitzsimmons, h 408-957-0983,
w 408-495-1761, pkclimber@aol.com.
In this trip we will experience the western side of the Panamints.
We will form up early on Friday, March 26, in Ballarat, motor up to
Chris Wicht Camp and park. Then we backpack up Surprise
Canyon on what's left of a miner's road to Panamint City, which is
what is left of a miner's camp. On Saturday we will gain the ridge
of the Panamints and climb to the top of Telescope. Sunday we
walk back to the cars. This is likely to be a very demanding trip,
with a total elevation gain of nearly 9,000 feet in two days.
*** Broad Peak Expedition!
Peak: Broad Peak 26,400 ft
Dates: June-July 1999
Contact: Tom Masterson
masterst@ucsu.colorado.edu
phone, fax (303) 499-6363
address: 250 - 31st Street, Boulder, CO 80303
We are a Boulder based group seeking to add 3-4 more members
to our June-July 1999 expedition to attempt the standard route on
Broad Peak.
This is a non-commercial, non-guided, non-profit expedition! Price-
wise, it is a great deal: Land costs should be about $3800, plus
airfare of 1200-1500. We want to put together a Colorado-based
team, so that we can climb together this winter & spring, get to
know each other and get used to climbing with each other.
Experience climbing over 20,000 ft very helpful. For more
information call Tom Masterson at 303 499-6363 or Mike Marsh at
303 499 3395.
*** Southern Sierra Day Hikes
Peaks: Spanish Needle, 7,851 ft
Sawtooth Peak, 8,000 ft
Rockhouse Peak, 8,383 ft
Dates: April 2-4
Contacts: Bob Suzuki (408) 259-0772 (H)
(510) 657-7555 (W)
Rich Leiker (510) 792-4816 (H)
(408) 453-4253 (W) after 4pm
Shake off that winter rust for an early season trip into the southern
Sierra. We'll be climbing each peak as a day hike and car
camping at night.
*** Mt Tinemaha
Peak: Mt Tinemaha (12,561) Class 2 / snow
Dates: May 15-16 (Sat-Sun) (weather may delay by a week)
Map: Big Pine 15' topo
Contact: Steve Eckert
650-508-0500
Tired of every trip requiring lots of experience? Want to get out in
the spring snow, but don't have a long resume? This is the trip
you've been waiting for! We'll pack from about 6500 to about
10500', a long day, starting on trail and probably finishing on snow.
It's not steep and I don't expect ice axes will be required. The peak
itself probably WILL require an ice axe, but won't be hard climbing
(Secor rates it Class 1 in the summer).
Only 2000' of gain on summit day leaves us some time to review
ice axe and snow travel techniques, but THIS IS NOT A CLASS.
I'll be happy to share what I know and to discuss what you know,
and I'll even watch if you want to practice, but you should have
taken a class or read Freedom of the Hills or had some experience
with the axe before you come.
Sign up at your own risk. See required waiver at:
http://www.climber.org/eckert/LiabilityWaiver.pdf
If you've never climbed with me before you should check out
http://www.climber.org/eckert/ClimberExpectations-SRE.txt
*** Taboose: Climb-O-Rama '99
Peaks: Wynne, Pinchot, Pyramid, Striped, Goodale,
Cardinal, Ruskin, Pinchot, Marion, State,
Prater, Observation
Dates: July 3-11 (Sat-Sun, July 4th week)
Contacts:Steve Eckert 650-508-0500
Bob Suzuki, bobszk@bigfoot.com
We're planning another Climb-O-Rama for peakbaggers who just
can't live with only one peak per day. This year's trip features
fewer campsites (we hope to spend two nights in the same place
several times) and more seldom visited peaks (probably including
some first ascents of the year) and you get at least one peak
every day, but the first one.
It's a 9 day trip but all the peaks except Observation fit into an 8
day schedule (spare day for weather!) with no day over 12 miles
and only one day over 5000'. You can skip a peak now and then
to relax, or skip entire days by leaving the group and joining us
later. Send $10 (payable to Steve Eckert and refunded less permit
fees if you show up at the trailhead) with any requests you have
for peaks we forgot (be prepared to lead or solo). Tell us as much
as you can about your skill and conditioning. We'll collect names
and decide in a month or so about the exact schedule and trip
roster. In addition, we'll need a signed copy of this liability waiver:
http://www.climber.org/eckert/LiabilityWaiver.pdf
*** Nepal October 1999
Peak: Chulu West
Date: October 1999
Contact: Warren Storkman
4180 Mackay Drive
Palo Alto, CA 94306
Phone 650-493-8959
FAX 650-493-8975
warren@climber.org
Climb or Trek, We'll combine both for the ultimate adventure.
The trekking peak is Chulu West 21,750 ft. (6630 m). Its rating
classifies it as moderate -difficult. Chulu West is on the
Annapurna circuit, north of the village of Braga. After the climb we
pass over the Thorung La Pass (17,700 ft)
Our walk down to beautiful Muktinath brings us to a Hindu
religious setting. You'll see many older Indians from India who
made this arduous journey. Most of the older people consider this
visit the fulfillment of their religious life.
Before reaching Jomson Airport There will be a side trip to
Kagbeni, A village that lost its way in time.
Its a 19 day trek from Besisahar, return from Jomson
Trekkers Climbers
A) Trek Cost $1235 $1330
B) Internal bus & Air $180 $180
C) Sherpa -walk-in $55 $55
W/food, equip etc.
D) Climbing Sherpa / Ins
3 persons @ $27 $90
E) Permit fee
10 persons @ $350 $35
Total Cost $1470 $1690
D and E could swing a little either way.
B could swing a little also.
Thai Air $1200 from San Francisco.
I'm only the facilitator, you pay the provider.
*** The Coming Millennium Celebration
Peak: Kilimanjaro 19,340 Uhuru Peak.
Date: Jan 12, 2000
Contact: Warren Storkman
4180 Mackay Drive
Palo Alto, CA 94306
Phone 650-493-8959
FAX 650-493-8975
warren@climber.org
Visit Africa for a walk-up of one of the seven continental summits.
We'll leave San Francisco January 12th 2000 arriving in Arusha,
Tanzania. This special package of 4 hotel nights plus 6 nights on
the mountain is around $1000 1998 prices. The prices should
hold for 2000.
The standard package is for 2 hotel and 4 hut nights.
Why longer for us? Jet lag and acclimatization . We are looking
for better than the average success rate. 20% not good enough.
K.L.M. Air looks attractive. '98/'99 price $1240.00
San Francisco to Kilimanjaro Airport.
We have 26 persons with a strong commitment. Lets make it a
century for the millennium.
*** Yosemite Valley Peak Climb
Peak: Grizzly Peak, Sierra Point, Mt. Broderick,
Liberty Cap, and Eagle Peak.
Date: April 24-25
Contact: George Sinclair 650-941-2160;
geosinc@aol.com
Spend the weekend climbing some "peaks" about Yosemite Valley,
including Grizzly Peak, Sierra Point, Mt. Broderick, Liberty Cap,
and Eagle Peak. Some climbs will involve class 4 climbing.
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Avenue Of The Volcanoes - Ice climbing on the Equator
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During the period of December 19th thru January 12th I traveled
to Quito to try some of the peaks that had tantalized me on my
previous climbs in 1996. The plan was to team up with my friend
and Guide from Bolivia, Yossi Brain. Yossi in addition to being
the "Mainman" in La Paz, is also an accomplished journalist and
author of the Bolivian Climbing Guide and Bolivian Trekking
Guide (Try Chessler Books, buy two!). Yossi and I both had
similar peak lists, with Yossi`s list came pressure from his
publisher to get the routes documented for his forthcoming Guide
to Ecuadorian Mountaineering. In a general sense my plan was to
climb on technical routes only. Ecuador has a reputation for
walkup climbing, and if you do what most folks do, bag
Cotopaxi, Chimborazo, and the other commonly climbed peaks,
that's what you'll get. However, there is a lot of difficult technical
climbing available if you want it, and that was my plan for this
trip.
I dug in at the Magic Bean in the center of Quito, and sorted out
gear and shopped for food and fuel on the first day. For those who
haven't been to Quito its worth pointing out that this section of
town is hot and hoppin in a big way: Bars, Cyber Cafes, Dinner
spots, Outfitters, Shops, and lots of climbers from all over the
world. Its common to be on the side of some 18,000 ft peak in the
morning and be back at your hotel room and in the discos by
nightfall. All night Lavanderias allowed me to return from one
peak, unpack, wash clothes, and be packed again for a morning
departure to another peak.
When I arrived in Quito Yossi was guiding one of the trade routes
(Cotopaxi) for Safari Ecuador, so I took a jaunt off to Machachi
the morning after my arrival to do an acclimitization peak. The
new Electric trolley in Quito cranks up about 6am and I was on
the way to Terminal Terrestie where the buses to Machachi (and
everywhere else) depart. After a 2 Km hike I was in the foothills
of El Corazon and promptly stopped by hacienda owners who
firmly reminded me that they owned the immediate time zone
and all the drainages therein. Sweet talk, extended chewing of
the fat, and some promises not to torch the parjamo, bought my
passage through. All that remained was 1000 meters of Ichigrass
and 100 meters of class 3 rock. With zilch acclimitization time
under my belt the last bits hurt more than they should of, so I
bagged some sleep on the summit and returned to The Magic
Bean. Yossi was there having just dropped off a note, asking
"Where are you?". Not that I could possibly have the same
question of him, being 6 foot tall with blond hair down to his
arse, he can be seen from low earth orbit among the stout locals.
Blending in is just not Yossi`s style anyway. We hooked up with
Ray a teacher at the Collegio Americana and made some plans to
hit the direct face of Illiniza Sur, an infrequently climbed route
lately, consisting of 60-80 degree ice for half a dozen pitches.
Somewhere in here I bagged another couple of peaks, Guagua
Pichincha, and Padre Incantato using the same Electric trolley-to-
bus scam. An additional taxi to the town of Lloa was needed,
along with traction encouragement for the driver (mas altura, mas
altura!). I eventually did Guagua three times during this trip,
being there once for an eruption of this fickle volcano. This peak
was used as filler between larger peaks, and with 1000 meters of
hiking from the village outskirts it served to keep the legs tight as
well. The refugio on this peak makes a nice penthouse for any
andinista wishing to avoid the inevitable debauchery of Quito
night life. I kept myself pure and unsullied with these hikes to
4800M, also a bit bored.
The road to the Illinizas is probably worse than no road at all,
but it offers a good prelude to the sandy 500m slogfest that leads
to the Col. At 3am or so we started up the ancient and rocky
black ice of Illinza Sur`s Ruta Directo. This was Ice that was
about as bad as it gets, and I mean bad as in not good. At some
point in this climb I actually stopped swinging my picks all
together, just sort of leaning on them for balance while I stuck my
crampons with as much authority as I could muster.
Belay stances were chopped and insured with screws, Yossi lead
the way and actually enjoyed displacing his own body weight in
dinner plates with each perch. Ray and I were standing less that
two feet apart near the 80 degree crux, but Ray seemed to have
some sort of magical magnetic power which attracted banquet
sized platters of rotten ice. He must have been hit twenty times
for each tiny bit that found me. I actually moved closer to him out
of guilt, but Yossi`s target zone just shrunk. The trip off the
summit was in a total fog, thru, under, around and into huge
crevasses and down endless 45 degree slopes with just enough
slimy snow to prevent facing downhill. I got a stiff neck from
looking through my legs at where the hell I was going. Gapers on
the adjoining walkup of Illinza Norte served as a gallery and were
quite generous in their approval. Although I was later to take heat
from local guides for the 10 hour time span of the climb. This
was, however a good start to the climbing, with only a week gone
I had four acclimitization peaks of about 16,000 ft completed and
one of the most technical climbs in the area under my belt.
Must have been another one of the filler trips to Guagua in here,
then it was off to El Altar by way of Riobamba. Yossi had plans
for several of the summits on El Altar, and we brought enough
food at the Supermaxi to open our own at Campo Italiano. Campo
Italiano proved to be too good for us, so we scrambled to a
boulder field where we pitched our tent on terrain that might
have been used for lunar landing exercises.
Part of Yossi`s scheme to get ever closer to the peaks we intended
to do after El Obispo, which is the highest peak in the El Altar
Massif. Obispo is also billed as the most difficult and technical
major summit in Ecuador. El Obispo proved to be every bit as
nasty and scary as it was said to be.
Off at 2am for the summit we lost an amiable Ecuadorian doctor
friend on the second pitch up the glacier. He looked up at the
massive icewall from across the gentle lower glacier and said "No
Way!". Ray, Yossi, and I made our way to the hidden and rather
wonderful couloir which leads to the upper seracfalls. This
couloir was really nice ice, the best of the whole trip, and at three
pitches of 70 degrees plus was good enough to deserve us a round
of Choco-chips and Banana Chifle at its top. From here 50 degree
climbing of indiscriminate nature led to a huge serac wall,
around which we found a narrow, steep and rotten gully which
might have reminded me of a Scottish gully I once climbed, but it
didn't because I've never been to Scotland. The rock on top of El
Obispo is so lousy I actually used crampons to dig into the 5.7
Lava/Mud/Crumbcake finale.
Back at base camp our Ecuadorian Doctor friend had bowls of
soup waiting so we kicked back, fattened up for Moncha Grande
the next day while enjoying the scenery. This scenery was really
spectacular, every bit as good as we were told it would be. Our
camp sat above the snout of the large glacier beneath the Monkey
Hippey and El Obispo massifs, and right out of this glaciers
pointy bit a "Cascada" more than 500 meters long dropped down
into a huge blue/green lake. Things took a turn for the worse, as a
hard cold rain set in. From my sleeping bag I was encouraged
when the noise from the rainfall ceased at about 10pm, when I
went out for a leak at midnight I found that it hadn't stopped
raining, just metamorphosed into snow. The morning dawned
with 20 cm on the ground and more coming down... so much for
Moncha Grande. We Burned our excess food and strapped on 60
lb packs for the hike out.
I inserted another jaunt up to Guagua Pichincha in this rest day,
and shared the taxi to Lloa with a nice guy named Tyler from
South Carolina. I was then poised for a spell of "normal"
climbing up Cayambe and Chimborazo, in that order. Cayambe
was a lot of fun, Cosme from Safari Ecuador was enlisted due to
the fact that all other partners were either working, or had done
that peak before. This turned out to be a good move, as a lot of
snow had fallen here also, and a very thick fog set in making
route finding, even for Cosme, a real challenge. We later bragged
that we bagged all three summits on this peak, which we did, but
the true story was that it took three tries climbing up, then down
300 meters to the various summits to find the Cumbre Maxima at
about 19,000 ft. Even though this was a non technical, "One Axe"
peak, I felt good about making all three summits in pea soup fog
and deep snow, other groups leaving the hut that day did not
summit.
That night it rained big time in Quito, enough to eliminate the
possibility for bagging Chimborazo the next morning which had
been my plan. Not to worry cuz at this time Yossi showed up with
an offer to try a first ever summit of Antisana from the east side.
This is one of the few firsts left in Ecuador and so I
enthusiastically said yes despite the soggy and complex approach
to the east of this most remote peak with its famously wild and
active glaciers. On my past summit of Antisana I had been
fascinated with the eastern side of the peak which was said to
drop off like a rock to the jungle below, and contain the worlds
largest equatorial glacier mass.
After a major and soggy approach we arrived at 5000 meters on
the east side just as the snow really started falling. The next
morning we bashed our way up vertical serac walls and deep
snows to a point still several hundred meters below the summit
which was blocked by really colossal serac walls. These were not
gonna yield to us in these conditions, in which several
centimeters of snow was falling per hour. Back to the tent we
slogged, our disappointment punctuated with numerous drops
into the well disguised crevasses with which this glacier was so
amply endowed. When we returned to our tent it was crushed to
ankle level by the heavy snow that had fallen.
Yossi and I committed to try this route again next year feeling
that firsts such as these don't come easily and this one was worth
a second try. I bagged another, and final, summit of Guagua
Pichincha in here about now, which gave Yossi just enough time
to concoct another scheme to bag Quillindana, known as the
Matterhorn of Ecuador and said to consist of 5.7 rock of
prodigious dimensions. Since all the glaciated peaks were
hammered with major snows and blows, I said something
intelligent like "OK" and we were off across the pajramo again
thru some really impressive Haciendas to the base of
Quillinadana.
Quillindana was a most scenic peak, and offered the finest views
of the "Avenida Volcan", it seemed like all the major peaks were
visible from there, Sangay, El Altar, Cayambe, Chimborazo,
Coxapaxi, The Illinizas, Corazon. It was neat looking at all these
peaks that I had climbed, and a few that still remained. As we
pulled into a camp at 4300 meters, the heavens opened up and it
poured rain long and hard. The next morning we dashed
enthusiastically for the main summit of Quillindana and realized
after some time that 5.7 rock coated in snow and ice for that
number of pitches was gonna be out of the question - it was of
course raining/hailing again. We settled for the Ventanimilla
summit of this peak. This one is really tops on my list for next
year, the face looks like the Eigerwand, and from the Cotopaxi
side was really intimidating.
So this was the trip in a large nutshell, all in all something like
11 summits in the 3 plus weeks, two misses, one on Antisana,
and settling for the minor summit on Quillindana, but overall a
good trip. It proved to me, what I had known, that despite
Ecuador's reputation for non-technical climbing if you want
technical climbing it is there in abundance, just don't follow
everybody else around.
I still have much to climb down there and cant wait to return to
finish off more peaks. I will defiantly spend New Years 1999
there, no town does these holidays like Quito, a great town in a
location that's pure heaven for big mountain enthusiasts.
-- John Zazzara
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Grouse Mountain
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Grouse Mtn ( 8067 ) is the high point of the Buttermilk, and an
obvious candidate for the WIMP ( Winter, Inyo, Mono, Peak )
list. Today was beautiful with the temperature in town pushing
60. Joe Kelsey, Toby, Lori and I decided that we should bag this
noble peak before it got too snowy. We drove up the Buttermilk
road 1.5 miles past the cattleguard at the boulders turned left on a
spur, drove .25 miles to a circle around a Pinyon and parked. At
this point we are about 1.5 miles NW of the peak. Separating us
from the peak was the 200 foot deep wash of McGee Creek. We
contoured west, upstream for a bit until we found an easy
crossing. At this point, we are west of the peak. Easy sand
slopes led up to the west shoulder and a series of rock towers.
We were concerned about Toby's ability to negotiate these, so we
dropped down to the south and found an easy sand route
meandering up through some spectacular orange granite towers to
the saddle west of the summit area. Scrambling through large
blocks brought all of us to the summit expeditiously. We had
concerns about Toby's ability to handle this, but Joe reminded us
that Toby had climbed Fremont Peak. Beautiful on the summit,
no wind, Joe ate lunch in a T shirt. We descended the north slope
directly from the saddle, covered with four inches of snow.
Considering that this slope receives no sun this time of year, it
was surprising how little snow there was. A short walk nw, a
drop into and out of the McGee Creek wash and we were back at
the car. Round trip stats: 3 miles, 1000 feet, 2.5 hours. Could be
done faster by taking our descent route up.
-- Eric and Lori Beck
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THE BACK PAGE
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Scree is the monthly journal of the Peak Climbing Section
of the Sierra Club, Loma Prieta Chapter. Visit our website at
http://www.climber.org/pcs/
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Elected Officials
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Chair:
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650 594-0211 home
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Subscriptions and Email List Info
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Hard copy subscriptions are $10. Subscription applications and
checks payable to "PCS" should be mailed to the Treasurer so they
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operating expenses other than printing the Scree. The Scree is on
the PCS web site (as both plain text and Adobe Acrobat/PDF at
http://www.climber.org/pcs/Scree/Scree.html
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Rock Climbing Classifications
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The following trip classifications are to assist you in choosing trips
for which you are qualified. No simple rating system can anticipate
all possible conditions.
Class 1: Walking on a trail.
Class 2: Walking cross-country, using hands for balance.
Class 3: Requires use of hands for climbing, rope may be used.
Class 4: Requires rope belays.
Class 5: Technical rock climbing.
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Deadline for submissions to the next Scree is Sunday 2/21/99.
Meetings are the second Tuesday of each month.
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"Vy can't ve chust climb?" - John Salathe
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