exploring the waddington range: thirty years of adventures - Jun 2010.pdf · Peter Taylor, Chris...

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June 2010 next meeting: tuesday, june 22 • floral hall, van dusen gardens, west 37th and oak, vancouver COVER PHOTO: Jim Elzinga on the summit ridge of the west peak of Mount Munday, after climbing the Starship Couloir, May 1995. Combatant, Tiedemann, and Asperity (L-R) in background. inside this issue: interview with don serl exploring the waddington range: thirty years of adventures

Transcript of exploring the waddington range: thirty years of adventures - Jun 2010.pdf · Peter Taylor, Chris...

Page 1: exploring the waddington range: thirty years of adventures - Jun 2010.pdf · Peter Taylor, Chris Kiely, Blair Mitten archives committee Liz Scremin 604 921 2651:cV_V 8`]Ude`_V604

June 2010

next meeting: tuesday, june 22 • floral hall, van dusen gardens, west 37th and oak, vancouver

COVER PHOTO: Jim Elzinga on the summit ridge of the west peak of Mount Munday, after climbing the Starship Couloir, May 1995. Combatant, Tiedemann, and Asperity (L-R) in background.

inside this issue:interview with don serl

exploring the waddington range: thirty years of adventures

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acc vancouver sectionThe club meets monthly, usually for a slide presentation, at the Floral Hall in VanDusen Gardens, W 37th and Oak St., at 7:30 pm on the fourth Tuesday of the month, except in July, August and December.

[email protected]

Mailing address:ACC Vancouver Section,c/o Federation of Mountain Clubs of BC130 W Broadway, Vancouver, BC V5Y 1P3

ANNUAL MEMBERSHIP DUESSingle $ 41 / $ 51 *Family $ 61 / $ 71 *Junior (under 18) $ 31 / $ 41 ** Includes postal delivery of the

Avalanche Echoes

NATIONAL ACC OFFICEFor new memberships and renewals,changes of address or other details, and booking huts, contact the ACC National office directly.

[email protected], 403-678-3224 (fax)P.O. Box 8040 Canmore, AB, T1W 2T8

the avalanche echoesis the official publication ofthe Alpine Club of Canada,Vancouver Section.

Editor: Brad Badelt, 604 742 [email protected]

SUBMISSIONSWe encourage submissions of writing (txt, rtf and doc formats), photography and drawings (jpg, tif, png). Email your submission or call the editor. Deadline is the 20th day of the previous month.

ADVERTISINGAdvertising shall be accepted at the discretion of the editor. All advertis-ing shall be for products or services of direct interest to our membership.

EDITORIAL POLICYSuitability for publication is at the editor’s discretion within the guidelines of the Section Executive. Articles may be edited for clarity or to fit the available space.

e x e c u t i v e

chairRob Brusse 604 732 7730

secretaryCaroline Clapham 604 351 7149

treasurerDave Henwood 604 874 3377

activities chairCam Miller 778 389 1519

camps coordinatorLynn Erickson 604 224 4883

courses coordinatorMartin Siegert 604 939 1838

access & environmentPatrick Lloyd 604 929 7496

quarter masterBill Sims 604 734 8870

program coordinatorSusan Higginbottom 604 925 3742

membershipTony Knight 604 873 2276

web administratorKayla Stevenson 604 619 7978

alpin-e-r editorSteve Burgess 778 229 3448

newsletter editorBrad Badelt 604 742 1711

national club rep (2 year position)

Rob Brusse 604 732 7730

fmcbc repAntje Wahl

graphic designer604 351 4891

c o m m i t t e e s + s p e c i a l p r o j e c t s

best of banff committeeRob Brusse 604 732 7730

camps committeeMike Thompson 604 534 8863Lynn Erickson 604 224 4883Don Serl 604 872 4244Rob Brusse 604 224 0747

tantalus and haberl hut bookingRon Royston 604 687 2711

haberl hut committeeLiz Scremin (acting) 604 921 2651Peter Taylor, Chris Kiely,Blair Mitten

archives committeeLiz Scremin 604 921 2651

604 689 8737

socialsOlga Turok 604 228 0628

promotionsJay MacArthur 604 987 1232

endowment fundRob Brusse 604 224 0747Dave Henwood 604 874 3377

website committeeRichard Keltie 604 738 4583Tony Knight, Kayla Stevenson

a n n o u n c e m e n t s

News from the ACC - Vancouver Section Archives

The Vancouver Section has a wide variety of materials in its archives (original documents, newspaper articles, photographs, books, newsletters, journals, climbing gear and clothing) and is always keen to receive more items typical of a period or of historical importance. Most recently, the following items were donated and the Club is very grateful to the donors.

* Elizabeth Walker donated 22 slides dating from 1962 to 1973, showing scenes of work parties at the Section's Seymour Cabin, Whistler Cabin and Tantalus Hut.

* Derek Hawkins donated 7 slides taken during a 1961 trip into the Waddington Range, specifically to construct a cairn honour-ing ACC member Elfrida Pigou. (Elfrida and several others died in their tents when an icefall collaped and avalanched down upon them during an expedition to Mt. Waddington in 1960. Elfrida was a very fine climber and her accomplishments are recorded in the Canadian Alpine Journal and in 'Pushing The Limits' by Chic Scott.)

* Jeremy Frimer donated a fragment of an old climbing rope that he found in early March this year, high on the route 'Cres-cent Ramp' on the Tantalus Wall of the Stawamus Chief. The rope fragment was tangled in a rotting log. After some research, Jeremy believes that the rope was used by Fred Beckey and Eric Bjornstad on their first ascent of the route in 1966. The rope is white marine rope, a type which was used by climbers up until the late 1960s. Jeremy theorizes that the fragment may have been left behind during a rappel.

The Vancouver Section archives also contains six silver trophies that were awarded annually for many years to winners of the Section’s photo competitions. One of these trophies, engraved 'Mountain Scene Class', was recently repaired and resilvered with grant money from the Section’s Endowment Fund. According to the engravings on the trophy's base, it was first awarded in 1946 to Hugh Aiken and last awarded in 1968 to B. Mitchell.

If anyone wishes to study items in the archives or has items to donate, please contact Liz Scremin at 604-921-2651 or [email protected]

"Continents collidethe earth crust cracksuplifts through oceansbuilds rugged monoliths,pyramids of spiritual evolution.To be at the summit on a clear day is to view the precise chaos of creation."

—From Angels Belay by Peter Christensen

ACC Photography Trophy

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a n n o u n c e m e n t s

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DZAWADI/UPPER KLINAKINI RIVER CONSERVANCY

Area = 58108.493011 ha

Area = 53768.20824 ha

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0 5 10 152.5

Kilometers

1:270,000 Date : June 22, 2009Projection : Albers Nad 83

File : 1412758 (Zone 2)Legend

Zone 2 - Site A

Zone 2 - Site B

Conservancy Areas

B

A

Map - Zone 2 - Waddington Range

For many outdoor enthusiasts the beauty and remoteness of Mt

Waddington makes it the crown jewel of BC's Coastal Range. Not

surprisingly it attracts both motorized and non-motorized fans...

with conflicting ideas of how to enjoy its beauty. Recently, Monika

Bittel, on behalf of the Federation of Mountain Clubs (FMC) of BC,

negotiated an arrangement with the commercially tenured heli-

operator that sets aside significant aspects of Mt Waddington and

its surrounding area for peaceful enjoyment by non-motorized

recreationalists. Here is a summary of what has been agreed upon.

The joint use agreement divides Zone 2 shown on the attached

map into two sub-zones, A and B. Sub-zone

B, which includes Mt. Waddington and the

Plummer Hut, is designated as a year round

non-motorized recreation area with restricted

aerial access by helicopter or fixed wing to

drop off or pick up people who are conducting

multi-day, non-motorized recreational trips.

With respect to Sub-zone A, from May 1st

to June 30th, it also is designated a non-

motorized recreation area with restricted

aerial access. From February 1st to April 30th,

Knight Inlet Heli-Skiing (KIHS) may conduct

heli-skiing and heli-snowboarding in Sub-zone

A.

To minimize interference between heli-skiers

and ski touring or climbing parties throughout

their tenure licence area, KIHS has agreed to

an avoidance protocol. The key components

of the avoidance protocol are: (1) an avoidance

buffer of a minimum 5 km physical separation

and the interposition of a ridge crest; (2) a

communication protocol with known clubs

and service providers to determine who and

where ski touring andclimbing parties will be;

and, (3) avoidance of parties that have not communicated in advance

with KIHS but which are encountered by KIHS in their tenure licence

area.

While the agreement deals with winter activities, the FMC recognizes

that summer access for heli-hiking and heli-picnicing may be

appropriate in some designated areas in Zone 2. Ultimately, the FMC

would like to see a forum of all stakeholders to develop a management

plan and best-practices for this valuable world class mountaineering

and ski touring area.

Access Update on Mt. Waddington Range

up coming s o c i a l s

22 june 2010Exploring the Waddington Range: Thirty years of Adventures Don Serl, climber, mountaineer, author, will provide a brief review of 30 years of adventures

in the Waddington Range. With dozens of trips and over two dozen first ascents, he has been

a household word in the BC Coast Mountains for more than 25 years. Don has extensive

climbing experience not only in BC and Canada but also the Himalayas and around the world.

28 september 2010Altitude Sickness and the High Altitude ClimberDr. Michael Koehle is a physician and physiologist at UBC. Dr. Koehle regularly works as a

volunteer with the Himalayan Rescue Association in Nepal, practicing high altitude medicine

and conducting research. As part of his clinical practice, he screens patients prior to high

altitude travel. He also runs UBC’s Environmental Physiology Laboratory, where one of the

main areas of research is the physiology and genetics of altitude illness.

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a n n o u n c e m e n t s

Mount John Clarke

mountain has been named in honor of John Clarke.

Mount John Clarke is located on Squamish Nation land southwest of the junction of Outrigger and Sims Creeks, north-east of the head of Princess Louisa Inlet. Mount John Clarke is the high point of the most exquisite miniature wilderness traverse, complete with ancient forests, lakes, tarns, meadows and a tiny glacier.

The choice of this particular peak as John’s legacy was enthusiastically endorsed by the Squamish Nation, as well as by the ACC and BCMC, educators, conservationists and academics.

What more appropriate place than Ireland to learn the good news about Mount John Clarke? As I wandered around the streets of Dublin where John spent his early years in this bustling, warm-hearted city, an elec-tronic message filtered through the thicken-ing ether like a bright ray of sunshine. Thirty thousand feet above, a cloud of volcanic ash from the exuberant Icelandic volcano had brought the world to a stop.

I recalled John’s words that “nature humbles us at every step”. He should know, having spent over 40 years of his too-short life exploring the Coast Range Mountains of British Columbia. John’s relationship with

the Coast Range is a love story; he was just as passionate about exploring those impossibly hard-to-get places at the end of his life as he was at the beginning, and the thrill of standing on a virgin peak was just as intense as it was when he made his first ever ascent - Mount Cheam - in 1962. It never wore off.

John, master of understatement and a humble man, let slip one time that he’d made over 600 first ascents; as an explor-atory mountaineer he was unequaled. John was as comfortable in the vast wilderness as you or I would be in the confines of our living room. The mountains were his physi-cal and spiritual home – a refuge from the terrifying predictability of today’s micro-managed world.

Patience was a hallmark of John’s character – at least when it came to mountaineering. He made sure he approached the moun-tains on their terms – on mountain time. He would cheerfully wait out the endless storms in the confines of his tent, often alone, rather than bypass a peak that he had set his heart on. It was all part of the journey, and if turned back it only firmed his resolve to try again.

John Clarke’s name is synonymous with the Coast Ranges – and rightly so. The chances are that if you randomly jabbed your finger on a map of the Coast Ranges the peak you

selected would have been climbed by John. If you were to follow the thread of John’s exploratory journeys you would be amazed by the tightness of the weave criss-crossing the mountains from Vancouver to the re-mote Kitimat Ranges in the north.

Mount John Clarke is at the apex of John’s ‘classroom’. It was here on the sandbars of Sims Creek and the forests and ridges above that John initiated the Witness Project [www.utsam-witness.ca] along with Squa-mish Nation hereditary chief Bill Williams, and photographer Nancy Bleck. The Project inspired and educated thousands of city folk about the essential role that wilderness plays in our lives.

It was here, through the Wilderness Educa-tion Program [www.wilded.org] founded by John and I in 1966, that John introduced many eager youngsters to their first, and unforgettable taste of wilderness.

It was here that John shared with Chief Bill Williams the beauty and grandeur of the Squamish Nation territory on their high tra-verse from Princess Louisa to Sims Creek.

And it is here on the shores of Sims Creek and in the ancient forests he helped to preserve that John’s ashes lie.

Lisa Baile

a c c w o k s h o p s

The Vancouver Section's Annual Watercolour

Painting En Plein Air Workshop

Discover the artist inside yourself. Join aspiring ACC artists for three great days at Baker Lodge in the Mt. Baker ski area. Enjoy ease of access, a myriad of trails, fabulous and varied alpine scenery, and amazing fall colours. The lodge provides a cosy lounge and large dining room, comfortable bunks and plentiful tasty meals. Instruction and guidance will be provided by artist Velvet Bailes. Partners are welcome to attend to form a hiking group at minimum cost.

Dates: Fri-Sun, September 17-19, 2010

Participants: 7 min - 10 max

Cost for Painters: $220 for ACC members; $250 for non-members (includes instruction, accommodation and all meals)

Questions: Liz Scremin at 604-921-2651 or [email protected]

Registration: Send $100 deposit (cheques made out to ACC-Van Section) to Liz

Watercolour of Mt. Shuksan by Mary O'Donovan

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S k a h a r o c k c l i m b i n g t r i p May 1 - 2, 2010

View from the Skiaha Bluffs.

Cam cranking on Thumbstruck.

Goofing around at the Casino in Penticton after watching the hockey game.

Lake Skaha from Banbury campsite.

Cori cookn' pumpkin pancakes, perfect!

"I'm supposed to lead that?!?"...

The team (minus 1): David, Stephanie, Scott, Cam, Cori. Photo by: Ben.

Cam taking a whipper on some unnamed 'character building' climbing route.

Participants of the Skaha weekend rock climbing trip: Cameron Miller, Coriann Moller, David Hiscock, Scott Macpherson, Ben Stramacchia, and Stephanie Li.

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Late spring grand ascent of Mt. Shuksan via White Salmon, Upper Curtis and Sul-

Mt. Shuksan, 2782 m, often refered to as the "most photographed mountain in America" is an awesome looking peak just East of Mt. Baker, the volcano visible from Vancouver. It can be climbed in a long day but is best enjoyed as an overnight trip. Camping high on one of the many glaciers that surround the peak pyramid provides one with memo-rable views of North Cascades, provided the weather cooperates.

10 intrepid ski mountaineers associated with the Alpine Club of Canada in one way or another, left Vancouver on Saturday morn-ing and drove, with an unusually hassle-free border crossing, to the closed parking lot at the bottom of Mt. Baker ski area.

We skinned via Otto.bahn to the bottom of Chair 8 where we plunged into a short and brutal bushwhack to White Salmon Creek. Perhaps one day a proper trail will be build, until then be prepared! Skiing up the drainage to White Salmon Glacier proper we

observed the mountain's "spring cleaning" in full force. Avalanches came down, mostly from Shuksan Arm, the day before and there was possibility for more later in the day. We did hurry to a safer spot, an indistinct spine on the W side of the glacier. After long, uneventful slog up to Winnie's Slide, a short steep pitch on top of the glacier we broke camp, cooked dinner and looked toward greyish Mt. Baker hoping for more dramatic light. The dramatic sunset did not happen.

At 5:30 we were cruising up Winnie slide ready to cross over to Upper Curtis Glacier, a wide flat field that connects with Sulphide Glacier via Hell's Highway, a wind scoured monster half pipe. Weak sun came up, along with a hint of approaching, and also forecasted, cold front off the Pacific ocean. We motored up Sulphide Glacier to the summit pyramid, left our skis at the bottom and climbed the frozen snow of the central couloir to the summit. (The couloir is about 45°, 200m and is skied when conditions al-low; in fact we saw tracks from a day before when the top layer softened and allowed

what looked like an enjoyable, if scary, run off the summit.)

Summit views were quite enjoyable but the wind made sure we did not hog the summit for too long.

The ski down back to the camp was fun: fast cruising on the Sulphide, few kick turns on Hell’s Highway and Winnie Slide. Packed up and skied heavy spring snow, isothermal skiing at its best. All the way down we were hoping the bushwhack does not need to be reversed, alas it did. One day a proper trail will be build, until then be prepared!

Participants:

Dan Friedmann, Marilyn Cox, Behnam Giwi, Ilze Rupners, Ove Albinsson, Pat Lloyd, Dale Detzler, Jeff Nairn, Jane Weller, Martin Naroznik

Martin Naroznik (reporter & photographer)

Dan on Shuksan Arm, Mt. Baker in the background.

East face of Mt. Baker from Shuksan Arm. Marilyn and Martin.

Marilyn crossing the first creek.

Climbing the summit pyramid of Mt. Shuksan.

This is fun! Ove skiing down.

Summit picture. Dan, Ove, Ilze, Jane and Jeff in the front. Pat, Behnam and Dale in the back.

M o u n t S h u k s a n T r i p R e p o r t May 15 - 16, 2010

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i n t e r v i e w

Q&A with Don SerlQ. How many trips have you done to the Waddington area?

Eighteen. I started climbing in 1974, and in July-August 1975 I joined an ACC summer camp of 10 people into the Waddington Range. We suffered a near-disaster when the plane doing the air drop got caught in a downdraft and skipped off the surface of the Upper Tellot Glacier, breaking Grant McCormick’s ankle in the impact, but staying aloft the make it back to Campbell River. The three ’intact’ members from that flight joined us a couple days late. We experienced very stormy weather, “epic’ed” in a variety of situations, and climbed very little, but I was entranced.

I came back in 1976 with Doug Herchmer and John Wittmayer and climbed the 5000-foot south face of Tiedemann, then failed on the northeast face of Wadding-ton in 1977 with John, Roger Griffiths, and Peter Norris. (Roger had instigated a prior attempt on this route in 1975 with Mike Ramsden and I, but that failed in storm.)

In 1978 John and I climbed McKinley, but I made a trip of sorts into the Waddington Range in August as part of a Mountain Res-cue group searching unsuccessfully for the bodies of two unfortunate young men who perished in separate uncontrolled slides off Mt Spearman.

!979 saw a highlight trip: Dave Jones, Frank Baumann, John, and I choppered into the Waddington-Combatant col, the first time we’d used helicopter access, and the days of float planes never returned for us. We climbed the northwest peak on Wadding-ton, the Great Couloir on Combatant, and (without Frank, who had tweaked a knee) the huge north face of Hickson. To round out the adventure (and to save money) we finished by walking four days out to Twist Lake.

The early ‘80s saw me heading into other parts of the Coast Range (Pantheons, Razor-back, Queen Bess, Tchaikazan) and further afield (Peru, Nepal), but I returned to the Waddington Range in February 1983 to try to climb the Weissner-House route on the south face with Joe Bajan. We failed about 200m under the top after an uncomfortable bivy, then skied out to the coast in three days.

Ape Lake, Mt Monarch country, and Nepal

occupied the rest of 1983 and 1984, but Waddington lured me back in 1985. In May I enjoyed the pleasures and comforts of an ACC ski camp on Ice Valley and the Dais Glacier, then at the end of July Peter Croft, Greg Foweraker, and I traversed the entire main range crest from Fury Gap to the Tellot Glacier.

With so many other fine objectives at-tracting me to other corners of the Coast Mountains (and with an interest in Kluane taking me there three times too), my trips into the Waddington Range were rare over the following decade. Michael Down and I had a superb trip into the peaks around Oval Glacier in the northwest corner of the range in August/September 1989, highlight-ed by yet another bush- and bear-infested walk-out, then Greg Foweraker and I had the unhappy task of recovering a body from low on the Weissner-House route at the end of that month. I joined the ACC Calgary sum-mer camp in 1991 as ‘local colour’, failing to find a safe route thru the Bravo icefall with Karl Nagy, but this was followed by a spate of trips in the mid-90s.

In 1994, Jim Elzinga, Greg Foweraker, Jim Brennan, and I based ourselves out of Sunny Knob and made a number of climbs. For Jim and I perhaps the most noteworthy was our failure to day-trip the Bravo Glacier route. He and I returned in May 1995, basing ourselves in Ice Valley. We did fine routes on the Buckler Glacier face of Waddington (altho we failed to summit) and Mt Munday. I returned in July to the Radiant Glacier with Graham Rowbotham and Dave Sulina, but we came away defeated on our two major objectives.

The summer of 1996 saw Gord Betenia and I attempting a ridgecrest circuit traverse of the divide around the Crazy Creek drain-age on the north edge of the Waddington Range. An unexpected difficulty put an end to the traverse, but the thrash out remains a particularly vivid memory! Then Henry Czenczek, Shaun Willetts, and I explored possibilities on the Upper Tellot Glacier in summer 1997, before other coastal attrac-tions once again pulled me away over the next few years.

I organized an ACC camp in the Remote/Geddes corner of the range in summer 2002 that resulted in plenty of interesting climbs, and followed that with a subsequent camp on the Upper Tellot Glacier in 2003. Again

there were a large number of enjoyable climbs done. My final trip into the Wadding-ton Range took place in May 2006, when Simon Richardson and I climbed the east face of Remote Peak and attempted the north ridge of Mount Bell.

Q. What is it about that area that keeps drawing you back?

Big peaks, beautiful faces, challenging routes, new horizons, and great company. Plus the range is in my backyard and I can pull a trip together these days with little time and effort, so it’s not overly disruptive to family life.

Q. Is there one particular trip that stands out? (For better or for worse!)

The winter trip with Joe Bajan seems to me to be the time I ‘pushed the boat out’ furthest, anywhere, any time. The route is big, the climbing is hard, the situation is remote, the cold is unrelenting, the weather is uncertain, and the need for self-reliance is absolute. Joe is solid, tough, and calm. We had a great time, even when we were hav-ing a tough time!

The Traverse with Greg and Peter is prob-ably my finest exploit as a mountaineer, and certainly gave me more hours of climb-ing adventure than any other single alpine outing.

On the flip side, the Radiant Glacier trip in July 1995 was my most bitter disappoint-ment. The ice route we were after is an awesome 1000m line, and I had wanted it really badly for years, but (a) I pitched off a thin crux on Chaos Peak at the beginning of the trip and tweaked my ankle and (b) the weather was too warm and the face was dangerous with stone fall. The route fell to Mike Down, Jim Haberl, and Keith Reid a month and a half later. The other main objective, a big ridge on Damocles, was just climbed last summer.

Q. Any advice for someone planning their first trip to the Waddington area?

Buy my guide, get dreaming, and go!

Q. Where's your next climbing adventure?

Time will tell…

Interview by Brad Badelt.

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Halfway up Comfortable Numb, I gained a new appreciation for the art of trad climb-ing. It was at the point where the off-width crack had angled outward and widened, where my right leg was jammed inside the crack and my right hand was desperately holding on – this is where I tried to find a piece of gear to place and realized that I’d already used all of my large cams.

“This one here is a character builder”,Martin had warned me before I roped up.

Luckily this was early on the second day of our two-day trad climbing course and I was still protected with a top rope. The mock gear placement was just part of an exercise to learn which gear to place, and where, and – maybe most importantly -- strategiz-ing about how to use your gear on a climb so that you didn’t run out before reaching the top.

This is the second year that the ACC Vancou-ver section has offered the trad climbing course, which was taught by long-time club members Martin Siegert and Dave Hen-wood, and eight of us had signed up to take part.

Day one began with a 7:30 meeting at the church parking lot in West Vancouver and car pooling up to the Smoke Bluffs, where we set up our ropes on a small bluff beside Neat and Cool. On the first morning, Martin

and Dave explained the basics of trad climb-ing – how to place nuts and cams, where the best spots are to place them, and how to tell if the gear is solid. “You could hang a car off that one,” meant that it was a good one, whereas “this one is interesting” meant, well, that it was an interesting placement but not necessarily one that you’d want to trust your life on.

Once we got through the on-the-ground training, we moved onto the top ropes and did some mock-leads, placing gear as we climbed and then lowering back down with either Martin or Dave to critique our place-ments. Martin shared some of his most valued gear, including a nut that pre-dated cams (“This nut would probably be worth at least $800 on Ebay!”), while Dave showed us some tricks to place hexes. It was a great exercise to get a feel for trad climbing and learn which pieces of protection worked and which ones didn’t. The day wrapped up with Martin showing us how to build an anchor station with just gear – first static and then self-equalizing -- and having us build one ourselves.

Day two was more good weather (despite a rainy forecast!) and more practice placing gear, this time on the longer crack climbs at Octopus’s Garden. We were lucky enough to have the bluff to ourselves for most of the day and once again Martin and Dave

worked with each of us, rapelling down our climbs to review our protection.

After half a day of practice, it was time for real deal – an actual lead climb. We moved to the small bluff Call it a Day, home to four blocky 5.6 routes that are ideal for a first-time trad lead. My climbing partner for the weekend, Iwona, stepped up to lead first (impressive!) and, with a bit of support from Martin, proceeded to zip up the route with gear and top out with her arms raised (after tying into the anchoring of course).

Darn, now it was my turn! The bottom half went well. In fact, the first two-thirds went well. It wasn’t until I placed a nut the size of my pinky fingernail that I got nervous. That’s when Martin happened to swing over and point out a good placement for a sec-ond nut – a much bigger nut – that calmed my nerves. A couple steps later and I was at the top, my first official trad climb.

By 5:00 the group of us had all gotten our first trad climbs and it was time to celebrate with beer and dinner at the brew pub. A big thanks to Martin and Dave for sharing their wealth of knowledge and experience – it was an awesome weekend and I’m looking forward to practicing more trad climbing this summer.

Brad Badelt

V a n c o u v e r A C C ' s T r a d C l i m b i n g C o u r s e May 15 - 16, 2010

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Instructors: Martin Siegert and Dave Henwood.Participtans/Students: Firas, Joanna, Cam, Scott, Mandy, Brad, Suzanne, and Iwona.

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Return undeliverable Canadian address to:ACC Vancouver Section c/o Federation of Mountain Clubs of BC 130 West Broadway, Vancouver, BC V5Y 1P3

40033734

Postage paid

UPCOMING COURSES AND CAMPS

Tired of the Wet Coast? Go where it's high, dry & warm. The camp will

be broken up into two components this year.

on to the Tetons, departs Vancouver July 7

Drive (I-90) to Wyoming's Devil's Tower National Monument for a

couple of days of rock climbing. Then on to Grand Teton National Park.

In a spectacular setting the park offers a wide variety of opportuni-

ties for day and overnight hiking and climbing trips. Stay at American

Alpine Club's Climbers Ranch (group booking and rates apply for ACC

members).

Self-guided, self-catered.

Contact: Rob Brusse (604-224-0747 - Home, 604-732-7730 - Work)

Maximum Group Size: 12

Lake O’Hara Climbing/Hiking Camp:

Climb and hike in the spectacular Lake O'Hara area of Yoho National

Park in the Canadian Rockies.

The Vancouver section has the Elizabeth Parker hut booked for the

week of July 17-24, 2010. The O’Hara area, known as the “Jewel of the

Rockies”, is located in Yoho National Park and offers beautiful hiking

and a variety of scrambling and climbing objectives in a spectacular

setting.

This self-guided, self-catered (with group dinners) camp, will feature

7 nights at the Elizabeth Parker hut. Objectives will depend upon the

weather, and the experience and capabilities of participants and may

include, for example, ascents of Mt. Schaeffer, Mt. Odaray, Mt Victoria

or Mt Yukness, as well as hiking to Lake McArthur or around the lake

on the All Souls route.

Dates: July 17- 24th, 2010

Hut)

Contact: Lynn Erickson via email or phone 604-224-4883.

Maximum group size: 16 people (based on hut booking).

Costs: Estimated $350, includes 7 nights at the Elizabeth Parker hut,

bus & wilderness passes .

Upcoming Trips:

Sat, Jun 5 2010 - Training - Wilderness First Aid Course

Sat, Jun 5 2010 - Rock Climbing - Smoke Bluffs climbing

Sat, Jun 19 2010 - Scramble - Mt. Sampson

Sat, Jun 19 2010 - Mountaineering - Wedge Mountain

Sun, Jun 20 2010 - Hike - Chipmunk Mtn.

Tue, Jun 22 2010 - Social - Exploring the Waddington Range:

Thirty years of Adventures

Fri, Jun 25 2010 - Mountaineering - Mt.Rainier

Sat, Jun 26 2010 - Scramble - Mt Brunswick

Thu, Jul 1 2010 - Mountaineering - Mt. Vayu

Wed, Jul 7 2010 - Rock Climbing - Devil's Tower Road Trip

Sat, Jul 10 2010 - Mountaineering - Grand Teton Road Trip

Fri, Jul 16 2010 - Scramble - Lake O'Hara Hiking/Climbing Camp

Sat, Jul 31 2010 - Mountaineering - ACC Vancouver Island Sec-

tion Climbing Camp Alava Basin

Tue, Sep 28 2010 - Social - Altitude Sickness and the High Alti-

tude Climber

Tue, Nov 23 2010 - Meeting - Annual General Meeting, Potluck &

Photo Contest Awards