It was time for that annual good deed and to test the boundaries of Clint Eastwood axiom : A man has got to know his limitations. Do good deeds really require a motivation? Why do people ask Why? Why can't some deeds be done just for the sake of deeds? Why do I drink only local beers, you ask? I can satisfy your curiosity by saying that it is to intoxicate the local economy but the fact is that good deeds are to be done for sake of good deeds.
Annual Climb to Fight Breast Cancer is one such deed. For 2013, it was fundraising and a symbolic show of struggle and a very possible victory against the malady with a climb to the crown jewel of pacific northwest : The Rainier.
Fundraising Blues
What makes fundraising a really "capital" experience is the friendly banter, which takes place to complement the annoyance. Besides the usual good lucks and be safe, here are some chosen comments received this year and relevant commentary.
Gracias pero cuidado. When it comes to beer and scotch, I sincerely hope you stick to the fraction.
Don't hurt yourself - we need you on our ping pong team ;-)
So there we have it folks. The great American plan to beat the Chinese at their own game with help of a transplanted Indian! Really Capital !
Doad Sahib! This should get you off my back for another year at least :)
Aren't you glad you know someone, who gets off so cheap :-)))
May the views at the top be clear and breath restoring!
E....L....O....Q....U....E....N.....T
Go Satnam and team Goat! Once again, I will miss climbing with you.
I must make it clear to my friends from state of Wyoming. The "Goat" simply refers to Goat tavern where we have been known to gather for pre and post-climb libations.....nothing more ! What happens at the Goat stays at the Goat.
How many more years you are planning on doing this *-+%$? I am dipping into my Children's college fund this year for you.
I do not know how long but Takao Arayama climbed Everest at seventy one years of age. I talked to both my nephews (your sons) about this college thing. Younger one is sure that he can manage a scholarship. The older one told me,"Even without this, Dad should start planning on delaying his retirement by at least ten years".
Climbing for charity? This is a brilliant concept! I guess drinking for charity hasn't caught on yet....
And if drinking for charity does come to pass, you and I will be the front runners and we better be, because we definitely need to get to the serving table before my brother does. More alcohol has been known to pass through my brother than many of the breweries.
People and Gear
Team of eight gathered in Seattle for gear check on August 7th. Some new faces (Rowena, Mark, Kate, Lisa) and some whose trails have crossed before (Carol, Chris, Steve and I). Some first timers and some have endured it before. Some young and some a little advanced. Steve Bley has been a motivator to us, since we met him first time as a Pentagenarian on Mt. Olympus. He is now officially over 60 years. Being a gentleman he is, he does not prefer numerical association.....he prefers a venerable term : Sextarian !
Gear check is mostly a check, check, check, until we arrive at the item in the list known as Pee Bottle and a serious discussion ensues. This is an item which remains optional until you find yourself hunkered down in a tent at 11000 ft., with pee pressure building, and nature awaits you outside in form of thunder and snow storm. For males, the item is nothing but an emptied bottle of Gatorade. For females, things are a little eh...complicated. There is an accessory involved : Pee Funnel. Mechanics are a little fuzzy to me but apparently the mantra is "Practice, Practice, Practice". As they say in old country, "Practice makes a woman perfect, and a man over-confident".
In a moment of Gear induced sincerity, our very accomplished amiga, an extraordinarily charming specimen of fairer gender, who has trampled many a mountains, admitted to us, "Satnam, I like Pee funnel, but I am sure I want a Penis".
At this point. I will let readers take a pause here to let the momentousness of these historical words sink in. Not often, a desire for this part of male anatomy has been expressed purely for its ease of liquid discharge utility. With these words, "this king of anatomy", who since era of Adam and Eve, has prided himself on being the eternal provider of entertainment in spite of some recent loss of evolutionary ground to artificial insemination, was finally relegated to a lowly part time job in the department of sanitation.
Climb Day 1
An early morning drive to the trailhead with packed backpack. Even without tents, it still added up to over 40 lbs. Guides gave us the gist of first day schedule. We marinaded ourselves with some sunscreen and got on the way. Trail upto Muir camp is well trampled by climbers and day hikers alike. Mount Rainier is visible in all its glory right at the trailhead itself.....like a big old tree looking down at you. It was a clear calm day and Mt. Adams was clearly visible in the distance. Snow line began after pebble creek and some of us changed from regular hiking shoes to climbing boots aka Frankenstein footwear. Camp Muir is pretty impressive with stone shelters and pit toilets. As expected, it was very crowded. We had one shelter to ourselves. Bunks were there with foam pads and we made ourselves at home. Steve shared his Bourbon stock and dinner of Bean Burritos was incredibly good. Sunset from camp Muir is a beautiful sight.
After dinner we all tried to get some sleep and best way to break ice when eight people are trying to sleep in close quarters on a snowfield is to tell some dirty jokes. And yes, one of us, who shall remain unnamed, asked for advice and ideas on how to propose....and got a sackful of it.
I hardly ever sleep up there. Just lie down straight and let at least the muscles recover.
Altitude Gained : ~4500 ft.
Miles covered : ~ 4.5 miles
Climb Day 2
Wake up and 7 AM to clear out the bunks for next team, which was due to arrive later. Get ready, pack up and head to the kitchen tent, where pancakes were on the menu, bacon and eggs for carnivores. After breakfast and tea, it was time for snow school. Brush up on proper footwork, crampon walking techniques, self arrest. And then it was time to pickup the backpacks again and head to Ingraham flats camp at ~11100 ft. From then onward, it was to be all crampon, all rope team climb.
It took us just slightly over an hour to get to Ingraham flats camp, where another team was clearing up the tents for their downward journey. Original plan was to rest at the second camp, wake up in the middle of the night and do a sunrise climb to the summit. However guides proposed a sunset climb to the summit on the same afternoon, which has its own advantages (no traffic, lazy short third day etc.) and a vote was taken. It was to be Sunset climb. Looking back at it, perhaps we should have stuck to the sunrise climb plan. It might have given a better shot at summit attempt for everyone in the team, and maybe somewhat easier pace too. But it wasn't meant to be.
One gets a really great view of Yakima peak from Ingraham flats....seems as if you can touch it by just reaching right across a large crevasse.
Anyway, six of us decided to give sunset attempt a shot. We packed only the essentials (clothing and just enough food and water) and by 12:30PM, we started our summit attempt in three rope teams of two climbers and one guide each. From here to the summit was to be done in three pitches only. 11100 ft. to ~12300 ft., from 12300 ft. to ~13300 ft. and then a final push to the summit.
First Pitch
Due to constantly present danger of ice and rockfall, first pitch to the top of disappointment cleaver has to be completed as fast as possible. We were told ~2 hours. Part of the first pitch is on snow and part of it is on loose rock. You don't want to know, what it is like to climb on loose rock while fully attired (boots and crampons) for a snow climb. At the end of first pitch, one more climber decided to head back and one more returned during second pitch. Now we were only two rope teams.
Second Pitch
Second pitch has a portion which is extra technical. Path is extremely narrow and grade steep, so rope has to be periodically clipped into and un-clipped from fixed anchors. This portion of climb also has about one 12 ft. vertical climb, half of which is fixed ladder. This vertical scramble is immediately followed by a 12 ft crevasse crossing over a ladder, covered with a plank. This crevasse bridge which is at ~12500 ft, is actually visible from Ingraham flats camp (~11100 ft.). Crevasse crossing over ladder plank is actually much easier than one thinks. Rope is clipped into fixed anchor, hold ice axe securely in one hand, hold the support rope in other....and walk across as if it was a zebra crossing......Simple !
Later, when I asked Carol if she managed to get some photos or video footage of ladder and crevasse crossing with Helmet cam, her reply was, " Heck no. I was busy trying not to DIE !!!"
After this technical section, there are a series of switchbacks and some steep sections leading to the summit. At this point we noticed that weather was beginning to turn bad. Visibility was degrading, wind was beginning to howl louder.
Final Push
After a short break on the glacier to put on our wind gear, we made a final push for the summit. Perhaps weather had spooked the guides or perhaps we were too tired but pace was ratcheted up. Carol is in extremely good shape but I am sure that Mark, Lisa and I were operating in a gear, which until then we didn't know existed. This is the time when one falls back on Psych tricks to keep one going....my favorite (and a really stupid one) is - These legs and feet are not mine, they are someone else's. And sometimes you think about people who have endured worse things, like Cancer....and that gets you another thirty minutes.
As guides often drill into you that getting to the top of the mountain is only half the battle. One has to be sure at all moments that one has enough juice left to get oneself down too, which is not easy. Anything less than full honesty puts not only oneself in danger but also jeopardize the rest of the team.
I think that if up climb pace was any higher than what we did there that day, my lungs would have exploded, but they held on. We had climbed the last ~900 ft. of vertical gain in about 45 minutes.....and then all of a sudden at 5:14 PM, we walked on to the Mt. Rainier summit crater. There was no sunset. With visibility no more than 30 ft. and howling wind, we somehow got the banner shot and a few pictures. We thought we will take 20 minute walk to the summit rim but exhaustion and weather was against us. Some 20 minutes later, we started our descent.
Worse part about descents is one can see where the camp is and yet one knows it will take a while. At ~9 PM, we walked back into the Ingraham flats camp. Utterly exhausted, and then the worse happens....and I knew it was coming. After burning so many calories, you would think that you need food and I had lost it. Jhangbu had prepared a delicious soup, which on any other day would be gone in no time but that night was different. A few gulps of Bourbon didn't help much either. I somehow shoved down half of soup down my throat.
This is not uncommon and my friend Steve Ortiz and I have come up with a theory. Your body's CPU, which is running a frequent systems check, after this grueling ordeal, checks the vitals and infers that this body is pretty close to heaven (in my case Hell) so it figures out : No need for food. And it shuts down the App called Appetite. Next it figures out that you don't want to walk into heaven (or hell) with your eyes closed, so it shuts off the App called Sleep. So there, you have perfectly logical explanation for the phenomenon.
And that night, while lying awake with lost appetite, we were also hit by a heavy duty thunderstorm.......remember that optional Pee Bottle !
Altitude Gained and Lost : ~3200 ft.
Climb Day 3
A sweet deal was offered for day 3. Get up early (6:30 AM), get down to Muir Camp, and have a breakfast of fresh pancakes. I was still groggy and appetite-less but seemed better than shoving down granola. Plus no blue bagging.....Pit Toilets are heaven.
After lazy breakfast and tea, we headed down. After some futile glissading attempts, we just walked down finally we saw a welcoming sight : The Parking Lot ! It was about 12:50PM. I looked back at Mt. Rainier and issued a quiet Thank You note to the mountain for considering me worthy enough.
None of this would have been possible without our superb guides. A quietly determined Lauren Edwards, who has a few Denali summits under her belt. Though when you look at her slender petite form, you see hardly anything under her belt. Efficient Garrett, who has been up at Mt. Everest a few times, and hold your breath....it was his 177th time on Mt Rainier. Jhangbu....the man is from Nepal, need I say more. Plus I got to practice my Hindi with him after a very long time. And last but not the least, Devin the enforcer......Devin holds a dubious distinction of guiding us to the top of two most beautiful mountains, Mt. Olympus and Mt. Rainier....on days when visibility is low, winds are harsh and frozen rain is giving company. Is the correlation between bad weather and Devin a co-incidence....we don't think so !.....And we may complete the mathematical proof by doing another climb with him.
This team of eight gave their best....ordinary people brought together by a cosmic confluence of luck and extraordinary circumstances. I, the desk jockey, just happened to be at the right place at the right time.
Most often asked question after such a climb is "So, what is your next climb"?
And my answer is the same, "This is it. I am done. I want to walk into the sunset with a beer bottle and a Golf bag. Not with a 45 lb. backpack, pee bottle and a Blue Bag".
Enjoy the Mt. Rainier Pictures.
And here is short video of climb put together by Kate Roll
Annual Climb to Fight Breast Cancer is one such deed. For 2013, it was fundraising and a symbolic show of struggle and a very possible victory against the malady with a climb to the crown jewel of pacific northwest : The Rainier.
Fundraising Blues
Fundraising : The act of asking donations mostly from same people again and again. Pestering near and distant family members is a must. Co-workers and friends are on the hook and complete strangers are not off-limits either. A good avenue outside Golf courses to invoke God's name in vain, unless the fund-raising is for a church.
What makes fundraising a really "capital" experience is the friendly banter, which takes place to complement the annoyance. Besides the usual good lucks and be safe, here are some chosen comments received this year and relevant commentary.
Mt Rainier? aren't you getting a little ambitious? It is good of you to climb for charity but don't add to my tax bill by becoming yet another guy, the emergency rescue workers need to fly in from the glacier....
Spoken like a short term thinker there. Imagine all the long term savings to the taxpayer, not to mention the immense joy it will bring to the masses, if I don't return at all. In fact, the latter logic is so compelling that even my own spouse is thinking of making a donation....which if it does occur, would be rated at same probability level as church conferring Sainthood upon me. Now that I think about it, Saint Satnam does have a kind of nice ring to it. I will be the patron Saint of scotch drinkers.
I hope one day I do at least a fraction!Gracias pero cuidado. When it comes to beer and scotch, I sincerely hope you stick to the fraction.
Don't hurt yourself - we need you on our ping pong team ;-)
So there we have it folks. The great American plan to beat the Chinese at their own game with help of a transplanted Indian! Really Capital !
Doad Sahib! This should get you off my back for another year at least :)
Aren't you glad you know someone, who gets off so cheap :-)))
May the views at the top be clear and breath restoring!
E....L....O....Q....U....E....N.....T
Go Satnam and team Goat! Once again, I will miss climbing with you.
I must make it clear to my friends from state of Wyoming. The "Goat" simply refers to Goat tavern where we have been known to gather for pre and post-climb libations.....nothing more ! What happens at the Goat stays at the Goat.
How many more years you are planning on doing this *-+%$? I am dipping into my Children's college fund this year for you.
I do not know how long but Takao Arayama climbed Everest at seventy one years of age. I talked to both my nephews (your sons) about this college thing. Younger one is sure that he can manage a scholarship. The older one told me,"Even without this, Dad should start planning on delaying his retirement by at least ten years".
Climbing for charity? This is a brilliant concept! I guess drinking for charity hasn't caught on yet....
And if drinking for charity does come to pass, you and I will be the front runners and we better be, because we definitely need to get to the serving table before my brother does. More alcohol has been known to pass through my brother than many of the breweries.
People and Gear
Team of eight gathered in Seattle for gear check on August 7th. Some new faces (Rowena, Mark, Kate, Lisa) and some whose trails have crossed before (Carol, Chris, Steve and I). Some first timers and some have endured it before. Some young and some a little advanced. Steve Bley has been a motivator to us, since we met him first time as a Pentagenarian on Mt. Olympus. He is now officially over 60 years. Being a gentleman he is, he does not prefer numerical association.....he prefers a venerable term : Sextarian !
Gear check is mostly a check, check, check, until we arrive at the item in the list known as Pee Bottle and a serious discussion ensues. This is an item which remains optional until you find yourself hunkered down in a tent at 11000 ft., with pee pressure building, and nature awaits you outside in form of thunder and snow storm. For males, the item is nothing but an emptied bottle of Gatorade. For females, things are a little eh...complicated. There is an accessory involved : Pee Funnel. Mechanics are a little fuzzy to me but apparently the mantra is "Practice, Practice, Practice". As they say in old country, "Practice makes a woman perfect, and a man over-confident".
In a moment of Gear induced sincerity, our very accomplished amiga, an extraordinarily charming specimen of fairer gender, who has trampled many a mountains, admitted to us, "Satnam, I like Pee funnel, but I am sure I want a Penis".
At this point. I will let readers take a pause here to let the momentousness of these historical words sink in. Not often, a desire for this part of male anatomy has been expressed purely for its ease of liquid discharge utility. With these words, "this king of anatomy", who since era of Adam and Eve, has prided himself on being the eternal provider of entertainment in spite of some recent loss of evolutionary ground to artificial insemination, was finally relegated to a lowly part time job in the department of sanitation.
Climb Day 1
An early morning drive to the trailhead with packed backpack. Even without tents, it still added up to over 40 lbs. Guides gave us the gist of first day schedule. We marinaded ourselves with some sunscreen and got on the way. Trail upto Muir camp is well trampled by climbers and day hikers alike. Mount Rainier is visible in all its glory right at the trailhead itself.....like a big old tree looking down at you. It was a clear calm day and Mt. Adams was clearly visible in the distance. Snow line began after pebble creek and some of us changed from regular hiking shoes to climbing boots aka Frankenstein footwear. Camp Muir is pretty impressive with stone shelters and pit toilets. As expected, it was very crowded. We had one shelter to ourselves. Bunks were there with foam pads and we made ourselves at home. Steve shared his Bourbon stock and dinner of Bean Burritos was incredibly good. Sunset from camp Muir is a beautiful sight.
After dinner we all tried to get some sleep and best way to break ice when eight people are trying to sleep in close quarters on a snowfield is to tell some dirty jokes. And yes, one of us, who shall remain unnamed, asked for advice and ideas on how to propose....and got a sackful of it.
I hardly ever sleep up there. Just lie down straight and let at least the muscles recover.
Altitude Gained : ~4500 ft.
Miles covered : ~ 4.5 miles
Climb Day 2
Wake up and 7 AM to clear out the bunks for next team, which was due to arrive later. Get ready, pack up and head to the kitchen tent, where pancakes were on the menu, bacon and eggs for carnivores. After breakfast and tea, it was time for snow school. Brush up on proper footwork, crampon walking techniques, self arrest. And then it was time to pickup the backpacks again and head to Ingraham flats camp at ~11100 ft. From then onward, it was to be all crampon, all rope team climb.
It took us just slightly over an hour to get to Ingraham flats camp, where another team was clearing up the tents for their downward journey. Original plan was to rest at the second camp, wake up in the middle of the night and do a sunrise climb to the summit. However guides proposed a sunset climb to the summit on the same afternoon, which has its own advantages (no traffic, lazy short third day etc.) and a vote was taken. It was to be Sunset climb. Looking back at it, perhaps we should have stuck to the sunrise climb plan. It might have given a better shot at summit attempt for everyone in the team, and maybe somewhat easier pace too. But it wasn't meant to be.
One gets a really great view of Yakima peak from Ingraham flats....seems as if you can touch it by just reaching right across a large crevasse.
Anyway, six of us decided to give sunset attempt a shot. We packed only the essentials (clothing and just enough food and water) and by 12:30PM, we started our summit attempt in three rope teams of two climbers and one guide each. From here to the summit was to be done in three pitches only. 11100 ft. to ~12300 ft., from 12300 ft. to ~13300 ft. and then a final push to the summit.
First Pitch
Due to constantly present danger of ice and rockfall, first pitch to the top of disappointment cleaver has to be completed as fast as possible. We were told ~2 hours. Part of the first pitch is on snow and part of it is on loose rock. You don't want to know, what it is like to climb on loose rock while fully attired (boots and crampons) for a snow climb. At the end of first pitch, one more climber decided to head back and one more returned during second pitch. Now we were only two rope teams.
Second Pitch
Second pitch has a portion which is extra technical. Path is extremely narrow and grade steep, so rope has to be periodically clipped into and un-clipped from fixed anchors. This portion of climb also has about one 12 ft. vertical climb, half of which is fixed ladder. This vertical scramble is immediately followed by a 12 ft crevasse crossing over a ladder, covered with a plank. This crevasse bridge which is at ~12500 ft, is actually visible from Ingraham flats camp (~11100 ft.). Crevasse crossing over ladder plank is actually much easier than one thinks. Rope is clipped into fixed anchor, hold ice axe securely in one hand, hold the support rope in other....and walk across as if it was a zebra crossing......Simple !
Later, when I asked Carol if she managed to get some photos or video footage of ladder and crevasse crossing with Helmet cam, her reply was, " Heck no. I was busy trying not to DIE !!!"
After this technical section, there are a series of switchbacks and some steep sections leading to the summit. At this point we noticed that weather was beginning to turn bad. Visibility was degrading, wind was beginning to howl louder.
Final Push
After a short break on the glacier to put on our wind gear, we made a final push for the summit. Perhaps weather had spooked the guides or perhaps we were too tired but pace was ratcheted up. Carol is in extremely good shape but I am sure that Mark, Lisa and I were operating in a gear, which until then we didn't know existed. This is the time when one falls back on Psych tricks to keep one going....my favorite (and a really stupid one) is - These legs and feet are not mine, they are someone else's. And sometimes you think about people who have endured worse things, like Cancer....and that gets you another thirty minutes.
As guides often drill into you that getting to the top of the mountain is only half the battle. One has to be sure at all moments that one has enough juice left to get oneself down too, which is not easy. Anything less than full honesty puts not only oneself in danger but also jeopardize the rest of the team.
I think that if up climb pace was any higher than what we did there that day, my lungs would have exploded, but they held on. We had climbed the last ~900 ft. of vertical gain in about 45 minutes.....and then all of a sudden at 5:14 PM, we walked on to the Mt. Rainier summit crater. There was no sunset. With visibility no more than 30 ft. and howling wind, we somehow got the banner shot and a few pictures. We thought we will take 20 minute walk to the summit rim but exhaustion and weather was against us. Some 20 minutes later, we started our descent.
Worse part about descents is one can see where the camp is and yet one knows it will take a while. At ~9 PM, we walked back into the Ingraham flats camp. Utterly exhausted, and then the worse happens....and I knew it was coming. After burning so many calories, you would think that you need food and I had lost it. Jhangbu had prepared a delicious soup, which on any other day would be gone in no time but that night was different. A few gulps of Bourbon didn't help much either. I somehow shoved down half of soup down my throat.
This is not uncommon and my friend Steve Ortiz and I have come up with a theory. Your body's CPU, which is running a frequent systems check, after this grueling ordeal, checks the vitals and infers that this body is pretty close to heaven (in my case Hell) so it figures out : No need for food. And it shuts down the App called Appetite. Next it figures out that you don't want to walk into heaven (or hell) with your eyes closed, so it shuts off the App called Sleep. So there, you have perfectly logical explanation for the phenomenon.
And that night, while lying awake with lost appetite, we were also hit by a heavy duty thunderstorm.......remember that optional Pee Bottle !
Altitude Gained and Lost : ~3200 ft.
Climb Day 3
A sweet deal was offered for day 3. Get up early (6:30 AM), get down to Muir Camp, and have a breakfast of fresh pancakes. I was still groggy and appetite-less but seemed better than shoving down granola. Plus no blue bagging.....Pit Toilets are heaven.
After lazy breakfast and tea, we headed down. After some futile glissading attempts, we just walked down finally we saw a welcoming sight : The Parking Lot ! It was about 12:50PM. I looked back at Mt. Rainier and issued a quiet Thank You note to the mountain for considering me worthy enough.
None of this would have been possible without our superb guides. A quietly determined Lauren Edwards, who has a few Denali summits under her belt. Though when you look at her slender petite form, you see hardly anything under her belt. Efficient Garrett, who has been up at Mt. Everest a few times, and hold your breath....it was his 177th time on Mt Rainier. Jhangbu....the man is from Nepal, need I say more. Plus I got to practice my Hindi with him after a very long time. And last but not the least, Devin the enforcer......Devin holds a dubious distinction of guiding us to the top of two most beautiful mountains, Mt. Olympus and Mt. Rainier....on days when visibility is low, winds are harsh and frozen rain is giving company. Is the correlation between bad weather and Devin a co-incidence....we don't think so !.....And we may complete the mathematical proof by doing another climb with him.
This team of eight gave their best....ordinary people brought together by a cosmic confluence of luck and extraordinary circumstances. I, the desk jockey, just happened to be at the right place at the right time.
Most often asked question after such a climb is "So, what is your next climb"?
And my answer is the same, "This is it. I am done. I want to walk into the sunset with a beer bottle and a Golf bag. Not with a 45 lb. backpack, pee bottle and a Blue Bag".
Enjoy the Mt. Rainier Pictures.
And here is short video of climb put together by Kate Roll
1 comment:
Congratulations! Enjoyed reading your post!
Post a Comment