Bronco

The single push of Saturday was interesting in more ways than I expected. My 2 partners and me left my house around 8:00 pm Friday night left the Paradise Parking lot at 11:00 pm sharp. The night was perfect conditions for hiking in poly pro and a firm crust had formed by that time. The moon was bright enough for us to hike most of the time without headlamps. It was so bright; you could see Mt. Adams, St. Helens and the Tatoosh range peeking up through the cloud deck. Made good time to Muir (3.5 hours), spent an hour eating, hydrating with recovery drink and a little coffee, stashing hiking poles and putting on every stitch of clothing except for shell pants, it was freakin' cold! Crampon and rope up rolled out of Muir at 3:30 am. Surprisingly, everybody left Muir before we arrived at 2:30. Conditions were still perfect, cold and clear by the time we reached the top of the Disappointment Cleaver at 6:00am. We were still moving quickly, and had caught up to an RMI group who suddenly turned around. We had passed 3 parties descending because of High wind, which we didn't notice because of fatigue or maybe the maelstrom we encountered 3 weeks ago toughened us up! Everything was going according to plan; we even were back on schedule to summit at 8:00 am. 2 hours and 2000 feet to go. Then about 500' above the DC, I encountered Judd. Judd appeared to be about 55 or 60 years old. He was sitting by himself, just off the track all bundled up. I greeted him and then the wheels come off. Judd: "my rope team decided to descend but, I want to summit and so I let them go down with out me. Would you mind if I join your rope team? The last time I climbed Rainer, I went up this route and I am a very strong climber." I think of all of the nice guys who have taken me climbing despite having doubts and decide it is my turn to spread some good karma. Me: (taking notice of his well worn equipment and extremely laid back attitude) "Only if you will lead up this last 2000’,” I tell him we have been climbing since 11:00 the night before and maintaining a steady pace was critical. Judd: "great, lets go" (I hand him the extra coil I have been carrying, he ties in and off we go). "Oh, by the way, my style is slow and steady" he says. I am thinking great, that's our style too. I am planning our next break in an hour at 13,500 when Judd stops. We have only gone about 20 feet up the switchback so - Me: "hey, what's up?" Judd: "what?" Me: "what's wrong? Why are you stopping?" Judd: "this is how I climb, I told you slow and steady. Your partners look like they could use the break anyway" (I look back to two very angry, anxious climbers) Me: "lets go! Get a move on Judd!" Judd: "OK" he turns and climbs another 30' or 40'and stops. He says "Sorry, I just sat too long back there and need to take a quick break” I look back to see partner #1 throw himself down in the middle of the path and go to sleep. This only took him about 2 seconds to achieve REM (deep sleep). Me and partner #2 exchange a concerned look. Me: "hey, what the hell are you doing?" Partner #1: "if Judd is stopping I will take a nap" Me: "NO NO NO you can't stop and take a nap get your ass up we are going! JUDD get going!" Judd turns and we repeat the process 5 or 6 times. We have lost an hour and only made about 200'-300' gain. I am thinking, "maybe we could leave Judd here, he won't mind it is so obvious he is killing us and as long as we are moving, partner #1 seems fine. I can’t leave Judd here. It is too damn dangerous. I know, I will lead and we will stop no more until we summit. Me: "JUDD STOP, we are trading places." I am starting to notice things like his old fashioned tweed gators, 10pt crampons with no front points and leather straps, very old looking leather boots etc. Judd: "sorry if I am too slow, this is how I climb and you always have to climb as fast as the slowest climber on your team” He hands me his water bottle "I can't seem to get this open - can you try" i easily open it. I am thinking - how did this dude plan to get down the DC by himself? He has no rope; his harness consists of a rubber belt and a carabineer over his heavy coat. He can't even open his own water bottle, partner #1 is sleeping again and I am starting to have serious doubts about continuing. Partner # 3 (who is climbing very well) votes to go down because of partner #3 sleeping and possibly deciding not to get up. Me: "I am taking the lead from Judd and we will keep moving now. If we keep moving, he won’t have a chance to lay down” I tie into the front and notice the temp is still well below freezing with moderate gusts blowing spindrift around under clear skies. Conditions were perfect, no crevasse to navigate around, everybody else had either ascended out of site or turned around. "CLIMBING!" we get another 30' and I feel a tug on the line. Judd: "break time, just a quickie” I keep walking, forcing Judd to keep moving for another 20' until he remembers to use his ice axe to stop. "Ooh, I gotta take a beautiful picture" classic Judd. I am getting pissed now. Somehow, we repeat this process until about 10:15 am when we top out. Partner #2 flops down for a nap. Judd: "yah, we are awesome" he is greeted with empty stares. He says " hey, we will just sit here an hour or so and let my tummy relax, it feels icky, could you open my water bottle?" I want to open a jar of whoop ass at this point. It only took us about 4 hours to climb the last 2000' and I am getting worried about descending before the freezing level rises. Partner #1: sitting up all of a sudden and looking around "what? Where is my wife?" Me: "eh, do you know what day of the week it is?" Partner #1: "I was just talking to her, where did she go?" I realize the sleep deprivation must be really taking a toll on him. Me: "WE GO DOWN, NOW!" Judd: "well just give me a few more minutes to enjoy the view...” I am staring at him wondering if he realizes the danger he is in. It is not the same danger my partners and me are in, as he is very close to being tossed into the abyss. Me: "rope up Judd, or you can wait for the next party” We all look around at the abandoned summit crater. Judd: "ok" I am worried now about getting down fast for the delusional partner and because it has been warming up and with the fresh dump of snow last week there is some new slabs I have noticed. Me: "No breaks until we hit the top of the cleaver" Everybody: "OK" we go 100' and Judd stops. I realize if I continue to pull him, he will face plant and start sliding down the hill, I don't think he can arrest a fall if he cant open a water bottle and I don’t want to risk my partner’s lives. With all the stopping it takes us 1.5 hours to get down 2000' or so to the top of the cleaver. Both partners are descending well, no more naps. I think ok, now we just need to move down the cleaver, no problem. I am praying now because the snow is balling up and instead of whacking his crampons, Judd is using the pick of his Ice axe to scrape the snow out when he stops. I show him how well it works to just hit them with the ice axe but he ignores me. There is only about 3" of snow; just enough to slide out of control but not deep enough to arrest a fall. We take 2 painful hours to move down to the base of the cleaver. Judd is able to descend about 10' before resting. He doesn’t seem to care. I am watching the climbers at Ingraham Flats watch us. I wonder if they will get concerned enough to send a Climbing ranger up as we are moving soooo slow. In the middle of the traverse across the base of the cleaver, Judd stops. Judd: "sorry just a quickie" Me: "hey look were our other 2 climbers are" - they are directly under the slope that let loose and killed a guy about 2 years ago. "Keep moving we need to get them out of there before we stop” He sits down. Judd: "my crampon is loose." Me: "AAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" I notice another team coming down the cleaver above us and somebody in their team says to us: "Hey nice place to take a break! You should keep moving" Uh-huh. We finally get going and for some reason as we get closer to Ingraham flats, Judd doesn’t need to break. I am wondering what the difference is, terrain the same, snow the same, temps are actually cooler as clouds have moved in. Then I notice 2 guys approaching us from Ingraham Flats. Guys: "hi, are you ok?" (to me). Me: "Yes, just being careful" Guys: "You took a long time to come down" Judd: "Ya we've been climbing since last night, my partners are bushed!" Big smile and burst of energy. We keep going and get around the corner to Cathedral gap. Judd: "Just a quickie, could I get a hand with this water bottle?" Fast forward to Camp Muir 3:00 pm Judd is inviting us to go to Portland with him to play pool as we are furiously stuffing gear into our packs. He also asks us to look for his ORIGINAL partners who left Paradise with him and never showed up to Camp Muir. Apparently he successfully hitched a ride up to the top of the Cleaver with some other lucky group who dumped him there. That is cold, but I could see why they did it. I was impressed with Judd's consistent cheerfulness despite being cussed out by my partners several times. In hindsight, I should have offered to either take him down (and bag the climb) right away or not taken him up as his presence corrupted my original team and speed is safety especially in a long single push climb. We made it back to Paradise by 4:00 pm so - 17 hours round trip (BTW good glissading on the Muir snow field). This is 5 hours longer than we planned for and had run out of water. We figured Judd took about 100 breaks we wouldn’t have taken and that easily accounts for the 5 extra hours. I now understand why some guys insist on climbing something easy and not committing prior to taking a partner on a harder climb. I think it is a good policy. What do you guys think I could have done about Judd who apparently feels no guilt about burdening someone with his shortcomings and bad decisions? He didn't want to be rescued, just baby sat or guided. He did say, "thanks for letting me climb with you" but acted oblivious to the hardship he created on us. Anybody have as similar experience? How do you deal with the offender?

On mt. Rainer last summer, there was a tall guy from ?? who alledgedly made a living off of his website. His website consisted of trip reports and photos with his companion. His compainion is a MR POTATOHEAD. He hauled it up to Ingraham flats and pooped out. His website is pretty nice and funny, I just checked it out. http://www.interlog.com/~chapman/rainier.htm

I thought this site may tell me but it is mostly just about life and society in Canada. http://www.geocities.com/kanadian_korner/

Hey Canadians, is it true you can get a free case of beer if you find a mouse in your bottle? Where can we get Elsinore? I hear it is great with "JELLIES" eh?

Pint for Pint, Guiness CANNOT be beat.

Mac and Jacks African Amber is good, but not as good as Guiness. Also great is Headstrong Pale Ale brewed by the Big Hole Brewery in Bozeman, MT. Best guzzling beer latley is Coors "banquet" beer or plain old Rainier in a can.

Pencil Pusher: I have a party of 3 attempting the single push on Friday night. You can e-mail me at: rpmcousa@aol.com if you are interested.

Way to go Dan! You sound like a persistant cuss. How was the route above the DC? (direct or lots of end runs around crevases)

Lambone: What other stuff should we climb? Just dry tool at the crags? Climb styrofoam at Cascade Crags? If you are just cranky from not sinking a tool (thunk!) in a while you are welcome to c'mon over. You guys from Montana are ok with me, just stay away from my goat!

AlpineK: That is an excellent suggestion! I gave it some thought and decided that if Caveman and I tear up all of my trees, when I go to sell the farm and the potential buyer walks around and says "why the hell are all of your trees leaking pitch and dying?" Then my wife gives me THE look and I am left by myself with a forest of dead trees filled with broken picks so they arent even good for lumber......... Now I must get some schmidt to lure a tree topper over here! You know anyone who might be interested?

Yes Caveman I have several good, big dry tooling trees on my property. You are welcome to try them out anytime. Mikeadam you should really ask someone who has actually climbed on ice. I just bought my first tools recently and was anxious as hell to try them out and remembered a photo in last years BD catolouge of someone dry tooling on a pier in alaska. I had removed most of the branches up to 30' a few years ago and it was clear sailing even with some small features to hook on.

Mikeadam: The sap is up in most species of trees right now and dry tooling is good. I got on a big Cedar last weekend and had to watch it to not overdrive my tools and spend the next 3 or 4 minutes prying them out. I know it's not the same, but if you can get a rope over a big branch and a belayer you could satisfy the urge. If you don't spend too much time in one place I doubt it really damages the tree beyond recovery.

I drive a rig exactly like the one Erik described. Did you know he comes from a long line of Erik's with a K? It is overkill most of the time (for climbing) but when you are 20 miles up a loggin road in late January it is much better for overkill than under. Alex, These full size, long wheelbase rigs are great except (as specialed noted) they are a total bitch to turn around on a loggin road. I think for a purely to and from the trailhead type of vehicle the smaller ones your are a huntin are the most logical. If you are the type who camps in the car for a week while you crag, give a big van or truck with a small camper a closer look. My favorite rig of all time was a retired civil defense 1967 Ford Bronco with a totally gutless 170ci Inline 6 engine and a three speed manual trany. It's top speed was only about 55 mph going downhill on I-5. Incidentally, that was the same speed I would typically try to drive it off road. We camped two guys in it with the tailgate down and a tarp over the back. Anyway it's off road capabilities greatly reduced the length of a lot of approach hikes and several small trees. PS I believe in driving as close as possible to where you are going otherwise you'd walk the whole way, right?

mikeadam: Don't go soft on us! Hey, I would like to know how you keyboard ninjas can see what somebody posted before the rest of us. Some old Microsoft Airborne Ranger trick I suppose! And I assume us civilians are not going to have clearance for it. Dag nabit!

Catch the scounrels, kidnap them and haul them to the North Cascades where we chain them to the base of a tree, douse them with honey, BBQ sauce and used Maxi-pads as bait for the grizzlies we would be hunting.

Hey Caveman: The beauty of Grizzly Huntin is you just go for a "hike" and happen to have your bow and some arrows tipped with 180 grain broadheads. Kill you a bar' and claim self defense. No seasons or permits to concern yourself with. "Mr. Warden - that mofo Griz was chargin' my last schmit and I had to do sumthin', good thang ah had muh trusty bow" yah, I'm sharpening my broadheads as we speak.

Pope - You forgot TREE-HUGGIN', ORGANIC BEAN EATIN', CANADIAN GOOSE SAVIN' EXTREMIST.

Matt: we cut things with them. I have a mid 80's version of the "Rambo" survival knife I always have on my harness when cragging. I dont seem to have any trouble with guys trying to jump on my route or talk to my belayer. It also works as a piton if I need it. Seriously, I have a medium sized spyderco I take it everywhere hoping to have a need for it and it DOSEN'T get used hardly ever. when it does, it is for pretty wimpy stuff opening a subborn pack of chese and crakers or cutting the tip of a cigar or sumthing. I think your best bet is the smallest cheapest lightest little knife you can find. It always cracks me up to see all of the the "CLIMBERS KNIFES" on e-bay.

Responding to Pencil Dick: The Black Diamond Ice Pack has no frame or rigid suspension. I went with the BD pack over the NOZONE because of it. I agree with your point of carying a sub 2 pounder stricktly for summit attempts, but I wanted something more versatile (ice climbing, ski touring,day climbs) as my old Eddie Bauer day pack finally crapped out beyond repair. But, you raise a good point - it is my money and my choice.

We arent going for speed so much as for a fun different way to approach the climb. I can garantee you we will not be anywhere near a speed record, hoping for about 16 hours TRUCK TO TRUCK. Have a good day On the same subject does anyone know if dry tooling in big cedar trees will place any unusual stress on the picks of your tools?

Verticleswamp: Maybe Vancouver could host the next WTO meeting and the protesters would not need to cross the border. BTW - the traffic in Vancouver was not bad compared to the regular I-5 commute. You should limit your words to no more than 2 sylables if you want any of us to comprehend you next manifest. I am still not sure if it is self degrading of Cheeseheads or insulting to Americans.

Deeeeeeeep Man!

I wish I had seen that last one last week. The vent screens are now melted out of my Walrus' vestublule. I generally don't run the stove inside anything but, it was pretty nasty outside. Oh well, it was exciting for sure and got everybody moving quick!

ANOTHER VOTE FOR BEEEEER!!!!

I have also heard the generalization on caffine, but,have also read a study that you only loose half a cup of coffe due to the diauetic effect so you do come out on the PLUS side of staying hydrated, just not as efficent as water in that regard. I think consuming it in moderation is the key. I don't want to climb with any of my buddies who haven't had thier cup o' joe, they are crankey!!!