Lowell_Skoog
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Posts posted by Lowell_Skoog
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The Mountaineers History Committee has assumed ownership of this project. They're ones most interested in seeing it go forward. So yes, the committee would make the final decision of an editor. The question of whether the editor needs to be a Mountaineer has not come up at the meetings that I've attended. I suspect that the skills and commitment of the candidate would be the most important factor.
Good organizational skills, attention to detail, good English language skills. Those would be the skills of a good editor. An outstanding editor would also have the ability to reach out into the community and help gather materials to publish.
The Mountaineers are a voluntary organization. Members contribute for various reasons: to learn something, to meet people with similar interests, to get involved. As an amateur historian, I value the Mountaineer Annual as a place where many developments in Northwest mountaineering have been documented over the years. I'd like to see that continue, but I'm too busy with my own projects to edit the Annual myself.
There are no bennies in the conventional sense. I imagine that a successful editor would "believe in the cause," and would enjoy the process of bringing together an interesting publication. Experience in this sort of project could be valuable to a person with long-term interests in publishing and/or the Northwest outdoor recreation, but I can't predict where it might lead.
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Since 1907 the Mountaineer Annual has been an important journal of record for Cascade mountaineering. The Annual was published regularly from the beginning of the club through 1983. Since then, it has been published only sporadically.
The Mountaineers History Committee is seeking to restore the Annual as a regular publication. The Annual records the activities of the club: climbing, skiing, hiking, kayaking, bicycling, sailing, conservation, outdoor volunteerism, and more. The Annual also acknowledges important developments outside the club that pertain to its mission, "to explore, study, preserve, and enjoy the natural beauty of the outdoors."
The Mountaineers History Committee is seeking a volunteer editor for the next Mountaineer Annual. If you are interested or would like to learn more about this project, please contact me at the e-mail address below.
Lowell Skoog
(Mountaineers History Committee member)
lowell.skoog@alpenglow.org
[ 04-15-2002, 10:06 AM: Message edited by: Lowell Skoog ]
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I climbed Sir Sanford in August 1994. We approached by the wimp route--helicopter to the Great Cairn hut. We climbed the peak via the standard north glacier, hourglass route. Then we backpacked over to the Fairy Meadows hut via Azimuth Pass, Thor Pass, and Friendship Col. We climbed Big Blackfrier along the way and camped on the Adamant Glacier. With the loads we carried, it took us 11 or 12 hours traveling from Great Cairn to Fairy Meadows. I believe the guidebook calls it 7 hours.
After a couple days climbing around Fairy Meadows, we hiked out Swan Creek to the road, which took a bit over 3 hours, going downhill. I don't know about any other approach routes. So, I think you could approach Sir Sanford by traversing from Fairy Meadows and Swan Creek, but you should probably allow two days to get there, unless you go very light.
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Ragging on the Mountaineers is an old sport. My friends and I did it when we started climbing 25 years ago. It was an old sport then.
Occasionally the Mountaineers take positions I don't like on the issues. Occasionally they are slow to adopt new technical ideas. But over the years they've done so many good things that I'm willing to cut them lots of slack.
After spurning the club during my first years of climbing, I joined in the mid-1980s and have been with them ever since. I've been a volunteer manuscript reviewer for Mountaineers Books for ten years. Lately the club has been super supportive of my ski mountaineering history project. And I've become a member of the History Committee (some real legends there). I've never taken one of their courses, so I can't comment on them.
I admire Steve Firebaugh for reaching out to this board and offering to work out any problems. He's maintained a more positive tone than I could have managed. So far I haven't heard many concrete suggestions that he can fix.
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There's an article on the NY Times website today about the sentencing of a teenager convicted of murdering Half Zantop and his wife:
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/national/AP-Professor-Deaths.html
Zantop is best known among Cascade climbers for his 1963 traverse of the Picket Range with Alex Bertulis. Here's a reference to that trip from my history project website:
http://www.alpenglow.org/ski-history/notes/period/mtneer-a/mtneer-a-1970-79.html#mtneer-a-1975-p17
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Lower International was a good test of skinning and snow reading skills. I worked left into the semi-packed zone, which gave a better grip than the icy hard moguls. I was using some parallel sided skins and I think I'll get some shaped skins if I do another race like this.
I thought some of the ungroomed sections in the backcountry were great. Refrozen avalanche debris, breakable crust--classic Cascade conditions. The early leader was a fellow from Europe, I believe. He was clearly pulling ahead on the first climb. But he fell on the descent into Great Scott bowl and may have broken his binding there. So, the descents were as important as the climbs.
I came away thinking the race was pretty cool. The challenge in the future will be to retain the backcountry flavor of these races. The more you standardize the course (to make it fair for all competitors) the less it is a test of backcountry ski mountaineering skills.
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The results haven't been posted yet, but I think this is where they'll go eventually:
http://www.life-link.com/raceresults_alpental.htm
Andrew McLean (currently living in Salt Lake, but a former Alpental skier) won the racing class. I placed second, and Andreas Schmidt took third. I shadowed Andrew through the first lap and up to Pineapple Pass, but then lost a bit when I skied too low across the Great Scott traverse. (Maybe I should have inspected the course on Saturday instead of doing a tour.) Anyone have results from the other divisions?
I don't know if this race will start a trend, but there was some real history up there yesterday. At the finish line I met Ome Daiber's wife Matie and daughter Joanne. If you've never heard of Ome Daiber, think Liberty Ridge, Mountain Rescue, and Sno-Seal. Matie recently received a pin from the mayor of Leavenworth for skiing on her 92nd birthday. Ome was an avid skier too.
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Can you register at the pre-race meeting at REI Friday evening, or do you have to register ahead of time? I might want to do it, but would rather make up my mind at the last minute.
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I agree that the skiing on the Muir snowfield is usually poor. But you can still have an awesome experience there. Ski it by moonlight. Muir is unique because there's a cabin up there where you can hang out until the moon comes up. Then as you're coming down you've got the snowfield and the entire horizon glowing before you. Here's a trip report I wrote a couple years ago when my brother and I skied it during the winter solstice full moon:
[ 03-21-2002: Message edited by: Lowell Skoog ]
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Thanks for the encouragement.
I think the best moment for me was when Wolf Bauer spoke up about the ski equipment he used in 1919. ("Two poles vas for vimps!") Giving the talk in front of Wolf, Matie Daiber, Phil Dickert and Joe Firey felt like a final exam.
The best part of this project has been meeting living legends like these. The second best part has been learning about people like Dwight Watson and Sigurd Hall, who are not legends, but should be.
--Lowell Skoog Seattle
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To jhamaker:
I scouted the Snoqualmie-Stampede Patrol Race route in January 2001, afterreading about it in my historical research. I scheduled a Mountaineerstrip to retrace the route this Janaury, but cancelled due to deep snow andavalanche danger. I rescheduled a private trip in February, but againcancelled due to rain. On February 24 I did the trip by myself for the heck of it.
Both times I've done the route it took eight hours to ski from SnoqualmieSummit to the Mountaineers Meany lodge. (The record from Lodge Lake toMeany in 1936 was just over 4-1/2 hours!) The route is a mix of old growthforest, big clearcuts, trailbreaking and road skiing. The coolest sectionis near Silver Peak, where the 70 year-old trail markers are still visiblenailed high on trees. The route is a workout and a routefinding challenge.If you want to be impressed by the strengh and competence of the pioneers,I'd recommend it over skiing some volcano, any day.
So yes, I'm interested in raising awareness of the Patrol Race. I'd liketo do this through the Mountaineers, since it is part of their history.
To W:
No, I don't think Walt Little was ever involved in the Silver Skis race.He was not into competition. In fact, when he launched the Mountaineers'ski mountaineering course in 1941 he described it as "more fitted to theneeds of the club than competition."
I'll talk about the Silver Skis race in my slideshow at the Mountaineersclubhouse this Thursday, 3/14. Details:
http://alpenglow.org/ski-history/project/presentations.html
--Lowell Skoog
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Walt Little: March 27, 1909 - February 28, 2002
Walt Little's passion for skiing spanned three-quarters of acentury. He took up the sport in 1927, when Paradise on MountRainier was a six mile trek on skis from Longmire, rope towshadn't yet been invented, and a "shaped" ski was one with awicked warp. Walt kept skiing through the last year of his life.He died recently in Sun Valley, at age 92, during his annual skivacation with friends. Walt didn't just witness the changes inNorthwest skiing. He helped bring them about.
Walt joined the Mountaineers in the 1930s and began a lifelonginvolvement with the club's Meany ski hut, near Stampede Pass.With its steep rope tow and open slopes, Meany was considered oneof the best ski hills in Washington state in those days. In1941, Walt organized the last running of the classic Patrol Racefrom Snoqualmie Pass to Meany. Over the years, Walt concoctedmany of the names around Meany hill, such as "Psychopath" and"Lower Slobbovia." In 1939 Walt chaired the committee thatplanned the Mountaineers' Stevens Pass hut. When the hut wasdedicated in 1949, the Mountaineer Annual described Walt as theguiding spirit in its construction.
In 1941, Walt was the architect of the club's first skimountaineering course. This may have been the first such coursein North America. It was almost certainly the first to teachglacier skiing. Walt wrote much of the course handbook andpublished a classic article, "Mountaineering on Skis" in the 1941Mountaineer Annual. Walt's article reviewed the history ofNorthwest ski mountaineering and explained the rationale for thenew course.
The course included overnight camping on snow, roped skiingpractice, and extended tours that employed these techniques.Walt's training methods were innovative. During the glacierskiing field trip, a roped skier would launch off a cornice inEdith Creek basin and his or her rope team would have to arrestthe fall and carry out a rescue. About 100 people registered forthe course during the first year. In spite of World War II,which began midway through the course, 31 people took the finalexam and eight graduated. Walt was one of them.
Walt was an explorer as well as a teacher. During the war, onweekend leave from the Army, Walt and George Dennis made theearliest recorded ski trip into the Enchantment Lakes basin. His1943 Mountaineer Annual article, "Snow and Skis in the StuartRange," included the first published photo of Prusik Peak, whichdrew post-war rock climbers to the area. In 1947, with CharlesCehrs and other Mountaineers, Walt made the first recorded skiascent of Whitehorse Mountain.
Following the war, Walt applied his energies to the growing sportof downhill skiing. In the 1950s, he was one of a small group ofskiers who studied the feasibility of a ski resort at CrystalMountain. Walt made over a dozen snow survey trips on skis intoSilver Creek basin during those years. Using his skills as acivil engineer, Walt led development of the chairlifts thatopened at Crystal Mountain in autumn 1962. Walt's reputationspread and he was invited by Wenatchee skiers to consult on theproposed Mission Ridge ski area in the early 1960s.
Walt said that after all those survey trips to Crystal Mountain,he'd had enough of heavy packs and climbing for ski runs. Hestuck to lift skiing after that, and kept at it for the rest ofhis life. A lifelong bachelor, he described himself as "sort ofa maniac skier." Bob Cram once said, "Walt was a pioneer in skitechnique. Anything that was crazy Walt had already tried."
Walt's passion for downhill skiing was rooted in his beginningsas a ski mountaineer. In his 1941 article in the MountaineerAnnual, his enthusiasm shines through to this day. Afterdescribing what a ski mountaineer needs to know for an ascent ofone of the Cascade volcanos, Walt concludes: "A neophyte mightwell question, 'Why take all this trouble?' To one who has oncefelt the thrill of the long high ski trails in the bright springweather, with perfect snow underfoot, there is no need ofrationalizing an answer. You just like it."
--Lowell Skoog Seattle
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The definitive history of the Ptarmigan Climbing Club is Harvey Manning's article "Ptarmigans and Their Ptrips" which appeared in the 1958 Mountaineer Annual. You can find it at the Mountaineers library in Seattle.
Here are my (brief) review notes from my ski history website:
http://alpenglow.org/ski-history/notes/period/mtneer-a/mtneer-a-1950-59.html#mtneer-a-1958-p48
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I'll present my talk on Washington ski mountaineering history three times inMarch. Admission is free for all of these shows:
Thursday - March 14, 2002 - 7:30 pm The Mountaineers 300 Third Avenue West Seattle, WA 206-284-6310
Saturday - March 23, 2002 - evening Hurricane Ridge Winter Sports Club [time and location to be determined] Port Angeles, WA
Wednesday - March 27, 2002 - 7:30 pm The Cascadians Providence Medical Center Auditorium 9th Ave and Chestnut Yakima, WA
Here's a summary of the program:
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"The Snowy Range: The Story of Ski Mountaineering in Washington"
This presentation describes nearly 100 years of ski mountaineering inWashington, from 1909 to the present. It covers skiing on Mount Rainierbefore WWI, pioneering ascents of all the major peaks, the Silver Skis racesof the 1930s, the WWII mountain troops, the post-war boom in downhill skiingand wilderness preservation, the telemark revival, and the modern developmentof high ski traverses and extreme skiing. The program is illustrated with B&Wand color slides plus a movie filmed in 1939.
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When the time and location of the Port Angeles show gets set,I'll post it here:
http://www.alpenglow.org/ski-history/project/presentations.html
--Lowell Skoog, Seattle
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By the way, the Mountaineers are continuing to work on reviving the Mountaineer Annual. The effort is being driven by the History Committee. The main obstacle is finding a volunteer editor.
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I'm the one who started the thread about the AAJ last year. A friend had his submission rejected because it was not a grade IV. I have not heard whether that policy is still in effect, or whether it was ever a real policy.
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Thanks to Timothy Egan's book "The Good Rain," the legend hasbecome known of how fifty years ago, Fred Beckey fell in lovewith a young woman with a Greek sounding name. After a shortromance, she left him for a man who moved as comfortably inthe world of law and society as Beckey did in the mountains.Fred named the peaks of Vasiliki Ridge after her.
The legend usually omits the name of the man Vasiliki fell inlove with. He died yesterday, Judge William Dwyer, one of thethe Northwest's great lawyers. Here the Seattle Times story:
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/134404097_dwyer13m.html
As an amateur writer, I admire Timothy Egan's book for showingus that behind the legends are real people--and how they arelinked in surprising ways. My thoughts go out to VasilikiDwyer in her time of loss.
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rperitore:
The only way around Sahale Pk from Sahale Arm is a leveltraverse to Boston Basin. Since this traverse crosses avalancheprone slopes, approaching from Sahale Arm makes little sense.It would be safer and shorter to approach Boston basin directlyvia the trail. There is no high traverse around Sahale Peak.Once above the arm, the only way around Sahale is over the top.
In mid-winter, the safest way to get to and from the BostonGlacier is probably to cross Sharkfin col, rappel the eastside, and leave a rope fixed for your return. There may bea cornice there. The only other crossing, high around BostonPeak, would be a gamble in winter conditions.
The 8-14 day forecast is calling for below normal temps andnormal precip. There's really no way to know what the weatherwill be like next week, but since this has been a prettynormal winter (actually above normal precip) I'd bet on theweather being pretty normal. That means plenty of cloudsand precipitation. Avalanche danger will be significant.The mountains may be socked in much of the time, making travelabove timberline difficult.
In my experience, you can fix your objective, or you can fixyour time window, but you cannot fix both. If your buddy iscoming up from Utah, he should be prepared for alternativeactivities, like lift skiing.
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I have not heard of the north face ever having been skied. In fact, I've never heard of any ski descents of Buckner other than my July 1999 trip. If you know of others, let me know.
I can think of at least a half-dozen strategies for doing this trip. They all have trade-offs. I think one of the most enjoyable things about getting familiar with the Cascades is that you learn to evaluate which strategy will be most elegant or enjoyable for you. For me, climbing up the SW route, skiing the N face, then climbing back over the mountain doesn't seem very elegant.
Mr. Skoog? You must be thinking of my dad. ;-)
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I believe it was Walter Gove who climbed the North Couloir before Brinkerhof and Doty. As I recall Brinkerhof and Doty did their climb in a single day from the road, which is pretty respectable for November.
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Seems like Fernow must have been done from Holden, but I don't remember seeing it written up. Copper would be similar. There was a serious accident on Copper at the end of March 2000 when a couple of Holden residents tried it and got avalanched off.
Maude and 7-fingered Jack may not have been climbed in winter. They are rather remote both from Holden and from the Chiwawa River.
Logan was done by some Everett climbers in the late 70s or early 80s. I climbed Bonanza with Mark Bebie and my brother Gordy in late December 1979. We had good conditions, and the climb was straightforward. Goode was climbed in the 1980s by Bill Pilling and Steve Mascioli via the NE buttress. I consider that one of the most impressive winter ascents yet done in the Cascades.
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I've never heard of Buckner getting a winter ascent. Some of you may remember John Krakauer's Outside magazine piece about Fred Beckey several years ago. In the article Krakauer, Beckey and Mark Bebie were climbing in the Cascade Pass area, hoping for a 1st winter ascent, but they settled for Sahale due to concerns about time and avalanche conditions. I've always assumed they were intending to climb Buckner. If a winter ascent has been done, it hasn't been reported in the usual places.
If you want to ski the north face, you'll have to camp on Boston Glacier, climb and ski it, then return to Boston Basin by traversing around Boston Peak. Very doable under good conditions; very deadly under not-so-good conditions. I climbed the north face and skied the SW route as a day trip in July 1999. The north face was in poor condition for skiing at that time due to a big avalanche runnel down the middle.
Frankly, I would not attempt an adventure like this in mid-winter with a partner I just met on the internet.
--Lowell Skoog
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About ten years ago Greg Markov told me that he and John Stoddard bailed off the NE buttress of Hardy because of poor rock. It's possible that Greg was sandbagging me, but I doubt it because neither of them ever tried the route again. I've got some good slides of the face from spring ski trips, but unfortunately no scanner to post them.
--Lowell Skoog
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benman,
I looked at your web site. Great photos.
Would you be willing to send me a write-up on each of the descents that you think might have been a first? Include dates, names, and any details you think are appropriate. My information about the N face of the NW ridge of Adams came from a friend who saw ski tracks on it a few years ago (I guessed at 1995). He did not see the skier or skiers and I'm not sure of the year. If you could send me information on your descents, I will review them with any other information that I gather. I may post them on my website as a "strawman" to seek reports of earlier descents. Off hand, the descents on the N side of Adams and the Gilbert descent look interesting. But send me whatever you want.
You are correct that the project website is primarily a record at this point. I don't currently have any plans to use it for route beta or trip reports. That may change in the future, but it's not in my current plans. The main purpose of the website is to support my research, which I hope will eventually lead to publishing a book on the subject.
Thanks for any information you can provide.
Lowell Skoog
lowell.skoog@alpenglow.org
Rescue on Mt. St. Elias
in Climber's Board
Posted
Aaron Martin and Reid Sanders didn't intend to fall and die on St Elias. They made a mistake. It's impossible for us to know what mistake they made, but we can speculate, without judging them. No one has complete knowledge of the facts, not even their surviving partners. Discussing things that could have gone wrong, even if they didn't, is valuable if it makes us more aware of such hazards in the future.
We don't honor the dead by ignoring their mistakes and then repeating them. We honor the dead by learning and remembering.