Ever wonder what it would be like to be stuck inside a ping pong ball? The recent 6-day North Cascades mountaineering course found out what ‘partly cloudy means when you are inside the cloud part. As I have mentioned tough weather makes for a good learning experience and our crew on Shuksan saw water fall from the sky in almost every possible form.
It was a strong crew with international flavor including two Russian physicists with a taste for kung fu and Cognac, a doctor from China, two Candians, eh smoked salmon scarfing Alaskans, a Brit, wnother Russian and a future point guard for India (when they get pro basketball off the ground over there) and, the most exotic, a Texan.
These folks were tough post holing to their, uh, thighs in "cascade concrete", putting up with a variety of weather conditions, most of which were uncomfortable. Despite all this these folks are prepped to rope up on a glacier, stop a fall, build an anchor and haul you out of a crevasse. Most importantly they can do it with style.
It is really exciting to look forward to an expedition to the highest point in North America, Denali a.k.a Mount Mckinley. My co-guide and I have been spending our days in Talkeetna, AK putting copious amounts of food in ziplocks and marking everything so we can find what we want easily at high altitude. If all goes well we will be leading 6 climbers to the top of North America. Wish us luck and check back in July for photos and stories!
The 8-day Emmons is a terrific course to get an incredible amount of mountaineering experience in a unique location. While the Emmons climbing route is quit popular. Few parties on Rainier camp on the Winthrop glacier and enjoy the ascent up the glacier to Camp Sherman. Knots, crevasse rescue, glacier travel, winter camping, and of course, snow shoveling are hallmarks of this incredible course.
