Never good

Rain drops on the web cam lenses is never good.  A long drought has ended with rain on the mountain.  Where's the holiday love?

It's My Cup of Tea

I like a cup of tea, with milk and sugar.  My favorite is Lipton.  It's a hard cup to order in trendy Portland.  Waiters shoot you a look and recommend something better, from their list of "good teas", and Lipton is never on that list. Usually, I just go home, put the kettle on and brew some myself.

The smell of Lipton tea takes me back to my late, grandmother's kitchen.  She's dealing some gin rummy and we're drinking some Lipton.  She could drink it boiling hot cause she had a tongue like a furnace door.  A Canadian girl, one of eleven kids, Annie Parks Fletcher or Nan, as I called her, made it from Saskatchewan to the orchards of the Hood River Valley where she lived to be 92. Nan could pick fruit all day, drain long golf putts and kick your ass at any card game you might know.  I guess you could call her life rich.  She liked a cup of hot tea too and it was Lipton.

Soggy Nelson B.C. Greatness



JP Auclair Street Segment (from All.I.Can.) from Sherpas Cinema on Vimeo.

Let's Get This Hard Pack Party Started!

This winter started with a wet, heavy, first coat, in the Oregon Cascadia but Dec. has given us such a long, dry-out that we're begging for the next shellacking.  Urban theatrics drove us out of town.  We needed to "occupy snow".  We hiked for harbor at Cloud Cap, on the N. side of Mt. Hood.  We were after some exercise, a look around and maybe avoidance of a road-rage homicide, in Portland.  The brittle blue sky was the show-off guest of the weekend.  Half a moon, casting vampire trees on the snow, at 3 a.m. and that stretch between 1 and 3 in the afternoon when the wind dies and the warmish sun races for the mountain's cold shoulder; were the high cards in a pretty good hand.

Crag Rat Rescue in Lindsey Creek

It was Tuesday morning, Aug. 2nd, 2011, and Pamela Salant had been missing from her camp, at Bear Lake, since Saturday afternoon.  I had a work project to finish but was now available to join the on-going search in a remote pocket of the Columbia Gorge.  I drove to Kingsley reservoir, geared-up and caught a ride to the SAR command site by the Bear Lake trail head with, Hood River County Sheriff (HRCS) deputy, Matt English.  The search briefing by HRCS Joe Wampler was about to start and fellow Hood River Crag Rats Craig McCurdy, Tom Scully and Asa Mueller were standing in the road with their packs on ready to go. 

Two Crag Rats were to follow a two person, search dog team down Bear creek to Lindsey creek.  Craig and I zigged and zagged down Bear creek, yelling PAM or PAMELA every so often.  The dogs and their owners turned back eventually when the terrain became too steep.  Hiking was mostly hanging from tree to tree and sliding down a duffy, 40 degree slope, at that point.  A good ski slope but a bad hiking one!  As I descended in and out of Bear creek, I saw foot depressions in the soft soil.  I was thinking it was bear or deer prints because there was plenty of scat around but the more prints I saw the more a human pattern emerged.  We were in constant communication with the National Guard chopper above us and let them know that the prints were still headed downhill.

Looking south to Mt. Defiance from Lindsey Cr.

From left, Scully, Mueller, Pamela (victim), McCurdy in Lindsey

Our Crag Rat team proceeded to the confluence of Lindsey and Bear creeks and used radios and GPS units to constantly update our location with the chopper and the SAR base.  Because we could not communicate directly with the SAR base, we bounced our transmits to the chopper or the relay person on Mt. Defiance.   The automatic repeater was not used all day because of it's annoying echo.

The rocky and log chocked Lindsey Creek was very greasy with moss and slim.  Many spills were endured by the team and McCurdy took one in a deep pool only to realize later that his Crag Rat radio stayed at the bottom of the pool.  Upon reaching a 15 ft. waterfall Scully and Mueller decided to rappel down it's side to the pool below.  McCurdy and I scrambled up the steep bank river left and made our way around it.  After more creek stumbling and another waterfall, we made it to the victim.  McCurdy surprised her and she was elated to see him.  Shivering in a tank top and shorts, Pamela was sitting on a rock, in the middle of the creek, alive, cold and shocky.  McCurdy immediately handed her a candy bar and a juice bottle and proceeded to put warm clothing on her.

Crag Rat Craig McCurdy with victim Pamela Salant

About 15 minutes after McCurdy and I stabilized the victim and Mueller accessed injuries, Scully was radio transmitting information to the HG Blackhawk chopper that was approaching for the hoist.  As the chopper hovered in the treetops, above the creek, a technician was lowered to the creek.  Prop wash blew small tree limbs and debris on us, as we bent to cover and protect the victim.  He land just uphill from us and began sorting gear for the hoist.

National Guard technician lowered from Blackhawk

We assisted attaching the technician and Pamela to the hoist seat, after he finished asking questions about her injuries.  Although her lower leg appeared broken and she had a deep gash on it, she was able to straddle the hoist seat without us splinting the leg or bandaging the wound.  The chopper hovered back into hoist position, dropped the hook to us and soon the two were air born and headed to Legacy Emmanuel Hospital in Portland.  I was thinking, at the time, how nice that exit plan would have been for us because we were faced with many more hours of bushwhacking to the Columbia River.  After some food, we climbed the 1000 ft. ridge west of Lindsey Creek and made our way down it's spine, with sore knees and ankles, to Sheriff Wampler and Deputy Frazier's rigs parked by I-84.  It was around 8:00 pm when they took us to Starvation Creek Rest Area to scarfed the sack lunch feast and water we had been hoping to see.  Like Sheriff Wampler said "it turned into a made-for-TV-movie with a happy ending."

From left, Deputy Frazier, Sheriff Wampler and Crag Rats

The passing of an Oregon mountaineer

I didn't know Hank Lewis, really.  He passes away last week, at 98, and I've been thinking about him.  I met Hank at Timberline lodge once, after a search and rescue, and drank a beer with him and some Mazama folks. I wish I could have interviewed him for my records.  My dad was a Mt. Hood ski patroler in the 70's and Hank's name would come up and was held in reverence.  He was one of the original hard men of the Oregon Cascades.  He did his time with the 10th mountain division and like many of those guys he made an impact on the mountaineering and skiing life we enjoy today.  I hope where ever he is that his pack is light and the snow is good.

Here is his obit, in the Oregonian, and also a good piece from 2007.

Mt. St. Helens

The beautiful volcano of Mt. St Helens is best skied in the month of May.  We enjoyed its sweet corn last Friday and it retains a reputation as one of  the best ski descents in the Northwest.  It's such an easy day up (5 hrs) and a great bunch of turns down to the car.  They do charge you $22 for the experience but it's a nice bathroom at Marble Mt., I guess.

Short Skis Don't Have To Suck - Altai Skis

 

   

The Hok

I had heard, through a mutual friend, that our buddy Nils Larsen was working on a new ski idea.  Nils and his business partner, Francois Sylvain, had worked for Karhu together and have spent many years in the ski business. I figured something was up when he came through Portland, last week, and the skis fit in the trunk of his rental car.

Nils has made many trips to the Altai region of China documenting the skier/hunters there and who were, possibly, the originators of skiing (sorry Norway).  Essentially, in the Altai, they chase down deer on these short, horse hair base skis, until the deer are exhausted and drag them back to the village for dinner.  These skis and the single pole, that's useful for turning and poking your buddy, are also used recreationally for practice.  Nils's ski-shoe idea arose from this experience.  Imagine that...a snowshoe with glide!  The Hok model is short (125 cm and 145 cm), has a metal edge and a section of skin material on the base for climbing.  OK, I'm a snowshoe hater and also no fan of skinny nordic skis when the going gets tough, so these little guys were more fun than a waterslide.  You can motor through tight trees and brush, on the up-track, and assume a good, bent knee and ankle ski position for a turny downhill run.

Check out the Altai Skis site and look for the skis next Fall at quality ski retailers or order on-line.

Closing Day Vail, CO

Too much snow to go

Retro suit of the day

Pond Skim on Gold Peak

I have never attended the famous "Last Day" of the season in Vail, CO, even though my brother lives there and I visit, to ski, every year I can.  This year it was like an 11" of new, Winter day on Mt. Hood.  Plenty of heavy snow for my liking.

It was also my first pond skimming event.  The video attached is from 2009 and a much warmer day.  This is Chris Anthony (Vail local, pro skier and Warren Miller talent) showing great form and flair. 

Out of harm's way

Racing for bikes

Spring makes the mind turn to other pursuits.  I like the trash talk here...

April-uary

A foot of new fell last Thursday and we tested skis in it.  It's rained on the cake since but that's the way it goes.  There are those, among us, that are tired of Winter but I'll take a stray powder day, anytime.

Cascade climax avalanches

It's not just the Oregon Cascades that have had some climax avalanches this season but it's endemic up and down the volcano chain.  Here is a good slide video from Crystal Mt., WA.  Although it was set-off by an explosive, it could easily have been us jumping into that slope.
 

The Man and the Mammoth

If you haven't seen this  ski animation feature movie you are in for a treat.  It looks like some Vancouver, BC folks had some time on their hands, during the summer.  I'm troubled by the ending, however.  I would have preferred a "shaggy dog" ending where they high five and enjoy a smoking campfire. 

Seth Morrison - The Ordinary Skier

The irony of this title cracks me up. 

Off-Piste Magazine Ski Test

Dave Waag, Off-Piste magazine publisher and testing task master, myself and two Hood River locals tested some 2011 ski models, at Mt. Hood Meadows, on Mon. and Tues. this week.  Conditions were a little new on a not-so-new base.  We traded off skis from Movement, Faction, G3, Prior and Dynafit.  Next month K2, Rossignol, Volkl, Voile and others are slated for the local hill trials.  Reviews will be printed in the first issue of the mag this Fall.  2010 review downloads are here.

Michael Becker, me, Dave Waag, wall o' skis

Dave's garage

Ski tech and trusted assistant Fergus

North Cascade ski touring with lookouts

Two buddies and I climbed up to Hidden Lake fire lookout, a few years ago, on our annual North Cascades Spring ski touring weekend.  It was kind of epic getting up into the place.  We had to dig a snow cave bivy the first night because we were whited-out, nighted-out and had left the tent in the car because we had planned for a cabin stay.  But once in the "alpine bedroom" we couldn't have been happier and had some good skiing down to Hidden Lake the next day.  You can check with the ranger at Marblemont R. S. for availability and info.

These guys made a nice video of that fire lookout and a couple more.

More natural flow

I'm continuing the thread of big flows of snow, ice or water.  This river, the Ammonoosuc, that runs from Mt. Washington, NH, to the Connecticut River and eventually to Long Island Sound has that bust-loose quality that eastern US river have during melt-out.  Tip of the hat to the camera guy for a steady hand or tripod for this shot.

Heather/Clark Canyon Avalanche

Sometime around 0800 on March 10, a giant avalanche, starting in Super Bowl, scoured-out the Clark side of Heather Canyon and deposited debris passed the Heather canyon chair base.  It has been determined that the fracture was started by a round shot from the howitzer artillery.  The fracture crown is between 5 and 12 feet high.  Check out more pics and info on the Meadows Blog

Summit fail

This fail has to be in the front of anybodys mind who's stood on a summit and didn't want to misstep.  He's lucky to still be among us.  But sadly, he missed the drop-in.

Watch out for the dog

A friend sent me this link and I would like to be as tuned-up as this guy.  
Or this guy. 

Cat skiing at Cloud Cap

The Crag Rats have a new snow cat acquired from Douglas county.  It's pretty sweet with a big box on the back and a heater for passenger comfort.  Last weekend was the annual Winter Outing and conditions couldn't have been better.  Cold, deep snow and plenty of food a beverage were on hand.  The ski touring on Cooper Spur Friday was some of the best most of us can remember.

Ok, they were right

Two things impressed me today, the quality and depth of the snow in the loaded lee sides, and the quality of a Iphone action snapshot.  Both great surprises.  But she should definitely close that gaping pocket on powder days.

OK, I'm in

The trust level bar is set low but I'm going up the hill in the morning.  A 12ish" new and that temp is worthy reason to blow off the few errands and obligations.  Let's hope they are right.

Snowboarder pick-off on Mt. Hood

A "pick-off", in search and rescue parlance, is the rescue of a victim from above.  It could be a rescuer repelling down a cliff or slope and raising or lowering them to safety or a helicopter lowering a rescuer on a winch cable.  In the case of the lost snowboarder yesterday on Mt. Hood, it was an Army Black hawk or Pave hawk helicopter (a Black hawk without the under armor which is lighter) that pulled him from Zigzag canyon on Mt. Hood's south side.  Here is the KGW video shot from their chopper.  The Virginia resident had hiked to the Hogsback, at around the 10,500' level, and planned to descend back to Timberline.  A great run on a clear day or a stormy day with a GPS or compass.  But the Mt. Hood Triangle is there to get you if the fall line is all you have for orientation.

What is the Mt. Hood Triangle?  Here is a good explanation from Portland Moutain Rescues site:
Most search and rescue operations on Mt. Hood are the
result of climbers becoming lost on their descent from the
South Side Route. Others have become lost while
descending from camps at Illumination Saddle.
The most common problem occurs when visibility becomes
poor and climbers descend without the aid of map and
compass, thinking that if they simply go back downhill,
they will surely return to the Lodge.
However, the fall line (route a ball will take if allowed to
roll down a slope) from the base of Crater Rock to about
the elevation of the top of the Palmer Ski Lift, does not fall
toward Timberline Lodge to the south, but rather
southwesterly in the direction of Zig Zag canyon and the
cliffs of Mississippi Head.
An area of the descent that has caused a number of
people to become confused and lost is the traverse
around the east slopes of the base of Crater Rock, that
area between Crater Rock and the Devil's Kitchen (the
Devil's Kitchen is an area of rock kept bare of snow by
the thermal activity of the mountain.) Occasionally, a
climber will drop too low on the traverse and descend
into the White River glacier and canyon to the east of the
route.
More often, climbers will traverse around Crater Rock,
staying on the correct descent route, but then glissade
down the fall line to the west, unaware they are in trouble
until they reach the canyons or cliffs below.
Carry a map, compass and an altimeter. Use your
compass and believe it! Once you have descended
around Crater Rock, by simply following the direction of
the south end of the magnetic compass needle (i.e.
magnetic due south), you will descend very close to the
ski lifts and Silcox Hut. In low visibility, the descent by
your compass may seem strange in that you will find
yourself side hilling considerably to the left as you
descend from Crater Rock to below 9000'.

When I was descending from Crater Rock in "milk bottle" conditions, in the days before the GPS or cell phones, I would keep my compass bearing around 170 (True North) and go till I almost ran into the lift towers of the Palmer chair.  If I drifted more towards a 200 bearing, the Triangle was sucking me towards Zigzag canyon.  The Mile chair is oriented at almost a perfect True North bearing, btw.
Here are some GPS coordinates of landmarks for the modern mountaineer:

Stop the brutal grooming

The abundance of man-made cordaroy smoothness at the local ski hill has probably been the direct result of boredom, on the part of the cat drivers,  due to our La Nina drought.  They are mowing and cat winching stuff that I never thought possible.  This transfiguration might seem minor, in light of the worlds troubles, but I think it's a metaphor for owners making decisions for workers, shareholders and consumers without, or in spite of, feed-back to the contrary.  I think "Let my people ski crap snow",  to paraphrase Yvon Choiunard.

Nea-Kah-Nie, Oregon - One Hundred Years Later

Looking south from Nea-Kah-Nie mountain towards Manzanita

With the temperatures in the upper 60's at the Oregon coast and no new snow on Mt. Hood, I decided to take a friend up on his offer to go to Manzanita last weekend.  My great-grandfather, Dr. William Skene, use to pack up the family in the summer and head to Nea-Kah-Nie Tavern, in what is now Manzanita, to beat the Portland heat.  I think these photos were taken around 1910-12.  The tavern is long gone but we played golf at the local 9-holer, threw the Frisbee and ate crab.  I like the the old school spelling from the postcards/snapshots, as opposed to the modern Neahkahnie.

                                         

Looking north on Neahkahnie Beach towards Neahkahnie mountain

                                                                     

                                       

Since the road around Nea-Kah-Nie mountain hadn't been built in 1910, my grandmother Jean and great uncle Don, took mules on the old trail around the mountain, 10 miles or so, to Cannon Beach for lunch.  Not a trail for a squirrelly mule.  As you can see from the photo below, it was (and still is) a long way down to the cold Pacific water.

                                                     

  

June-uary

Blue skies, corn snow and nobody home was the norm last week.  All my aging ski buddies were saying "well, if it can't be powder it might as well be corn snow" with a sigh, of resignation, as punctuation.  Clustering on the bare concrete porch, apres-ski, in their sunglasses and base layers the mood was up-beat among the faithful mostly because of the IPA beers.  But this goofy warm spell felt wrong and weird and we all hope for a correction soon. Not really feeling the high in the high pressure.

Would you like some ice with your whine?

I've refrained from grumbling, publicly, about the lack of new snow lately.  As my late grandmother use to say "you can't do much about the weather except talk about it."  But the rant fest, across the West, does serve to unify skiers no matter where they my turn.  This video from Utah serves my point.  I mean if you are going to put "The Greatest Snow On Earth" on every license plate, you are going to take some ribbing when it isn't.

Winter Outdoor Retailer Show

I'm not going to the Outdoor Retailer show in Salt Lake City,  UT this winter for the first time since they moved in there from Reno, NV in the early '90's.  I'll miss seeing my old friends on the show floor and the slopes afterward. But, I have been keeping tabs on some new products, remotely, from blogs.  I was intrigued by this new Outdoor Research hat.  It probably is very lightweight but I'm wondering how it looks on someone's head?

William Gladstone Steel

William Gladstone Steel or "The Father of Crater Lake" wrote and edited a periodical called Steel Points that was recently brought to my attention by fellow Crag Rat and Mt. Hood history buff Dale Crockatt. 

Back Yard Blues Boys from Mt. Tabor

They are still in high school...so I guess they know the blues.  The big guy on harp and guitar, Wade Hilts, wants to go to Tulane U.  He figures there are blues and lessons to be learned in New Orleans.  We'll miss him up on the hill, however.   The BBB band is playing at Mt. Tabor pub Jan. 8th.  Don't miss it.

History of the Crag Rat Winter Banquet

It was on August 3, 1926 that Andy Anderson, the manager of Tum-a-Lum Lumber, invited around twenty young men that were residents of Hood River County to his home for the purpose of exploring the idea of establishing an organization to promote mountaineering and skiing. Sports that, at that time, were just getting going in the valley.  At that meeting, not much occurred.  The only memorable thing was that Delia Anderson, Andy’s wife, jokingly suggested that if they did form an organization they should call it the Crag Rats.  She said that they were a bunch of rats for leaving their families, almost every weekend, to climb around on the various crags in the area.

It was about ten days after that meeting, Mrs. Strong, a lady from Portland, brought her three boys to Government Camp, on the south side of Mt. Hood.  She set up camp and planned to spend a few days in the outdoors.  Her two older boys took off to go fishing.  The youngest boy, Jackie, was only seven years old and decided to explore the forest around their camp.  When dinnertime came, Jackie didn’t show up and they couldn’t find him.  She contacted the authorities and a search was immediately started to try and find Jackie Strong.

Andy Anderson and about twenty men from Hood River showed up for the Jackie Strong search.  Being mountaineers, they searched higher on the mountain than most of the others did.  There were about 250 searchers, by the third day, looking for Jackie.  The Hood River men, eventually, found Jackie sitting on a rock, enjoying himself, so they picked him up.  He had survived the three days by eating huckleberries and whatever else he could find.  He spent nights sleeping in leaves, piled next to logs.  When they brought Jackie down to Government Camp, of coarse, the reporters from the various newspapers immediately descended on them and wanted to know who they were and where they were from.  By the way, it was Mace Baldwin, Percy Bucklin and Jess Puddy that found the boy.  So, out of the clear blue sky, they said that they were Crag Rats from Hood River. “Crag Rats”, boy, that name really caught the press and before the day was over, most of the newspapers from across the nation were telling the story of a mountain rescue group, in Oregon, known as the Crag Rats.  There was only one hitch…there wasn’t any organization!  They hadn’t formed an organization, yet.  But, Andy Anderson and the group got together, and within month they had drawn-up the bylaws and in addition to being a mountaineering and skiing club, they included that they were a mountain rescue organization.  This made them the first mountain rescue group, in the nation.

It was the beginning of the following year, New Years Day 1927, that a group of teenage boys from Portland went up to Government Camp and climbed, with skis and snowshoes, up Little Zig Zag canyon to tree line.  It was snowing hard and they decided to retreat.  Calvin White, a boy of sixteen, was a better skier than the others and soon out-distances the others.  When the group arrived in Govy, they were surprised to find that Calvin wasn’t there.  He was lightly clad and had no provisions, so immediately a search was organized to look for him.  After three days of searching Bill Cochran, a Hood River Crag Rat, found Calvin White huddled next to a big rock in the canyon.  He wasn’t in very good condition.  Bill alerted the other rescuers with yells and gunshots and they made a ski sled that brought Calvin to the Battle Axe Inn.  Calvin White lived but lost a few toes to frost bite.

The following year, on January 3rd, 1928,  Dr. White (Calvin’s father) and Calvin came to Hood River and invited all the Crag Rats to be their guests at a banquet at the Mt. Hood Hotel.  He continued to host this banquet for many years, while his health permitted.  He eventually changed it to Portland and the Crag Rats drove down old highway 30 to the University Club, in downtown.  They did that for several years (1934) until Dr. White was no longer able.  But the tradition had been established and the Crag Rats continued to have the banquet, the first week in January, each year.

 The banquet was eventually held at the original Crag Rat hut, which was located on the point above the gas station on the west end of Cascade St, in Hood River.   It should be noted that one fierce winter all the roads were blocked but they didn’t cancel the banquet and members skied there, spent the night and skied home the next day.  For many years the banquet was a potluck and the wives prepared the dishes.  In about 1938, the December meeting minutes show there was a heated discussion regarding inviting the wives to the banquet.  It was decided that since the wives were preparing the meal, it would only be courteous to invite them to sit down and eat.  At that time, the Crag Rats were strictly a stag affair.  Shortly after that, they began hiring a cook to prepare the dinners.  This went on until after World War II, when the organization took on a lot of new members and out-grew the old hut.  At that time, the banquet was moved to the Rockford Grange Hall where it was held for several years and eventually out to the Pine Grove Grange before the first banquet was held in the current Crag Rat hut, perched on a butte in Pine Grove, in January of 1967.  The minutes show that Mokie Taft put out a delicious prime rib dinner for the membership and guests.  Then the membership began to get a little bit soft and would postpone the banquet when the roads were blocked.  In fact, one year it was postponed until the first week of April.  But the older members, eventually, put their feet down and the banquet was moved back to January, where it has been ever since.  

The Taj Mt. Bachelor

I spent the New Years weekend skiing Mt. Bachelor resort and some surrounding backcountry.  The alpine was pretty hammered by wind but the lower Cow's Face trees held some nice snow.  It was a rough start on New Year's Eve morning with big lines for tickets, bathroom, coffee and the Pine Marten lift.  My friend, Jeff, said that an employee told him that the only line was going to be the ticket line, that day.  Jeff avoided stabbing the guy, in the eye, with his pole tip for the blatant lie involved.  Before this becomes another rant about lines at ski resorts (of which I know I'm a contributor) here's what made the day worthwhile...Sorry for the little skier in the frame.