Razmere v gorah

RSS podatki
Vseh zadnjih 20 prispevkov
Iskanje po bazi podatkov

Novejši prispevki: (30)

Note 44.261 MOUNT-L 261 of 517 CUPIDO::STRITAR "Andrej Stritar,IJS,(61)-371-321" 77 lines 1-DEC-1993 16:11
CUPIDO::STRITAR "Andrej Stritar,IJS,(61)-371-321" 77 lines 1-DEC-1993 16:11
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Subj: Climbing Grand: epilogue

Date: 01-Dec-1993
Posted-date: 01-Dec-1993

I have heard some interestesting comments about our trip, so I thought
I would put in a few of my own. I really did enjoy myself, even
though there were moments when I was cursing the equipment. I know
there are many who know me who think I have gone insane. Sometimes I
doubt my own sanity, but somehow in this stuggle to climb a mountain
agaist impossible weather conditions suffering pain and physical abuse
gave real meaning to a climb even though we were technically only on
the approach.

There are many climber who put too much emphasis on reaching the
summit. If I really wanted to be sure and reach the summit, I would
come "in season", or climb a much easier peak. At first when Alex
suggested that we attempt Grand "out of season" I didn't want to go.
After thinking about it, why do I climb anyway? Is it just to reach
the summit? It's the climb that I enjoy. Reaching the summit is just
a moment during the trip. Also, I figured that no matter what the
outcome I would get some cold weather experience, get on a mountain I
hadn't been on before, and get to test out some of my new gear.

Thanks to mother nature I got a taste of what Denali climbers have to
do. On the coldest night it took me 1.5 hours to melt snow for 4
quarts of water and another hour to cook enough dinner. My MSR XGK II
ran for 2.5 hours at full tilt. It's no wonder we used up our planned
7 days of fuel in 5. I really tried to do everything I could with my
OR Expedition Mitts on my hands, but some things needed the grace of
fingers. I tied cord loops on the the zippers that I was using
regularly. If the mitten or boot liners weren't dry and warm, my feet
or hands would get cold quickly. My Marmot Gore-Tex shell was really
iced up, especially the jacket zipper, even though it has double storm
flaps over it. Even with the ice it did what it was suppose to do,
keep the wind and snow off of the under layers. After a few hours of
exertion, my thin balaclava turned into a ridged piece of ice. Even
the simplest things seem to be over complicated by below zero weather
and strong winds, like pulling the tent poles out of the straps. The
North Face Oval-25 tent has little O-rings on the tent pole ends that
can be quite a bit of work to pull out when iced up. I quickly
discovered that rubbing the tent pole at the joints across my mitts
would free frozen joints fast. For a while I had the binding on one
of my Tubb's shoeshows in a place where it kept coming undone. This
was really annoying since I couldn't rebind them with mittens on. I
am going to modified my Tubb's so this doesn't happen in the future.
My The North Face Tangerine Dream -30 bag was my best friend. I could
jump in it and warm up everything. I guess I was lucky not to get
frostbite. The tips of my thumbs are still a bit sensitive even
though there is no visible damage.

On the subject of climbing deep powder snow with heavy pack using
snowshoes, it's an extreme amount of work. I understand physics quite
well, and I knew that most of the energy would be wasted compressing
the snow instead of gaining vertical elevation. I didn't truely
understand this until putting it to the test. Alex and I both agreed
that the snowshoe climb was 4 to 5 times as hard as a rock or hardpack
snow. Alex equated 1300 feet of powder we did to 6000 feet of rock.
I know we have climbed 3000 feet in less than 1/2 the time. We are
not super athletes but we both train hard and we are both well above
average in terms of aerobic capacity (VO2 max). Alex runs 3 to 5
miles almost everyday, and I bike for a similar workout. Alex has a
good since of calorie use from his 6 month continental divide
backpacking trip. He guessed on the peak day we each burned about
8000 cals. All I know is I ate a tremendous amount of high calorie
food and I still lost 6 lbs (2 or 3 was problably difference in
hydration level). What little fat I have is definitely much thinner.

Joel was asking if there is a moral to this story. I don't know of
any specific one, but it did make me appreciate how a few hour hike in
the summer can turn into a multi-day epic in the winter. When I
return to Grand sometime to climb "in season", I that 1.5 miles of the
approach will have special meaning to me that many other climbers may
never understand.

Willie Hunt

***pico
3.139.238.76(0)
1199579 (671892,197,527490)
1160109 (650210,66,509833)
razmere.e-gora.si