For the Love of Mountains

Residence: Portland, Ore.

Hometown: Rochester, New York.

When and how did you become involved with the Mazamas? A friend suggested we take Ski Mountaineering together. I liked the people, so I stayed.

What are your favorite climbs? As I rapped off Thielsen last year I SWORE it was the very last time, but dang! I put it on the schedule again for 2014.

What climbs/hikes are you most looking forward to this year? I’m going to share Baker and Rainier with Bruce Yatvin, and take some time for a few private climbs.

Best climbing memory: I recently climbed Kilimanjaro with several other Mazamas and friends. I am hoping to forget the last three hours up the Western Breach, but I will never forget the inside of the crater. The glaciers emerged from pure snow. We made first tracks as we walked up and touched them. I’ll never see the like again. The summit was anti-climactic.

Future climbing goals? Olympus has skunked me twice. Greg Willmarth is helping me plan a 2016 rematch.

Favorite piece of gear you won’t leave home without: My High Gear altimeter carabiner watch. It has BIG numbers.

Guiding principle/philosophy: There WILL be fun here.

Favorite leader treat? Home-baked goods.

Most influential book: Colin Fletcher’s The Complete Walker. I was 14.

Favorite quote: “I do NOT have to make this up.”

Words that best describe you: Most people remember my laugh.

Most treasured possessions: It must be the grand piano I barely play, because I’ve been moving it all over the world for 30 years.

Pet peeves: Cliques.

Person(s) most interested in meeting: Dr. Samuel Beckett.

Favorite vacation spot: The next one.

When you aren’t on the mountain, where are people likely to find you? Sunriver.

Hobbies other than hiking/climbing: Knitting, singing in Cathedral Choir.

Occupation: Purchasing manager for a global manufacturer.


In 2014 you led your second, all-women Basic Climbing Education Program (BCEP) group. Please tell us about the evolution of the group, the role you see it playing in the Mazamas, how it differs from your own BCEP experience, any unique challenges encountered by the group, and what you see as the future of the all-women BCEP group: I did not take BCEP. Right after 9/11, I realized my life at 43 had become too small, so I shook things up by joining an all-women’s group that trained together to do Mount St. Helens. I wouldn’t have done it if I thought I had to keep up with a bunch of young guys competing to go the fastest. Training was hard, but I got great advice from a female guide: “The summit never seems to get any closer; remember to look back and see how far you’ve come.”

I deliberately avoided the Mazamas because they had a rep among my climbing and hiking friends for being waaay Rambo. I learned by climbing with guides, which is very different than a Mazama climb. Then I took the Ski Mountaineering class, and I met great leaders who definitely did not fit that stereotype. Rather than take BCEP, I applied directly to ICS, and then to LD, with a goal to encourage women, middle-aged adults and other non-traditional types to try climbing.

Many women learn by connecting their emotions to the task, and they want to express their feelings. Some men, in turn, get weirded out by that, and it can be truly demoralizing when people are working at the edge of their comfort zones. I wanted to offer women a place where they could do totally badass stuff, and be OK sharing an emotional reaction. They also quickly realize there is no big strong man to carry the rope for them—pick it up! That goes a long way toward building the confidence we want our teammates to have.
In 2013, I finally got to lead a BCEP team, with Patrice Cook as my co-leader and mentor. Since an all-women’s team was good for me, I made the proposal to the Education committee and they supported giving it a try. We started with five women last year, and a dozen women volunteered as instructors. The students are all still friends, still climbing (on coed teams), are helping this year’s class and a couple are applying to ICS this fall.

In 2014 we had more women request the class than we could accept. But the point isn’t to get more women to request the team; it’s that the Mazamas want ALL of our BCEP grads to climb well, and stay active in the organization. If this team can give a group of students a stronger foundation to start their adventure with the Mazamas, then I’d like to keep leading it.

by Michael Zasadzien

Our route.

What do I know about the Sunshine Route on Hood? I dunno, isn’t it supposed to be a simple walk-up?

This was the question that kept running through my head as we’re doing our 3rd high-angle snow-pitch, after crossing a treacherous bergschrund, only after crossing a glacier field…

So, here’s a little bit of backstory. What can I tell you about ICS (Mazama Intermediate Climbing School)? It’s long. Like REALLY long. And there are days where you just feel completely broken. You’ve been standing in knee-deep snow for the last two hours. It’s been raining ice, and it’s cold, and you’re absolutely soaked. You look at your watch, and you realize you still have 6 more hours of this misery of diving into the snow with your axe, getting more wet and more cold, before you can go back to the lodge. And in case you think that’s the end of it, you’re sorely mistaken, since you have to go back into these conditions the next day…not to mention the next week….for a few more months.

Nightime navigation.

This is what I’d like to call the dark times of ICS. The seemingly never-ending struggles with low morale while learning important mountaineering techniques over and over again, weekend after weekend in what just always seemed to be the worst of weather. The lectures begin to feel long, the weekends even longer. You literally begin to run out of time in taking care of yourself. You come home late Sunday night. You unpack your gear Monday night to dry. You go to lecture Tuesday. You do your laundry Wednesday and pick up any new gear you need. You pack and cook Thursday. And you head back out Friday just to do it all over again. You’re just about at your mental, physical, and emotional limit of what you consider to be ‘fun’ while volunteering your own time for half a year to become a stronger climber.

But then there’s poor Gary Ballou. While we’re buried up to our necks in commitment for this class, we had

Audrey self-belays down to the Elliot.

a leader who, on top of all that, had to organize this cat-herd. Always somehow enthusiastic, and never letting us give-up, even when we really really wanted to, he was a positive leader and had tons of great assistants that pushed us hard to really drive some key concepts into our heads. They made us master important skills until we could, as some Mazamas love to say: “Do it in the dark, in a cold shower, upside down, backwards, one-handed, with thick gloves on…” etc. [I swear this list keeps growing everytime I hear it]. You’re also constantly building great camaraderie with other classmates, gaining an enormous network of cool climbing buddies for life, and somehow managing to get through the class hopefully unscathed.

So, here we are, four foxy 2014 ICS grads, just finished up with helping BCEP classes, free from all this torment! We were eager to climb any mountain presented with crazy-tough challenges that truly put all our skills to the test and generally ready to conquer the world!!

Starting to get dicey.

Or….we can do what we’re told is a nice and refreshing, easy but long day with just a couple of little-bitty technical spots. As Jason Wagner, Jesse Applegate, Audrey Brown, and I found out the fun way, it was a far more committing than that.

We had gear for what we thought was just going to be a simple glacier crossing down below, and maybe a little bit of steeper snow up above; possibly even a little step up over a bergschrund. Five pickets should take care of the possible crevasse navigation issues if we run into any, a pair of ice screws for the bergschrund, and an extra ice tool so that we can take pictures and look badass for mom at the top and truly mostly just for show.

Well, I can’t tell you how happy I am we brought all those things.

First of our major challenges that night was getting down to the Elliot glacier: it wasn’t too shabby, we engaged ourselves in crampon french-technique while traversing for a bit, and we’re there. As far as crossing the Elliot: we roped up just-in-case, found two hairline crevasses during our crossing, and figured we brought our pickets for naught. “Oh well’, I thought, “guess we got past the anticlimactic ‘hard part’; thanks ICS…for making us a bunch of over-prepared Mazombies…”

Audrey belays Jesse across the bergschrund.

So … here’s where I bite my tongue. A thousand feet later, we quickly found ourselves in a precarious area where things got pretty [d]icy. Not to mention that if anyone were to slip … well, it’d be a long ride down. But hey, really it’s no bigs, we got these pickets, we got the skills, and we’re already on ropes; which made for a quick travelling team with solid snow protection and we kept going up … thanks ICS.

Now we get to this “tiny step-up” of a bergschrund that I’ve heard so much about. Well, lets put it this way: when you’re looking at a crack in the snow that appears infinitely deep and goes 10-feet-wide directly into the mountain underneath that ledge you were going to step up onto, you re-evalute your life and what you’re getting yourself into. As frightening as it was conceptually, it was by no means a deal-breaker for us; for we had the training, and we had the gear. We placed a couple of bomber pickets in the snow for backup and up and over all four of us go. Thanks ICS.

High angle snow on the way up to Cathedral Ridge.

So now’s the walk-up, right? WRONG. From the moment we stepped over, we found ourselves on high-angle snow for the next 600 ft, that with any bad luck, we go barreling back down a mountain for thousands of feet, if not directly into the ‘schrund – not sure which is worse. The clouds have completely enveloped us. These momentary white-out conditions were actually quite positive for us, as it gave us a chance to rest. Since you couldn’t see anything – best not to move – and it conveniently played mental-pro and masked us from a dangerous fall zone down below.

At that very moment we realized we were a well-oiled machine prepped for these kinds of situations. We all had the skills and judgement we needed to make sound decisions based on constantly changing variables. We could climb up and over on any line we wanted. We had the gear we needed and the experience necessary that made all of this not that big of a deal. And we all knew that each one of us could be solidly relied-upon to carry through efficiently and safely in these conditions. From an earlier Mazama article that we were quoting at that very moment, we knew that there was no turning back, that “the only way is through,” and that we could do it right. Thanks ICS!

The summit! Jesse, Audrey and Jason.

After four protected belayed pitches using various types of rock/snow anchors and quite a bit time requiring intensive focus, the sun broke out of the clouds right as we gained the Cathedral Ridge, and we FINALLY hit that “simple walk-up” with a blue-bird sky. What a poetic way to enjoy a Hood summit: all by ourselves up top  after conquering a whole side of a mountain without seeing a single soul. A first experience for all of us on the north side, and a first successful ascent of Hood altogether for Audrey. It was awesome!!

A super-huge THANK YOU goes out to Gary and all of ICS, both assistants and fellow students, for making this last year fantastic, and for making us all dangerously good out in the field. All that time spent; in the cold, in the wet snow, in the darkness, has totally paid off.

For only after the night comes the sunshine.

You can just spot the climbers on a ledge right in the middle of Morning Glory Wall. Photo: Vaqas Malik.

by Sarah Bradham

It was Sunday, May 4. The Advanced Rock class had been in full swing for two months. This would be the second weekend the students would spend at Smith Rock State Park honing their lead-climbing skills. The day dawned sunny and clear and Forrest Koran, an AR student, headed out to the Morning Glory wall with Noon Pokaratsiri, his instructor for the day.

The plan was to climb Zebra Zion (the entire route is called Zion, combining Zebra and Lion’s Chair, but it is routinely referred to as Zebra Zion—our own Jeff Thomas holds the first ascents of these routes), a very popular and well-known multi-pitch trad route. There are a few variations, and Forrest chose the 5.6 traverse sport route to start. They were feeling lucky that the area wasn’t overly crowded, even though it was typically a pretty popular one.

The first two pitches were uneventful. The second pitch is considered the crux, with a 5.10 roof right off the belay, then a nice 5.8 hand-to-fist crack.

As they moved up to pitch 3, Forrest and Noon, in a bit of foreshadowing, talked about a rescue “scenario” they had run through in the classroom portion of AR. It was based on the 3rd pitch of this route—a very run-out knobby traverse. They both agreed that executing a rescue here would not be very fun.

Making their way up to pitch 4 involved climbing up a slab to a bolted anchor. Forrest set out on the final pitch, leading onto a traverse leftwards from the anchor, before the route would turn upward once again.
The first part of the pitch seemed heavily chalked up and very polished. He was feeling tentative at this point. He had gotten in two pieces. The first, a black Alien, and the second, two lobes of a size .3 BD x4. He chose to protect with small cams over nuts out of concern over dislodging gear in a pendulum fall. The first piece was okay. The second piece was psych pro at best. He was 15 feet from his belayer and had just pulled up onto a ledge to stand on.

After the fall. Waiting for rescue. Photo: Vaqas Malik.

He doesn’t know what happened next, but he remembers falling. And hitting the slab below. The pieces had pulled. He was hanging on the low-angle slab just below the bolt anchor where he started pitch four. He started conversing with Noon. He was in an out. His mind was a little muddled. He didn’t remember losing consciousness but Noon, a trauma nurse (just the kind of person you want to have on hand in an accident), told him he had been unresponsive for five minutes. He dangled 30 feet below Noon. When the accident happened, she had the presence of mind to lock off the belay while finding her phone and calling 911. Rescue was activated. Now came the waiting game.

Forrest doesn’t remember having pain. There was a lot of blood coming from his elbow but he wasn’t particularly concerned about that. It was his ankle that he was worried about. Although it didn’t hurt, it looked swollen and seemed to be at an odd angle. He was a little nervous about his spine. Had he hit hard enough to do damage?

Behind the scenes the rescue mechanism was in action. A hasty team of two rescuers raced up Cocaine Gully and one rapped down from the top. Once on scene, the rescuer strapped Forrest’s neck into a C-collar and stayed with him for the duration of the rescue.

Forrest began to experience pain from his harness. He had been hanging for two hours before the first rescuer was on scene. Even though he was on a relatively low angle wall, all his weight was still on the harness. The leg loops were cutting into his legs and there was a significant amount of pressure around his waist. The rescuer helped him get a foot stirrup setup so he could stand up on his good leg and take some pressure off his harness. This was an incredible relief.

Meanwhile, the larger rescue party was heading up Misery Ridge. Once at the top of the pitch they drilled several bolts and set up a 7-1 haul system and, using a 600-foot rope, the extrication from the wall began. They lowered down a litter, packaged Forrest inside, strapped him down and then lowered the litter to the base of the wall.

The CAMP helmet cracked, just as it should, on impact. It will be retired as will the cams.

From the time of the accident to the time he was at the base of the wall was five hours.

Now came the evac debate—ground or helicopter? While he had been unresponsive for five minutes, since coming to he was cognizant of his surroundings and the situation. Forrest didn’t think his injuries were that severe. He was concerned about the cost of a helicopter ride. He advocated for a ground rescue.

However, in the end it was decided to fly him out. Six hours after the accident he was at St. Charles Hospital in Bend. He was evaluated, run through CT scans and x-rays, bandaged up and released within four hours of arriving at the hospital.

Forrest spent two weeks on crutches with a sprained ankle and had a bandaged elbow. He suffered a minor concussion from the fall. His CAMP helmet cracked upon impact and protected his head. It will be retired, along with the Alien and x4 cam that popped when he fell.

Upon reviewing the accident he’s still not completely sure what went wrong. Looking back he feels as though he had spent very little time climbing outside in the months leading up to AR, instead spending his time during the winter months in the rock gym. He was not as experienced in the outdoors as he was indoors and his judgement for evaluating routes and hazards had yet to be fully honed.

He had been tentative setting out on the fourth pitch traverse. He remembers the route looked more polished than he was comfortable with. He had a very difficult time finding cam placements and he knew that his pieces weren’t good. They were better than nothing, but he wasn’t confident in them. Properly extended, he thinks that passive gear would likely have been more secure. When he pulled up on the ledge it’s possible that his foot slipped on the polished rock and then he was in free fall.

His takeaways from the event are that he wants to step back a bit in grade and get more experience outdoors. He knows he’s a strong climber. He’ll get out to Smith again starting in June. He’ll tackle some 5.7s and 5.8s. He’ll follow. He’ll learn more, honing not only his technical skills but his comfort on rock.
He has plans this summer to get some time in at Leavenworth before attempting the East Ridge of Forbidden Peak. If that goes well, he hopes to tackle the Torment-Forbidden traverse in late season. And there’s a rock route on Mt. Stuart that is calling his name.

As Forrest looks towards his future plans and goals he said, “some things are more dangerous than others, and I’ll be thinking harder about what’s worth doing for the position or the quality of climbing.. I’ll also be more willing to punt leads to a more experienced partner when I’m not confident that I can protect adequately.”

by guest blogger Heidi Medema from The Mountain Shop 

You may have
seen the plethora of photos and gleeful posts on Facebook following the Ram’s
Head Randonee last weekend. If you didn’t make it up to the race, you may even
be feeling a little left out.

Don’t worry
though, here’s a re-cap so you can live vicariously through those who made it
up.

In only the
second year of the Ram’s Head Randonee, we are tickled pink by how well the
event went! In the race we had a field of almost 50 competitors ranging in
skill level from professional athletes to first-timers. Paul Robinson swept the
field with a time of 40 minutes and 45 seconds. Close behind him came CAMP
athlete Brett Merlin (41 min 22 sec). We also had a super competitive field of female
racers (which I was personally stoked to see). First place in the Women’s Open
category went to Amy Krull (51 min 42 sec), while Connie Macomber held down the
Women’s Masters with a speedy time of 57 minutes and 43 seconds.

For full race
results click HERE.

For winning
first place Paul took home a pair of Dynafit PDG skis that he had been drooling
over all day. My theory behind his blistering time was his burning desire to
procure the PDG skis.

For her first place
win, we loaded Amy up with a sweet setup from CAMP that included a Zaino Rapid
260 pack, G Compwind gloves, Speed helmet, and an Outdoor Research Ferrosi
Hoody. Each of our category winners also received a full custom tune and wax
from the Mountain Shop, as well as a year membership to the American Alpine Club.

Following the
race, people migrated indoors to the Alpenstube where they were greeted by a
blast of warm air that carried the sweet musical notes of the live band. Race
and demo participants also received free beer and food (yes, you read that
right).

During set
breaks we threw down, and by threw down I mean we tossed a bunch of free stuff
into the crowd! People were stoked! And for good reason too. Prizes from the
raffle included packs, Mazama courses, jackets, shovels, probes, gift
certificates, ski racks, and even a pair of skis.

All in all, the
raffle was a blast and a half, but more importantly, some serious funds were
raised for the Northwest Avalanche Center. Ram’s Head participants raised over
a thousand dollars for this worthy organization! Good work everyone!

The main thing
I took away from the Ram’s Head Randonee was an appreciation for this community.
Here at the Shop one of our main goals is to support and grow the local
outdoors community. That’s part of why I enjoy working here so much. The Ram’s
Head brought together an amazing community of people and created a competitive,
yet supportive environment. I witnessed pros helping beginners, first timers
charging up the hill, and everyone coming together during the after party to
laugh and cheer. Looking around the room as I talked into the mic, I couldn’t
help but smile. I know that randonee skiing is a fairly new sport in the U.S.
but with a community like this behind it, I foresee this sport really taking
off in the next few years.

The feelings of
support and community were solidified by the host of amazing vendors present
that day. The reps from CAMP, Dynafit, Black Diamond, NW Alpine, and La
Sportiva were helpful above and beyond the call of duty. BIG thank you to them
for their support.

We also owe a
big thank you to the Mazama community for your support in making the Ram’s Head
such a success. Hopefully we can get even more Mazama members racing next
year!

I am so proud
of this amazing community that we at the Shop have come to call our friends. To
that effect, if anyone who was there has any feedback on the event, we’d love
to hear it! Please feel free to email me at Heidi@MountainShop.net.

Thank you, and
see you all next year!

(But also,
hopefully before the next Ram’s Head Rando) 😉

by Ally Imbody, guest blogger

• The purpose of the Live Your Dream grant is to support and promote unforgettable experiences for individual climbers or small teams of all climbing disciplines to achieve new heights and to inspire others. You don’t have to be an elite climber or be putting up first ascents in remote locations. You just have to have an achievable climbing goal you’re working toward. 
• The application period opens January 1st and closes March 1st.  Winners will be announced April 15.  All funds must be used within one year of application due date, so your planned climb should be completed by April 15, 2016.
• Grants are distributed by region, and climbers living in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, and Alaska are eligible to apply for the Northwest Region grant. However, your planned climb can be anywhere.
• The grant is funded by The North Face and awards will vary depending on the prospective project, but typically fall in the $200 to $1,000 range.
• Grants are based on the project’s potential to have a positive impact on the grantee’s life and experience of climbing. Tell a good story, and make sure that you are choosing something that represents a significant progression of your skills but it still realistic. Do your research!
• The selection committee will consider the individual’s and/or team’s experience level, which must be appropriate for the proposed objective. Be honest- the application is being evaluated by experienced climbers who will be able to tell if you know your stuff. They don’t care how rad you are, they just want to know that you’re not getting in over your head. 
• Membership in the American Alpine Club is not required, but for funds to be awarded, membership must be acquired. However, since the AAC and the Mazamas offer discounted joint memberships and are strong supporters of one another’s missions, you should hopefully already be a member!

Another Mazama team also received a Live Your Dream Grant. Team: Karin Mullendorf, Laura Pigion, and Candi Cook. Location: French Valley Torres del Paine Patagonia Route: Primary Objective: Aleta del Tiburon – The Shark’s Fin (1850m). Route Description: 11 pitches, Grade V, 5.9.  Secondary Objective: Eliana’s Chapel (Grade IV). Date: January 2015. (Photo of the area from Flickr)