June 2019 Vol. 101 | No. 6
Bulletin
Summer Adventures Gibraltar Ledges Beacon Rock Trail History Mooney Plane Crash Revisited My First Climb
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MONTHLY CONTENT Upcoming Activities, p. 4 Executive Director's Report, p. 5 Volunteer Opportunities, p. 6 Sexual Harassment Reporting, p. 7 Membership Report, p.15
AYM, p. 29 Mazama Library, p. 30 Classics, p. 34 Mazama Lodge, p. 34 Outings, p. 35 Trail Trips, p.36 Executive Council, p. 38
ADVERTISER INDEX Davis Financial, p. 23 Embark Exploration, p. 23 Great Inca Trail, p. 31 Green Trails Maps, p. 2 Mountain Shop, p. 40 Next Adventure, p. 10 Peru Andes Discovery, p. 15 Rab, p. 39 Turkey Tour, p. 38 Vaqas Malik Photography, p. 31 Yatvin Computer Consultants, p. 23 Advertise now! tinyurl.com/MazamaAdvertising
CONTACT US MAZAMA MOUNTAINEERING CENTER 527 SE 43rd Ave., Portland, Oregon, 97215 Phone: 503-227-2345 adventure@mazamas.org | Hours: Mon.–Thu. 11 am.–7 pm.; Fri. 10 am.–2 pm.
MAZAMA LODGE 30500 West Leg Rd., Government Camp, OR, 97028; Phone: 503-272-9214 Hours: Thu. Noon–Sun. Noon
FEATURES My First Climb, p. 8 Mt. Rainier, Gibraltar Ledges, p. 11 Yarigatake, An Introduction to the Japanese Alps, p. 12 Mooney Crash Revisited, p. 14 Getting to Know Trailkeepers of Oregon, p. 16 The Sun, p. 17 Annual Celebration & Awards, p. 18 Adequate Protection, p. 24 Six Long Weekends in Washington, p. 26 Beacon Rock Trail, p. 32
MAZAMA (USPS 334-780):
Advertising: mazama.ads@mazamas.org. Subscription: $15 per year. Bulletin material must be emailed to mazama.bulletin@mazamas.org. All material is due by noon on the 14th of the preceding month. If the 14th falls on a weekend, the deadline is the preceding Friday. The Mazama Bulletin is published monthly by the Mazamas—527 SE 43rd Ave., Portland, OR 97215. Periodicals postage paid at Portland, OR. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to MAZAMAS, 527 SE 43rd Ave., Portland, OR 97215. The Executive Council meets at 4 p.m. on the third Tuesday of each month. Meetings are open to members. The Mazamas is a 501(c)(3) Oregon nonprofit corporation organized on the summit of Mt. Hood in 1894. The Mazamas is an equal opportunity provider.
SARAH BRADHAM Acting Executive Director sarah@mazamas.org MATHEW BROCK Library & Historical Collections Manager mathew@mazamas.org
MOLLY MOSENTHAL Youth Program Coordinator mollymosenthal@mazamas.org CLAIRE NELSON Youth & Outreach Manager clairenelson@ mazamas.org
LAURA BURGER Development Coordinator lauraburger@ mazamas.org
KELSEY SHAW Member Services Administrator kelseyshaw@mazamas.org
CHARLES BARKER Mazama Lodge Manager mazama.lodge@mazamas.org
RICK CRAYCRAFT Facilities Manager facillities@mazamas.org
Cover: Approaching Gibraltar Ledges. Photo: Julie Kentosh (article, p. 11). Above: Awards. President Laura Pigion. Doug Wilson.
PUBLICATIONS TEAM Editor: Sarah Bradham, Acting Executive Director (mazama.bulletin@mazamas.org) Members: Jonathan Barrett, Lindsey Garner, Brian Goldman, Darrin Gunkel, Kevin Machtelinckx, Ali Gray, Tyler MacBeth, and Katie Polanshek (publications@mazamas.org)
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UPCOMING ACTIVITIES & EVENTS FAMILIES MOUNTAINEERING 101 INFO NIGHT June 5, 6:30 p.m., Mazama Mountaineering Center On this night, we will feature a demo from students, general overview of the class and review the schedule for this year’s program. The application process opens on June 17. If you have any specific questions about the 2019–2020 class, please email us at fm101@mazamas.org. For more detailed course information visit mazamas.org/FM101.
ROUND THE MOUNTAIN INFO NIGHT June 6 & 19, 6:30–7:30 p.m. at the Mazama Mountaineering Center Get all the details you will need to decide if you want to join the annual Mazama Labor Day Tradition on Aug. 30–Sept. 2 at Mazama Lodge! Each year, the Mazamas celebrate their love of Mt. Hood with a 3-day hike around the Timberline Trail. Join us as we set out from our base camp at Mazama Lodge each day for a 13 to 14-mile adventure. We carry only day packs because each night we return to the lodge for great food, hot showers, a cozy bunk, and stories from your day on the trail. Get more details at: mazamas.org/rtm
INTERMEDIATE CLIMBING SCHOOL INFO NIGHT June 24, 6:30 p.m., Mazama Mountaineering Center Join us at the MMC to learn more about the upcoming Intermediate Climbing School. Instructors and past students will be on hand to share their experiences and give information about the 2019–2020 class. Get more details online at mazamas. org/ics
FAMILIES ROCK SKILLS
MAZAMA TRAIL TENDING
June 25, 5–8 p.m., Mazama Mountaineering Center
June 27, 28, 29 at Mazama Trail
Families Rock Skills is an open climbing session on the MMC climbing walls. Our focus is to help your family become comfortable with roped climbing in a supportive, low pressure atmosphere developed to encourage kids. Kids and parents can earn a belay card to be able to belay at other Families Rock events. All ages are welcome to attend. There is plenty of space for toddlers to play while their older siblings climb. Kid and adult rock shoes and harnesses with belay devices are available at no extra cost. Come for the entire session or drop in for just a part of the evening. Bring along some snacks, water, dinner and extra clothing layers. Limited to 20 climbing kids and adults. Fee: $2 per person, $5 max per family. Fee collected at door. Signup online at tinyurl.com/MazFamRock
Each year the Mazamas repair and maintain our namesake trail on Mt. Hood opening it up for the hiking season. Ever since the Dollar Lake fire we have encountered more and more trees down so a good turnout is really helpful. Tasks will include cutting logs, trimming brush and clearing drain dips. No experience necessary, distance and elevation listed is maximum, some days will be less. Volunteer for one, two or all three days, dry camping available at the trailhead, and a porta-potty will be on site. Start time suggested is 7:30 a.m. from MMC, arrange your own carpools or meet at trailhead by 9:30 a.m. near the end of National Forest road 1811. Sturdy boots and gloves required. Groups may be split into two depending on number of participants. Leader: Richard Pope 503860-8789. Signup online at mazamas.org/stewardship.
MAZAMA TRAIL HIKES July 19 & 20, NOON–6 p.m. at the Mazama Mountaineering Center As a part of the 125th anniversary celebration of Mazamas and the 25th anniversary of the Mazama Trail, there will be two hikes a day on both July 19 & July 20th. One hike will be a short, slow, 1½ miles from the trailhead to “Whipsaw Alley,” with an elevation gain of 1,000 ft. Led by Ray Sheldon, it will cover the planning, layout, and construction of the trail. The hike will leave the Trailhead at 10:15 a.m. The second hike, led by Rick Pope, will cover the entire 3.75 miles and 2,000 ft. of elevation gain from the trailhead to the Timberline Trail. Rick will be sharing the upper trail construction, annual maintenance, and the affect of the forest fires on the trail. His groups will be starting at 10 a.m. each day. 4 MAZAMAS
MAZAMA 125TH BLOCK PARTY & OPEN HOUSE
MAZAMA MOUNTAIN RUNNING CAMP
July 28, NOON–6 p.m. at the Mazama Mountaineering Center
Aug. 2–4 at Mazama Lodge
The Mazamas are hosting a 125th Anniversary Open House and Block Party! We hope you will get outside and love the mountains over the weekend of the 19th (our official birthday) and then come celebrate with us on the 28th! There will be food, fun, and games for all ages.
Located at the base of Mt. Hood, at beautiful Mazama Lodge, the 21/2-day, 2-night camp includes group runs, clinics, training plans and philosophies, instruction by top level runners, and more. Transportation, meals (excellent quality, fresh foods, vegetarian and gluten-free available) are included, along with bunk-style lodging. Mazama Lodge is at appx. 1,500 ft. below historic Timberline Lodge. Runs will take place between 3,000–6,500 ft. in elevation. Get details at: mazamas.org/mrc/
OUR PAST & OUR FUTURE On March 19, 1894 a meeting was held in Portland by what were dubbed, “the true mountaineers of the Oregon Alpine Club,” to begin drafting a constitution for a new organization, devoted to mountain climbing. To insure the the organization would be composed solely of mountain climbers, the founding of the Mazamas was to occur on the summit of our home mountain, Mt. Hood. Invitations were broadcast around the state via newspapers and all interested persons were invited. 350 people from all walks of life heeded the call, and arrived via every sort of transportation of the time that was conceivable—from horse and buggy to mule-team hay wagon—and they assembled near Government Camp. The journey alone was up to three full days for some of the individuals in attendance. Climb day brought thunder and a sleet storm that turned back a hundred would-be climbers, leaving 155 men and 38 women to gain the summit on Thursday, July 19, 1894. The piercing wind forced many of them below the sleet zone, but 40(ish) individuals remained to organize the Mazamas and elect Will Steel as president. Later 105 climbers signed up as charter members. And so the Mazamas was born. It was born out of a desire to “minister to the social and physical enjoyment of its members by creating a motive for bringing them more frequently in contact with the beauties and grandeur of our mountain scenery; to disseminate information tending to facilitate the exploring and climbing of mountains, and regarding the best means of reaching points of interest; and to develop and encourage a more thorough appreciation of the unrivaled natural scenery of the northwest; secondarily to enlist scientific investigation, to attract the attention of artists, writers, and tourists to the undeveloped field for art, literature, and recreation in the Cascades and other Pacific Coast ranges of the mountains, and to unite the artistic and practical among mountain-climbers.” It was of that desire on which the foundation of the Mazamas was built. It was built upon mountain exploration. It was built upon social connectedness. And it was designed to foster exploration, scientific research, and artistic appreciation. 125 years later those remain the tenets of the Mazamas.
Today we look to the future as we honor our past. Our current strategic projects build upon our history, while looking forward to serve the needs of the current and future generation. I’d like to share a few of those projects now. Over the next few months you will see the “My Mazamas Story” booth pop up at events. This is an opportunity to share your Mazama story and help further our goals of sharing Mazama stories and promoting Pacific Northwest mountain culture far and wide. We know that our 3,500 members have incredible tales to tell, and we hope that you will take the time to share. Three years ago the Mazamas embarked on a project with the American Alpine Club and other mountaineering organizations to create national training standards for volunteer guides in the US. Once piloted and implemented, national training standards will allow Mazamas to take leadership courses that will provide nationally recognized certifications, offering a transferable skill set to graduates. As an organization born on the summit of a mountain, it seems fitting that we are collaborating with our fellow mountain organizations to create training standards for mountain leaders. Our youth programs have been growing exponentially over the last few years. Over the Mazamas tenure, youth programs have come and gone, depending on the interest level of the leadership. Starting with Families Mountaineering 101 six years ago, and continuing today through expansive youth programming including Mazama Mountain Science School, Adventure WILD, and partnered youth outreach programming, the Mazamas are reaching more youth than ever before. One cannot protect something that they do not know or care about, and our efforts towards training the next generation of outdoors people will help ensure the youth of today have an investment in the lands and types of recreation that we hold dear. These are just a few of the new programs that are in progress to create a bright future for the Mazamas. But the Mazamas are not only focusing on the new. We are pouring time, energy, and resources into increasing educational and activity opportunities to better meet the demands of our community. We are
working with our national and regional partners on access issues to ensure that the Mazamas speak with a united voice about our recreation and access priorities. And we are taking steps to be a welcoming space for everyone who loves the mountains by working to build diverse, equitable, and inclusive programming. These are big goals and will take years to accomplish. Just as our founders had the foresight to think far into the future as they worked to build a solid foundation for the Mazamas, we must invest now in the vision for the Mazamas future. But in all of our visions for the future, the Mazamas remain committed to our founding principles. Mountain exploration. Social connectedness. Scientific research. Last year we rolled out a new mission statement “inspiring everyone to love and protect the mountains.” By being a Mazama member you show your love for the mountains. As a Mazama volunteer you not only demonstrate your love for the mountains but you share that love by taking others into the mountains, by showing them how to recreate in the mountains, and by taking actions to protect the mountains. I want to say thank you to all of you who are a part of the Mazamas. Whether you are a first year member, have just taken BCEP, or you are a 50+ year member and long-time volunteer, it is you who makes the Mazamas what it is. It is your dedication and commitment to Mazama values that give the Mazamas its heart and soul. The good works of the Mazamas could not be done without all of you.
Sarah Bradham Acting Executive Director
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VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITIES OFFICE VOLUNTEERS Are you looking for a fun and interactive way to get to know the Mazama community and programming better? Do you find yourself with free time during the week? Office volunteers support staff with everything from answering phones and emails to organizing supplies and helping to manage our database. At the Mazama Mountaineering Center, office volunteers are often the first face and voice that members and nonmembers interact with, so if you are a friendly person who’s looking to share your inspiration to love and protect the mountains, we want you! Apply at tinyurl.com/mmcofficevolunteer.
CONSERVATION COMMITTEE MEMBERS Are you interested in protecting public lands? Do you want to be part of the Mazamas' long history of environmental stewardship? Consider joining the Conservation Committee. Our next meeting is at the MMC from 7–9 p.m. June 26. Questions? Contact co-chairs Tom Bard at 503-312-9196 or bardtom535@gmail. com or Kate Evans 503-635-6540 or kateevans97@gmail.com
MMC FACILITIES VOLUNTEER Looking for a different kind of volunteer opportunity with the Mazamas? Want to get a deeper look behind the scenes about how to keep the Mazama Mountaineering Center up and running? Want to learn all you’d ever want to know (and possibly more) about the current state of recycling? Well, we’ve got the volunteer niche for you. Our Building Manager, Rick Craycraft, needs help! The flexibility of this commitment is almost open-ended. We will provide training, possibly hand off certain responsibilities directly and work with you to find out how your interest level and skills can be put to use in the service of our organization. We are currently in need of someone with exterior painting experience. Help us spruce up the MMC for spring! Please email leftfield5@juno.com if you would like to volunteer.
YOUTH OUTREACH VOLUNTEERS Do you enjoy working with youth? Do you enjoy climbing and sharing that passion with others? The Mazamas Youth Outreach Climbing program is in need of volunteer belayers and climbing instructors at Youth Outreach Climbing events. These events occur periodically, predominantly in winter and spring, all days of the week, and all hours of the day. Sign up for one, or for many! Contact molly@ mazamas.org to learn more.
LIBRARY ARCHIVE ASSISTANTS Library assistants help move library books back into circulation, which includes sorting materials, verifying the order of books on shelves, and other tasks. Archive assistants help with processing, preservation, and reference requests. Volunteers should have an interest in mountaineering history, basic computer skills, and a willingness to do repetitive tasks, including putting items into alphabetical, numerical, and chronological order. Experience with standard library and archival practices help, but not required. Please contact Mathew Brock, Mazama Library and Historical Collections, at mathew@mazamas.org to learn more. If you are interested in any of these roles, email volunteer@mazamas.org. 6 MAZAMAS
TRANSITION TEAM UPDATE by Marty Scott, Mazama Vice President I’m pleased to announce that we have begun accepting applications for individuals interested in becoming the next Executive Director of the Mazamas. The announcement was posted to various online sites and other outlets in mid May. An email with the job announcement was also mailed to all Mazamas members in mid May requesting their assistance in communicating the job opening and encouraging them to share the job announcement with friends and colleagues and to post it on social media. To learn more about this opportunity, interested individuals should go to mazamas. org/joinourteam/ for more details. Interested individuals should submit a resume and a cover letter of not more than two pages to this website. The position is open until filled. You may recall from last month that the Mazamas has partnered with the Valtas Group to work on this recruitment. As applications are received, the lead consultant from the Valtas Group will review the materials submitted by candidates and conduct initial screening interviews. The lead consultant will then compile a list of the best qualified candidates to present to the transition team for consideration. The lead consultant will also work with the members of the transition team to design an interview process. If you have comments or questions regarding the transition, please email the transition committee at transition@ mazamas.org.
SEXUAL HARASSMENT REPORTING by Claire Nelson, Youth & Outreach Program Manager
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n May 2018, the Mazamas, alongside many of our partner organizations, worked with #SafeOutside to circulate a survey on sexual harassment and sexual assault in the climbing community with our community. This survey data showed that 1 in 2 women and 1 in 6 men reported having experienced sexual harassment or assault. While these statistics should not be surprising—they align with national statistics—they are sobering. Now, roughly one year after the survey, we want to revisit the work we’ve done to combat and prevent sexual harassment and assault in our community. In October of 2018, Mazama climb leaders participated in the first version of our Sexual Harassment and Assault training during Leader Update, providing invaluable feedback on the exercise. Since then, the Mazamas staff and Executive Council have all completed the training born out of the initial feedback. We’re excited to launch our training, focused on awareness and prevention, intervention practice, and allyship and support for survivors, to the greater Mazamas community over this next year and beyond. One of the most important things we can do is report inappropriate behavior, either experienced or witnessed. If you or someone you know has experienced, witnessed, or fears harassment or assault*, we have resources and procedures for addressing complaints. If you experience sexual harassment or sexual assault that in any way relates to a Mazama activity, employee, leader, or volunteer, we request that you please fill out our reporting form, found on our website under Policies and Reporting on the Membership and Resources tab. If you do not feel safe reporting your name, you can fill out the report anonymously. At the Mazamas we know sexual harassment and sexual assault are issues we face within our own community, and we are committed to creating an environment free from all forms of harassment, assault, and unlawful discrimination of any kind. We expect all employees, leaders, volunteers, members, and participants to treat each other in a respectful manner and to maintain proper standards of conduct at all times. Together we can help make the mountains a safer space for everyone. If you have any questions or concerns around harassment or assault of any kind at the Mazamas, please feel free to write to sarah@mazamas.org? And we’ll get back to you as soon as possible. *This article is focused on sexual harassment and assault, but the Mazamas does not condone or tolerate harassment and assault of any kind. If you are the victim of or witness harassment, assault, or problem behavior due to sex, race, national origin, religion, age, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, or other factors, please consider using the reporting tool on our website.
HOW TO FILE A SEXUAL HARASSMENT REPORT: Go to mazamas.org/ behavioralincidentreport/ Complete the report You control who receives the report. You have the option of selecting up to five people to receive the report: Sarah Bradham, Acting Executive Director; Laura Pigion, President; Marty Scott, Vice President; Claire Nelson, Youth & Outreach Coordinator; Tim Scott, Ombudsman. A report must be sent to a minimum of two people. The individuals who receive the report will determine who will be the lead to investigate the claim. The lead will contact the complainant, to get more details and determine next steps with the consent of the victim. A report may be filed anonymously. When a report is filed anonymously we will do the best we can with the information we have to handle the situation.
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My First Climb by Kadin Mitchell (age 14)
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y first climb was starting to appear harder than I thought it would be. I had agreed to climb Mt. Adams months ago, and I honestly hadn’t thought much about it. Looking back on the experience, I’m sort of glad I hadn’t. I might not have done it if I had seen the blisters that would appear on my feet soon after. On a hazy day, like most summer days in Hood River, we started our adventure by getting in a car. My mom and her friend Greg got into the front seat, and I tried to make myself comfortable sitting with the assortment of packs and gear. A pair of crampons stuck into my calf, and I adjusted them carefully. It was not a great seating arrangement. The car started, and I thought to myself, this is where it begins. As we were crossing the Columbia River from our hometown of Hood River, I looked up at where Mt. Adams would be, knowing that smoke from summer fires would make the normally gorgeous view impossible to see. Fortunately, I wouldn't have to wait for the summer to pass to get a good view of Adams. The next hour was spent driving through winding roads and tall trees, and we passed few buildings. Thankfully, the smoke began to drift away as we climbed higher. Eventually, we arrived at a ranger station, where we got a map and tickets for the parking by the mountain, as well as our climbing permits. That settled, we headed straight for the mountain. As we winded towards it on the dirt roads, I listened to music and closed my eyes, feeling the car bump slowly forwards. The windows gathered dust, and mud splattered against the sides of the doors. Clouds gathered above, and a shadow crossed above the car, and I opened my eyes. The mountain loomed above us, and we had reached the parking lot. I opened the car door, stepping outside to breathe the fresh air. Unpacking was somewhat of an issue because we discovered we had too many things to put in our packs. One major issue was the boots that we had to carry in our packs. It took up about 20 percent of the
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space. I decided that I would just wear the boots and leave my hiking shoes behind. We also left some food behind, and then began the hike. My first thought on the dusty trail was that the pack was gonna suck. I had to adjust the pack a couple times to get it comfortable on my back, and after a couple tries it felt OK. (Although still notably heavy.) We started to climb higher. After about a mile, we stopped for a snack break, and I got stung by a horsefly or something, which sucked. (Trail mix and dried mangoes are delicious after a couple miles of hard hiking.) When we got to a river, that’s when it started to get hard. After my group stepped over the slippery slab rocks making a natural bridge on the river, the trail became much steeper, and we had to maneuver around giant boulders. It was really fun to maneuver between the rocks and climb steadily on the thin trail. The view was starting to become more and more spectacular. Our climb was going well, and I realized that this could become a passion of mine eventually. Soon, there were barely any trees, and I could tell we were pretty high up because
the altitude was starting to catch up to me. We kept climbing, and eventually we got to the snow. About a 10,000 feet elevation was Lunch Counter, the place we were staying at for the night. I was pretty tired at this point, and really just wanted to get there and SLEEP. Walking through the snow was exhausting, and I didn’t have any crampons on at the moment so I kept slipping. Every other minute, I took a break and drank some water, even though I wasn’t really thirsty. While I was climbing, I remembered a conversation I had had with my mom a couple days ago. She had said “You won’t feel like drinking water, but you have too.
It’s easy to get dehydrated up there.” I groaned in real time. This was exhausting. Finally, we reached Lunch Counter, and picked a spot with barely anyone around it. We set up a tent, and put a bag of chili above boiling water. My feet were soaked, and when I tried to take off my boots, I felt a weird sort of pain on the back of my foot. I finally managed to yank my boots and my socks off, and I stared at the back of my feet. They each had multiple blisters, and they were gigantic. (I’ll stop the description here because it was NOT a pretty sight.) Anyways, I put some Band-Aids on them and stepped out to have some dinner. While we were eating, Greg pointed at the slope above us and told us what we would be doing the next day. From where we could see, the hill stretched up to a point called the false summit. After you reached the top of that hill, you would be able to see the real summit, on top of a much smaller hill. The first hill was about 3000 feet of steep snow. The second was about 1000. I was scared about tomorrow, and the environment around me felt cold and hostile. This will be hard, but I can do it, I told myself. Around 9:00, the sun started to set, and I crawled into the cramped tent with two others and fell into a fitful sleep. The next day, we woke up bright and early and began the second part of our adventure. In the morning, I saw some goats when I woke up. That was the beginning of the hardest day of my life. On the last day of July, around 6 a.m., you’d find me at 10,000 feet on the slopes of upper Mt. Adams. Continually taking breaks because of the altitude, forcing ourselves to drink water, and socializing with other people on the hill, it took about 2 hours for my group to reach the false summit. A bad sign for the day was that I was already pretty tired. It kinda sucked, but what doesn’t when your feet are wet and you just want to get to the top? The false summit FINALLY gave away to flat ground. I didn’t want to go the rest of the way, since there was still about 1,000 feet left to the top. But something I knew was that I would regret it for the rest of my life if I didn’t do it. I mean, I had made it this far. Why not do the rest? Positive mentality was key, and I was trying to maintain it as long as I could. I had a granola bar and put on my crampons again before the next hill, then started to make my way up. This was challenging for me, and felt much harder than the last hill. I took a break every minute, then probably went another 10 feet and stopped again. At last, I made it to the top. Not much to say really. I was happy, sure, but all I could think about was going back down. I could be happy later. The first hill we were going down was fine. When you go back down the hills, there are these slides that people have carved out of the snow that you can ride on which carry you all the way to the bottom. Some people bring sleds. You had to take your crampons off, which was a drag, because that took forever. Unfortunately, if you did wear them, you could break your ankle if your foot gets caught. So it was pretty serious. I don’t know why, but I didn’t bring snow pants, so I was getting really wet on the way down the first hill. My behind was soaked, so I decided to walk the rest of the way down. When we reached the big hill, it seemed like a long way down, and I was astonished I had made it all the way up. That thought kind of brightened my mood, and I began to walk down. Going down was an experience. It was kind of half slipping, half jumping, half walking. I didn’t want to start tumbling down, so I Clockwise, from left page: At the trailhead as the climb gets underway. Camp at the Lunch Counter. Getting close to the summt. On the summit!
continued on next page JUNE 2019 9
First Climb, continued from previous page was careful at first. That didn’t last long. It was way too much fun to go down jumping from pile of snow to another pile of snow as fast as I could. The sun had melted little grooves, so I could put my feet in one of those if I needed to stop. The only thing I had to worry about were the ice patches, but those were easy to spot and avoid. (If you were paying attention, which I wasn’t.) I started a count on how many times I fell, and from what I can remember, It was about 32 times. About ¾ down, I started to feel tired and a little sick. I drank some water, but that didn’t really help. I could see our bright orange tent close, and I powered through the rest of the way. When we reached the camp site, my mind felt groggy and I had no appetite whatsoever. For a couple of hours, we rested before the descent. I knew this was not going to be fun, and I tried to mentally prepare myself. After helping clean up a bit, I sat by a stream while our CamelBaks collected fresh water. Putting on some headphones, I listened to music and daydreamed about the moment when I would reach the car. Twenty minutes later, we started to make our way down. Before I talk about that, I’m just going to say it was kind of miserable for me and there’s not a lot that I remember from it, so I won’t go into tremendous detail. The first part with snow sucked, because I didn’t have crampons on so I was kind of just slipping down most of the way. That took about an hour. Once we reached the rocks, I was super relieved. The rocks took longer to go down, but the snow was just so much worse. Because our packs kind of balanced us in a weird way, we had to be really careful making our way down. One wrong step and we could go tumbling off the side of a cliff. So the steep rocky part took about two hours. I was keeping track of our surroundings, so I could see how far down we were. It seemed to take forever, but we finally reached the river. From what I could remember, that meant we were about halfway down. The rest was easier than previously, because it was basically just a normal hiking trail. It was not easier mentally. I was super tired, and my body felt like breaking down. I knew we were close to the car, so I kept walking, trying not to take any breaks. To distract myself, I tried to remember the words to songs. Near the end, I cried a little, and that made me feel a little better. The rest of the walk to the car was almost easy, and when I got there, I collapsed into the backseat. On the car ride back, I occasionally looked back at the mountain. Every time I did, a sense of exhaustion (and a little pride) washed over me. When I fell asleep, the last thought I had was that I wouldn’t be doing that again for a while. The blisters are still scars on my feet. Author: An 8th grader, Kadin plays water polo, runs track and field, rides mountain bikes, skis, and plays piano, guitar, and drums. He loves studying the globe to plan travels which include climbing mountains on all continents. He frequently hikes Dog Mountain just for fun and plans to hike the Timberline trail this summer. Kadin lives in Hood River and hopes to work as a writer someday.
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MT. RAINIER: GIBRALTAR LEDGES by Rico Micallef
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ife is not about the destination but the journey. When it comes to climbing this rings true. If climbing was simply about the destination we would all take the easiest path up the mountain. Instead we look for different routes that test our skills. Climbing is steeped in history: we are obsessed with who climbed it first, when, what route? Gibraltar Ledges, commonly referred to as Gibb Ledges, excited me because it was a new route for me. More importantly, I was interested in its history. The first ascent of Mt. Rainier by Philomon Beecher Van Trump and Hazard Stevens was via Gibraltar Ledges in 1890. I've always been fascinated by a mountain's original route. Years ago I climbed Cooper Spur on Mt. Hood, because it was the original route up On the ledges, pictured Julie Kentosh and Toby Tyler Creelan. Hood. The pictures often seen of climb teams numbering in the Photo: Rico Micallef. 100s climbing Mt. Hood are from the Cooper Spur route. When I found out that Gibb Ledges was the original route on Mt. Rainier, it became a bucket list item.
Pictured from left to right: Rico Micallef, Julie Kentosh, Yev Genii (assisted), Prasanna Narendran & Toby Tyler Creelan Photo: Rico Micallef.
Surprisingly Gibb Ledges is not climbed very often, and I have never seen it on the Mazama climb schedule*. My guess is that it is because it is an early route. In fact, it is considered the standard winter route up Rainier. It is a very direct route from Camp Muir. The ledges have a great deal of exposure to rock fall, so it needs to be cold and solid when you do this route. Surprisingly, the first ascent of Rainier was via this route in August of 1890. I am sure their conditions were much more difficult than we encountered. I like to lead exploratory climbs, they rarely go perfectly but that is ok. Part of the excitement of climbing is exploration, so getting off route and having to figure
things out just adds to excitement and intrigue of the climb. I research the heck out of them and tell the team route finding is team effort. Gibb Ledges was my 6th route on Rainier having successfully climbed Rainier by Disappointment Cleaver, Ingraham Direct, Emmons, Kautz and Fuhrer Finger routes in prior years. I have had great success on Rainier and I am batting 100 percent. Nonetheless, before I do a new challenging climb, like a Mazama D-level climb, I research the heck out of it. I am very particular in choosing the team, preferring people that I have climbed with before. This is simply because I need to keep my options open, in case the mountain throws something at us that I did not anticipate. I still try to choose a varied team, so for Gibb ledges I had some climbers with lots of experience, and one who just graduated ICS: Yev Genii, Julie Kentosh, Toby Tyler Creelan, and Prasanna Narendran. The team successfully summited Rainier on May 3, 2019 via Gibb Ledges, and descended via Ingraham Direct. It was great to have a strong team. We had soft snow so we had to kick steps and swap leads to get the job done. The ledges were in great shape and make a nice alternate route from Camp Muir. We had zero rock fall. We had one minor route
finding error that cost us about an hour. The Mt. Rainier guide book indicates you can either follow the ridge up or the Cowltiz Glacier to get to Gibraltar Rock. Both connect at a feature called the Beehive. We followed the ridge but could not find a path down, so eventually we doubled back and descended to the glacier and up the ledges. The winds in the night were virtually nonexistent, but picked up once we were above 12,000 ft. It was blowing so hard that we simply tagged the top and headed down. We had a nice break near the top of Gibraltar Rock where the winds finally settled down. We were able to follow the Ingraham Direct route down since the guide services (in this case RMI) were wanding it as we descended. The boot path was still getting kicked in, so we post holed quite a bit. Once we descended back to Camp Muir, we gathered our belongings and returned to Paradise to have my traditional celebratory Rainier after a successful Rainier climb! All in all, this was a perfect climb. Gibb Ledges just might be my favorite route up Rainier. The views were incredible, plus I like that we had the route to ourselves. I hope to see this climb on the Mazama climb schedule in future years. I probably won’t be leading it as my climbing days are numbered and there are still new routes and new peaks that I want to hit. CLIMB ON! JUNE 2019 11
Yarigatake,
An Introduction to the Japanese Alps Article and photos by Tom Shi
T
he path to the mountain was easy to follow. From the bus depot, I walked along the broad main trail that traces the length of the river valley, flanked on sides by steep slopes capped by granite peaks, the bubbling waters of Azusa River always to my left. I paused to gather myself and admire the clusters of larches blazing a brilliant yellow still clinging to the slopes on this late October day. I could hear the rustle and screech of a roaming troop of Japanese macaques. Occasionally I caught glimpses of gray fur and pink faces among the low shrubs that hugged the slopes above me. But mostly the monkeys stayed out of sight, absorbed in their own dramas. I was deep within the Northern Japanese Alps, in Kamikochi, a valley famous in Japan for the extensive network of trails in its surrounding mountains. At that point I had been in Japan for two weeks, going from one megapolis to another, doing all the things you were supposed to do on your first trip to Japan. As fantastic as that was, I was ready for a reset in nature. So I bade my friends goodbye and hopped on the bus to the Japanese Alps; my hope was to climb one of its mountains. Kamikochi in late October was a good bet as a refuge away from the press of crowds. Most of the services were winding down, one or two weeks from closing. The tourist throngs had faded along with the peak autumn colors. In my internet research I turned up scant information in English and what little I could glean from the travel forums was quite discouraging of attempting to do any kind of summits this late in the season; the Internet consensus cautioned that such things should be reserved for “experts.” I was far from an expert and always a cautious adventurer, but the more I read about the mountains there the more I was drawn to them, particularly Yarigatake. At 10,433 feet, Yarigatake is a storied place in Japanese mountaineering history. Here is how an early Japanese mountaineer described seeing it for the first time: “Jagged peaks heaved themselves into the air like waves, the clear ranges lapped up against my feet, and among them one wave rose higher than the rest, breaking through the violet shadows and shaking the purple light as it thrust from the center of this raging ocean, and this, my guide said, was Yarigatake.”
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How can one not be inspired by such words? Hardier souls can do this climb as a one day push from the bus terminal. But I was planning to take it easy. By late afternoon, light was failing in the valley and I stopped at a lodge along the way and rested there for the night. After dinner, I joined a group of chatty Japanese retirees to sit around the lounge stove. Their genial conviviality was as welcome as the warmth of the fire. With halting English they told me that in their student days they were part of mountaineering clubs and had run all over the Japanese Alps. Nowadays they didn't do intense climbs anymore but still managed to come out here to hike. When I conveyed to them my plans to summit Yarigatake tomorrow, they all bore concerned looks, but were perhaps too polite, too Japanese, to directly question my plan. As the evening went on, one of them broke into song and soon others joined him. Songs after songs they sang, in voices clear and fresh as mountain streams. These were the folk songs of their youth, songs they used to sing during their mountain rambles. When I turned in for bed, they were still there, chatting and singing around the fire, their faces illuminated by the warm light of other days. The next day, I set off early with the songs of the last night still lingering in my mind. As the trail rose, the way become rockier and the forest thinned out and snowy white summit ridges came into view, imposing in their dignity and distance. I had to tamp down that familiar self-doubt that rises up at the start of every climb. Thankfully the trail was clearly marked and never difficult. Above the snow line, as
the spear-like peak of Yarigatake rose into view and the trail turned into a long series of steep switchbacks, I encountered a cave, haphazardly formed by slanting slabs of boulders. The dark and damp interior was about the size of a walk-in closet, with the ceiling so low that I had to crawl on my knees. A small, weather-beaten Buddhist altar was inside. The commemorative plaque told the story of Banryu, the monk
who was the first person to summit Yarigatake in 1828. Part of the ancient tradition of mountain mystics in Asia, he eventually ascended Yarigatake multiple times as acts of spiritual devotion. And the story goes that he once spent three weeks in this cave in meditation, nearly dying of exposure. After the cave, the going became steeper. But with good weather such as I had, this wasn’t a technical climb at all. Microspikes were useful with the snow and ice on the switch-backs. It took about five hours total to hike up from Yaraswa Hut (a lodge about midway up the mountain) to Yarigatake Hut near the summit spire. The summit lodge itself is a testament to the popularity of hiking in that area, as it boasts of being able to accommodate 300 souls on busy summer days. Today though, only about a dozen guests stayed there. For around $100, you get dinner, breakfast, and a spot to put down a tatami mat in a room that sleeps six. After enjoying a bit of the views afforded by the lodge, I decided to tackle the final leg of the climb, the summit spire of Yarigatake.
The spire jutted 300–400 feet above the summit ridge in a way that reminded me of Mt. Thielsen in southern Oregon, but larger by an order of magnitude. In some spots chains and ladders were installed, as happens in many popular Japanese mountains. Purists may debate the aesthetics of these additions to the landscape but I for one was glad to have them around as I gingerly scrambled up its icy, high exposure path. Once on top, always more agoraphobic than average, I was momentarily overcome with vertigo. But the views were unbelievable. To the south, the Yarisawa valley was a picture of windless and cloudless calm, but when I turned north I was confronted with the sublime view of waves upon waves of clouds ceaselessly breaking against the rocky slopes, with distant serried granite shadows poking out like islands in a roiling cloud sea. I saw snow bound ridgelines spread out from Yarigatake, nexus like, in all directions. One could follow these ridges that connect to other mountain huts and spend weeks exploring the Alps. But time was up. The next day, the way down the mountain went in a fast blur and by noon I was half down to Kamikochi valley. Back at Yarasawa Lodge, where the staff had set up a heavy bronze telescope, so old fashioned looking that you could imagine it being used by Galileo, and pointed it to the Yarigatake. For most of the climb, the peak was hidden from view by the steepness of the valley. But at that spot, the veil of the flanking mountains was briefly drawn aside. I wanted to get one last look at the mountain, to fix it in my memory. Through the muddy lens Yarigatake looked faint, its colors muted, a faded postcard of a distant moon. It was hard to imagine that not long ago I was on standing top of that pinnacle, trembling with vertigo. Author: Tom Shi has been dreaming of mountains for years and started climbing them since joining Mazamas in 2017.
Mooney Crash Revisited by Bob Hyslop
T
he article Sometimes, It is the Destination in the May Bulletin provided an interesting account of the writer’s search for a plane wreck on the north side of Mt. Hood. For me, it also brought back memories of an earlier search.
The plane, a four passenger Mooney M20C, crashed on Mt. Hood on December 1, 1975. The pilot had called air traffic control, reporting that he was lost and needed a vector to Portland. Moments later the plane dropped off air traffic’s radar. And just moments after that, somewhere near Mt. Hood an aircraft ELT began transmitting a distress signal on the air communication frequency. In 1975 ELTs (Emergency Locator Transmitters) were new technology, having only become mandatory for small aircraft in 1974. Built to survive a crash and triggered by the impact, they sent out a shrill, pulsating electronic call for help that would be heard by all aircraft radio within 50 miles. Modern locators transmit GPS coordinates. The early versions were simply homing beacons and could only be located using a radio equipped with a directional antenna; very old technology in today’s world. Returning to the Mooney M20C, an air search began immediately, but to no avail. The early winter storm and ugly flying conditions continued to prevail. Flying through the Gorge was often impossible. Flying a search grid near Mt. Hood was out of the question and at some point the Hood River County Sheriff asked the Mountain Rescue and Safety Council of Oregon (MRSCO) to help with a ground search. MRSCO had recently acquired two portable radio beacon direction finders. These were pretty basic, consisting of a metal box with batteries and electronic circuitry and a hand held directional antenna made of wood and copper wire. The two parts fit in a pack, but to operate it you wrapped them together with velcro. Operating it was a two person job. One rotated the whole assembly while the other tried to get a bearing on the signal using a hand held compass. On the first day, three Mazamas, Lary MacDaniels, John Haek and I worked as a NOTES team on the logging roads to the north of As an historical aside, the congressional mandate for ELTs was a response to a high profile air the mountain. Another team worked the crash involving two members of Congress. Hale Boggs and Nick Begich were passengers in a Cessna 310 that disappeared in 1972 on a flight from Anchorage to Juneau. Despite one of east side along Highway 35, and there may the most extensive air searches in U.S. history no trace of the plane was ever found. have been a third group working out of Zigzag. Mountain Rescue and Safety Council of Oregon, MRSCO for short, was the predecessor to Portland Mountain Rescue. The transition began in 1977, but that is another story.
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It was a frustrating day. Mt. Hood was offering weather from its December menu: blustery wind, wet snow, marginal visibility even below timberline. Worse, the only thing consistent with our data was its inconsistency. The signal was coming from the southeast loud and clear one moment, and equally loud and clear from the southwest the next. With the benefit of hindsight it seems likely that we were getting signals reflected from the moraines and from Mt. Hood itself. It was definitely not rocket science. More like reading tea leaves in a fortune teller’s cup. At the end of the day we had only an educated guess that the plane was down somewhere on the upper Eliot glacier ... maybe. However, this vague “guesstimate” was apparently enough to warrant moving the ground search to a base higher on the mountain. Early that evening a small group of searchers loaded into and onto the Crag Rat’s snowcat to be ferried up to Cloud Cap. John Haek and I were the Mazama component, and Crag Rats and others made up the rest. We started out the next morning in slightly better weather, the wind was lighter, the falling snow drier, and we had better visibility. John and I were the only team with a direction finder. We started up the east moraine tracking the still erratic ELT beacon. At about 6,500 feet the signal abruptly shifted to the west, so we crossed the glacier to Langille Crags and continued west. It was late morning. The clouds parted and opened a patch of sky and the sunlight revelead the wrecked plane several hundred yards in front of us. A U.S. Air Force helicopter appeared, dropping in out of the blue both literally and figuratively. It landed and two PJs from 304th Air Rescue climbed out. We converged on what was left of the Mooney M20C. The front of the plane was a crushed beer can, but the cabin was mostly intact and packed with snow. It was obvious that there would be no survivors. We helped the 304th dig out the cockpit and remove the pilot’s body and then dug deeper to see if there were any other passengers. As we brushed the snow aside a tiny arm emerged. “A baby?" Pause ... “No ... just a doll.” For me it was a ride on a roller coaster of emotions. First surprise and shock, then relief, and finally an abiding sadness. Just a doll. Just a Christmas present. Just a father, or maybe an uncle, on his way to Portland for the holiday. We finished searching the cabin and confirmed that there were no passengers. The 304th took off in their helicopter, carrying with them the pilot’s body and personal effects, and including, I hope, the doll. We went our way at a slower pace. The return trip took hours, but I don’t remember a single step of that downward slog. Yes ... sometimes the journey is all about destination, but sometimes it is a destination you would rather not reach.
e m o c l e W
New Members!
NEW MEMBERS: 27 Gavin Boggs—Mt. Rainier Neil Cadsawan—Mt. St Helens Riley Cahoon—Mt. Whitney George Callaway—Mt. Hood Paul Fadlovich—Mt. Hood Mark Anthony Grismer— Mt. St. Helens Kristen Grosserhode— Mt. Adams Calvin Gutheridge— Mt. St. Helens Clayton Hawkes—South Sister Brad Kerstetter—Mt. Adams John Kim—Mt. St Helens Monica Kleier—Mt. Adams Steve Kleier—Eagle Cap
Ryan Maize—Mt. Shasta Kate Morrell—Middle Sister Rick Mossman—Mt. Rainier Chelsea Neilson—Mt. St Helens Peder Nelson—Mt. Thielsen Nell Ostermeier—Mt. Hood Ashley Reed—Mt. Adams Scott Schmitz—Mt. St Helens Jarod Shockley—Mt. Hood David Stege—Mt. Hood Kristopher Tate—Mt. Shasta Manoj Vora— Mt. Everest (Tibet) Charles Westemeyer— Mt. Hood Bradley Williams—Mt. Hood
REINSTATEMENTS: 7
John G. Foster (2014), Lindi Krantz (2017), Michelle R Lee (2008), Sarah E Lewins (1987), Marty Mitchell (1991), Mark L. Wilson (2014), & Silas "Ben" Wright (2006)
DECEASED: 0 Total Membership as of April 30: 3,412 (2019), 3,339 (2018)
MEMBERSHIP BENEFITS Our members are part of a 125-year legacy of mountaineering, exploration, stewardship, advocacy, and a love of the outdoors and outdoor recreation. Whether you are a lifelong Mazama member, a recent BCEP graduate, reading this Bulletin at your local climbing shop, or somewhere in between, you should make sure you know all of the benefits of Mazama membership. ▶▶ DISCOUNTED rates on all Mazama activities—climbs, hikes, classes, and outings. ▶▶ This MAGAZINE, filled with articles, photos, activities, and events delivered to your door monthly. ▶▶ DISCOUNTS at local retailers and gyms. ▶▶ Access to MAZAMA LODGE at the base of Mt. Hood. ▶▶ The Mazama Annual, a yearbook of the past year at the Mazamas, including articles, awards, and recognition of our volunteers. ▶▶ Free RESCUE INSURANCE anywhere in the world below 6,000 meters. ▶▶ Full access to the world-class MOUNTAINEERING LIBRARY. JUNE 2019 15
GETTING TO KNOW THE TRAILKEEPERS OF OREGON by Paul Gerald, Mazama & TKO member
T
(originally published in the Trails Club newsletter)
railkeepers of Oregon (TKO) began as an idea in 2007, when a group of hikers who met on oregonhikers.org decided to reopen an abandoned trail on Mt. Hood. That trail was the Old Vista Ridge Trail, which leads to several viewpoints north of the mountain, and it was under the threat of a proposed off-road vehicle area. These hardy folks cleared more than a hundred logs so that people could enjoy the trail and views once again—and also keep the motorcycles out.
Participants heading out on the Salmon Butte trail at the 2018 TKO
Tread School. Photo by TKO board member and volunteer Cheryl Hill They liked trail work and advocacy so much they started a new nonprofit, and TKO was officially born in 2008. For the next 9 years it was a scrappy little all-volunteer outfit, which eventually came to own and operate oregonhikers.org and the Field Guide there. Then, in 2017, with financial support from REI, TKO decided to hire its first Executive Director, a former Oregon State Parks ranger named Steve Kruger. And right after Steve started, the Eagle Creek fire took off, raising the profile of our scrappy little nonprofit to levels we never dreamed of. In 2018, TKO performed 259 work parties with 2,491 volunteers covering 140,109 feet of trail; that’s more than a marathon of trails! Many of those were, and continue to be, in the Eagle Creek Burn Area, but we continue to expand our reach beyond northwest Oregon. The momentum and growth at TKO are astonishing, and they are confirmation of a few things we always believed: that there is a tremendous hunger for a statewide trail organization in Oregon, that our trails need work and support, If you are one of those people, and you and that there exists an army of volunteers and other supporters who have been would like to support TKO’s mission “to waiting to strap on their work boots, write a check, or just show up for a meeting on protect and enhance the Oregon hiking behalf of Oregon’s trails and trail users. experience through advocacy, stewardship, outreach and education,” head over to trailkeepersoforegon.org to join, sign up for a trail party, or find some other way to help us give back to the Oregon trails that have given us so much. Check out our website and see how you can help.
WHAT CAN A
MAZAMA DO?
16 MAZAMAS
The Sun by Darrin Gunkel
W
e spend long, dreary winter months waiting for it to reappear. It warms frosty morning camps high in the mountains. It turns snow to slush. It ignites wildflower displays. It casts that cool pyramid-shaped shadow behind peaks at sunrise and sunset. It can burn your skin even on a cloudy day (See “Adequate Protection” this issue.) We can’t get enough of it on our outdoor adventures (unless we’re the kind who prefer hiking in the rain to hiking in the heat). It’s the energy source of most life on Earth. Here are a few more fun facts about the Sun The Sun is 400 times larger than our Moon. It’s also 400 times farther away. That’s why both the Sun and Moon appear to be half a degree across in our sky. It’s a lucky coincidence. With a smaller Moon, or larger Sun, total solar eclipses would be impossible. You will sometimes hear the Sun called a Yellow Dwarf. It is neither yellow nor a dwarf. Of the 50 nearest stars, the Sun is the 4th most massive. “Dwarf ” is the term some astronomers confusingly insist on using to refer to the Main Sequence, or stars in the prime of their lives. Ours is larger and more massive than 88 percent of all Main Sequence stars. And it’s white. Proof ? The color of snow on a sunny day. The Sun emits visible light across the entire spectrum, and so by definition appears white. Its peak output is actually in green light. Yuma, Arizona is the sunniest place in the world, with an average of 4015 hours of sunshine per year. (There are 8760 hours in a year.) Jan Mayen, a volcanic island between Greenland and Norway, only gets 823. Because of an atmospheric optical illusion, we see the Sun sink below the horizon up to two minutes after it actually has. Likewise at sunrise, the Sun we see is a few minutes above its actual position in space. This effect diminishes and disappears during the day, when the Sun’s light isn’t being refracted by passing through 1,000 miles of atmosphere, as it is near the horizon. On the Moon, or other worlds with no atmosphere, sunset and sunrise happen when you actually see them. Of course, the Sun doesn’t actually rise or set, it just spins in and out of sight on our round world. Buckminster Fuller proposed the terms "sunsight" and "sunclipse" to replace those ancient flat-earth notions of the Sun moving in relation to us, and not us to it. They have yet to catch on. (Fuller also proposed replacing “worldwide” with “world-around,” since being a sphere, the surface of our planet does not have a width, geometrically speaking.) Top: Lola the pug wearing appropriate sun protection. The Sun rotates in the opposite direction than the Earth does. Bottom: Deep forest sun. Photos: Darrin Gunkel The Sun moves through the Milky Way Galaxy at 514,000 miles per hour. At that speed, it takes about 250 million years to complete one orbit around the galaxy. Remember E=mc2? In a year, a conventional nuclear reactor converts about 2 pounds of matter to energy. Plug that into Einstein’s equation, you get a pretty big sum. The Sun converts five million tons of matter to energy every second. That’s the weight of 55 aircraft carriers. Every second. Aside from a sense of its immense energy output, this also gives you an idea of how mind-bogglingly massive the Sun actually is. You might expect a burn rate that high to take a big bite out of the Sun’s weight over its multi-billion-year lifespan. But in its remaining 5 billion years, the Sun will convert just .034 percent of its mass to energy. Even after converting the mass of one and threequarters billion (1,734,480,000, actually) aircraft carriers to energy every one of those years. The Sun is very slowly growing hotter and brighter. In a billion years, its luminosity will have increased enough to boil the oceans away. Without water to lubricate the planet’s crust, plate tectonics, the main cause of mountain building, will cease. The Sun is 109 times the diameter of the Earth. Incidentally, a basketball is 109 times the diameter of one of those little bumps covering its surface (called pebbles, by those in the know). So, to get a sense of the Sun-Earth size scale, go find a basketball. About the Author: Science nerd and Publications Chair Darrin Gunkel has been writing for the Bulletin since 2016.
JUNE 2019 17
Annual Celebration by Sarah Bradham, Acting Executive Director
E
ach year since our founding in 1894, the Mazamas have come together annually to celebrate and to honor the achievements of the past year. On May 1, 2019, the Mazamas held our Annual Celebration at the Evergreen in SE Portland. Approximately 200 Mazama members attended the evening's festivities enjoyed tasty food, raffle prizes from local partners, plenty of social time with friends, and our program which honored our dedicated volunteers and the hiking and climbing achievements of our members, in addition to the members who passed away in 2018. It was an evening to remember, full of camaraderie and celebration. In attendance we had individuals who had just completed our Basic Climbing Education Program and were considering joining our ranks, up to 60 year members (Keith Dixon and Flora Huber). We hope to see you all the Annual Celebration in 2020!
continued on next page
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George Cummings Parker Cup
The Parker Cup was established in October, 1925 at the annual meeting by the outgoing Mazama President, Alfred Parker. This award, viewed by many as the Mazamas' most prestigious award, was established to recognize those members who have distinguished themselves by hard work, ability, and selfsacrifice for the benefit of the Mazamas.
by Rick Craycraft
G
eorge Cummings has been a Mazama member for a long time and has worn many hats during those years. He first joined the Mazamas in 1960, and quickly moved up through the ranks. He took Basic School and Intermediate School before beginning to lead climbs for the Mazamas in 1963. He led climbs for 7 years, including Coe Glacier Headwall and Sandy Glacier Headwall on Mt. Hood, Lyman Glacier on Mt. Adams, and Bonanza Peak. Through his contacts with the Mazamas, George became involved with a newly formed climbing program at Reed College in 1962, and the following year moved on to head this program for nearly a decade. In addition to his leadership at the Mazamas and Reed, George also followed a small group of Mazamas over to a backwater, little-known climbing area in central Oregon called Smith Rocks. In 1963, he broke new ground by leading the earliest non-summit routes, Rattlesnake Chimney and Western Chimney. In 1968-1970, he joined David Jensen on four first ascents including Sky Ridge. According to Alan Watts in Climber's Guide to Smith Rock, they "unwittingly stumbled upon the roots of Smith sport climbing" with their ascent of Sky Ridge in 1968 by hiking up the backside and pre-placing protection bolts on rappel. This period also brought the first appearance of his trademark bib overalls ("The pockets and loops were handy for gear," he said). George took a little break from the Mazamas in 1975—about 25 years(!)— before rejoining us in 1999. Since that time he has chaired the Publications Committee, co-edited the Mazama Annual, taken ICS to update his skills and have fun, taken AR, been a climb leader, served on the Climbing and Nominating Committees, the Executive Council, and as President of the Mazamas. George Cummings is our 2018 Parker Cup recipient for his dedication over the last year to our youth programs. As Claire mentioned earlier tonight, George has been one of our most committed volunteers with youth, volunteering his time at youth outreach events, Adventure WILD summer and spring break camps, and any other opportunity we have had to bring youth or other communities into the sport of rock climbing. He has truly been an incredible mentor to the next generation of climbers.
2018 AWARD WINNERS PARKER CUP GEORGE CUMMINGS 55-YEARS OF CONTINOUS CLIMB LEADERSHIP RAY SHELDON MONTAGUE CUP RICK CRAYCRAFT PARKER CUP GEORGE CUMMINGS
55 YEARS OF CONTINUOUS CLIMB LEADERSHIP RAY SHELDON
HARDESTY CUP FLORA HUBER 16 PEAKS AWARD GARY BISHOP AMY GRAHAM CHRIS KILLMER OREGON CASCADES AWARD SCOTT AUBLE GARY BISHOP CHRIS KILLMER
GUARDIAN PEAKS AWARD
MONTAGUE CUP RICK CRAYCRAFT
HARDESTY CUP FLORA HUBER
KIRSTEN AUBLE SCOTT AUBLE CHRIS KILLMER KEVIN KOHBERGER ALEX LOCKARD STEPHANIE NELSON GREG SIMONS
HIKE LEAD AWARDS REX BREUNSBACH (500) BOB SMITH (500) DANIEL VAN ROSSEN (300) LISA RIPPS (200) MATT REEDER & MARILYN ZIGLER (150) LESLIE SHOTOLA & JENNIFER TRASK (100)
HIKE MILEAGE AWARDS BILL STEIN (1,000) REENA CLEMENTS (250)
16 PEAKS AWARD AMY GRAHAM
16 PEAKS AWARD GARY BISHOP JUNE 2019 19
Left Page: Top row, from left: unknown, Rex Breunsbach, and Alice Brocoum. Aimee Mattson. Karen Graves. Second row, from left: Stephanie Nelson. Lila the dog. Peggie Schwarz and Greg Scott. Third row, from left: Steven King and Forest Menke-Thielman. Kim Osgood, Gary Ballou, and Larry Beck. Sรกndor Lau and Julie Kentosh. Fourth row, from left: Rebecca Ross. Avi Ananthakrishnan, Amy Graham, Amy Brose, Dave Helzer. Tim Scott and Lacey Breton. Fifth Row: Bill Stein. Right Page: Top row, from left: Darrin Gunkel and Karin Hedlund. Second Row: Scott Auble. Ray Sheldon and Sarah Bradham. Laura Burger and Molly Mosenthal. Third Row, from left: Richard Sandefur and Anita Melbo. Aditya Addepalli, Ralph Daub, and Dileep Revanasiddappa. Keith Dixon and Stan Enevoldsen. Bottom Row: Ray Sheldon, Lis Cooper, and Betty Sheldon. Megan Banker and Traci Manning. Photos: Teresa Dalsager and Lacey Breton.
20 MAZAMAS
Annual Celebration, continued from previous page
JUNE 2019 21
Annual Celebration, continued from previous page
Ray Sheldon
55 Years of Continuous Climb Leadership by Sarah Bradham, Mazamas Acting Executive Director
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award.
t the Mazamas we have our tradition of service awards, but sometimes there is something so unique that happens that you need to go off book and create a special
Ray Sheldon joined the Mazamas in 1960 and became a climb leader in 1963. Each year since then, through last September, he has led at least one climb. From Three-Fingered Jack, to Plummer Peak, to Mt. Rainier, and probably just about everything in between, Ray has led people to the summits of peaks big and small, and almost assuredly he did it with a smile on his face. Last spring when we were transitioning from the old climb card system to the new website climb application process, Ray Sheldon called me up and said he wanted some help learning how to put a climb on the schedule. Even though he’d been having some difficulties with his knees he was absolutely determined to add a climb to the schedule with the new system. He told me “I want to say that I have gone from the old days of sign up sheets on the wall at the old clubrooms on 19th, to the new fangled system we have today.” As it is hard not to do with Ray, I smiled on my end of the line, and told him that I would be happy to show him the way. So with a brief training session, Ray got his Plummer Peak climb listed on the schedule for September 5, 2018. And as it got to be July I started thinking that I should sign up for that climb. I mean, how many times would I have the opportunity to go and climb with Ray? So I signed up and called Ray and told him I wanted to join him. He tried to beg me off the climb “are you sure you want to go? you know we are going to go slow, right?” I assured him that I was fine with whatever pace the climb would take and that not only did I want to go but I was going to bring a friend along. I am so thankful that Ray was willing to take me along on this Classics climb. It was truly one of the most fun Mazama climbs I have ever been on. The focus was on camaraderie—one of the things we Mazamas are known for—and the enjoyment of simply being out on the trails on a gorgeous day in September. We achieved our intended destination, but this was one of those climbs where it was truly the journey that mattered. Ray Sheldon is a past Mazama President, he has received the Parker Cup, and he is an Honorary member. He has been a wonderful leader in so many capacities during his almost 60 years at our organization. He was instrumental in building the Mazama Trail on Mt. Hood in 1993, and has helped tend the trail almost annually since then. This year we recongize Ray for his 55 years of continuous climb leadership, during which he has led 189 individual climbs.
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Rick Craycraft Montague Cup
The Montague Cup honors individuals who have had a significant and lasting impact upon the community through their efforts in conservation and in protecting the environment.
by Kate Evans, Conservation Committee Co-Chair
R
ick Craycraft is is better known as a hike leader and climber than as a conservationist, but we will be rectifying that this evening. He joined the Mazamas in 1988, and at the behest of Jim Wallace, started leading hikes in 1991, usually Cs in the winter. He always makes a point of seeing that non-Mazamas and new Mazama hikers feel welcome; he also has introduced many newbies to climbing, including Mazama staff members, usually with Ellinor or Mt. St. Helens climbs. He is a climber himself, with 375 summits and the Mazama 16-Peak Award. When we think of Conservation efforts we often think of outward facing work, such as wilderness designations, development of mountain areas, or stewardship work. But often times some of the biggest impacts we can make in the area of conservation is to get our own house in order. And tonight’s awardee is one of the biggest champions of ensuring that the Mazamas limit their own impact on our environment. Rick is a tireless advocate for recycling. He has gone through the MMC with a fine tooth comb to ensure we are doing everything possible to limit the amount of trash we add to the waste stream. He has single-handedly built a massive recycling effort at the MMC. He wasn’t content with simply having blue bins in every room. Those blue bins are a part of it, but there are also bins to collect food scraps, paper plates, plastic cups, and other items that he has found a way to recycle. Since he started the recycling program for Clif product wrappers, he has packaged up more than 1500 wrappers to return to Clif for recycling. It isn’t easy to find a place to recycle block styrofoam, but Rick will call around town until he finds the right location and TIME where he can unload it (although it does often times live in our boiler room until that time arrives). Keep in mind, this is a dirty process. Because as we all know, even when you make the receptacles available, people don’t always recycle properly. Rick cares SO much about recycling that he goes through all of the trash cans and pulls out items that can be recycled. This is the true definition of going above and beyond. This one-man crusader has not only helped to surely keep hundreds of pounds of items out of the trash, but he has also helped to shape minds and attitudes. When a recycling system is available to you, you start to think twice about what you use and how you use it. Sarah Bradham reports that many people have told her that they have reduced their usage of single-use items because of Rick's tutelage. Rick Craycraft truly deserves to be honored for all of his work in this area of conservation with the Montague Conservation Cup.
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JUNE 2019 23
Adequate Protection by Jonathan Barrett
C
onsider this an intervention. We need to talk seriously about using better protection. Not the Black Diamond brand but that of the Banana Boat breed. You, like me, are probably not doing enough to safeguard your skin.
My grandmother was a past board member of the American Skin Association. My mother, who as a teenager in the 1960’s, used to apply baby oil not sunscreen and has had multiple melanomas removed from her back and legs. My father’s nose has been permanently discolored by springtime sunshine reflected off Colorado’s ski slopes. I should know better; I should do better. Yet last year at this time, while climbing Mount Rainier’s Liberty Ridge, I got nuked, although not as badly as the year before when I ran the Boston Marathon in a singlet and tiny shorts and got really, really nuked. Usually, I try to do better. I wear a broad-brimmed hat when mowing the lawn. Generally, I cover up first and apply sunscreen as an additional defense. I avoid the intense sun of the middle of the day. It is easy to make excuses though. On Rainier, I had a bandaid across my cheek when I left the car, so I was reluctant to apply sunscreen for fear that the bandage would come off. During the Boston Marathon, I didn’t apply sunscreen (despite the fact that volunteers were standing at the start with the express purpose of helping racers lube up) because I was worried that it would run into my eyes and leave me incapable of being able to see. There’s no end to the reasons why not to take precautions. 24 MAZAMAS
As climbers, we will inevitably spend a lifetime outside, blasted by solar radiation. Intense sunburns, as well as aggregate sun exposure, are practically a given. Unless we are disciplined about protecting ourselves on a regular basis, long term skin damage, melanoma, and skin cancer are as likely as a ruptured A2 pulley is for a boulderer. Recent reporting by OPB has highlighted the fact that Oregonians have some of the highest rates of skin cancer in the nation; the rate for melanomas is 36 percent higher than the national average. There are a plethora of reasons for this, not the least of which is that we emerge into the springtime sunshine like pasty Gollums from our soggy, dark winter dens. That first trip to Smith, where we slowly roast at the base of the Dihedrals, or that slog down the Palmer snowfield, where we get sunburned so deeply inside our nasal passages that our sinuses blister, are just the beginning to a season of intense exposure. Ultimately there are two ways to approach prevention: covering up and sunscreen. Frankly, neither is really ideal for a climber. Clothing designed to protect from the sun will come with a UPF (Ultraviolet Protection Factor) rating given as a number (i.e. 15, 30, 40, or 50) which represents the percentage of ultraviolet light that can pass through the fabric. A rating of 50 means that 1/50th of the
ultraviolet light can pass through. It is important to consider that if an article of clothing does not come with a UPF rating, one should not expect that it provide a meaningful degree of protection. It’s kind of like using that sketchy, Russian SLCD you bought on eBay that hasn’t been UIAA tested. For example, years ago I used a threadbare, cotton handkerchief as a way to protect my neck and ears from the sun because I am cheap. Ultimately I had to give the tactic up; it was not actually providing me with meaningful protection, despite its dirtbag, bohemian appeal. Now let’s talk hats for a moment. Option #1: the baseball hat/neck cape combo. Outdoor Research makes a hip design, but frankly wearing one makes you look like you wandered off the Badwater Ultramarathon course and somehow got lost on Helens. Are they effective? Mostly. Are they compatible with a helmet? Not really. Despite what your climbing partner asserts, that sheet of cloth just ends up crumpled up under the chin strap. Option #2: the Buff-style neck cowl which leaves you feeling like you are being ingested by an anaconda. Whenever I wear one, I can’t help mumbling to myself the classic Shel Silverstein poem which reads, “Oh, I’m being eaten/by a boa constrictor/ a boa constrictor/ a boa constrictor/ I’m being eaten by a boa constrictor/ and I
From left: The author shows off the “layered look”: helmet over hat over Buff. The author models the Buff-style neck cowl with Liberty Ridge in the background. The Beko, the bandana, and the hood: a buffet of mediocre sun protection choices. Photos: Jonathan Barrett
don’t like it—one bit.” As if that weren’t the only flaw, unless you pull it up over your nose (which ultimately leads to fogged sunglasses and is a true safety hazard if there ever was one), your high cheekbones are still exposed to the sun. When my wife saw my last sunburn inflicted by the Buff, her sincere comment was that I looked like I was wearing the makeup commonly seen on RuPaul's Drag Race. I am not unnecessarily vain though, so in the last few years, I have added to my repertoire of sun-protection gear a nose shield made by Beko. At one point Adidas made a swanky pair of sunglasses with an integrated, yet removable, nose guard. They have discontinued that product, which is fine in my mind because it was insultingly expensive. For ten bucks I can add the Beko to my glacier glasses and achieve nearly the same outcome. Pros: not only is your nose protected extremely well from the sun (by what is essentially a tiny hat), but it does an admirable job cutting down the chance of frostbite on windy days by creating a cozy micro-climate between the Beko and your schnoz. Cons: you look like a dork, and it is a little more difficult
to shoot a proper snot-rocket. Frankly, I wonder why more people don’t use this little device. Dollar for dollar, it is probably the most effective tool out there for protecting your nose from the sun, as well as ruining any chance of an Instagramworthy summit photo. Ultimately, basic sunscreen ground rules are always pertinent. First apply liberally at least 15 minutes before sun exposure, not 45 minutes after climbing past treeline. The minimum to cover arms, legs, neck, and face is a shot glass worth of goop (a measurement that most climbers are highly familiar with). Second, SPF 30 that protects against both UVA and UVB rays should be considered the lowest level of protection used, but frankly are you the guy who does the bare minimum? I didn’t think so. SPF 50 is no greater burden to schlep around. Third, slather it on at least every two hours. Don’t consider reapplying and then wait an extra 90 minutes until arriving at that sweet viewpoint where you have a sammie, take some photos, and then finally do a miserly touch-up job. On a hot, sweaty hike where a river of perspiration is pouring from your temples,
sunscreen just will not last as long as you would like it to. Fourth, don’t forget the places that are easily forgotten. Yes, you have to indelicately jam it up your nose when trucking across a snowfield. And without a high SPF lip balm to protect your delicate kissers from the sun’s cruel rays, that night’s Spicy Tuna Noodle entree from Mountainhouse will leave you howling. I get it. On more occasions than I am willing to admit, I have not applied or reapplied sunscreen when I should have. Looking up at the next pitch of a climb, I resent the fact that applying more goop to my neck and cheeks means making my hands feel slick and insecure against the rock, turning 5.8+ into 5.11R. Yet I have to remind myself of my father’s nose and my mother’s melanomas. I have to remember that being safe as a climber means more than tying my knot correctly. Sometimes safety comes in the shape of a tube or the form of a long sleeve on a hot day. No solution to the problem of sun exposure is perfect, but it is imperative that we regard sun protection as part of our plan to stay safe in the mountains. JUNE 2019 25
Six LONG Weekends in Washington by Darrin Gunkel
T
he summertime formula: high country snowmelt plus summer vacation time equals long backpacking trips. Here are half a dozen classic options for a long weekend (or why not a full week!) in some of our favorite mountain spots north of the Columbia.
DUCKABUSH RIVER, OLYMPIC NATIONAL PARK
40 MILES, 5,500 FEET TO MARMOT LAKE OR 47 MILES TO TRAVERSE THROUGH ENCHANTED VALLEY TO THE QUINALT A trip into (or across) the heart of the Olympics involves many forest miles before reaching alpine splendor. Maybe too many, for some. How many old growth trees can you ogle, after all? It turns out that along the Duckabush River, quite a few. The forest along this trail takes on a different character nearly every mile. At one point you’re in a swampy cedar bottom, then it’s alders along a swift deep stream, then a cathedral of doug firs scarred by the 2010 fire. The trail tunnels through damp Maiden Hair fern, only to rise over a nursery of stonecrop baking in the sun a few hundred yards later. Or was it a grove of pacific Rhododendron? It gets tough to keep track. If you do get tired of trees, plenty of mountains can be found on this trail. The first you encounter isn’t so impressive, but it’s important. Lying across the valley, Big Hump blocked loggers from the trees on its other side, growing fat and tall at the relatively low elevation of 1,000 feet. Most visitors stop at the over-used camp at the foot of Big Hump’s far side. Twelve more miles and you make a quick ascent to the subalpine paradise of Marmot Lake. Trips up to Hart and Lacrosse Lakes from here wow with close ups of Mt. Steele and Mt. Duckabush, and a view down nearly the entire length the Duckabush valley. Climb the ridge north of the lakes to peer into Enchanted Valley, three-and-a-half thousand feet below. With some logistical savvy, you could easily continue down there, via O’Neil Pass, and out the west side of Olympic National Park. It’s a classic trip, but involves a lot of driving for someone. A great thing about the Duckabush’s variety, back tracking feels less onerous than it might on other trails. You could sleep in a different, and differently delightful, camp every night of an out-and-back trip. Or revisit old favorites. The choice is yours. Clockwise from top left: Duckabush high point. Old growth cedars on Big Beaver Creek. Fording the Duckabush.Photos: Darrin Gunkel.
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BEVERLY CREEK AND BEYOND, ALPINE LAKES WILDERNESS 10.2 MILES, 3,500 FEET In any other state, the views from the west end of the Wenatchee Mountains would earn the area national park status. From high points like Devils Head or Volcanic Neck, on the spur between Fourth and Hardscrabble creeks, the views swing all the way around the compass: from the Columbia Plateau, to distant Adams and Goat Rocks, not-quite-so-distant Rainier, Ingalls Peak, and finally, the entire south-facing wall of the Stewart Range. Ingalls Creek flows two-and-half thousand feet below, and all the peaks from Stewart to McClellan several thousand feet above. You could day hike this trip, but there’s so much to explore, you’ll have next year’s multi-day backpack planned before you get back to the trailhead. Easy summits abound. Most have no official routes, but thin dry-side forests of larch and lodge pole pine make off-trail scouting and scrambling pretty straightforward. You could spend days photographing the exotic wildflowers above Beverly Creek, many of which are endemic to these slopes of serpentinite rock. And you could make the loop down Fourth to Ingalls Creek and then back up Turnpike Creek; the flower show at the feet of Mt. Stewart is spectacular. Scenic camps abound, especially along the ridges that radiate from Trail #1219, but some can be far from water after the snow’s gone, by mid-July or so.
BIG AND LITTLE BEAVER CREEKS, ROSS LAKE RECREATION AREA AND NORTH CASCADES NATIONAL PARK 26 MILES, 2000 FEET Looking for a forest of enormous, thousand-year-old trees in a river valley carved through the heart of a mountain range by an ancient glacier? Common sense would suggest heading for the west side of the Olympics or Vancouver Island, where record rainfall and mild climes grow big, big trees. All the more surprising then, to find some of the finest ancient cedar groves in the Northwest here, east of the Cascade Crest, where lower annual rainfall and summer heat seem antithetical to lush forests. Big and Little Beaver Creek Trails follow two of the long, deep valleys winding around the feet of Mt. Challenger and its neighbors to the east. Their glaciers feed these creeks, which in turn feed this ancient forest. It’s possible to reach the forests of Big Beaver Creek by hiking 9 miles from US Route 20 along the west shore of Ross Lake, the great artificial fjord in the heart of the North Cascades. However, for an extra six miles and the added bonus of a water taxi ride, you can visit the ancient giants in a loop trip. The taxi drops you at the mouth of Little Beaver Creek. Ten miles later, there’s an excellent camp at the junction with the Big Beaver Creek trail. From there, you can make a long day trip up to Whatcom Pass to get close to some of the more dramatic peaks of the North Cascades. Skip the side trip, and you’ll only glimpse those peaks as you follow Big Beaver Trail back down to Ross Lake, but the splendor of the valley and forest more than make up for it.
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Long Weekends, continued from previous page GLACIER PEAK MEADOWS, GLACIER PEAK WILDERNESS
SUMMERLAND AND PANHANDLE GAP, MT. RAINIER NATIONAL PARK
AT LEAST 25 MILES, 4,350 FEET
12 MILES, 3,000 FEET
Don’t let the pleasant forest stroll along the first 6 miles of this trail fool you. You’ll all too soon leave the cool shade of the North Fork Sauk River, and find yourself slogging up 3,000 feet of meadow facing due south, in full sun pretty much all day long. Why punish yourself, when there are easier, equally spectacular wildflower displays to find? You may think you’ve discovered why once the route joins the Pacific Crest Trail. The views of the Monte Cristo and Sloan Peaks span the horizon to the south, across the forested trench you just climbed out of. Just wait. It’s another mile to Red Pass, where the views go 360, with an unparalleled vista of Glacier Peak and the meadows, ridges, and ice fields spread at its feet. Climb Portal Peak, just west of the pass, and get the airplane wing version of the whole stunning scene. Good base camps lie a few miles north of the Red Pass near the end of the meadows, along the headwaters of the White Chuck River. You can spend days just staring at Glacier Peak, but side trips will tempt you. Try a walk up to White Chuck Cinder Cone, a young (6,000- to 12,000-year-old) satellite of Glacier that would not look out of place in eastern Oregon. There’s also White Mountain, opposite the pass from Portal Peak. North of White, a side valley takes you up from the meadows to alpine rock gardens and the margins of the dwindling White Chuck glacier.
The trip to Summerland and on to Panhandle Gap takes you from the deep forests of White River to the barren rock heights in the shadow of Little Tahoma (“Little.” This peak is just a hundred feet lower than Hood.) The trip isn’t long, physically, but offers enough extra exploration, and more than enough grandeur to admire, that it warrants a long stay. Summerland’s meadows and campsites are 4.5 miles and 2,000 feet up from the trailhead at White River. On the way, fast creeks full of glacier milk, meadows full of flowers and marmots, and an eyeful of Emmons Glacier’s icefalls distract and entertain. Tick off another mile and half and 1,000 feet and you arrive at Panhandle Gap, where the views grow even more expansive. There’s the sea of ridges and peaks east of Rainier, from the Snoqualmie Pass area all the way to Adams. Or the broad sweep of Ohanapecosh Park and Indian Bar on the mountain’s east flank: count the waterfalls for fun. Or the ridges and pinnacles trailing off towards Cowlitz Chimneys. And of course, there’s no need to stop at Panhandle Gap. You can amble the Wonderland Trail to your heart’s content.
TATOOSH LAKES AND PEAK, TATOOSH WILDERNESS 13 MILES, 4,400 FEET Rainier is one of those mountains that’s so huge, sometimes you have to take a step back (or many steps back) to really appreciate it. With that in mind, try to keep regret at bay the first three miles of this trip. The abrupt 2,800-foot gain more than pays off when you land on the ridge at the heart of Tatoosh Wilderness. From this southern spur of the Tatoosh range, The Mountain feels even bigger than it does up close. Perhaps it’s seeing all those peaks you bagged after BCEP (Unicorn, Castle, Pinnacle) reduced to little nubs in the foreground. The trail splits near the top of the ridge. The left branch takes you up and then back down into the 800-footdeep cirque occupied by Tatoosh lakes. Camping by the lakes is a bad idea. These meadows are as frail as they are lovely. You’ll do far less damage on the bench six hundred feet above them, and honestly, the views are much better up there. Allow a second day to explore the right hand turn from the junction, following Tatoosh Trail #161 two cliff-hugging miles to the spur trail for Tatoosh Peak. It’s arguably one of the best views of Rainier anywhere. The other direction, taking in the southern Washington Cascades and Mt. Hood, isn’t bad, either.
The author at Tatoosh Lake.Photos: Darrin Gunkel.
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ADVENTUROUS YOUNG MAZAMAS (AYM) Activities for those in their 20s & 30s or anyone young at heart.
Heather Polonsky leads a group of AYMs (and their pups!) on a Hamilton Mountain hike. Photo: Heather Polonsky
SUNDAY, JUNE 30—HIKE: DOME ROCK & TUMBLE ROCK Looking for a good workout? Join AYM for a long and rewarding hike to the summit of Dome Rock and down to Tumble Lake, just west of Detroit, Oregon. We’ll hike the long and winding trail up to the summit of Dome Rock, where the views are outstanding in every direction. From there, we’ll hike the steep trail downhill a little under 2 miles to Tumble Lake, where we’ll take the time to swim and relax. From there it’s almost 7 miles back to the trailhead, the first 2 miles of it uphill. Plan on a long day full of adventure. If we’re needing a stop we’ll have dinner at Giovanni’s Mountain Pizza in Mill City. Please bring the 10 Essentials and pack as if you’ll be out for the entire day. Hike: 14 miles out and back. Elevation gain: 4,600 feet. Drive: 200 miles round trip. Meet at Gateway Transit Center at 7 a.m. Leader: Matt Reeder
WANT TO BE FEATURED ON THE AYM INSTAGRAM ACCOUNT? TAG @AYMPDX IN YOUR PHOTOS OF MAZAMA ADVENTURES!
Check the website at mazamas. org/AYM and the AYM Meetup page frequently for the most up to date schedule. All trips are $2 for members/$4 for nonmembers unless otherwise noted.
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MAZAMA LIBRARY
Established in 1915, the Mazama Library is nationally recognized as holding one of the top mountaineering collections in the country. Located on the ground floor of the Mazama Mountaineering Center, the library is a fantastic resource for members and the general public to find information on hiking, climbing, camping and exploring the rich history of regional and global mountaineering culture.
Learn more about the Library & Historical Collection at mazamas.org/library
NEW RELEASES AND ADDITIONS The Impossible Climb: Alex Honnold, El Capitan, and the climbing life, by Mark Synnott, 2018. In Mark Synnott’s unique window on the ethos of climbing, his friend Alex Honnold’s astonishing “free solo” ascent of El Capitan’s 3,000 feet of sheer granite, is the central act. When Honnold topped out at 9:28 A.M. on June 3, 2017, having spent fewer than four hours on his historic ascent, the world gave a collective gasp. The New York Times described it as “one of the great athletic feats of any kind, ever.” Synnott’s personal history of his own obsession with climbing since he was a teenager—through professional climbing triumphs and defeats, and the dilemmas they render—makes this a deeply reported, enchanting revelation about living life to the fullest. What are we doing if not an impossible climb? Mazama Library call# 796.52 S7 Best Climbs: Red Rocks The best sport and trad routes in the area, by Jason Martin, 2017. Best Climbs Red Rocks appeals specifically to traveling climbers and local climbers who want the best local climbing. Although the Best Climbs guides feature routes of all grades, the emphasis is on easy to moderate routes in the 5.6 to 5.10 range. The book includes nearly 200 featured routes with each section including climbing area trivia and history in the form of short “callouts,” but the primary focus is on the route selection and descriptions. All routes are shown clearly on detailed color photo topos, alongside stunning action photos and a contemporary design. Mazama Library call# 917.93 M36 Effective Leadership in Adventure Programming, by Simon Priest, PhD et. al., 2018. Some books address outdoor leadership; others focus on adventure programming. None delve into the specifics of both topics like Effective Leadership in Adventure Programming, Third Edition, does. The first edition of this book helped to define the body of knowledge for an emerging profession. Two editions later, this groundbreaking text—now in full color—provides adventure leaders with the tools and evidence they need to show that their outdoor programs are effective and have a lasting impact on their participants. Effective Leadership in Adventure Programming details both the art and science of adventure leadership, helping a new generation of outdoor leaders develop their skills. The text extends the focus on evidence-based models, theories, and best practices, showing that science and research are as important to the profession as the natural beauty of the environment. Mazama Library call# 374.014 P93. 30 MAZAMAS
TREASURES FROM THE SPECIAL COLLECTION Call of the Snowy Hispar, A Narrative of exploration and mountaineering on the northern frontier of India, by Fanny Workman, 1911. Fanny Workman and her brother William led five expeditions to the Karakoram Himalaya after the turn of the twentieth century. She was among the first female explorers in Asia. This is the story of their fourth expedition. In 1908, the Workmans explored the 38-mile-long Hispar Glacier in the Hunza Nagar region. They traveled over the Hispar pass and onto the 37-mile-long Biafo Glacier. At the time they set a record for glacier traverses. Fanny became the first woman to travel across any Himalayan glacier of this size. They were the first to explore its many-sided glaciers and the maps created by their Italian porters helped map the region for the first time. The book chronicles their travels, scientific, and meteorological research. Mazama Library Special Collection 915.42.W92c.
DID YOU KNOW? ▶▶ That dogs cause more injuries to hikers than any other animal. ▶▶ That Ermania himalayensis and Ranunculuc lobatus were seen at 21,000 feet on Kamet in 1955, the highest elevation at which flower plants have been seen on a mountain. ▶▶ That many high mountain plants have waxy leaves to reduce water loss by evaporation. ▶▶ That a Rupell’s vulture collided with an aircraft at 37,000 feet in 1973, a record for the highest confirmed altitude ever reached by a bird in flight.
BOOKS ON LIGHT AND ULTRALIGHT BACKPACKING: ▶▶ Ultralight Backpackin’ Tips, Mike Clelland, 796.51.C58 ▶▶ Lighten Up!, Don Ladigin, 796.51.L12 ▶▶ The Ultralight Backpacker, Ryel Kestenbaum, 796.51.K48
THE MAZAMA LIBRARY NEEDS SUPPORT—FROM YOU! Do you or someone you know have vintage mountaineering gear that is looking for a home? Don’t give it to Goodwill, donate it to the Mazama Library and Historical Collections! We are always on the lookout for wood handle ice axes, early climbing gear, vintage catalogs, turn of the century photographs, early mountaineering books, and more. Please contact library manager Mathew Brock at mathew@ mazamas.org to discuss potential donations. We apologize, but we cannot accept any Mazama Annuals published after 1925 or National Geographic magazines. Please consider a financial contribution to support the Mazama Library, a nationally recognized collection and one of the few remaining mountaineering libraries in the United States. Your financial donation will help support our full-time librarian, acquire rare mountaineering books and historic photographs, and maintain our valuable archives and historic objects collections. Thank you for your support.
Great Inca Trail section trek (Qhapaq Nan), Peru Aug. 10–Sep. 22, 2019 I am looking for experienced thru-hikers with expertise in long distance backpacking treks in foreign lands for a 300 miles long trek of the Great Inca Heritage trail from Junin to Huamachuco, otherwise known as the Escalerillas (see purple route in full trek: caltopo.com/m/0CHN). This will be a small group, 3–4 people. This section is reportedly the most beautiful, authentic and wildest backcountry trek of the Great Inca Trail. Built over 500 years ago, it contains high mountains, ancient Mayan ruins, rural communities and is rarely traveled. More info: tinyurl. com/ConservationTourism (go to link and view the booklet, pages 136–137). You must be an experienced thru-hiker with expertise in long distance backpacking treks in foreign lands. Shared costs of trip may include guide, shared accommodations, llamas. Estimated cost: $2,600 plus transportation. Contact: David, david@earthharmonyhabitats.org (age 60, avg. 20 miles per day). Hiking Resume: youtube.com/user/ adventuremuffin.
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Beacon Rock Trail by Mathew Brock, Library & Historical Collections Manager
I
n October of 1915 a small team of workmen and two donkeys set to work on an ambitious project. Their goal, under the leadership of Henry Biddle, was to build a trail to the top of Beacon Rock. Earlier that year Biddle paid $1 to buy Castle Rock, as it was known at the time, from Charles Ladd. Threats of development concerned both men, so much so that the bill of sale contained a clause barring destruction or development of the property. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers had plans to destroy the rock outcrop and use the material to build jetties at the mouth of the Columbia River. The Corps had gone so far as to blast three tunnels into the rock in preparation for its destruction. Beacon Rock, the remnants of a 57,000-year-old volcano, was long known by Native Americans as marking the last set of rapids on the river and the beginning of the Pacific Ocean's tidal influence. Native American lore tells of a princess named Whehatpolitan who climbed the rock with her baby to escape her angry father. Unable to climb back down, both she and the child perished atop the rock. Their cries of anguish, carried by the wind, can still be heard along the river. U.S. Corps of Discovery explorers Lewis and Clark named Beacon Rock in 1805. They camped at the base of the rock on their journey to the Pacific and again on their return in 1806. Sometime after 1840, the name Beacon Rock disappeared, replaced by Castle Rock. The outcrop of rock would remain Castle Rock until Henry Biddle convinced the U.S. Board of Geographic Names to restore it to Beacon Rock in 1916. Henry J. Biddle was educated at Sheffield School and Yale University before receiving a degree in geology in 1885 from Kaiserlich Bergakademie in Freiburg, Germany. Besides his training in mining and geology, Biddle was also a naturalist, botanist, and avid hiker. He worked for the Smithsonian Institution for a time and was informally attached to John Wesley Powell's survey of the American Southwest. In 1912, Biddle retired to pursue botanical studies and promote conservation. He was a friend and traveling companion of noted Mazamas Rodney Glisan and Martin Gorman. Together they traveled throughout the Pacific Northwest. There is some indication that he may have assisted William Steel in his efforts to establish Crater Lake as a national park.
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Biddle was well aware of the sweeping views available from the summit of Beacon Rock. In his brief history, he writes that many, "climbers left their names, inscribed on a bit of paper, in a tin tobacco box on the summit; but so many of these names were obliterated that it would be impossible to give any complete list." He does mention, however, a climb on October 11, 1914, when 47 Mazamas reached the summit. It was, Biddle remarked, "undoubtedly the largest party to climb the rock before the building of the trail." The interest in getting to the top drove his motivation for a trail. Biddle was fortunate to hire Charles Johnson as foreman on the trail project. Johnson had a well-earned reputation having held a similar position in the building of the Columbia River Highway. They began work in the fall of 1915 and completed the trail in April of 1918. Allowing for downtime in the winter, it took roughly two years to build it. While it may seem like a long time, Biddle described the work like building a tunnel: only one workman had space to work at the leading edge of the trail at any given time. During construction, Johnson employed two mules to carry tools and supplies up to the work-site. Loaded in the morning, they would start up the trail at a slow and steady pace. The workmen would go on ahead, and the mules would proceed on their own. If, along the way, they became tired they would lay down and rest, then continue to the work site. Once there, they were unloaded, fed, and rested until needed to carry materials back down at the end of the day. Johnson, with his highway experience, was able
to advise Biddle on many minor details of the engineering. He completed the project without the loss of a single life or even a minor accident. The finished threequarter mile trail with its 52 switchbacks, handrails, and bridges was considered an engineering marvel at the time. Henry Biddle passed away in 1928. Four years later, in 1932 Biddle's heirs offered Beacon Rock to the State of Washington for use as a state park. Washington State rejected their offer on the grounds that the family was trying to avoid paying taxes on the land. Word of the rejection got around to Sam Boardman, parks engineer for the State of Oregon, who conceived of the idea of having the State of Oregon accept Beacon Rock as a gift and creating an Oregon State Park in the state of Washington. Area newspapers quickly picked up on the story. Several Washington papers accused Oregon officials of "overstepping recreational boundaries." The resulting uproar caused the state of Washington to create Beacon Rock State Park in 1935.
MAZAMAS CLIMB BEACON “On October 11, 1914, the Mazamas made an official climb of the rock and 47 person’s reached the summit, this being by far the largest party which has ever stood on its summit at one time...With little difficulty we found the dim trail up the west side of the rock, this being the only practical route to the top. ... The rock overhangs in places and the rest of the way is just about perpendicular. It is only by working back and forth along the narrow ledges and occasionally pulling yourself up sheer faces of rock by means of the scant shrubbery or a tuft of grass (and sometimes what your nose and eyebrows) that you are able to reach the top. The most difficult part of the climb is met when about half way up the rock, or about 600 feet above the ground. ... There are no crevices for hand or foot holds, and to negotiate this chimney and rock face the first climber's had drilled holes and set some iron spikes, by which one could pull himself up. ... This dangerous place one surmounted, the balance of the climb is made without especial difficulty, though one must constantly be on the alert for falling rocks and least he make a misstep, anyone of which might prove fatal. ... On the official climb, because of the large number of women who were inexperienced in difficult rock climbing, our leader, Mr. Simmons, hung a number of ropes over the more dangerous places. ... In the main climb one or two persons were struck by small rocks dislodged by the climbers above, but otherwise what is probably one of the most ambitious climbs on the ‘Local Walks’ schedule of the Mazamas came off successfully and with credit to the organizations. One official Mazama record box and register were left on the summit. The owners of Castle Rock contemplate blasting a winding horse trail to the summit, that tourists may have the advantage of that most wonderful view of the Columbia River. The view from the rock is magnificent, one being able to see for miles up and down the Columbia River Gorge.”
Top: Charlie Johnson is on the left (in the bowler), Henry Biddle in on the right (with kneehigh boots). Middle: Switchbacks. Bottom left: Beacon Rock donkey. Bottom middle: Beacon worker. Bottom right: On the Beacon Rock trail. Photos: Mazama archives.
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CLASSICS For members with 25 years of membership, or for those who prefer to travel at a more leisurely pace. We lead a wide variety of year round activities including hikes, picnics and cultural excursions. Share years of happy Mazama memories with our group. All ages are welcome to join the fun.
CONTACTING THE CLASSICS To contact the classics: Chair Flora Huber at 503-658-5710 or flobell17@comcast.net, or classics@mazamas.org.
VOLUNTEERS NEEDED We are looking for volunteers to step up and help run the committee. Positions we need to fill are secretary, activities coordinator, and database updater and help or backup for same. Additionally, we are looking at working with a volunteer to put more content in our Bulletin column on a quarterly basis. Our meetings are the fourth Monday of every other month at 11 a.m. at the MMC. Email classics@mazamas. org and state how you can help.
LEADING EVENTS IN JULY Those wanting to lead events need to reply to classics@mazamas. org by the twelfth of each month so notice can be included in the upcoming Bulletin.
CLASSICS COMMITTEE MEETING Our next meeting is Monday, July 22 at the MMC at 11:15 a.m. Our meetings are the fourth Monday of every other month, 11 a.m.–12:30 p.m. at the MMC, in the library. Check the Bulletin or the website.
MAZAMA LODGE Lodge Musings & Happenings by Charles Barker, Mazama Lodge Manager Mazama Lodge will be open seven days a week for the summer starting on Wednesday, June 19 until noon on Monday, August 26. As in the past the lodge will offer breakfast, lunch, and dinner each day. Currently the lodge only has a few guests staying through the upcoming holiday June 30–July 3, so this would be a great time to plan a visit to the mountain.
SPRING WORK DAY: JUNE 15 Saturday, June 15 we are having our spring work party at the lodge from 9 a.m.–3 p.m. Our goal this year is to get eight cords of wood split and stacked before winter. Last year with the extreme fire danger for much of the summer we were not able to get the necessary amount of wood needed for the winter. Lodge chairman Bob Stayton will be coordinating the volunteers during the day. Bob can be reached at rstayton@comcast.net. Our caretakers Will and Jenn will serve a great lunch for all the volunteers. In addition to building up the wood supply, we also plan to remove the snow shutters, install the window screens, and other general work projects around the lodge. If you have a chainsaw please bring it along. Volunteers will all receive a voucher for a free night's stay at the lodge, or come the night before or stay Saturday night after the work party if you like.
CLASSICS TRANSPORTATION PLAN Our east side transportation pick up point will be Gateway; our west side will be the Sunset Transit Center. If you are interested in providing or receiving rides to Classics events you can sign up on the Classics section of the Mazama website or contact our transportation coordinator Flora Huber at flobell17@comcast.net or 503-658-5710.
SAT. JULY 6: DICK & JANE MILLER'S ANNUAL POTLUCK PICNIC You are invited! If you've never attended one of the picnics or have been before, plan to come this year and invite another Classic Mazama or significant other to share in potluck fashion: main dish, salad, or dessert. Lemonade and water will be provided. Also provided will be plates, cups, forks, knives and spoons. Plan to arrive at 12:30 p.m. and eat at 1 p.m. Dick and Jane are at 17745 SW Cooper Mountain Lane, Beaverton. Coming from the east, take Hwy. 26 to 217. Go south on 217 to the Scholls Ferry Road. exit across from Washington Square. Take a right onto Scholls Ferry Rd. and go west to SW 175th Avenue. Turn right and go up the hill 3/4 mile to Cooper Mtn. Lane on the left. This is on a curve with limited sight distance, so use caution making the left turn on Cooper Mtn Lane. Then follow the Miller signs and orange traffic cones to the Miller driveway. If you have any questions about the picnic, call Dick or Jane at 503-590-3598. Mark your calendar! 34 MAZAMAS
MAZAMA LODGE Mt. Hood
MAZAMA OUTINGS
Apply online at mazamas.org/outings
You can now apply for Mazama Outings on our website. Go to mazamas.org/outings to view all outings. When you apply, you will be prompted to complete your profile, and you’ll enter credit card information. If accepted, your credit card will be charged for the trip deposit, and you will then be sent an invoice for the remainder of the outing cost. This invoice can be paid by credit card or check.
CLIMBING HIGH PEAKS IN THE WALLOWAS: AUGUST 16–25
D
o you yearn to wander in high places? Have you yet to experience the jaw dropping scenery of the Wallowas in Eastern Oregon? Do you love long days in jagged mountains? Would you love to explore this wondrous area with two experienced Mazama leaders? Then this is THE trip for you. The Wallowas are a playground for the avid hiker and scrambler—around every turn there is a feast for the eyes.
TREK AROUND GLACIER PEAK (WA): AUGUST 18–24 Join us as we hike around majestic Glacier Peak in Washington state. This 82.7 mile and 22,500 ft. net elevation gain trek circumnavigates Glacier Peak, largely on maintained trails. About half the distance will be on the Pacific Crest Trail and there will be a 5 mile off-trail/use-trail section during the hike. Glacier Peak Wilderness is a remote and rugged landscape with numerous passes and stream crossings along the way. The outing cost ranges from $318 to $271 for a group of 6 minimum to 8 maximum participants (including leaders) and covers all trail fees and lodging costs. We will be carpooling to the trailhead and staying in a hotel the night before and after the trek. A $100 deposit plus the Outing Fee ($10/day for members; $20/day for nonmembers) will be required upon acceptance. Contact outing leader Gary Bishop (gbish90@hotmail.com) for more information.
You'll climb 7 to 10 of the 9,000 ft.+ mountains in northeast Oregon’s Wallowas, including Eagle Cap, Sacajawea Peak, and Oregon’s Matterhorn. We’ll start our five-day backpack with an assist from the Wallowa Lake Tramway, which will whisk us up 3,500 ft. to 8,000 ft. We will climb four mountains together, and then we will split into two teams when we approach the lake basin where group size is limited to six. When the backpack is over, we’ll offer a day hike and a day climb. All the climbing routes are rated A. Prerequisites: Participants will need to be in good physical condition and have experience on at least one 50 mile (or greater) trek. Participants must also submit a résumé of successful climbs, including those that involved pack-ins to base camp. We will be traveling light and steady, up to 16 miles per day with daily elevation gains reaching as high as 4,000 ft. and most time spent at 7,000 ft. to 10,000 ft. of elevation. The terrain will be challenging with possible scree and brush in the off-trail portion, plus long daytime stretches without access to water. The outing cost ranges from $204 to $314 for a group of 10 minimum to 12 maximum participants (including leaders) and covers four nights car-camping at Wallowa Lake State Park and an uphill ride on the Wallowa Lake Tramway. Travel to/from the Wallowas will be by carpool, which is not included in the cost. A deposit of $100 for members or $200 for nonmembers will be required upon acceptance. This outing is led by Mazama climb leaders Bill Stein and Eugene Lewins. Both have decades of climbing experience, but these mountain climbs will be exploratory for them. Contact Bill Stein (billstein.rpcv@gmail.com) if you would like additional information, or apply online. Make sure to include your successful backpacks and climbs in your online bio.
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TRAIL TRIPS JOIN US! MAZAMA TRAIL TRIPS ARE OPEN TO EVERYONE Contact Trail Trips trailtrips@mazamas.org with any questions. Hike leaders, to schedule a hike next month, go to: mazamas.org, login, and schedule. UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED, ALL HIKES LISTED BELOW ARE AVAILABLE FOR SIGNUP ON OUR WEBSITE! HEAD ON OVER TO MAZAMAS.ORG/HIKING TO GET MORE DETAILS. FIND THE HIKE YOU WANT TO GO ON, CLICK ON THE LINK, AND FOLLOW THE SIGNUP PROMPTS. C2.5 June 1 Hardy-Hamilton Loop. Leader: Bill Stein, billstein.rpcv@gmail.com, 503-8300817. Up, down, up, down loop, moving fast. Ascend to Phlox Point, the highest point in Beacon Rock State Park, then descend to a bridge over Hardy Creek, climb to the Saddle and Hamilton Mountain, then return via the wide Equestrian Trail. 11.5 miles, 3,100 ft. Meet at: Gateway Park & Ride. Time: 6:30 a.m. MeetUp B2 June 2 Tom-Dick Mountain via Mirror Lake. Leader: Angela Schaefer, auschaefer219@ yahoo.com, 503-597-9649. This beautiful route takes us past Mirror Lake, where we stop briefly for pictures of Mt. Hood's reflection in the water. We then continue up to the Tom-Dick ridge line for lunch, and if the weather cooperates, a 5-peak view. 7.2 miles, 1,715 ft. Meet at: Gateway Park & Ride. Depart at 7:30 a.m. A1.5 June 4 Larch Mountain Crater. Flora Huber, flobell17@comcast.net, 503-658-5710. Follow creek thru the crater and to Sherrard Point. Return on Larch Mountain trail. Views of all 5 volcanoes. 6.4 miles, 1,300 ft. Meet at: MMC Parking Lot. Time: 9 a.m. B2 June 5 Saddle Mountain Flower Hike. Bob Breivogel, breivog@teleport.com, 503-292-2940. Mountaintop views that reach from the Pacific Ocean to Mt. Hood await you on this steep climb to the top of a double-peaked summit of basalt. The upper part of the mountain is decorated with vast steep wildflower meadows in summer. 5 miles, 1,900 ft. Meet at Target/185th. Time: 8:30 a.m.
Class A: Easy to moderate; less than 8 miles and under 1,500 ft. elevation gain Class B: Moderate to difficult; less than 15 miles with 1,500–3,000 ft. elevation gain OR 8–15 miles with less than 1,500 feet of elevation gain Class C and Cw: Difficult to strenuous: 15+ miles in distance or 3,000+ ft. elevation gain. Class D: Very difficult, strenuous trips in challenging conditions. No specific distance or elevation gain. Special equipment, conditioning, and experience may be required. Contacting leader for details before the day of the trip is mandatory. “Wilderness—Limit 12” indicates the hike enters a Forest Service-designated Wilderness Area; group size limited to 12.
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B2 June 5 Dome Rock from Highway 22. Rex L Breunsbach, rbreunsbach@gmail.com, 971832-2556. Great views of Jefferson, from high above Detroit Lake. Drive 200 miles. 10.6 miles, 3,270 ft. Meet at: MMC Parking Lot. Time: 8 a.m. B2 June 8 AYM: Hamilton Mountain Loop. Ashley R. Wood, ashryanwood@gmail.com, 847340-5789. This challenging loop trail has a lot going for it: waterfalls, cliffs, deep forests and stunning views of the Gorge. 7.6 miles, 2,100 ft. Meet at MMC at 7:50 a.m. to arrange carpools, and be ready to depart promptly at 8 a.m. A2.5 June 8 Silver Star via Starway Trail. Gary Bishop, gbish90@hotmail.com, 503-2875366. The most challenging route to the top of Silver Star! 10 miles, 4,000 ft. Meet at: Gateway Park & Ride. Time: 8 a.m. C1.5 June 9 Starvation Ridge to Warren Lake. Brett Nair, brett.nair@gmail.com, 503-684-3300. The Starvation Ridge Trail is one of the most relentless hikes around: It climbs 3,800 feet in less than three miles. To make matters even more interesting, the climbing isn't consistent. Consider your physical condition and previous recent hikes before applying for this hike. Please have the 10 essentials and please no cotton close to the skin. 8.6 miles, 3,800 ft. Meet at: Gateway Park & Ride. Time: 8 a.m. A2 June 11 Yale Reservoir Logging Road Trail–Dog Friendly Hike. Don McCoy, donald1020@aol.com, 503-246-7416. We will meet at the Cougar Rest Area and drive to the Trailhead at the North End of the Yale Reservoir. The trail is the former International Paper logging road on the east side of Yale Reservoir. We will turn around at the Canyon
Numeral after class indicates pace. All pace information is uphill speed range; e.g. 1.5 = 1.5–2 mph: a slow to moderate pace; 2 = 2.0–2.5 mph: a moderate speed common on weekend hikes; 2.5 = 2.5–3.0 mph: a moderate to fast pace and is a conditioner. Hike fees/Snowshoe/Nordic Costs: $2 for members, $4 nonmembers; Backpack Costs: Vary depending on trip. Meeting Places: Gateway–SE corner of P and R Garage near 99th and Pacific (I-84 Exit 7); L and C–Lewis and Clark State Park (1-84 Exit 18); Oswego TC–Boones Ferry Rd at Monroe Parkway; Salmon Creek P and R–Vancouver P and R at 134 St (1-5 Exit 7 or 1-205 Exit 36); Parkrose/Sumner Transit Center–Sandy Blvd. and 98th Ave. (1-205 Exit 23A); Durham–P and R at Boones Ferry
Washout. Leashed, well-behaved dogs are welcome, but are not required to attend. Cougar is approximately 50 miles from Portland. It's 3.5 miles from Cougar to the trailhead. 7.4 miles, 300 ft. If you want to arrange a carpool, contact me directly. Time: 9 a.m. A1.5 June 11 Mirror Lake. Flora Huber, flobell17@comcast.net, 503-658-5710. Go over several bridges to lake and then to summit view point. Great views of Mt. Hood. 6.4 miles, 1,500 ft. Meet at: MMC Parking Lot. Time: 9 a.m. C2 June 12 Boulder Ridge–Bonanza Mine Loop. Rex Breunsbach, rbreunsbach@ gmail.com, 971-832-2556. This is a B Level Loop Hike of, 10.6 miles, 3,100 feet. Meet at: MMC Parking Lot. Time: 8 a.m. B2 June 13 Lewis River Falls Trail (#31)/ Gifford Pinchot Forest. Ellen Burns, burnsellen@msn.com, 503-703-8907. There is much to appreciate about this hike: riverside trail, five waterfalls, giant cedar trees, pinesap, coralroot, gnome plant, ancient stumps and interesting nurse logs. Bring your lunch/snacks and 3–4 liters of water. We will carpool from the meetup location so arrive prepared to take your turn driving. Carpool cost is 10 cents per person per mile. 10 mi, 500 ft. gain/loss, Meetup location: Vancouver, WA 99th Street Transit Center Park & Ride (look for a white SUV with the hatch up). Time: 7:50 a.m.
and Bridgeport (1-5 Exit 290); MMC– Mazama Mountaineering Center, 527 SE 43rd at Stark; Pendleton–Pendleton Woolen Mills in Washougal; REI–Pearl, NW 14th and Johnson; Target185–Target P/L Sunset Hwy at 185th. Dr.–round-trip driving mileage.–Hike elevation gain. TH Pass–USFS parking pass needed for trailhead; SnoPark–Snow park pass. FLTC–3510 SE 164th Ave. in Vancouver. 99th TC–9700 NE 7th Ave. in Vancouver. Trail Trips Hike Rules: Hikers are encouraged to carpool and share costs. The maximum suggested total rate each is a donation of ten cents per mile for up to three people per vehicle. Dogs are not allowed except for hikes designated as “dog-walks.” Alcohol and firearms are not allowed. Participants should wear appropriate hiking shoes, and
carry lunch, water, rain gear (umbrella, parka, or poncho), and the 10 essentials (whistle, extra food and clothing, sun protection, map, compass, flashlight, first aid kit, pocket knife, waterproof matches, fire starter). Participants should be in a physical condition appropriate for the difficulty of the hike. Leaders may decline anyone not properly equipped or judged incapable of completing the hike in a reasonable time frame. Hikers voluntarily leaving the group are considered nonparticipants. In case of accident, illness, or incapacity, hikers must pay their medical and/or evacuation expenses whether they authorize them or not. Hikes leave the meeting place at the time listed. Adverse conditions, weather, and combined circumstances can affect difficulty.
MT. TABOR RAMBLES The Wednesday evening Mt. Tabor Rambles have resumed! These rambles will continue every Wednesday evening through the end of September. Ramblers will leave from the front steps of the Mazama Mountaineering Center at 6 p.m. and walk as a group to the top of Mt. Tabor, where participants will have the option of walking around the paved circle for up to 30 minutes or taking a rest break as needed. In the past, when returning to the MMC some participants have chosen to stop for dinner/refreshments at the food carts along Belmont.Suggested items to carry/wear include a bright shirt/jacket, flashlight or headlamp, rain protection, comfortable shoes, and money for food and/or beverages.
A2 June 14 Tamanawas Falls. Rex Breunsbach, rbreunsbach@gmail.com, 971-832-2556. Spectacular waterfalls near Mt. Hood 4 miles, 500 ft., Dr. 136 miles. Meet at MMC. Time: 8 a.m. C2 June 15 Devil's Peak Lookout (Cool Creek). David L Nelson, dkbmnelson@gmail. com, 503-627-4810. This hike offers an excellent work out. We will hike up the Cool Creek trail to the old fire lookout. Have lunch, explore the lookout and enjoy the views before hiking back down. Views of Mt. Hood, Mt. Adams and Mt. Jefferson, if weather permits. 8.2 miles, 3200 ft. Meet at: Gateway Park & Ride. Time: 7:30 a.m. Must sign up online. C1.5 June 16 Salmon Butte. Leigh E. Schwarz, leighschwarz1@gmail.com, 503-412-4584. 11.7 miles, 3,100 ft. Meet at: Gateway Park & Ride. Depart at: 8 a.m. A2 June 17 Soda Peaks Lake. Rex Breunsbach, rbreunsbach@gmail.com, 971-832-2556. 6 miles, 1,675 ft., Drive 140 miles, Meet at: MMC Parking Lot. Time: 8 a.m. B1.5 June 17 Elk Meadow Hike. David Christopher, david.r.christopher@gmail.com, 503-317-5660. The Elk Meadows Hike is an enjoyable summer hike with outstanding views and floral displays. 7 miles, 1,200 ft. Meet at Mt. Hood Meadows SnoPark. Time: 9:30 a.m. B1.5 June 19 Silver Star Mountain (Grouse Vista). Bob Breivogel, breivog@teleport.com, 503-292-2940. Relaxed hike up the south to the summit on Silver Star mountain in the Columbia gorge. We'll avoid the terrible road on the north side by using the grouse vista trailhead. Should be lots of wildflowers and views. Part of the route is up an old road, which is a bit rocky, but otherwise straightforward. 6 miles, 2,040 ft. Meet at: Mazama Mountaineering Center (MMC). Time: 9 a.m. A1.5 June 20 Salmon River Trail. Flora Huber, flobell17@comcast.net, 503-658-5710. Wiild flowers and mushrooms. Foillow the Salmon River to a view point. 7.2 miles, 950 ft. Meet at: MMC Parking Lot. Time: 9 am.
READY TO SIGNUP ONLINE?
Many hikes have limited spots available. Signup online today to secure your spot. Are you a first time user? Go to mazamas.org/gettingstarted to learn how to create your account. It’s simple, and should take no more than 5 minutes to get up and running. Please review the information at mazamas.org/gettingstarted carefully before creating your account. If you still have questions after reading the information, email us at help@mazamas.org.
A2 June 21 Siouxon Creek Trail. Ellen Burns, burnsellen@msn.com, 503-703-8907. This hike is one of my favorites. I appreciate the partial shade of this lush forest along the well groomed trail with 3 waterfalls to enjoy. Bring your lunch/snacks for the trail and at least 3-4 liters of water. If the weather is warm and the creek is safe for crossing we may practice our fording techniques so bring water shoes. We will carpool from the meet up location so arrive ready to take your turn driving. 8.4 mi, 700 ft. gain/loss. Meeting location is Vancouver, WA Fisher's Landing Transit Center Park & Ride South Lot (look for a white SUV with the hatch up). Time: 7:50 a.m. B2 June 22 Ape Canyon to Loowit Trail Junction. Angela Schaefer, auschaefer219@ yahoo.com, 503-597-9649. The Ape Canyon trail parallels a wide lahar flow through one of the only remaining swaths of old-growth forest on Mt. St. Helens. Our incline is a gradual 1400 ft, and as we climb we get glimpses of Mt. Adams to the east. Our turnaround point is the junction with the Loowit Trail NW Forest Pass required to park. 10.6 miles, 1,400 ft. Meet for carpools at Fred Meyer 7411 NE 117th Ave, Vancouver, WA. Departure at 7:30 a.m. sharp. Alternative meeting place is rest stop in Cougar, WA on Lewis River Road at 8:30 a.m. NW Forest Pass Required. A2 June 23 Ft Vancouver and Vancouver Waterfront. James E Selby, selbyjb@comcast. net, 828-508-5094. We may have a slight change in route depending on activities taking place in downtown Vancouver. But we will see the new spectacular Vancouver waterfront. We will meet at Pearson Field, Ft. Vancouver Historic Site. 5 miles, 100 ft. Meet at: Ft. Vancouver National Historic Site. Time: 11 a.m. MeetUp A1.5 June 24 Tom, Dick & Harry Hike. David Christopher, david.r.christopher@gmail.com, 503-317-5660. Enjoy a casual hike up to Tom, Dick & Harry mountain viewpoint. Views from the top include Mt. Hood, Three Sisters and Mt. Jefferson among others. I will have my stove, so you can bring extra water, a cup and coffee, tea or soup to drink with lunch. Our pace is steady and gentle. My whole point in being out is to share the experience with others and enjoy the sounds and sights that nature provides. 5.8 miles, 1,700 ft. Meet at the new Mirror Lake Trailhead at 9:15 a.m.
B1.5 June 25 Wildcat Mountain. Flora Huber, flobell17@comcast.net, 503-658-5710. Wild flowers, views of Mt. Jefferson from rock pile and our many volcanoes. McIntyre Ridge trail and back to car. 10.2 miles, 1,800 ft. Meet at: MMC Parking Lot. Time: 9 am. B2 June 26 Hamilton Mountain Loop. Kate Evans, kateevans97@gmail.com, 503-635-6540. Enjoy the views on this wonderful Gorge hike. To Rodney Falls, then up the ridge, down Don's cutoff and Hardy Creek. Discover Pass, or $10 fee per car. 7.6 miles, 2,100 ft. Meet at: MMC Parking Lot. Time: 8 a.m. B1.5 June 26 Kings Mountain. Tony Spiering, aespiering@gmail.com, 503-680-8112. Nice woodsy hike with sword ferns and Fir trees in the Coast Range. Memorable view at the summit if clear day. 5 miles, 2500 ft. Meet at: Target & SW 185th. Time: 8 a.m. B2 June 27 Coldwater Lake Trail/Mt. St. Helen's area. Ellen M Burns, burnsellen@msn. com, 503-703-8907. We will hike completely around Coldwater Lake. The terrain is varied with areas of meadows, wildflowers, views, a waterfall, forested lakeside trail and a visit to the Tractor Junction. Bring a lunch/snacks for the trail and at least 3-4 liters of water. We will carpool to the trail head so be prepared to take your turn driving. The carpool cost is 10 cents per person per mile. I am looking forward to hiking with you on this special trail. 10.8 miles, 1,390 ft. elevation gain/loss, meetup in Vancouver, WA @ the 99th St Transit Center/ Park & Ride, look for a white SUV with the back hatch open. Time: 7:50 a.m. MeetUp C1.5 June 30 Salmon Butte. Sherry Bourdin, sbourdin@reig.com, 503-314-2911. Great summer hike with wild rhododendrons blooming and awesome summit views of Mt. Hood. Be prepared for a steady elevation ascent. And, be sure to pack the sun screen, plenty of water, and bug repellent. 11.7 miles, 3,100 ft. Meet at: Gateway Park & Ride. Time: 7:30 a.m.
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THIS MONTH IN EXECUTIVE COUNCIL (MAZAMA BOARD OF DIRECTORS) The next board meeting date is on Tuesday, June 18 (date may change; check Mazama website). All meetings begin at 4 p.m. and are open to all members. There is a member comment period at 5:30 p.m. This summary has been approved by the Mazama President or Vice President for publication. Members can access full meeting minutes one month after the meeting by sending an email to adventure@mazamas.org and making a request.
by Mathew Brock, Library & Historical Collections Manager President Laura Pigion called the Executive Council (EC) meeting to order at 4 p.m. on Tuesday, May 21. Following approval of the agenda, Secretary Laura Guderyahn received approval for the April minutes. Laura also noted that membership, as of the end of April, stands at 3,412. Treasurer Traci Manning gave an overview of the March financials. Total operating revenue was $811,733, with operating expenses of $965,661. Assets were $593,154. Both income and expenses are tracking under budget. In her Acting Executive Director Report, Sarah Bradham gave a brief update on staffing and upcoming events. Erica Stock, Development Director, is departing at the end of May, and Renee Fitzpatrick, Finance & Admin Coordinator, will stay in her position in a limited capacity until the end of June. She expects to post a job description for the Finance and Admin Coordinator position as soon as possible. In future events, a weekend of activities for the Mazamas' 125th Anniversary is coming up on July 19–21, and a 125th Anniversary Open House at the MMC on July 28. The Portland Alpine Fest Summit is Saturday, Nov. 16. In internal reporting, Sarah noted that good progress is being made on the national training standards MQL project, and the Mazamas are leading in crafting the standards. She is looking into security upgrades for the MMC, including re-keying the building. The staff recently completed their second all day working retreat focused on identifying staff tasks and a comprehensive annual calendar. This work will lead to re-configurations of job descriptions and finalization of staff goals. Thanks to strong volunteer engagement we will be offering both the Crevasse Rescue Level I and Intro to Rock Anchors Skill Builders. EThe Crevasse Rescue Level I Skill Builder is full with 30 students, and the curriculum for the Intro to Rock Anchors Skill Builder is close to finalization. Sarah wrapped up her internal reporting by noting that we rolled out significant updates to our website, including updates to the calendar, badges, and scheduling. One addition to the website includes adding a Future Activities section to an individual’s profile. For the first time in Mazama history climb leaders will have the ability to see in real time the climbs that their applicants have applied for and been accepted on. The hope is that this will help leaders in their acceptance process by providing insight into which applicants have been accepted on climbs and which have not. These updates have received positive feedback. In external reporting, Sarah recapped developments in both the Columbia River Gorge and Central Cascades Permits. She does not expect a significant impact on our Gorge hikes but sees a significant impact on climbs of Broken Top, Mt. Jefferson, and the Three Sisters due to the new permit process. Sarah recently attended several meetings related to our work with Oregon Outdoor Recreation Summit, Oregon Outdoors, and Outdoor Alliance. She concluded her external report with an overview of her discussions with the
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Mazamas Foundation about restructuring our debt and loan agreements. She asked the board to choose two directors to join a one-day working session to help move the process forward. Sarah then gave an update on fundraising and membership. Individual donations continue to track upward. Short term fundraising will focus on the Mazamas 125th Anniversary. Laura Burger is working on several grant applications and status reports that are due in June. The Mazamas are on target to achieve our membership target for 2019. Vice President Marty Scott gave an update on the Executive Director transition planning. The consultant with the Valtas Group has completed the position description and announcement. The description was published to various nonprofit job sites, as well as it was sent to our membership via email and posted to our website. Thus far, the consultant has received roughly 25 inquiries and 18 formal applications. The consultant and the board will continue to circulate the job posting to external networks. The transition team has a meeting scheduled for June 20 to review the potential applicants and develop an interview process. Robin Wilcox, EC member,then gave an update on the Diversity, Equality, and Inclusion (DEI) working group. At a recent meeting, the working group established a set of ground rules and identified two areas to focus on: a review of the Mazama website and interactions with our partner organizations. Their next meeting is on June 21. Sarah then engaged the board in a conversation about the current status of the fiscal year 2018–2019 priorities and budget. She went through the current strategic plan and updated the board on which projects are on track, delayed, or on hold due to staff transitions and the budget forecast. Laura Pigion wrapped up with the public portion of the meeting by asking the directors to re-engage with their departments and work to schedule meeting for June. No members chose to speak during the member comment period. The next Executive Council meeting is Tuesday, June 18 at 4 p.m. (date may change; keep an eye on the calendar for updates.)
SEP 2019 TURKEY Tour
Magnificent blue tiled mosques and Ottoman palaces, Greek & Roman ruins, rocky, forested mountains and spectacular geological oddities—Turkey is all this. Join us for a 16 day tour of the best of Turkey. http://cascolytravel.com
We are the bond stronger than any rope. Everything we make is designed by climbers, for climbers. Each piece is crafted by peak and crag to give you absolute protection, comfort and mobility when you really need it.
NEXT ADVENTURE | PORTLAND W W W.RAB.EQUIPMENT
MazamasÂŽ 527 SE 43rd Ave. Portland OR 97215 www.mazamas.org
Mazama Periodical Postage Paid in Portland, Oregon
PORTLAND ALPINE FEST
Nov. 11–17, 2019
Ticket Sales Open: August 1 Mark your calendar now!
The Summit, Nov. 17 at the Redd (SE Portland) Speaker: Legendary climber (to be announced July 1)
Presented by Grivel. Hosted by the Mazamas. portlandalpinefest.org