I flew out from Colorado on June 26th. I spent the rest of that day in Tahoma with Toby, catching up and making sure we had all the gear we needed while we were still near a store. I bought a titanium 1.7l pot, which is now one of my favorite pieces of gear, and had dinner with Toby, his wife and his new daughter. June 27th Toby and I woke early and drove to the Paradise trailhead to meet Jim and his family. 

Meeting up with Jim and family in the Paradise parking lot. 

Tim's Backcountry Essentials

          My friend Tim introduced me to this way of thinking about backcountry travel some years ago when we started climbing together. This may not be new to any of you, but I think about it a lot; I would tell you that the 10 essentials, while not completely unnecessary, are a very outdated and incomplete way of introducing to or making mandatory for someone wanting to get out in the backcountry. I find that the gap between the novice and the expert outdoors person is widening. I also believe that the variety of types of backcountry travel and reasons for being out on long trips has grown exponentially since the 50's, the days after world war II where most backcountry preparedness research had been done by the military and shared and practiced by soldiers or veterans. The civilian climbing community was small and not outwardly spoken for the most part, and picked many of the tricks of the time up for lack of experience or drive to do much further research. The fact is that whether intentional or not, those backcountry travelers added to the body of experience that has spurred the development of better lighter gear, and a much more streamlined, lightweight, minimalist thought process for backcountry travel. You don't need to carry everything and the kitchen sink anymore. Gone are the days of the 65lb+ backpacking trips. A pack that is too heavy can do just as much to put you at risk of failure or worse as it can while only providing you with useless things that you think you need, that you really don't.

          Now we see people making the choice to head out running for hundreds of miles with nothing more than a light wind breaker and a life straw. And as a testament to our time, one can start a run in Frisco, Colorado and end on a street corner in Vail where a pizza delivery guy is waiting for them with their order. Look that trip up sometime... or, do some research on the climbers that have completed the Mt Rainier Infinity loop. In my mind, adventuring in the backcountry is first and foremost about the risk/reward/ability/conditions analysis, and then secondly, the gear.

 

So, Tim's Essential Backcountry Thought Process, with a little bit of my rationale sprinkled on top.

Any expedition requires the consideration of 5 primary aspects of the outing:

  1. Good weather projection.
  2. At least 1 hiking/running partner.
  3. You let someone know exactly where you went and about when you’re expected home.
  4. Enough gear, food, and water to survive for 24hrs.
  5. You know the area really, really, really well.  - you’ve hiked this trail 20+ times and won’t be leaving this trail. 

I can sacrifice or lose any 2 of these things for whatever reason and I should be fine. By fine I mean the other 3 considerations in place will help me get out, get help, or survive until one of those happens. If I sacrifice or lose 3 of these things I recognize my risk is high for not surviving. My Risk continues to increase with each consideration that’s taken away until the analysis curves out at a steady plain of, "why the hell are you not dead yet?" 

For me I ask,

am I going light and fast and do I know what that means? 

warmth - light weight down jacket.

weather - lightweight rain jacket.

water - 1 liter

food - dependent on how long the summit will take without issues.

light - headlamp and extra batteries.

carry - very small, lightweight pack - a pack with the above items should weigh less than 10lbs total

footwear - trail running shoes

 

I also pay more attention to the temperature than the weather itself. Once you get wet, you're wet. The real question is how cold and for how long?

honestly, as this covers a good 75% of my back country travel (day long or slightly longer), i add pants for skiing or a bike for cycling, but that's really about it.

The Whittaker Bunkhouse

What do you get when you cross an Engineer and a middle school teacher? Two people who can cut through metal with their minds. 

The historic Whitaker Bunkhouse was home to loggers and miners as early as 1912. In 1990 it was renovated as a bunkhouse for all those who sought to attempt Mt Rainier. The lodge is located in Ashford Washington which is about 40 miles West of the Paradise Ranger station. 

For Team JBT, this was home base. After our 3 hour crevasse rescue training/practice session at the Paradise trailhead, we retreated to the bunkhouse, for food, drink and preparation for our expedition. In Ashford, we wanted a third picket (so each person would have one), but one of the only pickets we could find was too long. Toby and Jim were able to purchase a hacksaw blade at a local convenient store, but not the saw itself. So they worked together with the blade to cut the picket to the right length. You might ask, "Ben, why was the picket too long, is there such a thing?" and I would say, "why yes, there is such a thing as a picket that's too long, particularly when your goal for overall pack weight is a certain (low) number." I'll explain further in the section below.

Any snow anchor's ability to anchor what you're trying to anchor depends on a few factors; snow pack, type of anchor, angle of slope, weight of the thing you're trying to hold, belay, haul or lower. if your snow is too warm and wet or " sugary" and non-cohesive (usually very cold), you're snow anchor won't hold much weight as the angle gets higher. As the angle of slope gets higher more of the total weight of the object is placed on the anchor itself. As the angle gets lower more of the weight of the object rests downward on the slope. 

Organizing and Weighing Gear

I really liked the way Desk->Dirtbag included a gear list (very bottom) and weight for his attempt on the same route we did. I'm not going to provide all our gear and brands in my description. I will say that I can confirm you can do a full carry over with less than 35lbs total - including pack weight, water, and what's on your body. I trained with 35 - 40 - 45 - 50 - and once 55lbs, and my goal was to come in under 35lbs the morning of the climb. It's important to be comfortable and prepared for the trip, but know you can do it without an excessive amount of gear. Below, I'll list a few of the things i absolutely loved having with me. 

The evening before our trip we exploded our gear in customary climber fashion all over the room at the Whittaker bunkhouse. We winnowed our choices down to what we absolutely wanted/needed. We discussed the merits of certain gear, we divided up shared gear and food and we walked through the last few technical techniques for crevasse rescue using a bedpost and crevasse rescue guide.

We spent quite a bit of time packing, then weighing with the hanging scale i brought. We unpacked and reconfigured so our gear fit exactly the way we anticipated accessing stuff, and so that our packs weighed at or below our goal of 35lbs a piece - minus our harnesses, but including axes, poles, pickets, fuel, water, and food.

In rough weather conditions at altitude, you want to think very strategecally about what and when you will need from your pack. Having to pull everything out of your pack to find a headlamp or a hat, or something you need can be pretty inefficient. Wasting energy on a long search for things in your pack can make or break a backcountry trip.

 

What i couldn't live without

The Mountaineering and Rainier specific books I used were key. They're listed below.

note: add list

  • Glacier Mountaineering by Andy Tyson and Mike Clelland  - You won't see me advertise much, but  Mike Clelland's Illustrations literally taught me how to telemark too. Best 'how to' mountaineering books out there. 
  •  
  • Stick type sunscreen. I suck at applying sunscreen, so having something this easy I could pull out of a pocket and use every hour (or more), was very useful for me. Remember, you will get sunburned everywhere on a glacier - even up your nose or on your tongue. 
  • Which brings me to Sunglasses. Having grown up on the east coast sunglasses were mostly for people who thought they were cooler than everyone else. They were certainly not a necessity where I grew up. I know I just went on a rant about the 10 essentials, and normally I would say one can live without sunglasses, but on a glacier, not only are they necessary, but normal sunglasses or goggles won't do. You must get glacier specific glasses that are given a spectron rating. The reflection of sunlight off the snow can and will burn your retinas, even in normal sunglasses or ski goggles. 
  • Water Bottles full of (near boiling) hot water in your sleeping bag to sleep with. try it once, you'll never go without again. Make sure the caps are on tight and the bottle isn't against bare skin. 
  • A pack with side access to the main compartment - having a zipper on the side meant i could have easy access in 4 different places in my pack - the top lid, the top opening to the main compartment, the side, and this pack had one outside, low profile pocket. This allowed me to prioritize gear placement in my pack, and in my head i could map each item to one of the 4 pockets. They don't make this pack any more, but easily the best pack I've ever owned.
  • A hanging scale. We weighed those packs to the ounce several times trying to ensure that we were carrying as little weight as we thought we could get away with.