Words by Jonathan Daniel
Words by Jonathan Daniel-
Day 1 started bright and early at the Colorado Mountain School, Estes Park office where we met our guide Steve Johnson. After an hour or two checking gear and loading the sleds, we set off for the short trip into Rocky Mountain National Park, en route to Glacier Gorge. After parking at the trailhead, we harnessed up, tied into each other and our sleds, and began the long 5 mile trek up Glacier Gorge to base camp, located under the beautiful Arrowhead Peak. The hike in took several hours, and by the time we reached base camp the weather was turning bad, and it was getting dark. We hurried to get the tent set up, cooked dinner on my new MSR XGK-EX stove, and hit the sack, exhausted.
Day 2 was predominantly composed of building anchors. We went through simple means, by way of using just your axe, to building 'dead man' anchors with pickets. To build a bomber anchor, you need some cooperation from the snow, and do to a recent storm, we could only find fresh powder, not the hard pack we were looking for. Just about all of our anchors blew, which was a bit disconcerting. We also spent a bit of time working on self arresting on a fun slope heading up to Blake Lake, but we had this down pretty well. After the hike back to camp, we cooked dinner once again, and hit the sack. The winds that night were unrelenting, and tried our best to sleep through them.
Day 3 was comprised entirely of crevasse rescue, which was what I had been anticipating. We were introduced to the 3:1 haul system, a system of working parts including a few friction hitch knots, caribiners, etc. What made this process extremely difficult was the wind. This was a key component that we needed to become educated in, but we were attempting it pretty bad conditions. After a few hours, an NPS ranger skied by our group and informed us that a major storm was moving in that night, and we should head out if we didn't want to get buried. So after a long day of class, we once again roped up and strapped on the sleds, and set out on the 5 mile hike back to the trailhead. We headed back to Estes, where CMS was kind enough to let us crash there for the night.
Day 4 the last day of class, we headed back into the park, where we could see the ranger was correct in that they had gotten dumped on with powder. Today was about putting everything we had learned together into a competent rescue. We roped up and simulated crevasse falls. We took turns buckling down and building snow anchors, and then setting up the haul system. Once we had that dialed, we spent an hour or two hanging off the side of a roughly 40 foot cliff practicing ascending, simulating being on the receiving end of a crevasse fall. We were focused in on this for a while, disregarding the complete whiteout that had set in around us. However, the wind was pretty much non-existent, so it was definitely manageable. We soon finished our business in the park, and headed back to CMS to say our goodbyes.
It had been an exhausting few days, and although we butted heads a few times during the course, I came out feeling good. The guides at CMS are world class climbers and mountaineers, and their expertise is always evident. It's not easy to work through a tough course during nasty winter conditions, but you have to take the situation as it is, because the mountains could not be more apathetic to your planned itinerary. Upon leaving the course, there was a new sense of confidence about me. I felt physically and mentally stronger, and more confident that I can handle myself under pressure should we find ourselves in a tight spot on Denali.
