wandering into uncertainty - acc vancouver - apr 2008.pdfbefore the trip to make a phone call of...
TRANSCRIPT
Alpine Club of Canada • Vancouver Section News April 2008
presentation byTony Hoare
Wandering into Uncertainty a three range traverse by three weekend warriors
In May 2007 one woman and two men set out to retrace John Baldwin’s 1982 traverse from the Chilcotin Plateau to the Pacific. Over 27 days they skied through the Pantheon, Waddington and Whitemantle ranges. Adventures were plentiful. Learning curve was steep...
Next MeetiNg: tuesday, March 22, 7:30 pM • floral hall, vandusen gardens, west 37th and oak, vancouver
a n n o u n c e M e n t s
The last climbWe regret to inform our members of the recent passing of two
prominent West Coast mountaineers. Dr. Lionel Harrison,a long
time club member and former section chair, died on March 17th
after a brief battle with cancer. A memorial ceremony to celebrate
his life was held at Cecil Green Park on March 28th. Judge Ralph
“Rafe” Hutchison died recently also and his funeral was held on
March 31st at St Paul’s Anglican Church in Nanaimo.
Thomas Merton and the MountainsPresentation by Ron Dart
When:• Thursday, April 17, 2008 at 7:30 pM
Cost: • Free
Where: • Alice MacKay Room, Vancouver Public Library
350 West Georgia Street
Thomas Merton was born in the mountains and he had an ongoing
fascination with mountains as a map and marker for the interior
life. The last few months before his death, he turned to McKinley
(Denali) in Alaska and Kanchenjunga in the Himalayas as pointers
to contemplative depth and insight. This presentation by Ron Dart
will offer an overview of how Merton understood the relationship
between contemplation and mountains.
Where to stay in PembertonCopperdome Lodge (former Outward Bound basecamp) accommo-
dates up to 50, although a comfortable occupancy level is 25 in the
main lodge and 8 in the duplex. See www.copperdomelodge.com for
more information. Plenty of ski, hike and climb destinations around.
c a M p s
nirvana Pass Ski CampThe 2008 Vancouver Section Spring Ski Campwill be held at Nir-
vana Pass. The camp will be similar to last year (except hopefully
with better weather).
When: • April 18 – 25, 2008
Where: • Nirvana Pass
Cost: • $550 to $600 (helicopter only)
Organizer: • Mike Thompson 604 813 1863
We'll drive to Bluff Lake, the helicopter staging area, on Friday, April
18, and fly in on Saturday, April 19. Fly out day will be Saturday, April
25. The most cost effective way to fly is with multiples of 4.
To reserve a spot, please send a $100 cheque made out to
ACC Vancouver section to Mike Thompson, 6846 197B Street,
Langley BC V2Y 3H1
A person should have wings to carry them where their dreams go, but sometimes a pair of skis makes a good substitute.
—Hans Gmoser
acc vancouver sectionThe club meets monthly, usually for a slide presentation, at the Floral Hall in VanDusen Gardens, W 37th and Oak St., at 7:30 PM on the fourth Tuesday of the month, except in July, August and December.
[email protected] (Section Info-line)
Mailing address:ACC Vancouver Section,c/o Federation of Mountain Clubs of BC130 W Broadway, Vancouver, BC V5Y 1P3
ANNUAL MEMBERSHIP DUESSingle $ 61 / $ 51 *Family $ 81 / $ 71 *Junior (under 18) $ 34 / $ 24 ** Discounted rate for members
choosing electronic only delivery of
the Avalanche Echoes (PDF format)
NATIONAL ACC OFFICEFor new memberships and renewals, changes of address or other details, and booking huts, contact the ACC National office directly.
[email protected], 403-678-3224 (fax)P.O. Box 8040 Canmore, AB, T1W 2T8
the avalanche echoesis the official publication of the Alpine Club of Canada, Vancouver Section.
Volume 84 • Issue no. 4 • April 2008 Editor: Martin Naroznik, 778 892 [email protected]
SUBMISSIONSWe encourage submissions of writing (txt, rtf and doc formats), photography and drawings (jpg, tif, png). Email your submission or call the editor. Deadline is the 20th day of the previous month.
ADVERTISINGAdvertising shall be accepted at the discretion of the editor. All advertis-ing shall be for products or services of direct interest to our membership.
EDITORIAL POLICYSuitability for publication is at the editor’s discretion within the guidelines of the Section Executive. Articles may be edited for clarity or to fit the available space.
e x e c u t i v e
Chair
Rob Brusse 604 224 0747
SeCretary
Richard Keltie 604 738 4583
treaSurer
Dave Henwood 604 874 3377
aCCeSS & eNviroNMeNt
Antje Wahl
CliMbiNg CoordiNatorS
Jay MacArthur 604 987 1232Lynn Erickson 604 224 4883
CaMPS CoordiNator
Mike Thompson 604 534 8863
eNdowMeNt FuNd
Rob Brusse 604 224 0747Richard Keltie 604 738 4583
FMCbC reP
Paul Geddes 604 925 6191
MeMberShiP
Tony Knight 604 873 2276
NatioNal Club reP
Rob Brusse 604 224 0747
NewSletter editor
Martin Naroznik 778 892 2167
PrograM CoordiNator
Susan Higginbottom 604 925 3742
ProMotioNS (aCtiNg)
Jay MacArthur 604 987 1232
SkillS develoPMeNt
vacant
SoCialS
Olga Turok 604 228 0628
s p e c i a l p r o j e c t v o l u n t e e r s
arChiveS CoMMittee
Liz Scremin 604 921 2651Irene Goldstone 604 689 8737
CaMPS CoMMittee
Rob Brusse 604 224 0747Ed & Maria Gunkel 604 985 3041Don Serl 604 872 4244Mike Thompson 604 534 8863
Quarter MaSter
Bill Sims 604 734 8870
taNtaluS hut CuStodiaN
Ron Royston 604 687 2711
hut bookiNg
Ron Royston 604 687 2711
hutS CoMMittee
Liz Scremin (acting) 604 921 2651Dustin Hines, Chris Kiely, Blair Mitten, Peter Norris, Ron Royston & Peter Taylor
varSity outdoor Club reP
Dustin Hines 604 222 2171
webSite CoMMittee
Richard Keltie 604 738 4583Tony Knight Martin Naroznik
3 • Ava lancheEchoes• Apr i l 20 08
Grand Teton and Devils Tower CampDrive to Grand Teton. Spend about a week in
the area, aim to climb the Grand. Drive East
to Devil’s Tower and spend a few days climb-
ing in the area. Head home.
Proposed Dates: • July 26 – August 9, 2008
Required supplies: • Starbucks card
Contact: • Rob Brusse, 604-732-7730 or
[email protected] if interested.
Tantalus range Summer Camp 2008Joint Toronto/Vancouver ACC Sections
Climbing Camp 2008
When: • August 9–17, 2008 (eight nights)
Where: • Tantalus and Haberl Huts
Cost: The camp will operate on a • breakeven
basis dependent on helicopter and food costs.
Access: • Helicopter in from Squamish
Group size: • 24 (ACC members only)
participants will have the opportunity to
spend four nights in each of the two cabins.
Deposit: • $250. Payable to ACC Toronto
Section (mail to Paul Geddes, PO Box 91777,
West Vancouver, BC V7V 4S1) The camp
will run without professional guides. A
cook may be provided to assist in food
purchasing and preparation.
For more information please contact Paul
Geddes ([email protected] or 604 925 6191) An
organizational meeting for Vancouver area
participants will be held in June.
Information on climbing routes in the Tanta-
lus Range is available through the following
guidebooks: Alpine Select by Kevin McLane,
Scrambles in Southwest BC by Matt Gunn
and Climbing & Hiking in Southwest BC by
Bruce Fairley
Fairy Meadows Ski Camp Powder Paradise. Come and enjoy next
winter ski camp in a fantastic mountain set-
ting – spectacular scenery and abundant ski
touring and mountaineering opportunities.
This newly renovated Bill Putnam hut sleeps
20, and has a separate wood-burning sauna.
This camp will fill up fast, so call early.
When: • March 7–14, 2009
Where: ACC’s • Bill Putnam (Fairy Meadows)
Hut, in the Selkirks north of Golden
Cost:• To be determined
Access: • Helicopter fly-in and fly-out
Deposit: To reserve your spot, send a check •
for $200, payable to the Vancouver Section
of the Alpine Club of Canada to:
Lynn Erickson, 2995 W 34th Ave., Vancouver,
B.C. V6N 2J9
Contact: • Lynn Erickson at 604 224 4883 or
email [email protected]
c o u r s e s
Basic Climbing & Mountaineering CourseYour very own section (that would be Alpine
Club of Canada–Vancouver Section in official
language) is offering a fantastic four part
course that will teach you all the basics a
mountainman and mountainwoman (or
mountainpeople?) might ever need. A very
popular course, it is filling up fast so secure
your spot now.
When• : May 8: Evening Dry School
May 10–11: Rope, Rock, Outdoor Climbing
May 17–18: Snow and Mountain Travel
May 24–25: Mountain Ascent (Cerise Creek
area)
Organizer: • Alpine Club of Canada–
Vancouver Section
Participants: • 24
Cost: • $50
Prerequisites: You must be a • must be
Vancouver Section member. Also: good
physical fitness, overnight backpacking
experience helpful, no previous climbing
experience required.
Info: • Richard Keltie [email protected]
Squamish rock refresher WeekendJoin us for a peer rock climbing refresher day
at Squamish on Saturday, June 7, followed
by a group climbing day on Sunday, June
8, to share and review some rock climbing
basics, including building anchors, belay-
ing and rappelling techniques. Participants
must be ACC members, and should already
have some rock-climbing experience. Group
size will be limited to 10 people, so call early.
Contact Margaret Hanson or Tony Knight at
604 873 2276 for further details.
rock Solid Leadership CourseCreated for the Alpine Club of Canada by
Cyril Shokoples, the Rock Solid Leadership is
a course that is designed specifically for club
leaders in rock climbing settings.
It is a seven day course during which a number
of hard and soft skills sessions related to lead-
ing trips to rock climbing venues are presented.
It is not a course about leading hard rock climbs
but rather a course to introduce you to leading
others on rock climbs of almost any grade in
single and multi-pitch venues.
When: • June 20 – 27, 2008 (Friday to Friday)
Where: • Jasper National Park, Alberta
Instructors: • C. Shokoples, J. Mackenzie
Course Manager: • Sandra Bowkun
Participants: • 8
Fee: • $1,650 (includes GST, instruction,
manual, meals and accomodation)
For more information: www.climbers.org/rsl
Upcoming SlideShowS
may 27Joel Montaneexploring argentine and chilean patagonia
jUne 24touring and trekking in the hiMalayas: nepal and tibet by Olga Turok + bhutan by Susan Higginbottom
Patagonia, well known for its pleasant climate and white sand
beaches, is the subject of May slideshow.
Photo by Joel Montane
Ava lancheEchoes• Apr i l 20 08 • 4
oh ye of little faith…Garibaldi Neve TraverseMarch 14–16, 2008Joint ACC/VOC tripStory and photos by Rob Brusse
Trip started out, as a bit of a gong show. Was that way in the middle and pretty much ended the same way. Some
came up to me afterwards and said it was a memorable trip…
Weather over the two weeks leading up to the trip date was scuzzy so lots of folks wanted to hedge their bets; it didn’t help matters that the exact dates of the trip didn’t get conveyed to the VOC contingent. Based on (among other things) the long range forecast Richard So of the VOC group decided that he and many of that crowd couldn’t justify the time away from exam preparations. This still left us with a small horde of about 18. It’s interesting that newer club members (and non-members) use the net to sign up for popular trips well in advance, while long time members seem to prefer to wait until a couple of nights before the trip to make a phone call of enquiry. Even with e-mail organizing a trip such as the Neve crossing takes a fair bit of coordination and communication.
All assembled at the appointed time (11:30) and usual place in West Van and as we rounded the corner above Horseshoe Bay there was a slight clearing in the sky towards Squamish. We ferried 2 vehicles to the Black Tusk parking area to provide rides back to the Diamond Head parking lot. We left there for the Elfin Shelter at about 2:30 under a lightly snowing overcast. Just before we left we did a gear check and decided to save weight by leaving our FRS
radios behind and taking cell phones. Word to the wise, there is no reliable cell phone reception in the Elfin Shelter area. Some de-cided to pay the hut fees in the hut rather than at the parking lot. Fortunately, we met a pair of Park Rangers, coming back from a day tour to the Red Heather meadows. They lightened our wallets as appropriate. Hut fees can no longer be paid in the box at the Elfin Shelter.
By the time we got to the Red Heather shelter, the weather had deteriorated quite a bit and one person had developed a very bad case of blisters. After a bit of a huddle we decided the individual with the injury and a friend would head back to the cars to do the trip another day. The rest of us carried on towards the Elfin Shelter under increasingly inclement conditions, each travelling alone with our concerns of what weather the morrow might bring. It was a pleasant surprise to arrive at the shelter, get the heaters going, and find us the sole occupants for the night. Another member decided he had to bow out on account of a bad back, and would make his way down the track in the morning.
Morning broke clear and blue. Because the clocks had been changed the week before we felt little need for an early start and so were on the trail just before 8 am. We split into 2 parties. Nathan, Mike, Kris and Zoran set off to do the Haute Route (over the Saddle, onto Little Diamond Head and below Atwell over to the high point and possibly Garibaldi). The rest of us (11) took the standard route along the old buried jeep track descending to the Ring Creek crossing, before re-gaining our lost elevation upon reaching the Neve just beyond shoulder of the Opal Cone. By the time we were on the Neve, five hours come
and gone, the weather had clagged in and we were intermittently being whited out. Grant wondered about an exit strategy. We could beat a retreat to the Col between the Saddle and Little Diamond Head and from there make our way back to the Elfin Shelter. We pressed on. The weather got worse. Through an occasional break in the clouds we could see that the Haute Route party was seriously off route, traversing terrain that was nowhere near their stan-dard route. Oh oh this could be awkward I thought. As we gained elevation towards the highpoint in the deepening white out it was easy to become disoriented and unbal-anced. It made the side hilling seem a little steeper than usual and caused a few to wonder whether we were still on our route. It all started to have the feel of becoming a bit of a mini epic. We huddled… we looked at the map… and… we pressed on.
Catherine did some steep trail break-ing and I had a sense that we were in the vicinity of the former Pringles Ridge hut. The slope angle eased off a little as the map showed it would. We began to see blue through the grey above us. Laura pulled out her GPS. The visibility got better. I read out the waypoints from Robin Tivy’s article to Laura who entered them into her GPS. Grant and Rolf were in the lead and by now could see the outlines of Pringles Ridge. Laura chimed, “Hey we’re on track. It is another hundred meters up and 895 meters north.” And it was so.
Just as we started a fine ski descent past the Sharksfin in good snow but flattish light to the Warren Glacier, the Haute Route party caught us up. Bit of a relief here, actually. They’d had a bit of an epic themselves. Unable to descend onto the Atwell outwash pocket glacier, due to the
Joanna MacKay breaking the crud just below the Aniversary Glacier col. Photo: Jay MacArthur
5 • Ava lancheEchoes• Apr i l 20 08
cornices on the ridge below Little Diamond Head, they had to back track and eventu-ally break off a section of cornice. This caused a small avalanche, which provided temporarily a relatively safe descent route. After that, they too were caught up in the whiteout and had to travel from feature (read serac) to feature with GPS bearings until the skies suddenly cleared a little and they found themselves like us and with us at the high point of the traverse. An im-mediate and deep cold front followed with the clearing weather.
We hustled our biscuits up to the Glacier Pikes Col. Several had the time and energy to ascend the Peak. The rest motored on through to a ski descent of the Sentinel Glacier in fine snow but poor lighting condi-tions. An hour on Garibaldi Lake travers-ing around Guard Mountain brought us to Sphinx Bay and the Burton Hut and 10 snowshoers who had just beaten us there (though they had reserved in advance).
Our crew of 15 was equipped and prepared for a night out. However, given a choice, apparently most would prefer a warm if crowded cabin to the great and cold outdoors. 5 spent the night in tents. Ten joined the snowshoers in a free for all for sleeping space. It was a mass of writh-ing bodies all night. At 7:30 the following morning the thermometer registered –20°C outside. For some there were frigid glances inside as well. On the other hand it was toasty warm all night on the top berth of the cabin.
Sunday morning again broke clear and cold. Nathan and Santi decided to do the 50-cent tour to the Guard Deception Col and enjoy some powder before heading for the cars later in the day. The rest of our party and the others took a leisurely
approach to ending the weekend. Grant, Rolf and Laura were first out of the cabin. Rolf decided a run down the barrier would be better than an arduous descent down an icy trail. Mike and Amber followed close be-hind and after them Joel and Steve trucked across the lake followed by myself. The trek across Garibaldi Lake as usual went on and on and on. Making tortoise like progress I passed the four of them on the trail between Garibaldi and Barrier Lake. I had just ascended to join the summer trail from the point where the natural landform and track invites one on into the steeper terrain of the Barrier itself when the four came into view. I was able to point out the ascent needed to get onto the summer trail from the Black Tusk meadows.
Below kilometre 4 the trail became progressively icier and less ski-able. Mike McMinn was not a man to be easily de-terred by mere ice and persevered on skis to almost the bitter end. From the snowed in parking lot we made it to where the cars were parked in short order and met Rolf and co. A while later Zoran showed up. He too had come down the trail. We asked how far back the others were. He said that everyone except Nathan and Santi had left ahead of him. Right… Clench… We were missing at least 5. We started develop-ing scenarios and strategies. A couple of people were thirsty and headed for the pub. After about an hour the missing bunch turned up. Relief. In two parties they had each (some with several trips down the trail on skis) missed the junction where the Barrier and summer trail options split. However, they met up on the slopes of the Barrier. Descended the barrier, crossed the Avalanche debris at its base and contin-ued on over the open terrain of the snow
covered upper Rubble Creek boulder field until they could not easily progress further. They were being forced into a terrain trap between the rushing braids of Rubble Creek and the uninviting overhanging moss covered cliffs that could with difficulty lead towards the summer trail. Like in Rolf’s party some of these folks got more than a little wet trying to cross the creek and some ropes came out to assist in the ascent of overhanging moss cliffs.
But wait…. There’s more. It’s 5:30 and the last of our party is not down yet. The light is less bright the sky is shading a bit. Nathan and Santi, both strong are later than we thought they’d be. But we had a phone. Turns out they too had missed the summer trail, gone down the barrier and run into the trouble with Rubble. When we learned they were basically on the trail we lit out for the rendezvous place. After a couple of hours they hadn’t shown up. Now what? They made it to the cars by 6:30. Unfortu-nately they forgot to put their skis in the car with them and only discovered the mistake as they pulled into Squamish.
On the other hand the burgers and beer were great.
Participants: Nathan Basford
Rob Brusse (organizer), Steve Burgess,
Mike Caswell, Ross Eichendorf,
Leonie Knaus, Rolf Kullak, Grant McCormack,
Brian McCurdy, Mike McMinn, Joel Montane,
Steve Oliver, Catherine Ostler,
Santi Ramon-Garcia, Amber Ringers,
Laura Scull, Kris Thesen and Zoran Vasic
Ava lancheEchoes• Apr i l 20 08 • 6
Our ultimate trip was the one we orga-nized to go into the Diamond Head
area of Garibaldi for the weeks after our final exams. The 25 of us caught the Union boat for Squamish on May 4, 1946, arriv-ing there mid-afternoon. We hired a truck to take us up to the end of the road where the trail took off for our destination. By the time we got organized for the trek it was af-ter five. We were onto a snow covered uphill trail, so put on our “skins” which we made of sash cord, which worked fine if you didn’t need to run down. We were all heavily loaded. I had a 70 lb pack! When I fell I had to take the pack off before I could stand up again. So our progress was very slow. It was quite dark by the time we reached the high point, and then were faced with a long gradual downhill slope to the Brantvoldt cabin. Most of us had only carbide lamps, which blew out as soon as we got moving. When you lose the light and it’s all dark the natural reaction is to fall down. We finally arrived at the cabin about 3 am as it was starting to get light. As it got brighter we couldn’t believe the landscape. Looking back was a mass of sitzmarks as far as we could see! We found when we arrived that there was only room for half of us in the cabin, so we set up a tent camp on the snow about a half mile away from the lodge. We switched mid-week so everyone had a spell in the lodge and equivalent time under canvas.
Our major problem during the week was excess sun, and we took extreme measures to keep from burning. There was no such thing as sun screen back then, and we used zinc ointment to coat our faces and the carbon from burnt cork to coat under our eyes to cut the glare. We also wore broad brimmed hats and had some green cheesecloth (supplied by Ingy) to pin from our
hats to our shirts, again to reduce the impact of those strong suns rays. We would go skiing in the morning on a bowl on Columnar and Lava peaks until the snow got too soft, take a few hours off to rest, and when the snow started to freeze in the afternoon go skiing again for a couple of hours; a super experience it was. The snow melted 8 feet during that week.
At the end of the week most of the gang headed back to civilization, but nine of us took off on a trek over the shoulder of Garibaldi and down to Garibaldi Lake, which we crossed on the snow covered ice to the Black Tusk meadows. We skied there for a final day, and then went out of the park by way of the open slopes down the Barrier into the bottom of Stony (now
Rubble) Creek. We had a tent with us but never had to use it as the weather stayed fantastic, except for the last day, when it clouded over. When we finally ran out of snow, we camped by the creek, and then walked in to Alpine Lodge, that was then near Garibaldi Station, and bought four loaves of bread. In lieu of bread we’d had Rye Crisp on our trip, and felt starved for bread! On our way back to camp we devoured all the bread! The next day (May 15th) we caught the PGE train to Squamish and the boat back to town. Our trip was classified as a “first ascent”, being a winter trip on skis. The “Dirty Nine”, as we called ourselves,
included Charlotte Corbitt, Maysie Ewart, Louise Irwin, Jean Rennie, Bob Crompton, Jim Kilburn, Bob McLellan, Arnie Teasdale, and me. When the boat docked at Britan-nia Beach, Ingrid Granberg met us with an apple pie and ice cream. It was a terrific trip, and the next day those of us graduating attended the ceremonies all suntanned (and burned) and healthy looking. What a super way to graduate!
A blast from the past, May 1946 to be precise
The Dirty Nine’s crossing of Garibaldi Neve: A First Ascent!A reminiscence by Bill Nicholson
7 • Ava lancheEchoes• Apr i l 20 08
The Chilliwack Valley in the Upper Fraser Valley is a well trekked and
climbed terrain with rock ramparts and stone citadels raising their time tried heads in all directions. There are more hikes listed in the Chilliwack Valley than any other in 103 Hikes in Southwestern British Columbia (5th edition).
On December 9, 1956, black fanged Mount Slesse in the Chilliwack Valley claimed all the lives (62) of those on Flight 810.
Disaster on Mount Slesse unfolds this graphic tale and gruesome tragedy in a compelling and most readable manner. The initial chapters prepare the reader for the impending storm, and the following chapters, unravel in sobering detail, the deteriorating weather, the driving winds and snow, the lost communication between airplane and airport in Vancouver, and the search and rescue operation that took place in December 1956.
The Introduction, the fast paced twenty-six chapters and the Epilogue recount how and why the rescue operation was finally deserted in the snow deep and wind swept Chilliwack Valley, and how, in the spring of 1957, a climbing expedition, led by the well known BC mountaineer, Elfrida Pigou, dis-covered the remains of Trans-Canada Air-lines Flight 810. It was not until five months after the crash (May 12, 1957) that Pigou was
able to find the shattered shards of metal. It was yet another BC mountaineering legend and journalist, Paddy Sherman (with Fips Broda) who trekked to the mountain to un-cover in greater detail the victims claimed by Slesse and make such a story known to the larger world.
Disaster on Mount Slesse has many fine
photographs in it, and the combination of text and visual insight make for a read that will not be easily forgotten. O’Keefe and Macdonald, in rare but meticulous journal-istic fashion, have brought the horrific air crash to life, and, by way of conclusion, up-dated the story of the disaster in the final few chapters. There is a discussion on the hard work to get a site preserved and a memorial plaque put up in a couple of locations.
Those who have hiked to the upper level of Slesse where prayer flags still flutter on pro-peller wings, and the water cascades down the sheer face of Slesse cannot but ponder the final few minutes of the crash. The Epilogue: Another Mountain Claims Elfrida Pigou, perhaps fittingly so, ponders the fate and death of the woman who discovered the wreck on Slesse.
Disaster on Mount Slesse is a must read for those interested in airline tragedies, the difficulty of winter search and rescue opera-tions and a history of early mountaineering legends in BC and the Chilliwack Valley. Do purchase and read this keeper of a book. You will read it in one sitting, and be more than keen to pass it onto others.—Ron Dart
Disaster on Mount Slesse: The Story of Western Canada’s Worst Air DisasterBetty O’Keefe & Ian MacdonaldCaitlin Press, 2007
When you’re out in the backcountry don’t forget the lessons recently learned about the dangers of carbon monoxide (CO) poi-soning. You may recall the tragic deaths of Claire Dixon (27) and Cornelius (Kees) Brenninkmeyer (25) on the Wapta Icefield in early January 2007. Over the New Year holidays, the couple had served as volun-teer hut custodians at the Alpine Club of Canada (ACC) Stanley Mitchell Hut in Yoho National Park, as a side trip on their winter Wapta Icefield traverse.
On January 4 the weather had cleared sufficiently for the pair to head back to the ACC Bow Hut. They knew that they would need to spend a night out on the glacier in order to make the 20 kilometre crossing of the Wapta Icefield. Nine days earlier they had dug a snow cave in order to spend the night enroute from the Bow Hut to the Stan-ley Mitchell Hut. Both were experienced mountaineers. Kees was working towards his ACMG ski guide certification. Claire was athletic, had skied all of her life and was the perfect climbing partner. Their unusu-ally long (four week) trip together on the Wapta Icefield had been carefully planned
in advance, including a food cache at the Stanley Mitchell Hut.
Despite their experience and prepara-tion, sometime during the evening of Janu-ary 4 Claire and Kees died as a result of carbon monoxide poisoning. According to Kee’s diary, building snow, wind and dark-ness by late afternoon prevented the pair from going further to find a side slope to dig into. They were forced to dig a trench shelter and secure a tarp over top with their skis and snow blocks. Nestled in their sleeping bags, the next chore was to cook dinner and melt snow in a pot on their sin-gle burner camp stove. Post accident anal-ysis determined that cooking in the tightly sealed enclosure of the snow shelter led to a build up of odourless CO gas. This is a common danger caused by the incomplete combustion of the stove fuel. The mechan-ics of the gas is that it will remain in your cooking space until the area is thoroughly and forcibly ventilated. Thus when their snow shelter started to collapse on them they had too little strength to battle their way out of their sleeping bags and through the build up of snow on top of them.
Why is CO so deadly? It blocks oxygen from entering the blood stream. It is partic-ularly lethal at higher elevations. The oxy-gen carrying component in red blood cells is called haemoglobin. Unfortunately hae-moglobin greatly prefers CO to oxygen. If red blood cells carry CO instead of oxygen, the body becomes hypoxic due to oxygen starved body tissue. The physiologic and neurologic effects have proven to be long term, if not immediately fatal. A near miss might be recognized by fatigue, headache and/or nausea. And prolonged exposure to low concentrations of CO over just a few days can result in considerable poisoning.
Keep the air in your tent or snow shelter clear of CO by ensuring direct outside ven-tilation across the base of your stove with a high CO egress vent hole and/or fully vent your shelter at regular intervals. Or better yet have a separate cooking shelter when-ever possible.
For an excellent discussion on carbon monoxide hazards associated with back-country stoves including recommenda-tions for avodiance go to zenstoves.net/COHazard.htm—Paul Geddes
M o unt a in Wis dom on a S PH y X I aT I o n : T H e S I Le n T K I LLe r
Return undeliverable Canadian address to:The Alpine Club of Canada Vancouver Section c/o Federation of Mountain Clubs of BC 130 W Broadway, Vancouver, BC V5Y 1P3
40033734
Postage paid
a p r i l
12 or 13 Ski Touring or Climbing B2 Dave Henwood 604 874 3377
12 or 13 Glacier Rescue Skills (seminar and field practice) Kelly Galway 604 999 1786
19–20 Needle Peak B2 Rob Brusse [email protected]
18 or 19 Squamish Rock A5 Graham Rowbotham 604 876 9279
18–26 Nirvana Pass Spring Ski Camp — Mike Thompson 604 813 1863
26 or 27 Squamish Rock A5 Graham Rowbotham 604-876-9279
M a y
8 Basic Climbing & Mountaineering Course: Evening Dry School. See page 3 for details
10–11 Basic Climbing & Mountaineering Course: Rope, Rock, Outdoor Climbing.
10–11 Mt Baker via Coleman Glacier B3 Dan Friedmann 604 737 0840
17–18 Basic Climbing & Mountaineering Course: Snow and Mountain Travel
24–25 Basic Climbing & Mountaineering Course: Mountain Ascent (Cerise Creek area)
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7–8 Rock Refresher M. Hansen and T. Knight 604 873 2276
21–22 Cascade Pass Climbing B5 Jay MacArthur 604 987 1232
20–27 Rock Solid Leadership Course in Jasper. See page 3 for details.
28–Jul 1 Marble Canyon Rock Climbing — Mike McMinn 604 312 2040
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5–7 Mountaineering (Leader's choice) — M. Hansen and T. Knight 604 873 2276
A LP INE C LUB O F C ANADAGR AD ING GU IDEL INE S
A Lessthan6hrstravel/day(notstrenuous)
B 6to8hrstravel/day(moderatelystrenuous)
C 8to12hrstravel/day(strenuous)
D Morethan12hrstravel/day(extremelystrenuous)
S Slower-pacedtrip,(suitableforseniors)
1 Gentleslopes.Travelontrailsoverfairlylevelterrain.
2 Moderateslopes.Travelmaybeofftrail.Intermediateskiingabilityrecommended.Easyclimbing.
3 Travelinmountainousterrain.Steepforestandglaciersprobable.Backcountryequipmentandintermediateskiingexperiencerequired.Moderateclimbing.
4 Traveloverdifficultmountainterrain.Advancedbackcountryandmountaineeringexperience,abilityandequipmentrequired.Advancedskimountaineeringormoderatetodifficulticeormixedclimbing.Ropesandbelaysrequired.
5 Technicaliceormixedclimbing.Advancedclimbingexperiencerequired.
S I GN UP FOR A T R I P
ContacttriporganizersbyWednesdaypriortothetrip.Non-membersarewelcometoparticipateonceortwicebeforejoining,andareacceptedonaspaceavailablebasis.
COME TO OUR MEE T ING
Everyoneiswelcometoattendourmeetingsat7:30pmintheFloralHallofVanDusenBotanicalGardens,West37thAvenue&OakStreetinVancouveronthefourthTuesdayofeverymonth(exceptJuly,AugustandDecember).
O RG AN I ZER S ! WA I V ER S !
TriporganizersarerequiredtohaveparticipantssigntheACCwaiverwhichcanbeobtainedfromtheclimbingscheduleorganizer,orfromwww.accvancouver.ca
Mailcompletedwaiversto:ACCVancouverSectionc/oFMCBC130WBroadwayVancouver,BCV5Y1P3
orgivethemtoanymemberoftheexecutive.
Alpine Club of Canada–Vancouver Section presents
Basic Climbing &Mountaineering Course
May 8: Evening Dry SchoolMay 10–11: Rope, Rock and Outdoor Climbing
May 17–18: Snow and Mountain TravelMay 24–25: Mountain Ascent
Details on page 3