September 2006, Vol. 89

WA

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PO Box 352

Seattle, WA

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Washington Alpine Club

BOARD MEETINGProposed --

Wed. Sept 13 Gasworks Park

LOOKING AHEAD

October 15 Annual Members Meeting November 4/5 MOFA Class November 10/12 MOFA Class November 10 Annual Banquet December 09 Snow Dinner

AMONG OURSELVES

David and Danielle Steele gave birth to 9 lb 3 oz. Emmett Logan on August 4, 2006. He joins his three-year-old sister, Tara. Grandparents Pete and MJ Steele are happy to have someone carry on their name. He has the same initials as his great grandfather.

PRESIDENT’S CORNER

What a fantastic summer we have had! After a cool and wet start in May, we got in to a long stretch of dry and even hot weather. As usual, WAC folks have been all over the Cascades, all over the state, Canada, and even to places around the world! The WAC Intermediate Climbing class starts soon. This is a great class with the best instructors this side of the Cascade Crest! The students in the class have high potential and were lucky to get one of the limited spaces available.

This week the weather is starting to cool off and our thoughts are be-ginning to turn to those dusty boards leaning against the wall in the garage. Pete Alderson already has the Winter Backcountry Travel Class organized, and Jeff Wright already has the Telemark Ski Class organized. Are they not awesome? Wow! Sometime in October the summits of the Snoqualmie Peaks and Northern Cascades will have a pretty coating of white. Can you predict the day of the first snow at Guye Cabin? If you are betting on snow, don’t for-get to pick up your annual ski pass. The price will go up at the end of October. It only takes 7 days to pay for the pass. If you or the kids ski, or are enrolled in les-sons, then the pass might work for you. Don’t forget the Annual Meeting coming up October 15. Mark you cal-endar. We want a full house! This year we will have a full slate of events- Open house, kids tree planting, potluck lunch, annual meeting, maybe a slide show, and later a conservation summit. Check inside your bulletin for more times and details. I’m looking for folks to help out with each of the events. Have you seen Guye Cabin lately? Our good friend Dale Ott loaded, hauled, and stored over 2000 pounds of coal! ( Ellie Graham and her son helped unload one load) He has done this every year for as long as anyone can remember. Guye Cabin has seen a lot of use this summer, almost every weekend. Mary Jane Steele again hosted the Old Timers at Guye Cabin last month. What a won-derful and fun group of people they are! Trust me, the people of the WAC have

ON LINE

ANNUAL ALL MEMBER MEETING -Sept 26

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WASHINGTON ALPINE CLUBOrganized 1916 Incorporated 1923

MEMBER OF: Federation of Western Outdoor Clubs, Washington Trails Assn.

Washington Environmental Council. Washington Wilderness Coalition.Mid-

FORC CoalitionThe primary objective of this club is to en-

courage the healthful enjoyment of the great outdoors, to preserve its natural beauty and to promote good fellowship among all lovers

of nature. PO Box 352 Seattle Wa. 98111

206-467-3042WAC Home page:

www.washingtonalpineclub.org

Board Of Trustees President Mike Mahanay 206.933.6801 1 st V P Pat O’Brien 206.527.68812nd V P Dave Mitchell 425.235.1039Treasurer Ira Rushwald 206.725.2725Secretary Lynn Simmons 206.543.9024Ex-Officio Pres Junior Officers President Elect John Sargent 360.377.3217 At Large Jeff Wright 206.244.7410At Large Laurie Rich At Large Joe SambartoJr Secretary Kristen Kaupang

Alpine Division _______ Climbing Class Kris Arnold 206-459-3449 co-chairs Katherine Pryde (KP) 206-240-1714 Mica Schonbeck 206-790-2051

Winter Division_______ Telemark Ski Jeff Wright 206.244.7410 Back Country Pete Alderson 206.409.9657 Skiing

Property & Membership __ Cabin Chmn Bill Hooper 206.325.2851Work Party Bill Hooper 206.325.2851Member processing Lynne Miller 206.789.8093Publicity Kay Ishi 206.528.5630Cabin Supply Tami Sargent Public Relations________ Bulletin Editor Bill Hooper 206.325.2851FWOC Mike Mahanay 206.933.6801Circulation Dave Mitchell 425.235.1039By Laws Dave Mitchell 425.235.1039

MOVING ??Send change of address forms to:Washington Alpine Club, PO Box 352Seattle, WA 98111email: Lynn Miller lynne@ohana.org Dave Mitchell dtmitch@mindspring.com

not changed in its 90-year history. We should be very proud that we were able to stumble into, coerced into, or born into our Club! Pat O’Brien is looking for two folks to be the Climbing Class Chairs for the next year or two. Do you have time take the lead in Club projects such as the Installation and Snow Dinners? Most of us are not born leaders, but are continually working to improve our leadership skills. Like rope man-agement, running, Nordic skiing, and telemarking it takes practice! Can you organize and lead a successful ascent of Mount Rainier or Mount Olympus? The WAC is an excellent place to learn and practice leadership skills that will aid you both on the mountain and in your everyday life. Don’t delay! Be a part of the WAC into the 21st Century! Mike

ANNUAL MEETING

Sunday Oct 15 At Guye Cabin! Can you volunteer to help with any of the events below? Kids Tree Planting 9-11 (rsvp) Open House at 9-11 Comfort Food Specialty Potluck at 12, Member Meeting at 1:30, Snoqualmie Pass Conservation Summit at 4 Meet the WAC climbers, skiers, and hikers. Learn more about our special Club. Bring your best specialty dish! Get to know historic Guye Cabin. See all the work done over the summer! Vote in the new 2007 Board. Do you have ideas or suggestions for the Club? This is a great time to bring them up! We will also hear the Treasurer’s report and all the chair and committee reports. If you are out of town and cannot make the meeting, please mail your proxy form to Lynn Simmons. ( Avail-able Oct 01)

WORK PARTY REPORT

Our final official work party of the summer, Aug 12, was a great success! (We’ll do some more work, so if you are heading up, and have some free time, please let me know and I’ll give you some options of things to do) We had a feast for lunch! Cookout of burgers, veggie burgers, along with many vegetarian options! Plus salads, fruit, and deserts. The new floor looked so good we could of ate off of it, but we still used the tables! The huckleberries were ripe in the forest. Besides having fun, renewing friend-ships, and initiating new friendships we managed to do quite a bit of work! All the wood is split and stored! The trails are cleared, the yard is mowed and weed-wacked! The windows are spotless inside and out, and one was replaced. Some more touch up painting was done outside. Progress was made on additional smoke detectors. Ellie took the fireplace room curtains home to have cleaned. Analysis was done on the bridge repair, a contractor was contacted for fill. Dale Ott delivered over 2000 lbs of coal for the coming winter. Dave Harrington donated and delivered a new foosball table! Extra thanks to Ellie, Dale, and Dave for going the extra mile!!!

We were 16 strong! Thanks to every-one who attended and worked so hard!!!!! (I hope I didn’t miss anyone) Magda Moss, Michael Balise, Ellie Gra-ham, Allison Longley Jim Mossman, Karel Zikel, Lee Parsons Jeff Wright, Dale Ott, Dave Mitchell Mike Hoffner and three Hoffner kids Dave Harrington, Mike Mahanay

CABIN SMOKE DETECTORS

Eight additional smoke detectors are being installed in Guye cabin, in sleeping areas and other common areas. They will provide an extra measure of safety and protection.

THINGS NEEDED FOR GUYE CABIN

Can you help out with any of these things? Replacement couches/chairs for Fireplace room. Sturdy Wooden chairs and small table Side by side refrigerator Historic climbing, skiing equip-ment, memorabilia, photos, stories of the WAC Ping pong Table, Snowshoes Firewood, Other?

OLD-TIMER’S REUNION

The Sixth Annual Old-timer’s Reunion was held on August 26. Temperatures were in the 80’s and the people attending had a grand time catching up on each other’s lives. There were many oohs and ahhs over the refinished floor and how nice the cabin looked. President Mike Mahaney put together a slide show using pictures that Lyda Robinson had sent, along with some of Pete Steele’s slides. Dave Mitchell showed them on his lap top computer. Present were Marion, Keith and Robin Alloway, Eldon Dobnik, Bob and Lenora Holland, Marvin and Eileen Ficken, Bill Manderville, Jean Thornber, Jim Hewitt, Hans and Myrt Heia, Virginia Webb, Karl and Mary Petterson, Dave Mitchell, David, Dani-elle, Tara and Emmett Steele, Dale Ott, Bill and Judy Hooper and Pete and M.J. Steele. President Mike came by to see if he could hear some stories of the “olden days”. Unfortunately many had left so he went on to vacuum mat-tresses! Recognition was given to those who qualified in various categories. The person who joined the longest ago was Jean Thornber who joined in 1942. Eldon Dobnik was the old-timer who had been away from the cabin the longest.

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Dave Mitchell and Bill Hooper had put in the most volunteer hours for WAC, and David Steele was the youngest “old-timer.” We all could think of many friends that we would have liked to see. Hope-fully next year they will be able to make it. MJ Steele GARY BRILL AVALANCHE AWARE-NESS AND LEVEL I COURSES Many people in the WAC have been through Gary’s program. Gary has been to Guye Cabin, and we’ve had the op-portunity to ski with him. These practical and popular classes familiarize the winter backcountry enthusiast with hazard recognition and techniques for safe travel in avalanche terrain. Classroom sessions include trip planning, safe travel, terrain and route finding, mountain weather, emphasizing the Cascade and Olympic Mountains, and snowpack factors that affect both stability and evaluation. Classroom sessions are the same for the 2-day (16 hour) Avalanche Awareness program and the 3-day (24 hour) Level I course. The Avalanche Awareness program in-cludes one full day of field work, which stresses safe travel techniques, terrain, snowpack observation and testing, and the effective use of new generation avalanche transceivers. Many students will want to go on to complete the Level I course by attending an additional field day which focuses on safe travel, route-finding and snowpack observations. Created by Gary Brill and now in its 21st season, the Avalanche Awareness course, revised in 2005, reflects more than 35 years of backcountry skiing experience, 25 years of guiding and professional avalanche training. Profes-sional member AAA, Affiliate member CAA. http://www.geocities.com/garya-brill/avalanche.html

MOFA WILDERNESS FISRT AID CLASS

Demand has been overwhelming! The class is already full for now. The WAC shares the available spaces with other outdoor Clubs. This highlights the need for WAC instructors to do a second class. If you have taken MOFA, please consider going on and taking the MOFA Instructors class offered later in the fall to help us meet the demand. Mountaineering First Aid (MOFA) is a 24-hour first aid course for the wilderness traveler. The course meets the requirements for the American Red Cross (ARC) Standard First Aid course with 15-hours of additional wilderness focused first aid training. The volunteer instructors are certified by the ARC. The class is held one weekend November 04/05 at the VA Hospital conference room in Seattle plus a full weekend No-vember 10/12 at beautiful Guye Cabin at Snoqualmie Pass.

CASCADE CREST TRAIL/PACIFIC CREST TRAIL

In the late 1920’s, the idea first came about to have a trail all the way from Canada to Mexico along the summit crest of the mountain ranges. The first sections made were the John Muir trail in California, the Oregon Skyline Trail from Hood to Crater Lake, and the Cascade Crest Trail in Washington. The latter was created by examining existing trails and connecting them between 1935 and 1938 in a big YMCA relay to link them together. By the 1970’s, trails were being made to cover most of the rest of the distance between Canada and Mexico, and instead of being thought of as 3 state trails, it was to be one big National Scenic Trail... called the Pacific Crest Trail. Mike

SNOQUALMIE PASS TUNNEL

Are you in the mood for a cold, possibly wet bike ride in the dark, don’t wait for the weather to cooperate! Just head for the Snoqualmie Tunnel, exit 54 off Interstate 90. You won’t need any sunscreen! Do bring your flashlights! The 2.3-mile tunnel was built between 1908 and 1911 by the Chicago, Milwau-kee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad and carried people and freight through the Cascades for over seventy years. It was the longest electric railroad in the world. The railroad operated between 1908 and 1980, when the company went into bankruptcy. Now the tracks are gone, but the railroad’s right-of-way forms part of the popular 113-mile Iron Horse Trail, which is managed by the Washington State Parks and Recreation Commission. Mike

IRON HORSE STATE PARK

The park is open year round for day use. The Snoqualmie Pass Tunnel closes Nov. 1 each year. The tunnel usually reopens May 1 each year. A Sno-Park permit is required from Nov. 15 through April 30 for the groomed track skiing!http://www.parks.wa.gov/parkpage.asp?selectedpark=Iron%20Horse Mike

WAC T SHIRTS

Kristin Kaupang with Milos Pec, has been working on a design for a WAC t-shirt. Folks have requested a wicking shirt, so Kristin is gathering the prices. Show your WAC spirit and put in your order! We hope to have them available by the first part of October.

NOSTALGIA

1936 - One of the largest work proj-ects at Guye Cabin during the past year was tearing out the little closet under the stairway in the main room, moving the heater under the stairs and panel-ing, staining and varnishing the corner, formerly used as a kitchen, to conform with the remainder of the room. Moving the stove will eliminate the congestion around the front door and give more room for dances and parties on Saturday evenings. (ed. note) Until 1957, when the north addition of family room and women’s dorm was built, the cabin consisted of the present dining room and two stories of dorm. The CCC then built the kitchen and back porch in exchange for use of the cabin. Access to the cabin was by trail across Commonwealth Creek from the summit.) One big improvement at the prop-erty will be noticed before the cabin is reached. It is a new bridge over Com-monwealth Creek to take the place of the old single log crossing. All who have used the old log in winter will appreci-ate the new bridge, which is built to last, of red cedar and is wide enough to ski across safely. The bridge was constructed by CCC boys under the USFS as part payment for the use of our cabin curing the past three months. Credit should go to Leonard Kirk for this negotiation. The first snow of the season came on Monday, Oct. 28th and though we were glad to see the ski season was close at hand, it handicapped a work party of 32 people at the cabin on Nov. 3rd, who came to work on the ski course under Herbert Glover.

TRIP REPORTS See more in the online bulletin---

Dave Steele welding the entrance gate post together. Hopefully the snow won’t break it this year.

Old Timers day at the cabin - 2006

Seola Beach -Many years ago the WAC owned some prop-erty at Seola Beach, in SW Seattle. Many activities and picnics took place there. It was sold. This is what it looks like today. If you would like to view it. Drive the bottom of Seola Beach |Dr. and look north.