Today Margaret, our second guide, joined the group. We woke up to Forest and Margaret joking as she unpacked her bag and arranged things. We made breakfast (everyone pooled water for boiling and then divided it up for instant oatmeal, except for Jenny who ate a Clif bar and buffalo sticks). Afterward, camp was tidied up, food was hidden inside sleeping bags in the tent, layers were thrown into our packs and we headed off down the moraine to the glacier. There, we pulled on our harnesses for the first time ad learned how to use crampons. (4 wheel drive!) There is a particular method to walking with crampons that we all had to learn- a waddling, slightly duck-footed gate to keep from shredding your pants and legs. You also have to learn to keep your feet parallel to the ground at all times so the tines can bite, unlike normal boots where you often use the edges in steep terrain. This required a level of ankle flexibility most of us lacked. After walking around on the ice, trying to see how steep a slope we could climb without sprawling on our faces, we roped up and learned how to move in a four man rope team. This required constant communication and coordination to keep ropes spread out but moving smoothly. We moved around the glacier for a couple of hours, practicing our crampon and rope skills while looking for an appropriate place to practice crevasse rescue. When none of the crevasses in the area looked promising, we headed back to a flatter area to practice building snow anchors. Along the way we learned more about the dangers of the glacier as we passed under an ice fall and we were encouraged not to stop as we were in the firing range. While eating lunch we got another scare, as several hundred feet above us on the top of a moraine some hikers appeared. Their dog spotted a marmot and leaped off the ridge and onto the steep loose shoulder to give chase. It soon realized the danger it was in and started trying to reach its owners above. It couldn’t make it back up, however, and on each attempt it would lose traction, falling and skidding down the slope towards the sheer cliff immediately below. Worse, his owners lay down on the the ridge, hanging over the highly unstable edge in an attempt to reach him. Everyone held their breath in horror, and our guides were certain that we were going to shortly be dealing with at best a dead dog. Fortunately, the dog managed to lunge close enough to the top for his owners to snag his paw and pull him to safety. After that hair raising experience, we got to practice building snow anchors (digging a trench with your ice axe and burying the axe or another strong object with a sling tied around it in the trench). We then moved on to the most amusing part of the day; crevasse self arrest. We were roped into pairs and took turns being the victim and rescuer. The victim would run downhill, yanking the rescuer off their feet, who then had to preform a self-arrest to stop the “fall”. Once stopped the rescuer had to build a snow anchor while holding the victim (who was pulling with all their might), and then transfer the rope holding the victim to the anchor. Some people performed their roles as victim more vigorously than others of course. Finally, we headed back up to camp for supper. The water was boiled and everyone prepared their food, and then we all sat together eating and drinking hot cocoa and chatting. Forest impressed us all by making homemade, fresh Thai, with peanut sauce and fish while we enjoyed freeze dried meals. Shortly afterward, the heavier rain started to hit and everyone retreated to their tent for the night. It was decided that Jenny should have the middle position in the tent between Libby and I to keep her warmer. With the design of the tent being an asymmetrical almost pentagon shape, Lib and I found our feet smooshed against the wet ends of the tent while Jenny, who stands at 5’1”, had plenty of room to stretch out and store stuff above her head. She had also acquired Libby’s never before worn Patagonia Capalene shirt to go with the one she had borrowed from me earlier.

Trip score so far: Jenny has acquired all the water from one of our bottles, Dave’s spoon or fork (whichever he was not using), two Patagonia shirts, prime tent space, ice ax and two ice screws (brought to camp by Margaret). (Reader, before you start feeling resentment for our groupmate just know that the trip proves to be miserable for this camper).

Off to snooze,

One Shirt-Less Steven and Libby

What a way to spend a one year anniversary?!