After successfully completing the NOLS Alaska mountaineering course, I finally got back home today. I’ll sort out all the notes I’ve jotted down during the trip and share my learning and living experience on this blog soon. Below is a short description written by Pat, one of the four outstanding instructors, about what we did during the 30-day period:
AKM6 7/15/06 Course Summary
This Alaska mountaineering course was composed of 11 students and 3 instructors. The expedition took place in the Chugach Mountains of south central Alaska. The group traveled up the Matanuska glacier and focused on basic camp and travel skills. They moved up to 7,100 feet and learned the basics of roped travel and crevasse rescue. Once this foundation of skills was established they took five days in an attempt to climb Mt. Marcus Baker. This is the highest peak in the Chugach. They ended up making it to the slightly lower north summit at 12,360 feet. The expedition then moved towards turtle flats in difficult whiteout conditions. At 8,500 feet they encountered a storm with wind gusts of over 50 mph. After the storm the course took the opportunity to climb on turtle flats in small groups. The course then started to move down the Matanuska with students leading the majority of the time. The expedition covered 85 miles and gained 15,000 feet of elevation over the course of 28 field days. There were three rerations done by bush plane throughout the course. There were no evacuations on this course. In closing, this was a fun and cohesive expedition that performed well in these challenging mountains.
Dear Little Po:
Welcome back!!
There are snows everywhere in the photos!!
[...] Looks like there will be some good posts at Final Frontier – Little Po is back from mountaineering school. Looks like she now has much more high altitude experience than I do… previous post: Steph Davis Interview :: [...]
哇！背包好大阿！ 光開照片就好滿足了哩
對了，大方巾一共六條，一條250元台幣。(結果比我想像中的貴)
有需要的話，還可以再幫你寄喔！
藑鷸，
謝謝你嚕。背包是很大，那個有110升喔。因為要裝很多東西，第一天打包好，一上彈簧秤，呃，65 pounds …
[...] I’ve been working very hard to become a mountaineer. On my way of mountaineer-to-be pursuit, I have discovered that not only is it a cash-burning path, but also it requires arduous physical and mental training. It has been really hard, and countless times I wanted to settle with what I have. After all I know I am a competent backpacker, and is it really that important for me to be a mountaineer? After I came back from my NOLS Alaska mountaineering course, one of my friends asked me “why do you want to climb?” I couldn’t give him a concrete reason, but what I had experienced and felt in Alaska have shown me clearly that there is no turning back. I want to be there, and I’m working on it. [...]
[...] I ice climbed the weekend of January 20 at Lake Placid, New York. Technically, this was not my first time ice climbing; the first time was in some unnamed crevasse in Alaska during my NOLS mountaineering course. The first experience was great even though we weren’t offered formal instructions on how to swing the ice tools or how to kick the crampons. We simply did whatever moves we thought fit under the warm, bright sunlight – everybody had fun. I thought I loved ice climbing. [...]