THE ASCENT OF DEATH (day 1)

We met at MIT at 6am Monday morning and headed north. Before we could start trekking up the Gulf of Slides (GoS) Trail we had a few things we/I needed… First Doogie and I needed a mug to drink out of so Einstein’s Bagel shop was nice enough to sell us each on of those refillable cups and everyone enjoyed one last meal inside. Next I needed a down jacket, because it is freaking freezing up there! So with our last minute shopping done we drove to the Notch and loaded our sleds.

Because we were going to be camping for 4 days we needed to carry in tents, stoves, food (mostly sausage and various forms of sodium), sleeping bags and all the other camping necessities on top of our regular ski gear. All this means we were carrying a LOT of weight behind us, up 3 miles and 2000 vertical feet. Basically four us had sleds attached to us like mules and as we skinned up we pulled… and pulled… and pulled. The other three wore multi-day camping backpacks (not light) and helped push the sleds as we pulled. Honestly a miserable experience that drained so much energy out of me that I refused to use my skins for the remainder of the trip to avoid remembering that experience (I’m crying right now thinking about it – don’t look at me).

After reaching our campsite at the base of the GoS, westill had plenty of work to do before we could go skiing. I had never been winter camping and to be honest I’ve only been camping a few times ever so when it came to setting up camp I had no idea how much work we actually had to do. First we chose an avalanche and wind safe site with room for three tents and room for a “kitchen”. Next we had to flatten the snow and dig out space for the tents (two of which had no floors and therefore needed deep pits to insulate them – don’t worry mom mine had a floor) after setting up the tents we started digging out the kitchen. The kitchen was a U shaped snow bench that held our stove and butts, it was great!

Once camp was set it was time boil snow to make water and cook meal 1, mac and cheese with chicken, delicious… sitting in our kitchen, freezing (it was -10F) I was stoked to be done with the heavy work and excited to get some turns the next day without having to skin up the 3 mile trail before reaching the fun skiing (yes that’s why we bothered to camp – easy access).

THE CAMPING TRIP OF DEATH

Mid February I received an email from Igor asking if I wanted to go backcounty skiing in New Hampshire over the weekend, while last year this would have been a normal request and an easy answer, this year I’m in college on Long Island. So I wrote back and said that I couldn’t make it but my “Spring Break” was in late March and if everyone wanted to work their schedules around me, we could go on that skiing/camping trip we had always talked about. Well lucky for me MIT has the same spring break as Hofstra Law and everyone was in. A gabillion emails later Igor, Doogie, Huck, Ernesto, Toma, Ali, and I were on 93 North headed to the Gulf of Slides on Mt. Washington. These next four posts will go day by day over the camping trip of death - as named by my beautiful girlfriend.

Yikes 7/1/07

Sunday after a day of rafting I went back to Rumney, to go rock climbing with Igor. As previously stated I find it difficult to write about rock climbing but feel compelled to tell you about Sunday briefly because there were so many firsts for me.

We warmed up on a 5.8 that I cleaned and rappelled off of. That was my first rappel.

We climbed a multi-pitch route! It was super easy, basically a hike but good for figuring out the rope system on multi-pitch especially when the other multi-pitch we were going to try doesn’t exist! That was my first multi-pitch climb.

Ok, I’ll try harder on this next first. We had just finished a fun 5.8 called Drilling for Dollars and we were waiting for one of two other routes to open up. Either a 5.8+ or a 5.10a that are both very popular, however the Quebexicans were all over the place, mainly on these 2 routes, so Igor opted for a 5.10d, named something – I imagine it was named something but I can’t be sure. Before starting the route, Igor said, “its time to get over my fear of falling”. And that’s what he did, yikes. This is a very difficult route (as you may have guessed from the 5.10d rating). So I had Igor on belay about as tight as I could get him without pulling down on him when he came off the rock. He was about 4 feet above his last draw and it took about 6 feet to catch him which even though I’m not an MIT student equals about a 10 foot fall. For my mother’s sake I won’t go into detail but this was my first big catch (I made that term up I mean belaying and stopping someone else on a big fall).

Igor was fine and we took some time to chill while the Quebexicans yucked it up in French, English and Spanish (all very funny) while still climbing our intended routes. Finally, about an hour later, they got off Lonesome Dove, the 5.10a the Igor had his heart set on. I told Igor “I doubt I’ll get up this but I’ll give it a shot.” Igor decided that rather than lead, lower, belay me until I gave up then have to clean the route he would lead, top belay and then move over to the 5.8+ from above. That way I could finish my last route and Igor wouldn’t have to climb the same route twice. Igor had no problems with this extremely fun climb and set up to give me a shot. This climb is very balancy and does not have many jugs (big holds). As I got past the bottom and ran out of jugs, I tried to go off route and climb a crack but I soon realized (by realized I mean I came off the rock twice) that going up the route was my only chance. At first I didn’t see any holds but eventually I changed my perspective and noticed the smallest cracks and bumps. After deciding to climb the real route things started going really well. I climbed my first 5.10a!!!!!! and we went home.

High Side 6/30/07

Not our pics, again

I thought I signed up for another kayaking trip with MITOC but because it turned out to be a rafting trip, I’m still alive. 9 of us left MIT at 6am and headed out to the Dryway, a class 4 section of the Deerfield river (class 4 means big whitewater and is why I say that I would have died in a kayak). At the put in the MIT cars met the RPI cars, we ran shuttle to the take out, inflated our rafts and we were good to go/have a safety meeting because I hadn’t been in a raft since I was 13 and it was on a lazy river.

Oddly enough, when the group split into the rafts, all the BC skiers ended up in 1, odd. Ernesto was our guide and Doogie was training to guide which left Ali and I up front along with one non BC skier, Slobodan. The first run, led by our experienced guide was a lot of fun. The Dryway starts right below the release of a dam and about 100 yards into the run, we hit the rapids. Unlike the Winni, where I went kayaking, the Deerfield is cold water and as we ran the first rapid, I felt how cold, with multiple waves crashing into me.

During our safety meeting we were told to keep paddling until we were told to stop and we must have done a good job because Ernesto decided it would be cool to take us surfing! I didn’t know you could surf in a raft but we did it! Our first shot didn’t workout but we caught the eddy and gave it another try. Ernest told us, “when I say forward, I mean forward. Seriously, jump forward.” And as we paddled hard into the wave and finally got into the surf we heard “FORWARD” and Ali and I basically jumped into the water with the wave pearling (I’m guessing on that term) over the bow and the 2 of us pushing all of our weight on it, we were pressed between the water and rubber! Sitting there on the wave, not paddling but just balancing is an awesome feeling and because I was so focused on the task at hand I didn’t even notice the freezing water.

As we made our way down, we ran through a handful of rapids and even took one of them switch! The second to last rapid on the Dryway is called, Dragon Tooth and it is massive (we saw multiple kayakers swim). We head into the rapid paddling hard and follow the tongue half way through, when all of a sudden we come up on a wall of water. As we hit the water my contact shifted in my eye and I had to close my eyes to make sure I wouldn’t lose them. This meant I paddled the mankiest section of the river blind which also meant I probably wasn’t being so useful because I was hitting the side of the raft with my paddle rather than the water! Either way, Dragon Tooth is a sweet rollercoaster that guarantees you are soaked at the take out!

The last rapid, while not as intense as Dragon Tooth, was plenty exciting. It starts with an entry about as wide as a raft that drops about 2 feet (it looks big) into a re-circulating hole called Terminator! Ernesto lead us through rest of the maze (oh yeah this rapid is called Labyrinth) without a problem and we were out of the boat and loading Ali’s Civic with rafts (funny picture).

For the second run, Doogie was our guide! We didn’t get to surf but we really had a good time! Evidently, it takes 3 seconds to get a raft to start moving in the direction a guide wants it to and Doogie, while an experienced kayaker, had a little trouble adjusting to this.

We made it through a few rapids sans incident but soon enough, Doogie railed us into a rock and Ali went for a swim. Luckily Ernesto was able to pull him out right away. After that rapid, came another shallow rapid section, where Doogie did something, (I have no idea what that something is) Ali and I kept paddling and then we heard some commotion, looked back and Doogie is sitting on a rock in the middle of the rapid, Ernesto is guiding again and we are being told to paddle hard up river to try to rescue Doogie. We didn’t make it to Doogie so we had to eddy out about 40 feet from where he was. Ernesto tossed him a rescue line and pulled him through the still freezing water.

After laughing at Doogie I asked him if he was ok and with chattering teeth he said “cold”. But Doogie manned up and got back in the drivers seat! One more rapid and the excitement began. Doogie was taking on a maze of a rapid trying to get us river left of a large boulder when all of a sudden, he didn’t. The right side of the boat slammed up into the boulder and we were pinned. Let me restate that, pinned sounds so nice and comfortable. The right side of the boat SLAMMED into the boulder and the water started pushing the left side down so the right side was moving up the boulder. Yes this means the boat was going VERTICLE! Ernesto yelled “HIGH SIDE” as Ali and I were jumping up on the right side of the boat to level us out. We managed to counterbalance the water and ended the rapid going switch, hooting and hollering, stocked to, one not be swimming and two have had such a rush! Thanks Doogie that was sweeter than candy.

Doogie pulled through and led us through Dragon Tooth without a problem. We picked up 2 kayakers who had lost their boats and ran Labrynth (Doogie nailed this one as well) with their dead weight. The BC ski boat had an awesome day!

Sport 6/16/07

Stealing pics again: we totally didn't climb this

I have a confession to make, I’ve been climbing and not posting. We drive to the rock, walk to the top, build an anchor and then basically yuk it up, on and off the wall. While I’m hooked on climbing, I just haven’t been inspired to write a trip report that sounds like: “and he moved his right arm then his left foot and … he did it again and again…” You get my point but on Saturday Igor, Doogie, Ali and I went to Rumney and I am now inspired to write a TR about climbing.

Friday afternoon, a few minutes before 5 we all get a text message from Igor asking if we wanted to go to Rumney the next day. (Originally Igor was going to Maine and being that he is the only one among us with quick draws or webbing that meant none of us were going anywhere.) We all said yes, Doogie and Ali went out and bought harnesses and we all met at 6am and headed back to, where else… NH!

12 hours of this and see how your neck feels

We hit the parking lot at 8ish and reached the Parking Lot Wall a few minutes later. Igor is the only experienced climber among us and was forced to lead the first few climbs because none of us had climbed sport (heads up - scroll down on these links until you see the term)before. So Igor set us up on a 5.7 warm up and then we moved on down the same wall to another 5.7 and a 5.9. The sun and people were coming out in force and we ready to take a hike (about 30 minutes) to the Hinterlands, where we could find a little more space.

not one of us but we did climb this

Before we left we had to clean our routes and take down our ropes. This was my first experience cleaning or doing anything technical related to climbing! After that experience I reiterated to Igor that I would be stoked if he would teach me how to lead and of course let me borrow his gear, it’s hard to lead without gear (note to self – get rich – buy gear/buy gear - go further into debt!).

Igor on the first climb

We ate lunch then started hiking up to the Hinterlands. Approaching the shark fin shaped rock we were are all excited to be getting on such a tall climb with what looked like the possibility of awesome views and a relatively small group of climbers around us. Igor referenced his guide book, (note to self – kill Igor take all of his stuff – I mean buy guide books) set his pack down, pointed to a climb called ‘cold feet’ and told me that I should be able to lead it! I wasn’t really expecting him to actually let me lead but I was stoked to have the opportunity! It was a 5.7 and relatively simple but my nerves were going crazy all the way until I clipped into the anchor! My first lead and nobody died! At the top I was so worried about securing the rope that I never took my eyes off the rock and missed the great views.

I shrunk

After that Igor redpointed a 5.10a called ‘chicken parts’, which was awesome to watch. This gave Doogie and I a shot at a climb well over our heads but because it started to rain on us we didn’t really get to give it our all and totally believe that we could get over the crux if we had a little more time!

So the rain came down while we cleaned up our gear and got ready to head back to Boston but as we finally got everything in order the rain stopped. The climb we were looking at, ‘Dolt’, opened up and we unpacked our gear and watched Igor nail another one. Dolt is 30 meters and a ton of fun. It has a crux about 10 feet up and another one 20 feet from the top (which I decided to avoid by climbing to the right – ok I cheated but one crux is enough and I needed to clean the route so Igor didn’t have to climb it again) . After the second crux there is 20 feet left but it’s tiring and tough which made reaching the top even more enjoyable. The view was awesome but being 30 meters up it was hard to talk to the people at the base and when I said “someone left webbing up here!” no one heard me and I just left it up there. It turned out that Igor had forgotten it while he was building the anchor and I should have brought it down with me (sorry bud).

Igor - with Doogie spotting

I was able to lead another climb near dolt and after that we headed back down to the area near the car via Waimea (a beautiful, wave looking slab of rock – and as we decided, something that we wouldn’t be able to climb for years – 5.11 and up) the 5.8 crag (mostly 5.9 or harder climbs oddly enough) where we met up with (randomly) some other MITOCers (they are the legit climbers not BC skiers who are looking for things to do – Igor excluded). They talked us into one more climb (a cool down right Igor? – no a 5.9 is not a cool down!) and a swim! The swim, at 8pm, was a perfect ending to an awesome day and as of now the plan is to head back to Rumney in 2 weeks!

this is 'jolt' - just around the fin from dolt

Diversifying my portfolio 6/3/07

Surfing (but not anyone I know)

Skiing is over. Ok, I said it, I'm not happy about it but it's true. Now, thanks to MITOC I will try to expand my "outdoor portfolio" (Toma 2007). As previously mentioned I have begun rock climbing and as of Sunday I am hooked on 'paddling'.

Ernesto is an experienced paddler and was willing to take Ali and I out for our first time ever and Doogie out for his first time in 2 years along with 3 other newbies (Paddington, Slavica and Jaso) and 4 experienced kayakers (Goga, Juan, Tudjman and Niko). We headed back up to NH, which Doogie and I had missed dearly, and 'put in' at the top of the upper Winnipesauke River.

I had been excited for and fearing this day since mid-winter when Doogie, Toma and Ernesto had hinted that they might take me to the 'white water'! I knew it would be fun, it's melted snow it had to be fun but I also worried that it would be incredibly cold. I knew that the
first thing the experienced paddlers would make me do was 'wet exit' (turn upside down and swim out of my boat) and I would be freezing for the rest of the day. Luckily the water was warm and I was not too cold to get back in my boat and learn the ropes.
Ernesto was in a canoe (but not that one)

We split into 2 groups Ali and me with Doogie, Juan and Goga as our instructors and the rest in the second group. Our instructors were incredibly nice to have spent their day on the lazy river with us teaching us the basics while they could have been a few miles south,
paddling a harder section of the river (thank you very much above listed 'instructors').

The first thing we learned was to keep the bottom of our boats to the current and as easy as that may seem I continually forgot and found myself on the shore draining my boat of water, (yes, that means flipping over unintentionally) thanks to my slow learning. The first run down, I managed to flip twice and the second flip was right before the biggest rapid section we went through. This meant my whole group had to rush through and pick up the pieces, instead of messing around on the fun section.

Luckily, there was a second run but before that we were able to work on our 'rolls'. This entails intentionally flipping over and flailing around like an idiot until you run out of breath and then wet exit because it is incredibly hard to figure out how to do this properly. Somehow I figured it out and was able to successfully roll about half the times that I tried, not including the last attempt which meant that I never 'dry exited'.

Back to the fun stuff, on the second run we all went as one big group and there was no structured lessons but more just helpful hints as we quickly made our way down to the rapids were the newbies were able to watch the experienced group 'surf' an eddy/wave (that might be the wrong spelling and term, oops). All day Niko, Juan, Goga, Tudjman and Ernesto were messing around with their boats like a skier does when they're bored (nose presses, olies, spinning 3's, I'll figure out what paddlers call these things later) but watching them surf was something else.

They passed the rapid, got into an eddy and then paddled back into the wave, where they could stop paddling and just balance on the rotating water (if you want to really understand what the water was doing so they could do this look somewhere else because I don't know).

While we were watching the show, Ernesto decided to play a little prank on me. He unscrewed my drain plug, which explains why my feet were getting wet, even though kayaks have skirts that seal off the water from getting in! (well done sir)
first rapid section (completed by unknown paddler)

After the surfing was over we headed back to the section where we were practicing rolls earlier and worked on rolling, an essential aspect of paddling, some more before we headed home.

Thanks again to all the instructors and feel free to take me again as soon as possible!

Bagged a summit, took a nap (six de mayo, 2007)

coolest thing ever? I think so

I picked Doogie up and we headed over to MIT, where we met up with Toma and Ali (as in Mohammed Ali). We were headed to Monroe Brook and Oakes Gulf again but this time we decided to take it a bit easier. It was 6am not 4 and the ride up consisted, mostly of plans to paddle white water next weekend rather than sleeping, as was the case 2 weeks before.

boney

The plans were made for a sweet trip to paddle next weekend and all of a sudden we realized that we were going skiing and needed to get out of summer mode and back into skiing mode (obviously not our boots those were in walk mode!)

not bad but not 2 weeks ago

The scene at the base of the cog had changed dramatically since two weeks ago when Igor declared,"this looks like Alaska!" The snow had receded about 100 yards into the trail and we decided it would be best for our skins to keep them off the pine needle infested snow which, of course, meant we would have to boot pack it up the whole way.

AT boots rock

By 'whole way', we had originally assumed that would mean to the top of the skiable section of Monroe but as we reached that section and assessed the kevlar esc snow we decided to head over to Oakes (our original plan was to ski Monroe all day). As we approached Oakes the summit of Monroe called out to us "bag my summit!" or something like that, I can't remember exactly! So we did and unlike last trip, where we put down three huge runs, on Oakes before we ate, we stayed on top of Monroe for a while and decided that the views and wind protection demanded that we eat at the summit.

summit, in shorts

After lunch, we hiked back down to the snow and skied three runs on Oakes. These were three different runs from our first visit and I imagine that we could find 30 more over there (not this season though, the route from Monroe Brook is almost out, FYI). The snow was corned up but maybe not the best we've ever seen so we decided to head back over to Monroe and try to harvest that corn.

no comment

As I dropped into the top of the Brook and landed on the type of snow I would have appreciated back when I raced, we all decided that rather than hike up again, to face the ice we would take a nap near the bottom and wait for it to setup.

Big Mountain

This was the nicest nap I've ever taken. 3 or 4 groups passed by and from what I could tell, they all starred at us with envy. An hour later we woke up and booted up, for our last run. The snow was better but not great and we were happy to be headed back to the car.

oli

"We're dogging on a great day" Ali said to me "it's true but in comparison to last time…I'm not sure we can ever come back, we spoiled ourselves." This was a cynical view, because Ali was right, it was a great day and Oakes is truly big mountain skiing on par with some of the skiing I've done out west.

lookin good