Always Be Prepared

Recently we went up to Mt Rainer do to some training for belay and haul line techniques. I could write an entire post just on those two topics, but it was what happened once the training was over that inspires today’s topic.

As the team was returning from Panoramic Peak we saw in the distance a person who was walking towards us, but just didn’t seem to fit into the surroundings. We were in 20 degree temps with 15-20 mph winds creating a windchill of around 10-14 degrees and the person we saw was wearing a dress shirt, a wool overcoat, a furry hat, skinny jeans, and what looked like canvas loafers. Then it happened…..

Like a start to a wilderness EMS scenario the person looked at us, then started waving their arms, and shouting for help! He was above us by about 100 feet and not on a trail. We told him to stay put because we knew that if he walked towards us he might post hole into the snow- or worse fall into a tree pit. As we approached him we saw that he had no gloves, glasses, snowshoes, nor anything else to really protect him from the weather and the environment. He was shaking from being cold and from nerves. He then told us he was following a trail from the carpark and then lost the trail in the snow. This was his first time ever in snow and on Mt Rainer.

We did a quick assessment of him and realized that he wasn’t in the beginning stages of a cold injury but we knew that he wouldn’t go on like this too much longer. We gave him some of our extra gloves to keep his hands warm and one of our shell coats to keep the wind from getting through his clothes and dropping his core temperature. Then we quickly had him follow us down to the main trail and got him moving.This did two functions- first it got him out of the danger area and back to the visitors center (a 20 minute walk from where we were) and two by getting him moving he started to warm up.

Once we got back to the car park / visitor’s center we discovered that he had travelled with a tour bus up to Mt Rainer. The tour company sets up visits to Mt Rainer for mainly Asian tourist and they do not explain the severity of the weather and the importance of staying on the trails up on the mountain. After returning our gear he thanked us and then left for the visitor’s center.

Afterwards the team just looked at each other and thought, “if he hadn’t of ran into us we’d be back out there later with the Mountain Rescue Unit and it might not have turned out as nice”. But we also realized that all of our Wilderness EMS training had prepared us for this situation. We knew how to calm down a person in distress. We knew how to assess them for potential environmental injury. We knew how to treat them and how to make a plan for their rescue or lead them out. We knew all of this because we were prepared. The mountains can be extremely beautiful, but must always be treated with respect being as weather changes any moment. But you must also be prepared to assist others in cause of emergencies- and sometimes by being prepared you stop an emergency from happing in the first place. On your next adventure make sure that you plan before you go. Take the 10 essentials, take a wilderness EMS course, and take a friend (even if it’s just a GPS and a phone!). But most importantly- always be prepared!

Getting Reacquainted With Your Avalanche Beacon

As we begin to get into the full swing of the winter adventures it’s very important that you spend some time getting reacquainted with your avalanche beacon. Many people buy an avalanche beacon, put batteries in it, strap it on, and may or may not ever really try it out. But it’s one of those pieces of equipment that you really need to spend time getting to know. Each brand of device works a little different even though they all do the same basic functions- send out a signal while turned on and search for a signal when placed in the search mode. But how yours functions is something that you need to be able not only to explain but also to use with intimate knowledge of what it is trying to tell you.

Many of you probably know that avalanche beacons come in two forms: double or triple antennas. The difference between them is essentially how many axis that they send out a search signal. A double antenna beacon is sending a signal out on an ‘X’ and ‘Y’ axis. While a three antenna is sending one out on a ‘X’, ‘Y’, and ‘Z’ axis. This third axis allows for quicker pick up of rescue signal and as we all know in an avalanche situation time is everything!

Once you place your beacon into search your first action is to run with it in the direction that the directional arrow is telling you (a good practice is to run until your beacon is in single digits for meters away from the target). Then slow to a walk until those single digits become within 2 meters or less. Then crawl until your distance is under 1 meter or it increases - then begin a quick box with your beacon to make sure you are on your target. Then start probing in your spiral pattern- once you have a hit start digging and fast!

Now after reading that last paragraph you’re probably thinking, “wow, that’s a lot to do in a small amount of time”. You would be right- it is a lot to do in a small amount of time that’s why you really need to know how your beacon works and what it’s trying to tell you. One of the biggest mistakes people make with their beacon is that they forget that the target is on a three dimensional plane (that X, Y, and Z axis). Your beacon might be telling you that you are still 2.4 meters aways from the target and you take another step and it goes up to 3.2 meters away…this probably means that your target is actually 2.4 meters below you!

One last thing to think about when using your beacon- while running to your target to get within that single digit range- try to keep your head up and look at the avalanche field for potential clues. If there’s a glove on the snow- check it…it might be attached to your target! Sometimes an avalanche victim will decide to throw a hand up when they feel the snow starting to solidify and stop as a last ditch effort to make sure that they can be found quickly. So as you run to your target don’t forget to check the clues on the way!

So spend some time getting reacquainted with your avalanche beacon, the time you put into making sure that you know how your’s works is time that you then give to an avalanche victim when you have to use it!

Being Wilderness Emergency Medically Trained is a Good Thing

During December here at Eller Adventures we’ve taken some time to either recertify our current EMS credentials or gain new ones. One of the newest courses that we’ve taken was a Wilderness EMS Course called Wilderness First Responder. As the staff member who took it, I was already an EMT-I with over 5000 patient contact hours, but I wanted to take a course in Wilderness EMS because being out in the mountains and on the crag creates a different set of conditions under which patient care has to be taken than what I am used to. So I choose to take the Wilderness First Responder course offered by Remote Medicine International (RMI).

This turned out to be one of the greatest medical courses that I've taken and incredibly useful in our next big adventure. During the course I discovered the the Wilderness EMS has a much larger scope of practice than you do in the urban environment. This is mainly due to the distance and time away from a hospital that your patient is. In an urban environment on average once 911 has been contacted a patient will have firefighters and EMTs at their location usually within 5-10 minutes. However, in a wilderness environment a patient might not have access to that level of assistance for several hours to days. So a Wilderness EMS provider has to be able to handle a far greater amounts of treatments; from cleaning wounds to relocating dislocated limbs, and other long term patient care. But of course all of this is dependent upon what their Medical Director authorizes!

While out on a recent adventure to Joshua Tree NPS one of our climbers was learning how to crag climb on a great top rope set up on a classic route in Joshua Tree known as Effing Eight in the Echo Rock area outside of Hidden Valley. This climber had been up the route about five times when on the fifth time they stopped for a rest but suddenly came off of the wall and shouted that they hurt their arm! As I lowered him down off of belay I began my patient assessment and started by simply asking, “What hurts?”. Upon a quick explanation by the climber and then a rapid physical assessment I was able to determine that he had dislocated his shoulder. Now under any normal situation at Joshua Tree NPS we would have been able to simply stabilize his shoulder and arm and call the rangers for a medical evacuation. However, due to recent political movements all of the rangers in Joshua Tree NPS had been furloughed and medical evacuation was at least 3 hours away. However, with my new Wilderness EMS training, I knew what to do and how to best care for my climber.

I placed him in a position of comfort and using the methods that I had been taught- relocated his shoulder. His pain immediately decreased. We were then able to stabilize his arm and drive him to the nearest hospital to have them further check his shoulder for any additional damage. None of this would have gone as painlessly (for both climber and Wilderness EMS provider) had I not have taken that class!

None of us plan on being in a medical emergency situation on our adventures, but we do need to be as prepared for them as we are for the rest of the trip! I strongly encourage all of you to go out and take a CPR /AED and first aid course. Then if you really find that you like it- go take it a step further and visit RMI for a Wilderness First Aid or First Responder Course! There will never be a moment in which you look back after taking one of those courses and say, “Gee, I didn’t need to do that” because no matter what those courses are some of the best you can take….especially on your adventures!

Know Your Snow

As winter starts to set in on us we like to get out and go to our normal spring summer hikes but now we get to do it in the snow! Seeing the hills, mountains, valleys, and ridges covered in snow brings a fresh perspective to areas that you are familiar with. But they also bring with them new hazards that you normally would not have to think about.

Snow conditions can be deceiving. Before you arrive at your trail head make sure that you’ve checked the 10 day weather forecast through the NOAA website. Along with that you should also check out the North West Avalanche Center’s snow condition reports and avalanche reports. They have their professionals out every day updating their information in order to give us the best forecast for avalanche and snow conditions on our mountains.

Once you arrive at your trail head, make sure you understand your route. The trail that was easy for you to see is now covered in snow so you really need to know a few navigation details prior to heading out: 1) what are the azimuths that you will need to go to and get back from your location to your goal (along with knowing how to read them on your compass). 2) You need to have an updated map or satellite image that allows you to do terrain association along your trail so that you can quickly identify your location.

Ensure that you have packed your avalanche beacon, gps unit, and in-reach device if you have one. These are highly beneficial if you find yourself in a bad situation- or in a situation in which you are having to render assistance to someone.

Also, always look around you as you are moving through different areas. Watch out for terrain traps which will funnel down an avalanche onto you. Look out for past or recent ice falls or avalanches- these are good indications that there are more to come. And remember to always identify and plan your exit route in case something does happen.

But most importantly go out there and enjoy your adventure!

November 2018- Training in preparation for the upcoming season

There are so many things to talk about and think about when trying to develop a training plan for your off season. Things like; am I training to summit multiple peaks? Am I just wanting to do one really big mountain? Do I just want to become a really great rock climber this year? Should I focus on crag climbing or sport? Do I want to learn TRAD and multi pitch this year? I feel that my upper body is really strong but I hate to train for endurance- so what do I do?

All of these go through my head on what seems like a daily basis- except for the upper body part- you can always be stronger and endurance is what gets you up a mountain! But what really matters is what is your goal that you want to accomplish this year? Because that will be the determining factor that directs your training- both physically and mentally.

So let’s say that you want to climb Mt Rainer, then you should focus on early year strength training followed by mid-season switch to endurance fitness training. Along with that you need to assess your mountaineering skills; where are you in navigation, self arrest, team arrest, and crevice rescue skills? But in the end- no matter how proficient you are at any of those skills you should be always practicing in order to ensure that you don’t become complacent, because that’s when you make mistakes!

As far as rock climbing- the strength training is the big key for fitness, especially lower body, core, and leg training! Rock climbing is all about balance and leg strength so work them in the off season so as to blast off when the weather gets better! As far as rock climbing skills ALWAYS practice your knots! Knots become easier to tie the more often you tie them. Along with that when you feel confident in your knot tying you start to understand how they can be better used in all types of systems and why they are there.

But one of the biggest pieces of training you can do during the off season is take a class! Take a Wilderness First Aid Course, CPR course, or a belay / rappel course from your local climbing gyms or from such groups as Remote Medical International. These are great skill builders and allow you to become a valued member of any adventure!

Have fun in the off season with your training adventure and tell us how you are spending your days and nights in preparation for your adventures this upcoming year!

November 2018

The end of one season brings about the preparation for the new season! As we take our final trips for rock climbing we need to start preparing for our next adventures in the snow capped peaks. Remember to refresh your Avalanche preparedness skills- know the snow! Get out those snow shoes, avalanche beacons, avalanche probs, and snowshoes because getting on the trails in the snow opens up a whole new world to you. Seeing the same sights that you saw during the spring and summer with snow on them is such a refreshing and eye opening experience that everyone should do it at least once! Come spend some of your winter snow adventures with us!

Leavenworth and the 8 Mile Area

We've had a great adventure at the Leavenworth 8 Mile Climbing area. There are so many routes and places to climb and hike! It was a wonderful time. We camped right on the river and across from some of the many climbing routes. We started out just doing some refresher training on basic anchor systems for top rope management systems and then moved on to some bottom of the crag skills. 

We practiced lowering climbers, rappelling, hauling climbers up, conducting pick offs, placing anchors, just to name a few things! it was a great time and we can't wait to get back there as soon as we can!

Come join us on that next adventure!

Mt Rainer

Sorry that it's been a while- we've had a lot going on here at Eller Adventures. We recently decided to go on the greatest adventure ever- we got married!

But enough about that let's talk about the summit of Mt Rainer. We left for Mt Rainer on Sunday 01 July 2018. We weren't really expecting to leave that day so we looked at it as a bonus day! We got to within 600 meters of where we wanted to camp when a really big snow storm started to roll in on us. 

We quickly set up camp and dug in our tents. Then we sat in them for two days before the storm and the white out conditions broke. Then just like that the sun and clear skies came out. We moved up to our camp location about 500 meters below Camp Muir and prepped for heading to the summit that night.

As we started out so did about 12 x 10 person guided climbing teams. We let them go by knowing that they were climbing fast due to the fact that they were packing lite. But what happened next caused us to regret that fact. Starting at the Disappointment Cleaver there was a massive bottle neck. It took us at least two hours to get up the Cleaver.

Once on the top we crossed the top of the Ingraham Glacier under the large ice falls and seracs- which all had evidence of smaller ice falls. Once past that we crossed multiple crevasses and finally hit the summit ridge at 0800 (two hours later than we normally make it). But once there we had a great time signing the summit registry book and looking at the gas vents.

We eventually started our decent, but once more ran into bottle necks along the way. Most of them caused by teams which didn't know how to use a running belay (they actually tried to set up working belays on them slowing everyone down behind them). By the time we hit the top of the DC the winds picked up with gusts of up to 60 mph and that knocked down some of our team but we short roped and kept moving.

When we reached camp we sat down and had a celebratory cup of tea! It was a great and adventurous climb!

Mt St Helens 08-09 JUN 18

Mt St Helens this year was an incredible journey. We started out from Marble Mount Trailhead at midnight. As we walked along the 4 mile approach we were struck by how little amount of snow we were seeing- none!

By the time we reached the boulder field we still had yet to see any snow. We climbed the boulder fields this year instead of being able to head up the snow fields next to them. This made for a very difficult climb due to the fact that the boulders are all at varying heights and surrounded by sand.

When we finally reached the weather station at 6500 ft is when we first saw snow. The snowfields were nice and hard being as it was still around 0330 in the morning. Unfortunately there was a storm moving in. We knew that the weather might turn from decent to bad at a moments notice, but it moved faster than we expected.

The temperatures dropped to around 15 degrees and the winds came up in velocity, yet we continued up. As we approached the summit there were dark thunder clouds building to the south of us and below our elevation. We sat an observed them for a moment realizing that they were moving from the west to the east and staying just south of the mountain. Also the winds coming off of the summit left a clear sky corridor leading from the summit to our decent route. So with this being the case we felt that it would be safe enough to continue for the summit but keep a watchful eye on the approaching storm.

When we were 200 feet on the summit slope (the most vertical pitch of the entire climb) the storm hit us with an unexpected ferocity. The dark clouds enveloped the mountain from the east and the west and then dark clouds came over the summit ridge covering us in snow, winds, and white out conditions.

At that moment we had a decision to make: continue the last 200 feet up a very steep summit slope in a snow storm and white out conditions, hoping that they will clear up after we reach the summit. Or turn around and begin our decent hoping that we'll have various breaks of clear skies in order to get us down safely through the boulder fields.

It was a very difficult position- 200 feet from the summit but fully enveloped in a snow storm. But in reality there was no choice at all. The mountain will always be there and getting down safely is more important than anything else. We turned around and began our decent.

The decent was filled with moments of clear skies, followed quickly by white out conditions and snow. When we got below 2500 ft the snow turned to rain with some lightning. It was those moments which showed us that we had made the right decision.

We made it down after walking up and back for 12 hours. Tired, wet, a little hungry, but happy that we learned some valuable lessons up on the mountain. Not only is it important to know your own limits, but it's just as important to know the mountain's limits as well.

Mt Adams Summit 24-25 MAY 2018

The team spent two days up on Mt Adams this year. The snow level was high enough that we were able to begin our approach at the Cold Creek Trailhead this year! We had a great camp up on Lunch Counter and spent the first day resting and prepping for our summit attempt that night. 

At 0100 we stepped off for the summit push. We climbed the steep Pikers Peak using our Kick Step technique and got on top of the false summit around 0330. We then walked across the sulfur fields of the crater to begin our final push for the summit itself. 

At 0415 we stepped onto the face of the summit of Mt Adams and watched a beautiful sunrise around 0430. The sun beamed a golden glow across the top of Mt Rainer the only peak that was taller than us! After spending around 20 minutes on the summit the winds and the chill in the air told us it was time to head down. So we ate our summit surprise snacks and headed down. 

Around 0900 we reached our camp at Lunch Counter. We then ate breakfast, packed up our site, and headed out. We reached the trailhead at around noon and then headed for town to have a celebratory huckleberry smoothie at the local restaurant!