Peregrine Expeditions

water: Maintenance and Repair

joseph — Thu, 08 Mar 2012 00:20:03 +0000

Now that back country ski season is going full blast and we’re slowly being blessed with longer and longer days, this is the time of year when everyone’s gear is ready for a break and we’re not gonna let it have one. Our ski touring set up will be pushed to the brink over and over again and, for some of us, stuff will break in the absolute worst of locations. For a big hill troll like myself, it’s a guarantee that things will break and they always choose the worst possible time and place. Here are a couple of pointers to make sure that, even with the worst blow outs, you can get back to civilization.
1 –Communication: Always tell someone where you’re going and when they should expect you back.
2 – Skins: We are so dependent on skins that if we have a bad skin blow out on the wrong side of the mountains, it’s like not having any skis at all. A sturdy combination of duck tape and ski straps should take care of all but the lamest of break downs. In case the worst happens (like perhaps wind steals a skin), bring 20 feet of pea cord. Wrap tightly around your ski, giving each wrap a few inches of spacing.
3 – Bindings: These are perhaps most susceptible to failure on the uphill when there are more parts moving and less parts attached to the ski. I have seen all major models of AT and Tele bindings succumb to failure. It’s very important to know which part of your binding is most likely to fail and how to carry out a field repair. The bigger the skier and the bigger the ski, the more susceptible your binding is to over torque and, therefore, break. For models like the Dynafit, this can mean your foot simply pops out of the binding over and over. For Fritschis, this means the metal plate attaching your binding to the ski snaps. If you own an older model of Fritschi Freerides, I strongly recommend switching them for a newer model that is not only built stronger, but can also be repaired in the field with the proper replacement pieces. Bottom line – carry as many replaceable parts as is warranted.
4 – Boots: With ski straps and duck tape, you can fix most boot issues. Boot problems tend to lean more toward getting them into ski mode. When the fan gets hit, most boot problems won’t keep you from getting out of the field. Keeping hose clamps and bailing wire handy in your repair kit is not a bad idea. I’ve noticed a fairly consistent problem getting Scarpa model ski boots locked into ski mode. Make sure you have that feature figured out before heading into the field.
At the end of the day you are the one responisible for your own gear make sure you know it inside and out.

Earth: Managing Deep Slab Avalanche Conditions

joseph — Thu, 08 Mar 2012 00:16:15 +0000

Northern Colorado just finished a tough weekend. With four fatalities, the national avalanche death toll just doubled for the season, now up to 8. Each was a separate incident speckled across the northern part of the state. Receiving14” of new snow at Vail Mtn. bringing the mid mountain snow pack up to 3’ and temperatures dropping nightly into the single digits, the stage is set for the country’s most dangerous avalanche snowpack, and the likelyhood that it will only continue to worsen as time continues.
This is a classic Continental Snowpack and is prevalent in Colorado. Colorado is now well on its way to once again claim the highest seasonal death toll in the country, one may speculate that back country skiers in Colorado must be pretty careless and irresponsible compared to, say, Washingtonians, a state that on a bad year comes in at 3^rd or 4^th place in regards to avalanche fatalities.
Having worked as a guide in both Colorado and Washington, I’ll tell you that this is not the case. The forecasting infrastructure in Colorado is top notch, with field staff providing direct data and on-sight forecasting. Also the back country users are on average more prudent. When the forecast reads Considerable, people understand that they had better take it verbatim. Here in Washington State, the forecasting network is underfunded and very inconsistent and the backcountry users seem to take grand risks. Both of these states probably take the prize as far as huge population centers with quick and easy access to very serious avalanche prone mountain terrain. So why is Washington state overall not as dangerous? Well, it’s simple: it’s a maritime snowpack. Deep snow and warmer trends lead to more aggressive bonding and more predictable avalanche cycles. So, although we do experience the quasi continental snow packs and the persistent dangers that go with it, we don’t get it as much. Then again, sometimes we do…
Today I want to talk about what we do get in the Cascades: Deep Slab Avalanches.
In 1910, there was a small village and railroad station high in the Cascades just west of Stevens Pass. During the last week of February, the town saw many days of consecutive snowfall with as much as 11 feet on Feb. 28^th. At 1am On March 1^st, a rain event set off a half mile long and quarter mile wide wall of snow barreling down Windy Mountain, sending a parked train 150 feet down into the Tye River and killing 96 sleeping passengers. This remains as the single biggest death toll of any avalanche event in US history. It’s known as the Wellington Avalanche.
Over 11 days between late January and February of 1999, 20 feet of snow fell at Mt Baker ski area. On Valentine’s day of that year, a giant slab released 14’ deep and across the entire face of Shuksan Arm Back Country area, burying and killing 2. This Avalanche was reported as a D5, the biggest class on the scale of 1 – 5. One of the victims was not unburied until the spring time.

Both of these Cascade tragedies are due to conditions that are not anomalies in the Cascade snowpack. At least a few times every year, we get these Deep Slab Avalanches. Last year the same avalanche happened on Shuksan Arm with a crown said to have been bigger than the 1999 avalanche. Several deep slab cycles last year destroyed various bridges, deforested the landscape and created massive piles of rubble throughout the Cascade Mountains. So when do these deep slabs occur? And how do you stay clear of them? Well, right now we have ripe conditions for deep slabs. Thus far, the weather patterns of January make for a perfect recipe:
The first week of January was warm with heavy rain up to almost 6,000 ft. in the N. Cascades. Then the storm ended cold, only dropping minimal amounts of snow and freezing the old soaked snowpack solid. The following week consisted of cold weather with varying wind. By the time we arrived at the MLK weekend, the Pacific hose turned on again. Now 12 days and 10 feet of new snow later, the maritime bonding process is racing to catch up with the critical mass of new snow. Slides like this can go at any time and occasionally, like in the case of Wellington, a big change, like rain, sets it off.
The best and only way to stay safe is to not be there when it slides. This is the technique the residents of Wellington opted for – the town no longer exists. On the highway, we depend heavily on the DOT to take on this responsibility. In the Back Country you need to stay clear of big features like Shuksan Arm. This means not only staying off the slope itself, but also not even traveling on moderate terrain below avalanche paths, even if it’s forested.

In most cases, the majority of these deep slabs do slide after a critical mass of overloading snow piles up, eventually amounting to too much too quickly. But in some cases the persistent weak layers deep in the snow pack can remain “dormant” throughout the season and “wake up unexpectedly”. With the extreme exceptions, I propose that the sudden “wake up” is not such a big mystery. What sets it off is a large change in the snow pack – which can be caused by such things as heavy rain, big spikes in temperature, and increasing amounts of radiation as the encroaching season shifts from winter to spring and the sun rays continue to strengthen and the days get longer.

The skills in identifying the terrain and the snow pack in which any avalanche conditions occur will never be obtained from taking courses and reading articles alone. The importance of hours upon days upon months and then years of witnessing and traveling in snow with constantly changing conditions is the only way to begin to understand what the snow is up to. Even then it’s important to be paying close attention to a winter’s varying weather and it’s current effect on the stability of the snowpack you will be traveling in.

La Nina

joseph — Thu, 08 Mar 2012 00:13:28 +0000

Pepe was a proud man. He was not only proud because of his wonderful new daughter but because he had a thriving fishing business in the bountiful nutrient rich waters off the coast of the most important city in the entire new world, Lima. The year was 1555 and it was the 3^rd week of December and approaching the day of his prophet’s birthday but something wasn’t quite right. Pepe’s fishing fleet had been greeted every morning by a putrid stench. Fish were dying and washing onto the shores. The water was warm and the air was stagnant. On Christmass day Pepe asked “Christ Child, what are you up to? I will learn to endure if you will please deliver me wisdom.”
Exactly one year later he breathed in deeply the unusually cool ocean air and knew that this would be a bountiful year of fishing and good fortune for him and all of the citizens of Lima. “Our Prophet has returned with wisdom”, he told his devoted staff “El Viejo” he proclaimed is upon us. He knew it was only through his divine wisdom that he survived the year and would now be rewarded with plenty.
As the years passed and turned into decades they came to learn that this weather pattern was a simple rhythm of life off of the coast of Peru. Some years the waters would become much warmer than usual, fish would die and people would find ways to cope. They would come to call these “El Nino”, years. The one thing that would get everyone through an El Nino year was the knowledge that balance would eventually be restored. In the near future the waters would cool drastically allowing life to flourish in abundance and that year would be known as “La Nina”.
Little did the early Hispanic fisherman of 16^th century Pacific South America know the water surface temperatures for their region would go far beyond predicting local fishing conditions. Climatologists have found that when the eastern Equatorial Pacific water surface temperatures drop more than 1 degree C below average, than ranchers of North Eastern Australia will be bogged down with flooding, rice crops of Korea and Japan will suffer from drought and skiers in the North Western US will need snorkels so they can breathe in the insane amount of snowfall.
Known as the El Nino/ La Nina Southern Oscillation, this (approximate) 5 year pattern is now a basis for climatologists to predict climate trends for the entire world. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) official statement is “La Niña brings wetter than normal conditions across the Pacific Northwest”….”La Niña at these latitudes are most clearly seen in wintertime”.
Now if you’re from Western Washington or Southwestern British Columbia you would probably be asking yourself – “Isn’t all of this information a little late? Last winter was a La Nina winter.” And the answer is yes. Last winter was indeed a La Nina winter. Once again NOAA is stating “A majority of the models now predict La Niña to continue through the Northern Hemisphere winter and then gradually weaken after peaking during the November – January period.”
So La Nina conditions can occur 2 years in a row….and they have ever since records have been kept. The Last two La Nina winters that the North West experienced dowsed our local ski hill,Mt Baker, with the most snow that any skier area has ever recorded in the entire world. In the La Nina winter of 1999 Mt Baker received 95 feet of snow.
So what gives? It’s December 9^th and the precipitation totals for the month thus far for Bellingahm, WA amounts to 0.00… NOAAs climate prediction center on December 8^th 2011 is issuing a La Nina advisory, stating that: “La Niña is expected to continue through the Northern Hemisphere winter 2011-12”.
The important thing is to look at the big picture and so here it is. November gave us close to a record snowpack already in the North Cascades and so far December temperatures have maintained at five to seven degrees below average every day. Now looking into the near future the strong high pressure that brought us these cold temperatures is breaking down. With “a large scale trough digging into the west coast by middle of next week”. My advice to you – get your skis ready more snow is on the way.

Fire: Exercise your Perspective

joseph — Thu, 08 Mar 2012 00:11:07 +0000

What creates a positive or negative outlook? How is it that some people who come from unlikely circumstances accomplish superhuman feats throughout their lives, while others may be born into the lap of opportunity and don’t get beyond being self loathing, depressed, couch potatoes? It could be that we really don’t make many of our own choices at all, but react to our daily environments based on things such as genetic predispositions, upbringing and habits. In a practical sense, it is possible to physically mold your disposition, or constitution, towards fulfillment and happiness. I am by no means proposing that this is the only road to these ends, just a very important piece of the puzzle that guarantees a boost in the right direction. What I am proposing is to exercise your perspective.

Much of what we “choose” to do in our day to day lives – the food we eat, short-term intensive exercise routines, long bouts of sedentariness, etc. – leads to a buildup of by-product, sludge and a general lack of efficiency in our internal organs and bodies, in general. For example, short-term intense exercise will leave our blood stream and muscle full of lactic acids, less-than-ideal eating habits leave us with excess starches, fats and blood sugars, while bouts of sedentary behavior allow it all to stagnate in our bodies like a desert watering hole. Our Circulatory, Digestive and, most importantly, our Endocrine systems, are altered or compromised. Addictions, bad habits and chemical imbalances lead us towards less healthy, less optimistic and cloudy decisions.

Anytime you partake in low level fat burning (50%- 60% of max heart rate) exercise for over 2 hours, all of that junk that’s been collecting in your body starts to move. Plaque in the blood starts breaking down, the backlog of gunk in your liver washes out and lets it resume filtering at a normal rate and large and small intestines eliminate as they should. Your body cleanses. Some people believe that this kind of cleanse is the best kind and actually keeps you younger and happier, adding years to your life. The key is keeping at the slow fat burning pace for several hours… 4 plus hours is ideal. Any type of exercise that you can sustain all day is what you’re looking for. Some perfect activities include Hiking, Mountaineering, Sea Kayaking and Backcountry Skiing.

So, here’s your incentive. Go ahead, commit to an activity that gets you out into the natural world for extended times and watch your perspective strengthen.

Taylor Rocks

admin — Thu, 08 Mar 2012 00:07:23 +0000

Taylor Rocks!

My name is Linda, but Taylor calls me LeeLee. I have been Taylor’s interpreter since he was 3 1/2. He is now 12. Taylor has Ushers Syndrome, a genetic disorder, which means you are born deaf and eventually lose your eyesight. Taylor is incredible, he lets nothing slow him down and has a super personality! He is also very athletic. Unfortunately, this Syndrome has intervened with some of the sports he enjoys, but since he was little he was always climbing on things. He started climbing on the rock wall at the YMCA when he was about 7 years old. This is what Taylor has to say about how it compared to climbing on Mt. Eerie with Peregrine Expeditions….”Climbing outside was more fun but a little hard.” “I really liked climbing outside and was only scared on the the last climb we did on the second day.”

It seems everyone has challenges, some have more difficult ones than others, but climbing builds confidence and self esteem. I feel like Taylor has found a new sport, one that he can be successful at, no matter what! As I said, he is incredible!

- Linda Lehn

Air: Choosing Sling. Dyneema or Nylon?

joseph — Thu, 08 Mar 2012 00:04:59 +0000

In climbing even small decisions can eventually have big consequences, especially concerning the equipment that is used. Just one example is what type of slings to take.

Slings are the crescent wrench of the climbing rack, useful for just about everything. By increasing the distance between the rope and a piece of protection, they reduce rope drag and help keep the protection in place. They are used to create multi-point belay anchors. They are draped over rock horns. Girth-hitched to the harness, they make a handy leash, or a personal anchor during multi-pitch climbing and rappelling. They can be hitched to the climbing rope and used to ascend, or to back up rappels. They are used to reinforce existing rappel anchors or create new ones. They don’t weigh much, and it seems that having a few extra slings draped over the shoulder is always a good idea.

The materials used to make slings have evolved over the years. One-inch tubular nylon was the standard for a long time until the nylon got skinnier; still strong enough, but lighter. Traditionally tied with a rethreaded overhand, aka ‘ring bend’ or ‘water knot’, next came sewn slings, cleaner and more reliable. Today’s lightest dyneema slings are a fraction of the weight of one-inch tied nylon slings, yet every bit as strong. They don’t hold water, making them very useful in wet and cold environments. Affectionately called ‘dental floss’ because of their thin width, most climbers have at least a few of them on their rack. Some climbers swear by them, and have replaced every sling with this light, strong material.

For alpine climbing this seems like a great idea. After all, light is right, right? Well, maybe, maybe not. For an example of how pre-trip planning can affect decision-making during the trip, consider the following scenario. Let’s say a climbing team just completed an alpine rock climb, and is now rappelling down. Arriving at the top of the rappels, they find a lonely, rusty, ring-angle piton.

Tapping the pin with a hammer, it seems solid. Just thread the rope through the ring and go, right? But is it solid, really? Using caution, the climbing team prepares to rappel using the standard protocol. The heaviest member goes first, placing as bombproof of a backup anchor as they desire. They test the existing anchor, and make sure the ropes will pull easily. Then the lighter member descends. They decide how much of a backup to leave behind.

If the climbing rack consists of all dyneema slings, this team may be more tempted to trust the single piton. Dyneema slings are expensive. Furthermore, they cannot be cut and re-tied; the material is too slippery. In this situation it makes sense to have some tied nylon slings on the rack as well. Then the team can back up that rusty old pin (ring-angle pitons were in vogue during the Second World War!) with a relatively inexpensive nut, and equalize the two with a relatively inexpensive tied nylon sling. By having tied nylon slings on the rack, the security of the team is increased.

When dyneema slings first hit the market, a fellow guide conducted a simple experiment. He hung a 150-pound haul bag over the edge of a cliff, using a variety of sling materials. Once weighted, he simply grabbed the sling and sawed it back and forth over the sharp edge, counting the number of saws before the sling cut through. It’s no surprise that tubular nylon webbing was the most cut-resistant. The experiment was sobering enough to make this experienced guide stick with nylon for rock work, using dyneema only on ice and snow.

In popular rock climbing areas, it’s common to see climbers using a sling to quickly and easily leash themselves to an anchor, say a tree on a ledge. Tests with dyneema slings have shown that they will break if subjected to a severe fall. The material does not stretch, and so absorbs very little energy. A climber on a ledge may think they are safe if anchored to the base of a tree with a sling. With the risk of falling off the ledge, shock-loading the sling over a sharp edge, is it better to use lightweight dyneema, or a more forgiving, yet bulkier alternative, such as an 8mm cordellette? What about using the climbing rope?

Ultimately, we are responsible for our choices and our decisions. Understanding the nature of the equipment we use can influence how we use it. Planning a trip from start to finish can help to dictate equipment choices. Different materials are better suited to different environments. And some practices are inherently safer than others. Climbing safe means climbing smart and paying attention to the details.

- Dave Heinbach

Getting Back on the Horse

joseph — Thu, 08 Mar 2012 00:02:25 +0000

For eight years starting in 2000 I was consumed by backcountry snowboarding. My summers were spent in South America and my winters in the Cascades…skinning, riding, hiking, training. I began to pursue knowledge that would bring the big steep mountain faces down to my level. Through courses and trainings I began to learn quite a lot about terrain annalysis and snow stability. My life plans increasingly became centered around which big mountain range I was going to explore and ride next. There really was nothing better.

In December 2008 my neck was severely broken in a car accident. The doc told me I was never going to walk again. Angry at the world and determined to prove this fate wrong I was not going to give up. Two months later after intense therapy I was able to walk around flat ground. I slowly recovered over the next year only ridding my snowboard on chairlifts. People told me I was brave and amazing as I got back on the horse. In 2009, I reconnected with Joseph at Peregrine and he encouraged me to tour with him. Although I no longer power through our climbs with raw energy or glide down harrowing pitches, I am learning again how to travel smart and efficient in the backcountry.

Finally, this past July 4th weekend I joined Peregrine Expeditions for a ski trip to Mt Baker. As I was soaking in the scenery at almost 9,000′ of elevation getting ready to start my 5,000 foot descent to the car it occured to me that I was back on the horse!
- Travis Johnson

Fire and Ice

joseph — Wed, 07 Mar 2012 23:59:22 +0000

At this very moment below your feet there is a giant spinning ball of iron. This is the earth’s core. It is 6,378 kilometers below your feet to be exact and almost 2,000 kilometers thick. The metal ball is rotating at a faster speed than our home, the crust. The outer edges of the metal ball gives way to a super heated, slower, outer layer of iron referred to as the outer core which is 2,200 kilometers. Above this layer there exists a slower layer where liquid hot iron meets molten hot rock. This, my friends, is “Hell” as geologists sometimes refer to it or the “D” layer, which is where the next layer of the earth, the mantle, begins. The stew of liquid metal and molten rock in the mantle creates such intense heat at such extreme pressure that pulse waves exude upwards towards the outer regions of the Earth, most notably the flimsy crust. The thickness of the crust only averages around 30 – 65 kilometers and sits in fragmented sheets which slide around on top of the slippier liquid hot magma rock of the upper mantle. The sheets are called plates and where the plates meet are called fault zones.
One of the largest of all the plates, The Pacific Plate, is being pushed in a twisting North West direction by a pulse wave from deep in the earth. This powerful pulse hits the Pacific Plate almost right in the middle creating a string of the largest Volcanoes on Earth, the Hawaiian Islands. As this plate travels and twists to the North West it runs into the North American Plate and while doing so, it takes with it another, smaller plate off the NW coast called the Plate of Juan de Fuca. As this plate is pushed under the North American plate, it is super heated by the pressure and shoots up a chain of Volcanoes, called the Cascades. At 49 degrees north and 122 degrees west there is a Cascade Volcano that sits above a jagged spine of a superimposed range of peaks created by these two meeting plates called the North Cascades. This volcano is Mt. Baker.

Mt Baker is not just a mound of overflowing earth surrounded by a motley band of twisted and tormented mountains. From November to May a jet stream centers itself over the region dowsing Mt Baker and the surrounding hills with a constant spray of snow funneled in from some of the great storm making centers of the Pacific. Mt Baker gets so much snow that it contains almost more snow and ice than rock. With almost a half cubic mile of ice, it sports more ice than the other Cascade peaks combined (leaving out Mt Rainier). The Mt Baker ski hill holds the world record for the most snow ever recorded, 95 feet of snow fell in the 1998/99 season.
So, what does this all mean to you? This means that Mt Baker is one of the greatest Mountain playgrounds on earth. Join Peregrine Expeditions as we launch our 2011 Mt Baker Season!

Earth: Do you Carry a Repair Kit

joseph — Wed, 07 Mar 2012 23:57:06 +0000

Earth: Rules and Hard Skills

Do you carry a repair kit?

When backcountry skiing even for the day, you are heavily relying on your gear. In the winter snow pack, the difference between having functional ski gear and not can turn minutes of effort into hours, and hours can quickly turn to days. The fact is, when relying so heavily on all of this equipment, your better judgement, I hope, should be working hard to come up with a contingency plan.
Like everything in life, a good “what if” reality check needs to be balanced. Don’t over-prepare for an unintended overnight stay by carrying a sleeping bag and tent on a day trip. You’d be traveling with too much weight: you don’t want to break your gear, or yourself… Don’t get neurotic. There are, however, simple lightweight tools you can bring with you that can be fit into a small pouch of reasonable weight. These tools are light enough that they can live in a pack that you take on every ski tour. So, whether you always bring a 1st aid kit or some sort of rescue kit, today I want to focus on the commonly used and underestimated Repair Kit.

Repair Kit:
- Duck Tape – (Full article available in February newsletter).
- Multi-tool – You don’t need a very big one. You simply need a high quality one. Cheap multi-tools are common and can be virtually worthless.
- Screw driver (phillips and flat head) – Ski specific screwdrivers can’t get to all types of binding. Make sure screwdriver has at least 2 inches of reach. #2 and #3 sizes work for most settings, although carrying a # 1 star bit and general Allen key set is a good idea.
- Hose clamps – Smaller ones are less versatile, but when used in conjunction with bailing wire or ski straps, these can be an essential part of your kit. The bottom line is, these can hold things together with mechanical force that can help you in a pinch.
- Ski straps – Five is a good number. These aren’t just for skis, they can bind together all sorts of broken gear and body parts. They are light, cheap and very helpful.
- Extra AAA & AA batteries – For you and other group members. Modern GPS and Tranceivers are battery hogs.
- Bailing wire (4 – 6 feet, zip ties.)
- Headlamp – These are so light and powerful now there is no excuse not to have one.
- Scraper and Glop Stopper Skin Wax - It could be that you have ice frozen to the bottom of your skins or wet snow tripling the weight of your feet. It’s important that you bring and use these. You may need to scrape and re-apply Glop Stopper in the field, so bring it with you.
- Extra back clips for climbing skins – If you don’t use back clips, it’s especially important to bring some. Having a huge ascent to get back to the car and skins that won’t stick anymore because of cold blowing snow is a major problem. Bringing some extras for your ski partners is also prudent.

Climbing: by Noah Beardsley

joseph — Wed, 07 Mar 2012 23:54:52 +0000

Climbing may not be for everybody, but it’s definitely for me
by Noah Beardsley -

I am a 13 year old boy living in Bellingham, Washington. I’ve been climbing everything inside my house and in my yard since I could walk. My dad first took me sport climbing when I was five years old. From the beginning, climbing felt very natural to me and I loved it. I have never been very interested in ball sports. I love activities where I get to be outdoors, rain or shine, and I feel my body’s relationship to the earth. Climbing does this for me!

At ten, I took my first “Kids Rock” class with Joseph from Peregrine Expeditions. My skills improved quickly in rapelling, climbing and belaying. My first multi pitch was at Mt. Erie. I had seen older climbers do this and was excited when I was able to give it a try. It was intimidating at first, but once I was able to do it, it gave me an extra burst of courage and confidence.
I’ve worked with Joseph at Peregrine now for three years and have always had a great experience.

Now at 13, I’m able to climb a 5.8 without hanging on the rope. This is really exciting for me because I never thought I’d be able to do that! In this next year, I am planning to work with Joseph at Peregrine towards my year-long 8th grade project. I hope to assist him in working with other kids and adults. I’d like to improve my skills and be able to pass on what I have learned.
Noah Beardsley