Our team is complete of five members; myself, my long time climbing partner Jeff Moriarty, Billy Stanford, Ben Olson, and Derrill Rogers. We also may have one of Ben's friends possibly joining us to make a full six member team. Each one of us brings a unique background and skill set to the team. I have a ski patrol, avalanche, backpacking and 14er climbing background. Jeff and I have physical therapy degrees and have mountaineering experience including being the only two of our team to have already been on Rainier and traveled on glaciers. Jeff has also climbed numerous Colorado 14ers and is a runner. Billy is a fire fighter and brings first responder medical and rope rescue experience to our team. He has level one avalanche certification and backcountry ski travel experience. Ben is an avid outdoors man with backpacking, mountain and rock climbing experience. Ben has climbed more than 34 Colorado 14ers. Derrill has climbed all of Colorado's 14ers and has the most experience of our team with technical rock climbing. We all have leadership roles in our jobs and with our outdoor activities. I feel our team, collectively, is sound for climbing Mt. Rainier safe and successfully.
We had an initial team outing back in January so that everyone could get acquainted and test some of our gear. We set out for an overnight in Current Creek on the Northside of Berthoud Pass. Our team consisted of Myself, Billy, Ben and Derrill. Missing was Jeff(he had obligations with his National Sports Center for the Disabled volunteer position at Winter Park). We endured the cold temps of 0F at dinner time and -10F in the morning. All of our gear, except for my MSR whisperlite stove, fared well. It was time to search for a new mountaineering stove. Actually, Billy and I also had some frozen ski boots in the morning. It took about 30 minutes of putting them in my sleeping bag with me to thaw out enough to get on my feet.
Camp on Berthoud Pass
In February, our team had its first official team meeting at Panera Bread Co. to plan details, logistics and delegate planning tasks. All 5 members were present and excitement was high. Now fast forward to March 1. I donned a 30lbs backpack and began one of many to come, neighborhood walks. I scheduled myself to progress 5 lbs every two weeks with a goal of 55 lbs by June 1. A funny thing happened in the initial neighborhood walking. Billy and I set out for a Thursday mid-morning walk in his area of Tallyn's Reach. At the half way point we were pulled over by Aurora Police on the side walk and questioned as two suspicious individuals reported by a concerned resident. After 10 minutes of talking and Billy, being the Firefighter he is, swapping colleagues' names, the officers laughed at this call and let us on our way. I guess in this day and age everyone is paranoid and concerned of the next act of terror.
On March 16th our team, minus Jeff again(same volunteer obligations), headed out to climb Chief (11,709 ft), Papoose (11,174 ft) and Squaw Mountains (11,486 ft) which are between Evergreen and Mount Evans. We started around 8:45 am with my pack weighing 35 lbs. The snow was firm and snow shoes were nice to have on our feet. We topped out on Chief with awesome 360 degree views.
We had some of our climbing gear with us so we practiced setting up a z-rescue system.
Looking back at Chief from Papoose
Looking at Squaw from Papoose
We bushwhacked, again, down the Eastside of Papoose until we hit the Squaw fire road. The walk up the road to the top of Squaw and it's fire tower was a 30 minute slog. I failed to mention so far that the wind was blowing pretty good on the summits of Chief and Squaw.
Looking back at Papoose and Chief from Squaw
The view of Denver
Coming down off of Squaw with the fire tower in view
After four hours of hiking we made it back to the vehicles and headed to Evergreen for some Qdoba. Yum! We talk about logistics and gear that we still need. During this outing we also decided that Jeff would be carrying all of our shared gear as he had yet to come on a training outing with us- joking of course, maybe...
The following weekend, on March 23rd, Billy and I headed to Devil's Thumb Ranch for training and to complete one of my ski patrol duty days. We brought our packs to snow shoe with. I had 37 lbs on board and we set out for a 1.5 hour hike in some new snow, again a great workout. We found a wind loaded 5 ft cornice on one of the hillsides and decided to use it for training. After checking the snow stability and deeming it safe, we fixed anchors and z-rescue system and sent both of our packs over the edge to practice hauling them up.
On Sunday March 30th, Billy, Jeff and I headed out with packs on to ascend Mt. Falcon from Morrison to the castle ruins. I carried 38lbs. We made it up and down in 3 hours. My training this week has been thin as I came down with a virus that manifested into a chest cold/bronchitis. This will put me back a bit in my weight progression by a week.
Heading up the Turkey Trot Trail
Some close by trail friends
At the Castle Ruins
Headed down
Our next major team outing will be the April 26th weekend. We are planning an overnight in the snow. I did purchase a new stove, JetBoil Joule, that I'm eager to fire up and try out. Just about all my personal and climbing gear has been purchased. I just need last minute items like food and fuel. We all still need to purchase plane tickets. We are holding out for fares to get close to $200. Our Mt. Rainier climbing pass and wilderness camping applications were put in on March 17th. We have 3 months to go! Thanks for continuing to follow me on my adventures and reading my blog. Cheers...
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