Alpine Ice Climbing, June 25 - 30, 2005
Climbers Mike Koricki and Jeff Pritchard returned to AAI's office on Thursday wearing huge grins. "I got a ton out of this course," Jeff said. "We found some nice, hard ice and hammered in our ice skills. Also, Justin was an excellent instructor. He was very patient and always had a positive attitude - it was educational just being around him!" The instructor, AAI guide Justin Wood, also said the course went very well despite adverse conditions. "I had heard the freezing level was 13,000 feet but I wasn't too worried because there's always some place up there to practice ice climbing. We ended up summiting via the Coleman-Demming route, however, rather than the technical North Ridge because I thought the ice would have been too wet and sloppy with the high freezing level."
One highlight for the group was helping out with a rescue on Tuesday, the fourth day of their course. "Mountain Rescue came through our camp (at the base of the glacier) very late Monday night," Mike said. "On Tuesday morning we woke early and discovered that our help would be much appreciated, so we carried a rescue litter from our camp up to 7,200 feet (High Camp on the Coleman-Demming route). That was a learning experience! And a workout. Turns out there was a climber that was having medical problems who needed immediate evacuation. We then helped lower the litter down the glacier and onto solid ground and from there a Mountain Rescue team brought the patient down the trail to the parking lot. It was exciting to not only see a rescue in progress, but to be part of one."
On Wednesday the group moved up to High Camp beneath the Black Buttes (7,200') where they practiced crevasse rescue and prepared for their summit attempt. The next morning they woke very early and began climbing. "Conditions were less than ideal," Jeff said. "It was a total whiteout, and there was a lot of new snow so we were breaking trail the whole way. It was pretty tiring." Nonetheless, the team summited at 7am. Justin said, "I had my ice axe in one hand and my compass in the other, navigating as we walked across the summit plateau. It was pretty wild. We actually made really good time - six hours roundtrip from High Camp."
An interesting feature on the route had the group stalled for a while. "There was a huge, absolutely gigantic bergschrund that had opened up recently right before the col at 8,900 feet. We had to maneuver way around (climber's left) to get by it." Justin said. "The mountain is always changing. As a climber, you have to be ready for significant changes one day to the next."
All in all it was a sucessful and highly educational course for Mike and Jeff. They learned the ice skills they came for, played a significant role in a mountain rescue, and summited a major peak in adverse conditions. Mike has climbed with AAI in the past - two years ago he took a Level 2 Glacier course - and upon return from this year's course said, "I'll definitely climb with AAI again. You guys do it best."