Took a little over two hours
to get
to our designated campsite. We dropped our
packs and began setting up. In winter you want to
constantly have something to do. Doing something helps keep you warm. GPS
Coordinates: N44 09.564 W73 58.732 @
3268ft.
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First
on the list of things to do was set up our tents. Usually the first
thing is packing down all the snow with our snowshoes, but the
campsite had been used recently and that was taken care of for
us.
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Once
the tents were up it was time to build our snow kitchen. When the
concept was first described and displayed to me, I wasn't
buying it. Jeff and I usually prepare our meals on our knees in
the snow, then go to bed or head out for daily
adventures. With a group, kneeling food preparation isn't
convenient or efficient. A kitchen is
necessary.
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Speaking of efficiency and convenience, Art
gave us a little lecture on winter camping kitchen supplies. I'd
always known efficiency and convenience were key to winter camping, but
the level to which these guys have gone is totally pro. When
it's really really cold, you want to spend as little time
possible fumbling around for things. The quicker and more easily you get
hot stuff into your body, the more comfortable you'll be. This
includes things like attaching your spoon to your insulated
cup via cord. That way your spoon is always where you need
it.
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Back
to the kitchen. Here Jeff and Ethan are building the counter where
the stoves, water bottles and pots will
go.
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With
the counter complete, Barret hung a tarp overhead. The funny looking
things on the counter are home-made stove protectors to keep the
stoves from melting our counter
top.
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Opposite the counter was this nice bench we
built to eat from and strap on our crampons. Completing our kitchen
construction left us time to practice our crampon and ice axe
work.
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There
was a short steep pitch on the trail down from our campsite that
made a perfect practice place. We first practiced traversing down
the hill. The short little sticks that have us all bent over
are our ice axes. There are two types of ice axes - climbing and
mountaineering. Climbing axes are shorter and more technical.
They're used for climbing vertical ice formations. Mountaineering
axes, like ours, are longer. They're mostly used as a third point of
contact with the ground. Typically we wouldn't use them for a
slope this slack, but we were practicing our ice axe and boot step
rhythem.
You're only supposed to move your ice axe when your body is in
a balance position (downhill leg is straight with your weight
on
it)
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Then
we practiced going straight up the
hill.
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And
the scariest - going straight down the hill. You'll see in a later
shot just
how
steep this is. Each step down had to be flat footed. You wanted all
the points on your crampons to be in contact with the ice/snow.
To do that on really steep stuff, you have to squat way
back behind your feet, but stay forward enough that you don't fall backwards.
Imagine sitting in a chair and sliding down an
icy hill. That's the same position you had to hold your
body in walking down the ices. See Jeff's ice axe jammed down in the
snow for support? It becomes a crutch of
sorts.
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