September 2009 Mountaineers Newsletter
Content
September, 2009
The monthly publication of The Mountaineers
Volume 103, No. 9
M3 M5
Vote with a stroke of a key Keeping an eye and foot on the glaciers
M2 M3 M4 M4 M7 M7
View from the Top Branches & Limbs Summit Savvy Conservation Currents Off the Shelf In Support
Roadless rule zigzags back into . . . limbo
Mountaineer
The
w w w. m o u n t a i n e e r s . o r g
I
By Leesa Wright
ssued in January 2001, following the most extensive public rule-making in history, the Roadless Area Conservation Rule protects 58.5 million acres of wild national forest land (2 million in Washington state) from most commercial logging and road building. More Americans took part in this rule-making process than in any federal rule making in history. The Forest Service held over 600 public meetings. A record breaking 2.2 million public comments were received with more that 95 percent of these comments supporting the strongest possible protection for our nation’s remaining roadless areas. Despite widespread popularity, the Roadless Area Conservation Rule remains in limbo. Since the Bush Administration’s revisions of the rule, it has been subjected to a series of lawsuits and appeals to allow development in these pristine areas. In Washington state, areas without roads generate over $8 billion an-
Owls & Woodpeckers: See advertisement on M3.
Paul Bannick photo
Discover The Mountaineers
New explorations now
Ken Hahn photo
If you are thinking of joining - or have joined and aren’t sure where to start - why not attend an information meeting? Check the Go Guide branch sections for times and locations. Are you ready to jump right in? Visit www.mountaineers. org. No computer? See pg. 18. Need to call? 206-521-6000.
PERIODICAL POSTAGE PAID AT SEATTLE, WA
nually in retail sales and services Continued on M5
Trailhead events—introducing Mountaineers and non-Mountaineers alike to activities they may not have ever tried—are plentiful in September, whether it be rock climbing near Vantage (above) or learning new backcountry cuisine skills. Just look for the under the flags of hiking, climbing and family activities in this Go Guide for a full account of Trailhead events.
Near-miss reports vital to mountain safety
I
By Brad Stracener
t is about 2 p.m. on the last leg of a Mountaineers scramble. The plangent shower of lug soles on moist, much-trampled terra firma betrays the nine hikers’ gravity-induced haste to return to the trailhead. That is where the cars await big appetites fomented by the hikers’ mental pictures of what will be on their dinner plate in as little as an hour-and-a-half. First, they must get down the ridge that meets the main trail that leads to the trailhead. Before reaching the main trail, one of the hikers needs to heed nature’s call and asks for the euphemistic “party separation.” The leader directs the group to hold up and wait. “No, don’t wait for me. I don’t want to slow anyone up. I’ll catch up with you all down the trail.” The leader hems and haws, then says, “I’d rather we stick together and reach the trailhead together.”
“I know the way down. I’m not five,” says the hiker.
Upon the hiker’s insistence, the leader and remaining hikers continue down the ridge and just before the junction with the trail, the leader decides to wait behind with one other party member. She wants to make sure the separated hiker
catches up. She and the other party member wait for 10 minutes. There is no sign of the separated hiker.
“Owl and the Woodpecker” author Paul Bannick will apear Sept. 17 at club headquarters to unveil in photographic splendor the lifeline of habitat shared by these two Northwestern forest dwellers. See the ad on M3.
Upcoming
✔
Everett Branch to present Peter Athans Nov. 14. See pg. 3 of the Go Guide for more.
Four hours later, the leader has not had dinner nor has she even started home. She took her car to another trailhead to pick up the hiker who became separated from Continued on M6
when he offers a backpack trip to British Columbia and a 2010 trek to Nepal. See pgs. 1-2 of this Go Guide for more.
The Mountaineers 7700 Sand Point Way N.E. Seattle, WA 98115
✔
Choose your continent: Mountaineers international outings leader Craig Miller, often keeping one foot on this continent while pointing the other to another continent, will be up to the same dexterity this fall
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The
The Mountaineer
Purposes and mission
The club’s mission: To enrich the community by helping people explore, conserve, learn about and enjoy the lands and waters of the Pacific Northwest. The club’s charter lists its purposes as follows: —To explore and study the mountains, forests and other water courses of the Northwest and beyond. —To gather into permanent form the history and traditions of these regions and explorations. —To preserve by example, teaching and the encouragement of protective legislation or otherwise the natural beauty of the natural environment. —To make expeditions and provide educational opportunities in fulfillment of the above purposes. —To encourage a spirit of good fellowship among all lovers of outdoor life. —To hold real estate and personal property and to receive, hire, purchase, occupy, and maintain and manage suitable buildings and quarters for the furtherance of the purposes of the association, and to hold in trust or otherwise funds, received by bequest or gift or otherwise, to be devoted to the purposes of said association.
Mountaineer
The Mountaineers is a nonprofit organization, founded in 1906 and dedicated to the responsible enjoyment and protection of natural areas. Board of Trustees Officers President Eric Linxweiler, 08-10 President Elect Tab Wilkins, 08-10 Past President Bill Deters, 08-09 VP Properties Dave Claar, 08-10 VP Publishing Don Heck, 08-10 Treasurer Mike Dean, 08-10 Secretary Steve Sears, 08-10 Trustees at large Kirk Alm, 07-10 Rich Draves, 08-11 Dale Flynn, 07-10 Ed Henderson, 08-11 Lynn Hyde, 08-11 Don Schaechtel, 06-09 Eva Schönleitner, 06-09 Dave Shema, 07-10 Mona West, 06-09
Also see us on the web at www.mountaineers.org
Managing Editor Brad Stracener
Contributors, proofreaders: Barb Butler, John Edwards, Brian Futch, Susan Pavlansky, Jasmine Stark, Darla Tishman
Photographers & Illustrators: Ken Hahn, Tom Hammond, Paul Bannick, Leesa Wright THE MOUNTAINEER is published monthly by: The Mountaineers, 7700 Sand Point Way N.E. Seattle, WA 98115 206-521-6000; 206-523-6763 fax
Branch Trustees Bellingham, Steven Glenn Everett, Rob Simonsen Foothills, Gerry Haugen Kitsap, Jimmy James Olympia, John Flanagan Seattle, Mike Maude Tacoma, Tom Shimko Interim Executive Director Mona West
Volume 103, No. 9 The Mountaineer (ISSN 00272620) is published monthly by The Mountaineers, 7700 Sand Point Way N.E., Seattle, WA 98115. Members receive a subscription as part of their annual dues. Approximately $12.42 of each member’s annual membership dues is spent to print and mail this publication. Non-member subscriptions to The Mountaineer are $32. Periodicals postage paid at Seattle WA. Postmaster: send address changes to The Mountaineer, 7700 Sand Point Way N.E., Seattle, WA 98115. Opinions expressed in articles are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the views of The Mountaineers.
Who ya gonna call? Your mentor, of course
Are you a new member wondering about the how-to, where-to and what-to-do with your club? There are a number of resources available to you, not the least our websites. Now there is also a real, live person. If you want to know about expected conditioning for a hike, what not to wear, how to sign up for events or whatever, call or e-mail the “mentor of the month.” Mona West is this month’s mentor. Feel free to contact her at [email protected] with your questions or comments.
View from the Top
A ship in port is safe, but that’s not what ships are built for. – Grace Murray Hopper
By Eric Linxweiler, president
Club is catching the winds of change
becomes even more interesting when you think about other mountaineering organizations that are thriving across the country—from California to Colorado, and New York to New England. Each of them are finding ways to grow with, and for, their members and the communities in which they operate. Yet, we are seeing the exact opposite. This is our problem, and ours alone to solve. The answer is as simple as it is complex—change. We must change to be more relevant and to be more valuable. We must change to be the organization we need to be, not the one we used to be. Many of your club’s leaders have spent the summer working on two very important items related to our future. The first is closing one of our largest budget gaps in years. We all enjoy the many benefits of being a Mountaineer, but we realize that benefits come with a cost. Led by Mona West (our acting executive director), we have been able to point ourselves in a direction that acknowledges we must do things differently to achieve growth and sustainability. Second, and probably more important, is recruiting our next executive director (ED). Led by me and four other club leaders, we are confident that we are going to welcome the right leader for the future of The Mountaineers. We’ve enjoyed a very busy summer working through dozens of nationwide candidates that include former CEOs, former EDs, and experts at marketing and operations—clearly the best of the best. We know that a new leader will bring change, which is exactly what we need. As these winds of change blow over us, please take the time to embrace our direction with confidence. As we all have experienced in the mountains, it can be an awesome feeling when you are in a beautiful place—laden with history and destined for an even brighter future. Onward and upward!
As I write this month’s View from the Top, I realize the winds of change are pushing us towards tomorrow. It’s quite evident when we see programs such as Trailhead thrive and the Junior Mountaineers program launch. Our Olympia Branch has had fantastic success with its Wilderness Skills Courses, and we’re seeing that branch grow as a result—the only branch that is currently growing. Even with those shining stars, we are facing many challenges— namely, a club that continues to experience a membership decline and has since the late 1990s. We have fewer people joining our club, but we still must provide basic services that are needed to be a functioning organization. Similarly, many of our assets—properties and cash—aren’t effectively utilized to share our mission with the growing numbers in the community around us. If you consider that the Puget Sound community has grown dramatically over the past 10 years, you have to wonder why The Mountaineers hasn’t. This question
The Mountaineers Legacy Society
The Mountaineers, in partnership with The Mountaineers Foundation, is proud to announce the launch of The Mountaineers Legacy Society. The Society will recognize and honor donors who have included a gift to The Mountaineers and/or the Foundation through a bequest or other estate gift. If you would like to be recognized as a Founding Member in the Legacy Society – or would just like to learn more – we would love to hear from you!
To find out more about The Mountaineers Legacy Society, please contact us: [email protected] or call Judy Halls, 206-521-6006
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The Mountaineer
September 009
by Mother Nature—the most recent being a 2003 flood that took out sections that parallel the Stehekin River. A house bill, sponsored by Rep. Doc Hastings, R-Pasco, would allow the National Park Service to relocate a 2.5-mile section of the road. However, it would cross into the wilderness area and thus requires an act of Congress to move the wilderness boundary. The National Park Service has expressed its opposition to setting a precedent for moving wilderness boundaries. The park service has spent nearly $1.5 million each time the road has been repaired. The Mountaineers Conservation and Recreation Access Divisions intensely debated whether to endorse reconstruction of the road for vehicular access in the mid-1990s. Climbers use the road to access several North Cascades peaks that can require up to an extra day of travel when the road is closed. For more about the bill to reconstruct the road, visit the Wenatchee World website: http://wenatcheeworld. com/article/20090807/ NEWS04/708079968. locations. Luebben, also a photographer, had written a total of seven books on climbing.
Branches
& limbs
Author gets air time
Mountaineers author Paul Bannick recently received air time on National Public Radio via an interview with PBS host Rick Steves. The interview precedes Bannick’s appearance at The Mountaineers headquarters on Sept. 17 (see ad below). According to Mountaineers Books Publisher Helen Cherullo, Bannick’s appearances to promote his book, “Owls and Woodpeckers,” have been “wildly successful.” Many of his events have received standing-room-only receptions from audiences wishing to learn about the importance of healthy habitats to both the owl and woodpecker in the Pacific Northwest. Bannick’s presentation at club headquarters in Magnuson Park will feature several recently taken photographs not printed in the book or shown at other events, according to Cherullo. Proceeds from the Sept. 17 event, to be held at 7 p.m., will help fund programs and education toward the pursuit of preserving natural habitats for birds. Please refer to the ad below for ticket information.
Access up to Congress
Vote via stroke of a key
Mountaineers will be saving a postage stamp this fall when they cast votes for board of trustees candidates. For the first time ever, electronic balloting will be used to elect officers of the club.
The fate of the Stehekin Road is again in the hands of Congress. Since the 1970s the road that allows vehicles into the upper portions of Stephen Mather Wilderness Area and the North Cascades National Park has been the subject of debate after destructive blows
Climber-author dies
Well-known Colorado mountain climber and Mountaineers Books author Craig Luebben was killed and his partner was injured on Aug. 9 while climbing Mt. Torrent in the North Cascades. The two were hit by falling ice while training for an American Mountain Guide exam at the time of the accident. Willie Benegas was briefly hospitalized and then released, but Luebben’s fall into an ice moat resulted in his death. Luebben wrote “Rock Climbing” and “Rock Climbing Anchors” for The Mountaineers Books. He had climbed across the globe and achieved first ascents on rocks in five states, Canada, Mexico, Cuba and Puerto Rico, among other
Members cast their votes and can then choose an option to have their ballot printed for reference. Members of the club who cannot access the web will be allowed to cut out a paper ballot to appear in the October issue of The Mountaineer, which will also include profiles of each candidate. Electronic voting will commence about Oct. 1 and election day will be Wed., Oct. 21.
Members will log in to the club’s website, www.mountaineers.org, the same as if registering for a course or trip. A “vote now” prompt will then appear that takes members to the ballot.
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September 009
Can you identify the summit in
the foreground here? Send your answer (by Sept. 10) to: Summit Savvy, The Mountaineer, 7700 Sand Point Way N.E., Seattle, WA 98115. If you guess correctly, you’ll receive $10 of Mountaineers Money, good for Mountaineers Bookstore merchandise, and we’ll publish your name in next month’s column. (In case of a tie, one winner will be chosen at random.) Club employees or persons shown in the photograph are not eligible. Each month we’ll publish a new mystery summit and identification of the previous one.
The Mountaineer
■ Send your photographs (or slides) for possible publication as a mystery summit (include identification for our benefit). If we use your photo, you will get $10 of Mountaineers Money as well. ■ At the end of each year, all correct respondents’ names are placed in a hat and the winner of that drawing will receive $50 of Mountaineers Money good for purchases at The Mountaineers Bookstore. ■ Two correctly guessed last month’s mystery summit, Mt. Baker, as photographed by Curt Baxstrom. The coin flip went to Steve Glenn of the Bellingham Branch. While it will take some time to see change, within months of his appointment Vilsack rolled out initiatives to stop the loss of American’s agricultural land and reinstated the Clinton era roadless rule which protects over 50 million acres of our nation’s roadless national forest lands from logging, mining and oil and gas drilling. Of course, the real metric by which to judge the Forest Service’s commitment to this new vision will be how funds are allocated within the infamously underfunded agency. It is this fact and the often competing expectations of the Forest Service that make Vilsack’s job one of the toughest jobs in the country. An important and often overlooked point made by Secretary Vilsack is that 80 percent of America’s forested land is actually state and privately owned: “The Forest Service must not be viewed as an agency concerned only with the fate of our national forests, but must instead be acknowledged for its work in protecting and maintaining all American forests, including state and private lands. Our shared vision adopts an ‘all-lands approach,’ requiring close collaboration with the NRCS (Natural Resources Conservation Service) and its work on America’s private working lands.” Vilsack also mentioned that new economic possibilities in emerging energy technologies were of common interest to landowners and the Forest Service: “Emerging markets for carbon and sustainable bioenergy will provide landowners with expanded economic incentives to maintain and restore forests. The Forest Service must play a significant role in the development of new markets and ensuring their integrity. Carbon and bioenergy aren’t the only new opportunity for landowners. Markets for water can also provide landowners with incentives to restore watersheds and manage forests for clean and abundant water supplies. These markets can also create (rural) jobs.” He further emphasized the common, shared interests among public and private forests in fighting wildfires and bark beetle infestations: “The threats facing our forests don’t recognize property boundaries. So, in developing a shared vision around forests, we must also be willing to look across property boundaries. In other words, we must operate at a landscape-scale by taking an ‘all-lands approach.’” The only sour notes concerned thinning and woody biomass: “Our shared vision begins with restoration. Restoration means managing forest lands first and foremost to protect our water resources, while making our forests more resilient to climate change. Forest restoration led by the dedicated people at the Forest Service opens non-traditional markets for climate mitigation and biomass energy while appropriately recognizing the need for more traditional uses of forest resources.” Recent research from Oregon State University reveals that forest-thinning projects designed to lower fuel levels in big, crown-class fires are counterproductive to the new mission to use our forests as carbon sinks in an effort to mitigate climate change. Collection of woody biomass from snags and downed logs on our forest floors is also counter to the protection of clean water and the alleviation of downstream flooding, and interrupts the natural nutrient cycling where decaying organic material is broken down to elements essential to the regeneration, overall health and ecology of forests. Leesa Wright is Mountaineers public policy associate.
Summit Savvy
conservation CURRENTS
Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack addresses a crowd at Seward Park in Seattle about his vision for forest management in the coming years.
Leesa Wright photo
Ag secretary conveys vision for forests
By Leesa Wright U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack held his first major address on the state of the United States Forest Service in Seattle’s Seward Park on Fri., August 14. A moment that seemed to generate great excitement at the local level occurred even before Secretary Vilsack’s speech began when the new Region 6 Forester Mary Wagner introduced Congressman Norm Dicks. Wagner thanked him for his tireless work on the “Legacy Roads and Trails Remediation Act.” Dicks informed the crowd that in Washington state alone the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) is facing a $300 million road maintenance backlog. With this in mind, Dicks said that he will ask for an increase from $50 million to $100 million in federal appropriations for legacy roads projects. In outlining a new direction for the USFS, Vilsack presented a near 180degree turnaround from past Forest Service policy direction. According to Vilsack, while timber harvests and fighting forest fires will continue to occupy large segments of Forest Service operations, a new emphasis and guiding principle will be placed on conservation and restoration. In his opening remarks Vilsack acknowledged the ”many uses” of our national forests while recognizing them as the national treasures that Americans increasingly understand them to be: “A healthy and prosperous America relies on the health of our natural resources, and particularly our forests. America’s forests supply communities with clean and abundant water, shelter wildlife, and help us mitigate and adapt to climate change. Forests help generate rural wealth through recreation and tourism, through the creation of green jobs, and through the production of wood products and energy. And they are a national—requiring all of us to protect and preserve them for future generations.” “Why restoration as a driving principle in forest policy? There is no doubt that we are facing a health crisis in our forests. Climate change places them under increasing stress that exacerbates the threats of fire, disease, and insects. Throughout the West – but in other parts of the country as well – a legacy of fire suppression has resulted in forests that are over-stocked and much more susceptible to catastrophic fire and disease. Restoring forest ecosystems, particularly in fire-adapted forests, will make forests more resilient to climate-induced stresses and will ensure that our forests continue to supply abundant, clean water.” Vilsack’s cabinet-level appointment as head of the Department of Agriculture was received by the local conservation community with cautious optimism.
Throughout 2009, donors age 70½ and older can use their IRA funds to support The Mountaineers Foundation without the withdrawal being subject to income tax or withholding. This giving opportunity was extended in the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008. Before this gift provision, you had to withdraw money from your IRA and then contribute it. The amount you withdrew was taxable and you received a charitable deduction for the amount of the contribution. In some instances, making a gift directly from your IRA under this special provision will allow more money to go to the foundation and less to the IRS. In other instances, there are advantages to not increasing the amount of your taxable income even if you can use the offsetting charitable deduction. This giving opportunity was extended only for two years and expires in a few months (the end of 2009). The gift is easy to arrange – just ask your IRA administrator to send a contribution directly from your IRA account to The Mountaineers Foundation. To request a copy of a form letter to use in making your request, or to ask any questions you might have, contactJudy Halls at [email protected] or call 206-521-6006 for more information. We would be happy to assist you.
IRA holders 70½ or older have another way to support the great outdoors!
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The Mountaineer
Continued fron M1 while supporting 115,000 jobs. Additionally, water and air filtration as well as flood control are invaluable ecosystem services provided for free by roadless areas. Support for the Roadless Area Conservation Rule in 2001 managed to cross party lines and garner bipartisan support:
September 009
great nation—offers a truly unique way to experience our national forests and some of the last vestiges of wild and unspoiled lands in America.” It would be a shame to lose it all for a short-term gain.
Legal battles over roadless rule far from over
Through the introduction of complex legal processes, the Bush Administration seemed intent on eliminating protections for our roadless forests. Among these was a provision that placed the onus on state governors by “…it makes no sense to continue to build new roads at the public’s exrequiring them to petition the pense when we can’t even U.S. Department of Agriculture afford to maintain the ones we “…it makes no sense to continue to build new roads at the (USDA) if they wanted roadalready have. Leaving roadless public’s expense when we can’t even afford to maintain the less national forests in their areas roadless not only saves states preserved. This and tax dollars, it also helps local ones we already have. Leaving roadless areas roadless not other purposeful impediments economies. Roadless areas to the rule have resulted in 55 provide scenic vistas, hunting, only saves tax dollars, it also helps local economies.” percent of the original 58.5 camping, fishing, hiking and -- former Washington State Sen. Bill Finkbeiner million acres now standing touring opportunities that can unprotected. retain current residents and businesses, while also attracting non-resource-extracting businesses.” —Former Washington State Sen. Bill Finkbeiner In September 2006, Judge Elizabeth Laporte, magistrate for the U.S. District Court in Northern California, ruled that the Bush Administration illegally repealed the Roadless Rule and reinstated the original 2001 version of the rule. The case was immediately appealed by timber interests and has been awaiting decision in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals for nearly three years. Last month, the court reaffirmed the lower-court decision to reinstate the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule. However, the legal battle is far from over. In a different case, a Federal District judge in Wyoming decided in 2008 that the Clinton-era rule, adopted in 2001, was invalid because it violated environmental statutes. Conservationists appealed that decision to the 10th Circuit, which has not yet ruled. Stay tuned as news develops on the fate of the Roadless Rule. Leesa Wright is public policy associate for The Mountaineers.
“We cherish our roadless areas as sources of clean water, critical habitat for rare, sensitive and endangered species, and as destinations for recreation and beauty. Many of our state’s leading businesses, who seek to attract highly mobile employees, and much of our tourism industry, depend on the environmental quality and amenities that roadless areas and adjacent park and wilderness lands present.” —Washington State Gov. Christine Gregoire Roadless areas are unique zones that, once gone, are gone forever. Tom O’Keefe, chair of The Mountaineers Recreation Access Division and avid whitewater kayaker, puts it this way, “Paddling along remote rivers and waterways (in roadless areas)—the original highways used to explore our
Glacier monitoring team feels climate’s pulse underfoot
By Tom Hammond
Founded by Dr. Mauri Pelto of Nichols College in Massachusetts, the North Cascades Glacier Climate Project (NCGCP) was established in 1984 to get an important perspective on climate that glaciers offer. The project is not about remote sensing: it is boots on the ice every year to obtain high fidelity measurements of mass-balance, longitudinal profiles and stream flow and discharge. The team has measured the same eight glaciers (formerly nine glaciers, but the Lewis Glacier of Corteo Peak has disappeared) on an annual basis since the project began. Other “option” glaciers are surveyed on an approximate five-year rotation as time allows. From south to north, and from wet west to dry east, the glaciers are selected for aspect, location and relative ease of access. The project team travels more than 98 miles and 33,000 vertical feet in a typical season, rain or shine. It is hard, hot and cold work. The glaciers are Columbia Glacier (Monte Cristo Peaks), Easton Glacier, Sholes Glacier, Rainbow Glacier (Kulshan, aka Mt. Baker), Lower Curtis Glacier (Mt. Shuksan), Big Four (optional visit to view avalanche cycle, resulting ice caves, and age of deepest ice), Ice Worm/Hyas Creek Glacier, Daniels Glacier and Lynch Glacier (Mt. Daniel).
The monitoring team spent three days on the glacier and at Blanca Lake, above.
Tom Hammond photo
The team consists of Director Mauri Pelto (Nichols College, MA), his son Ben (Alfred University, NY), daughter Jill (high school), and hired field assistant Shannon Skinner (Evergreen State College). Researchers from Montana and the Discovery Channel will make single-glacier appearances during the season. Columbia Glacier trip: July 27-30, 2009 As with many trips this year, I had a bit of trepidation going in because the forecast called for record highs (90+ F), and I’d be hiking in the heat of the day. Still, the thought of being on a glacier during a week of high heat also had great appeal. It started off nice enough, with a new sign denoting entrance into the Wild Sky Wilderness, but that’s where all that was nice ended, at least for this day. It began with quite a climb up the steep hill. I normally go 50 minutes of hiking between breaks, but here I was looking at my watch after only 17 minutes and wondering about a break. I pushed to 30 minutes, and as soon as I stopped, I was covered in black flies. I could only stand it for a couple minutes before I had to get moving. But the trail was so steep and my pack so heavy that I couldn’t out-hike the bugs. Continued on M6
M5
September 009
Continued from M1 the group. He had taken a spur from the ridge that he thought was the trail on which they had come up the mountain. He had broken an ankle and the leader took him to the hospital before finally turning her steering wheel homeward. This is an embellished depiction of an actual trip taken earlier this summer. Despite a couple of augmentations, it is a representative example of an issue that has particularly haunted the club this summer, according to trip reports received by The Mountaineers Safety Committee. whereabouts of a party member was unknown. One was the subject of a rescue. In the other, the hiker’s location was reported by hikers outside of The Mountaineers party. which consists of 15 members from the various club branches. “We want to make sure people read our annual report and learn from it,” stated Lauren. It is currently a paper document, but he said the committee soon would
The Mountaineer
“you can’t leave anyone alone.” He said the leader should have a buddy system in place that keeps at least two people together at all times.
Mistakes are made, ‘but we all know what we have been taught’
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D
an Lauren, chair of the committee, stated, “We are seeing more near misses.” These are incidents that may not result in injury or rescues but quite easily could have. Five were cited in leaders’ reports in 2008. According to Lauren, it is likely that more occurred; they were just unreported. “Some become public knowledge because a search and rescue is required,” he noted. In the past couple months, there were two incidents in which the
he Safety Committee encourages leaders to report near misses when they occur. It helps fulfill the committee’s objective: to promote a culture of safety among The Mountaineers by collecting and reporting on accidents as well as near misses. It uses this information for educating and training the many leaders and instructors in the club—a system similar to that which won a National Park Service award for The Mountaineers and Mt. Rainier National Park over the summer (see last month’s Mountaineer). “Our mission is to write up these reports in a factual format and include recommendations or what needs emphasizing,” said Lauren, a Tacoma Branch member who has been active with the club for more than 10 years. The summaries and suggestions then end up in the annual safety report produced by the committee,
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“You can’t leave anyone alone.”
– Dan Lauren, Safety Committee chair
here are many reasons a leader’s party becomes separated. In fact, it is sometimes the leader who must request separation because he or she becomes ill. Especially in those cases, Lauren maintains, there must be a buddy system. “The leave-no-one-alone and buddy-system rules must be pervasive throughout our climbing and hiking programs,” Lauren said. A leader on many club climbs over the years, Lauren added, “We have all made mistakes. I have let people go back by themselves on occasion. But we also know what we have been taught.” As long as the club practices what it teaches, The Mountaineers can continue to be recognized as an industry leader in safety for outdoor activities—the Safety Committee’s ultimate objective. Brad Stracener is managing editor of The Mountaineer.
like to create a “safety link” on the club website in which resources on safety can be easily found. “We would like to distribute this clubwide in a factual and non-judgmental manner.”
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roup separation is an especially tough issue to remedy because it hinges largely on personalities and the ability of one person to persuade another that separating for a few minutes is hardly going to result in a tragedy, especially on hikes when technical equipment is not used to ascend or descend. But the bottom line, Lauren says, is that all leaders need to understand
Power and fragility of glaciers revealed in team’s time on ice
Continued from M5 I was struggling big time, trying to stay hydrated, but never able to really stop. Hell. I made Virgin Lake in 2.5 hours, having consumed a half-gallon of Gatorade and still very dehydrated. My clothes were literally as wet as if right out of the washtub. I had another liter of water from the lake, but could not quite get enough fluids in me. A tough night for sure, but by morning I had drunk enough to be functional. experienced the North Cascades in terms of backcountry travel, so it was especially fun to introduce them to snow caves, moulins, and the local relief that make this area so impressive. At times the Evergreen field technician was speechless—and rightly so. There were many spectacular moments. The 2008-2009 season was a great will suffer a significant negative mass-balance. Mass-balance is the difference between accumulation and ablation (melting and sublimation). The reason it is negative is because we’ve had the driest May through August in recorded history (including an official record of 30 days without measurable precipitation in May and June). carving and cutting the glacier with runnels more than a meter deep. Small super-glacial streams are common on the Columbia, but these were fast-rushing streams more reminiscent of the water courses found on big glaciers in Greenland and Alaska. We happened upon a rather large moulin that opened a window into the glacier—the cutting action of the water made me ponder the impact on the mass-balance over time. Perhaps hot days or even hot weeks might not show up on overall mass-balance analysis, but the heat-related water action must increase the disintegration of the terminus (the lower glacier). One would expect this would manifest as a more rapid retreat. The main outlet stream of the glacier proceeds out of the upper cirque of high peaks in a series of spectacular cascades—north cascades one might say—waterfalls roaring with an intensity that shakes the air and quickens the pulse as the water races to Blanca Lake. One can appreciate the extremes of this world—there are no fewer than eight species of wildflowers growing next to the outlet falls. So much power and so fragile all at the same time. And, all Continued on M7
The avalanche snow could not hide the obvious: the Columbia is disappearing; and, this year it will suffer a significant negative mass-balance.
year for snow at all elevations, but especially at lower ones. It was also a great year for big avalanches, and this was evident throughout our visit to Columbia. Indeed, the avalanche cycle provided some amazing snow-cave action, as well as a nice covering of snows on the terminus of the Columbia. The new lakes are there, but they were easily walked due to snow. The same snow cupped a surface pond of remarkable aquamarine color. The avalanche snow could not hide the obvious: the Columbia is disappearing; and, this year it The week of our trip would produce the highest temperatures ever recorded for the Puget Sound area. At the same time the lowlands were being scorched, we were throwing on jackets at mid-glacier, as the breeze coming down-glacier was a bit chilly. It is simply awesome to tread a kilometer long, three-quarters of a kilometer wide sheet of ice under withering heat. The streams running on the surface of the glacier were remarkable. By afternoon each day we were there, trickles had turned into full-blown creeks,
Mauri and the team showed up at my tent at 6:15 a.m.—they had camped close by, and were on the path early to beat the extreme heat, though it was already hot. So we met at the outlet of Blanca Lake for breakfast and the icy ford. Last year the lake was virtually frozen over; this year there was not a bit of ice in the water. I was fortunate to snap the picture you see with this article of the amazing vista. From left to right, you see Columbia Peak (two big towers), Wilmans Peak(s), and the Columbia Glacier below Monte Cristo Pass, Monte Cristo Peak, and Kyes Peak (three towers on right). We would spend the next three days living on the glacier and by the lake, surrounded by glory of the North Cascades. Neither Shannon nor Jill had ever
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The Mountaineer
September 009
Off the shelf
T
The latest from your Mountaineers Library
By Kathleen McCluskey, librarian
In support
Mountaineers Foundation Donors
The Mountaineers Foundation desires to acknowledge and thank all its donors. Unless individuals request their names not be published, all donors will be acknowledged in The Mountaineer on a quarterly basis (usually September, December, March and June). If you have donated during the period of May through July 2009 and your name is not on this list, please notify Paul Robisch, Mountaineers Foundation, 206-363-1989, [email protected]. Your name will then be added to the next published list of acknowledgments. Donations received after July 31 will be acknowledged in the December issue of The Mountaineer. The Mountaineers Foundation thanks the following donors: Aagaard, Eric Amos, Barrett Anderson, Kareena Baron, Anthony Berner, Richard Boeing Corporate Match Boone, Aaron Carey, Kathleen Caster, William Cordone, Richard Davis, Tom Davis, Robert Dejanikus, Daphne Dexter, Marilyn Draves, Richard Eades, Glenn Eby, Scott Finn, Judith Gilmur, Thelma Greenaway, Leonard (bequest) Gross, James Grubb, Suzanne Hall, David Haven, Sylvia Hensley, Russell Hickey, Robert Hurlbutt, Cynthia James, Frank Johnson, Jean Jonquiere, Martin Karlstad, Mari Kastama, Diane Klein, Fritz Kornreich, Louise Lester, Evelyn Marshall, Margie Maughan, David McMahon, Patrick Microsoft Corporate Match Moss, Sandra Navasio, Gretchen Nelson, Robert Olson, Donald Pearson, Matthew Pelz, Ruth Price, Scott Sayers, Linda Schultz, Betsy Sevareid, Max Simpson, Dean Thomas, M. Troje, Frances Tubb, Barbara Tyers, William Vanhaagen, Paula Walyor, Bruce Washington Falconers Association Watrous, Diane Wick, Debra Wiseman, Paul Wittrock, Paul Zobel, Christian In Memorial: Engle, Stanley Elvin, Ann Miller Elvin, Frederick Eldwin
he book, “Natural Areas of the San Juan Islands,” by Terry Domico, lives up to its description as a “must for birders, kayakers, botanists, naturalists, conservationists, and outdoor explorers who want to get to know these amazingly diverse island environments.” This book gives the user information on sites, facilities and access for the islands of San Juan, Lopez, Shaw, Orcas, Yellow, Little McConnell, Gossip, Cone, Strawberry, Saddlebag, Sinclair, Cypress, Jones, James, Clark, Matia, Sucia, Patos, Waldron, Stuart, Fidalgo, D’Arcy, Sidney, Mandarte and Rum. There is more than the usual guidebook fare here. The book is filled with stories that will excite the reader to visit the islands while offering history and trivia that will enhance the experience. For instance, did you know that 250,000 to 400,000 European rabbits roamed San Juan Island in the late 1970s? Did you know you should beware the poisonous secretions of the rough-skinned newt? Did you know that the pure-white, rocky cliffs of Mandarte Island get their color from an aerial visitor (i.e. thousands of birds leave their mark) or that you may see up to 100 harbor seals at Shark Reef Park? Did you know that Canada’s D’Arcy Island was used as an “escape-proof” leper colony, or that the Lime Kiln area includes “some of the most dramatic coastal views in Washington State,” as well as “one of the best places in the world to see orcas from shore?” The English Camp National Historic Park commemorates the site of the Pig War and hosts a British cemetery. At Bell Point you can find “one of San Juan Island’s geological anomalies: a limestone cave,” and site of the film, “Journey to Spirit Island.” This is a book that ensures endless days of fun on family outings and brings history to life for the kids. It can inspire the next generation not only to love the outdoors but to act to preserve the habitats that are home to more than just the obvious, large and lovable creatures. It casts its lens on other tiny creatures—such as the rough-skinned newt—and plants that are critical to the ecological survival of the natural wonders of the San Juans. Don’t miss the appendix, “Cooperative Conservation Resource Guide,” if you want to not only enjoy the local treasure known as the San Juans, but also to ensure it is around in all its splendor for the next generation. LIbrary hours: Please visit www.mountaineers.org to view current library hours.
Summer melt outpaces winter moisture
Continued from M6 so beautiful as to take the breath away. Water is the profound difference our planet affords us—water as a vapor, water as a liquid, and water as a solid—a glacier. Even with a huge winter snowpack (1.5+ meters at Big Four picnic area) and a healthy avalanche cycle, the Columbia Glacier is minus 0.6 meters for the year. This provides a key lesson in glacier science: summer melting is a more critical component to mass-balance than heavy precipitation in winter. Look to future editions of The Mountaineer for final data on all of the North Cascades glaciers measured by NCGCP during the 2009 season. Tom Hammond works at the University of Washington as a technology manager. He has been fortunate enough to pursue post-graduate classes at the UW to better understand the geologic processes in the North Cascades, with a focus on glaciology. He is a volunteer for the North Cascades Glacier Climate Project for which he has served as a field scientist for the past six summers.
What's your @ddress?
Help us keep in touch with you! We are asking all members with email addresses to make sure we have it in our records. As the club moves into the future, we rely more and more on electronic media to communicate. Log in to your Profile page today and add or update your email with us. Thanks!
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September 009
The Mountaineer
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The monthly publication of The Mountaineers
Volume 103, No. 9
M3 M5
Vote with a stroke of a key Keeping an eye and foot on the glaciers
M2 M3 M4 M4 M7 M7
View from the Top Branches & Limbs Summit Savvy Conservation Currents Off the Shelf In Support
Roadless rule zigzags back into . . . limbo
Mountaineer
The
w w w. m o u n t a i n e e r s . o r g
I
By Leesa Wright
ssued in January 2001, following the most extensive public rule-making in history, the Roadless Area Conservation Rule protects 58.5 million acres of wild national forest land (2 million in Washington state) from most commercial logging and road building. More Americans took part in this rule-making process than in any federal rule making in history. The Forest Service held over 600 public meetings. A record breaking 2.2 million public comments were received with more that 95 percent of these comments supporting the strongest possible protection for our nation’s remaining roadless areas. Despite widespread popularity, the Roadless Area Conservation Rule remains in limbo. Since the Bush Administration’s revisions of the rule, it has been subjected to a series of lawsuits and appeals to allow development in these pristine areas. In Washington state, areas without roads generate over $8 billion an-
Owls & Woodpeckers: See advertisement on M3.
Paul Bannick photo
Discover The Mountaineers
New explorations now
Ken Hahn photo
If you are thinking of joining - or have joined and aren’t sure where to start - why not attend an information meeting? Check the Go Guide branch sections for times and locations. Are you ready to jump right in? Visit www.mountaineers. org. No computer? See pg. 18. Need to call? 206-521-6000.
PERIODICAL POSTAGE PAID AT SEATTLE, WA
nually in retail sales and services Continued on M5
Trailhead events—introducing Mountaineers and non-Mountaineers alike to activities they may not have ever tried—are plentiful in September, whether it be rock climbing near Vantage (above) or learning new backcountry cuisine skills. Just look for the under the flags of hiking, climbing and family activities in this Go Guide for a full account of Trailhead events.
Near-miss reports vital to mountain safety
I
By Brad Stracener
t is about 2 p.m. on the last leg of a Mountaineers scramble. The plangent shower of lug soles on moist, much-trampled terra firma betrays the nine hikers’ gravity-induced haste to return to the trailhead. That is where the cars await big appetites fomented by the hikers’ mental pictures of what will be on their dinner plate in as little as an hour-and-a-half. First, they must get down the ridge that meets the main trail that leads to the trailhead. Before reaching the main trail, one of the hikers needs to heed nature’s call and asks for the euphemistic “party separation.” The leader directs the group to hold up and wait. “No, don’t wait for me. I don’t want to slow anyone up. I’ll catch up with you all down the trail.” The leader hems and haws, then says, “I’d rather we stick together and reach the trailhead together.”
“I know the way down. I’m not five,” says the hiker.
Upon the hiker’s insistence, the leader and remaining hikers continue down the ridge and just before the junction with the trail, the leader decides to wait behind with one other party member. She wants to make sure the separated hiker
catches up. She and the other party member wait for 10 minutes. There is no sign of the separated hiker.
“Owl and the Woodpecker” author Paul Bannick will apear Sept. 17 at club headquarters to unveil in photographic splendor the lifeline of habitat shared by these two Northwestern forest dwellers. See the ad on M3.
Upcoming
✔
Everett Branch to present Peter Athans Nov. 14. See pg. 3 of the Go Guide for more.
Four hours later, the leader has not had dinner nor has she even started home. She took her car to another trailhead to pick up the hiker who became separated from Continued on M6
when he offers a backpack trip to British Columbia and a 2010 trek to Nepal. See pgs. 1-2 of this Go Guide for more.
The Mountaineers 7700 Sand Point Way N.E. Seattle, WA 98115
✔
Choose your continent: Mountaineers international outings leader Craig Miller, often keeping one foot on this continent while pointing the other to another continent, will be up to the same dexterity this fall
September 009
The
The Mountaineer
Purposes and mission
The club’s mission: To enrich the community by helping people explore, conserve, learn about and enjoy the lands and waters of the Pacific Northwest. The club’s charter lists its purposes as follows: —To explore and study the mountains, forests and other water courses of the Northwest and beyond. —To gather into permanent form the history and traditions of these regions and explorations. —To preserve by example, teaching and the encouragement of protective legislation or otherwise the natural beauty of the natural environment. —To make expeditions and provide educational opportunities in fulfillment of the above purposes. —To encourage a spirit of good fellowship among all lovers of outdoor life. —To hold real estate and personal property and to receive, hire, purchase, occupy, and maintain and manage suitable buildings and quarters for the furtherance of the purposes of the association, and to hold in trust or otherwise funds, received by bequest or gift or otherwise, to be devoted to the purposes of said association.
Mountaineer
The Mountaineers is a nonprofit organization, founded in 1906 and dedicated to the responsible enjoyment and protection of natural areas. Board of Trustees Officers President Eric Linxweiler, 08-10 President Elect Tab Wilkins, 08-10 Past President Bill Deters, 08-09 VP Properties Dave Claar, 08-10 VP Publishing Don Heck, 08-10 Treasurer Mike Dean, 08-10 Secretary Steve Sears, 08-10 Trustees at large Kirk Alm, 07-10 Rich Draves, 08-11 Dale Flynn, 07-10 Ed Henderson, 08-11 Lynn Hyde, 08-11 Don Schaechtel, 06-09 Eva Schönleitner, 06-09 Dave Shema, 07-10 Mona West, 06-09
Also see us on the web at www.mountaineers.org
Managing Editor Brad Stracener
Contributors, proofreaders: Barb Butler, John Edwards, Brian Futch, Susan Pavlansky, Jasmine Stark, Darla Tishman
Photographers & Illustrators: Ken Hahn, Tom Hammond, Paul Bannick, Leesa Wright THE MOUNTAINEER is published monthly by: The Mountaineers, 7700 Sand Point Way N.E. Seattle, WA 98115 206-521-6000; 206-523-6763 fax
Branch Trustees Bellingham, Steven Glenn Everett, Rob Simonsen Foothills, Gerry Haugen Kitsap, Jimmy James Olympia, John Flanagan Seattle, Mike Maude Tacoma, Tom Shimko Interim Executive Director Mona West
Volume 103, No. 9 The Mountaineer (ISSN 00272620) is published monthly by The Mountaineers, 7700 Sand Point Way N.E., Seattle, WA 98115. Members receive a subscription as part of their annual dues. Approximately $12.42 of each member’s annual membership dues is spent to print and mail this publication. Non-member subscriptions to The Mountaineer are $32. Periodicals postage paid at Seattle WA. Postmaster: send address changes to The Mountaineer, 7700 Sand Point Way N.E., Seattle, WA 98115. Opinions expressed in articles are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the views of The Mountaineers.
Who ya gonna call? Your mentor, of course
Are you a new member wondering about the how-to, where-to and what-to-do with your club? There are a number of resources available to you, not the least our websites. Now there is also a real, live person. If you want to know about expected conditioning for a hike, what not to wear, how to sign up for events or whatever, call or e-mail the “mentor of the month.” Mona West is this month’s mentor. Feel free to contact her at [email protected] with your questions or comments.
View from the Top
A ship in port is safe, but that’s not what ships are built for. – Grace Murray Hopper
By Eric Linxweiler, president
Club is catching the winds of change
becomes even more interesting when you think about other mountaineering organizations that are thriving across the country—from California to Colorado, and New York to New England. Each of them are finding ways to grow with, and for, their members and the communities in which they operate. Yet, we are seeing the exact opposite. This is our problem, and ours alone to solve. The answer is as simple as it is complex—change. We must change to be more relevant and to be more valuable. We must change to be the organization we need to be, not the one we used to be. Many of your club’s leaders have spent the summer working on two very important items related to our future. The first is closing one of our largest budget gaps in years. We all enjoy the many benefits of being a Mountaineer, but we realize that benefits come with a cost. Led by Mona West (our acting executive director), we have been able to point ourselves in a direction that acknowledges we must do things differently to achieve growth and sustainability. Second, and probably more important, is recruiting our next executive director (ED). Led by me and four other club leaders, we are confident that we are going to welcome the right leader for the future of The Mountaineers. We’ve enjoyed a very busy summer working through dozens of nationwide candidates that include former CEOs, former EDs, and experts at marketing and operations—clearly the best of the best. We know that a new leader will bring change, which is exactly what we need. As these winds of change blow over us, please take the time to embrace our direction with confidence. As we all have experienced in the mountains, it can be an awesome feeling when you are in a beautiful place—laden with history and destined for an even brighter future. Onward and upward!
As I write this month’s View from the Top, I realize the winds of change are pushing us towards tomorrow. It’s quite evident when we see programs such as Trailhead thrive and the Junior Mountaineers program launch. Our Olympia Branch has had fantastic success with its Wilderness Skills Courses, and we’re seeing that branch grow as a result—the only branch that is currently growing. Even with those shining stars, we are facing many challenges— namely, a club that continues to experience a membership decline and has since the late 1990s. We have fewer people joining our club, but we still must provide basic services that are needed to be a functioning organization. Similarly, many of our assets—properties and cash—aren’t effectively utilized to share our mission with the growing numbers in the community around us. If you consider that the Puget Sound community has grown dramatically over the past 10 years, you have to wonder why The Mountaineers hasn’t. This question
The Mountaineers Legacy Society
The Mountaineers, in partnership with The Mountaineers Foundation, is proud to announce the launch of The Mountaineers Legacy Society. The Society will recognize and honor donors who have included a gift to The Mountaineers and/or the Foundation through a bequest or other estate gift. If you would like to be recognized as a Founding Member in the Legacy Society – or would just like to learn more – we would love to hear from you!
To find out more about The Mountaineers Legacy Society, please contact us: [email protected] or call Judy Halls, 206-521-6006
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The Mountaineer
September 009
by Mother Nature—the most recent being a 2003 flood that took out sections that parallel the Stehekin River. A house bill, sponsored by Rep. Doc Hastings, R-Pasco, would allow the National Park Service to relocate a 2.5-mile section of the road. However, it would cross into the wilderness area and thus requires an act of Congress to move the wilderness boundary. The National Park Service has expressed its opposition to setting a precedent for moving wilderness boundaries. The park service has spent nearly $1.5 million each time the road has been repaired. The Mountaineers Conservation and Recreation Access Divisions intensely debated whether to endorse reconstruction of the road for vehicular access in the mid-1990s. Climbers use the road to access several North Cascades peaks that can require up to an extra day of travel when the road is closed. For more about the bill to reconstruct the road, visit the Wenatchee World website: http://wenatcheeworld. com/article/20090807/ NEWS04/708079968. locations. Luebben, also a photographer, had written a total of seven books on climbing.
Branches
& limbs
Author gets air time
Mountaineers author Paul Bannick recently received air time on National Public Radio via an interview with PBS host Rick Steves. The interview precedes Bannick’s appearance at The Mountaineers headquarters on Sept. 17 (see ad below). According to Mountaineers Books Publisher Helen Cherullo, Bannick’s appearances to promote his book, “Owls and Woodpeckers,” have been “wildly successful.” Many of his events have received standing-room-only receptions from audiences wishing to learn about the importance of healthy habitats to both the owl and woodpecker in the Pacific Northwest. Bannick’s presentation at club headquarters in Magnuson Park will feature several recently taken photographs not printed in the book or shown at other events, according to Cherullo. Proceeds from the Sept. 17 event, to be held at 7 p.m., will help fund programs and education toward the pursuit of preserving natural habitats for birds. Please refer to the ad below for ticket information.
Access up to Congress
Vote via stroke of a key
Mountaineers will be saving a postage stamp this fall when they cast votes for board of trustees candidates. For the first time ever, electronic balloting will be used to elect officers of the club.
The fate of the Stehekin Road is again in the hands of Congress. Since the 1970s the road that allows vehicles into the upper portions of Stephen Mather Wilderness Area and the North Cascades National Park has been the subject of debate after destructive blows
Climber-author dies
Well-known Colorado mountain climber and Mountaineers Books author Craig Luebben was killed and his partner was injured on Aug. 9 while climbing Mt. Torrent in the North Cascades. The two were hit by falling ice while training for an American Mountain Guide exam at the time of the accident. Willie Benegas was briefly hospitalized and then released, but Luebben’s fall into an ice moat resulted in his death. Luebben wrote “Rock Climbing” and “Rock Climbing Anchors” for The Mountaineers Books. He had climbed across the globe and achieved first ascents on rocks in five states, Canada, Mexico, Cuba and Puerto Rico, among other
Members cast their votes and can then choose an option to have their ballot printed for reference. Members of the club who cannot access the web will be allowed to cut out a paper ballot to appear in the October issue of The Mountaineer, which will also include profiles of each candidate. Electronic voting will commence about Oct. 1 and election day will be Wed., Oct. 21.
Members will log in to the club’s website, www.mountaineers.org, the same as if registering for a course or trip. A “vote now” prompt will then appear that takes members to the ballot.
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September 009
Can you identify the summit in
the foreground here? Send your answer (by Sept. 10) to: Summit Savvy, The Mountaineer, 7700 Sand Point Way N.E., Seattle, WA 98115. If you guess correctly, you’ll receive $10 of Mountaineers Money, good for Mountaineers Bookstore merchandise, and we’ll publish your name in next month’s column. (In case of a tie, one winner will be chosen at random.) Club employees or persons shown in the photograph are not eligible. Each month we’ll publish a new mystery summit and identification of the previous one.
The Mountaineer
■ Send your photographs (or slides) for possible publication as a mystery summit (include identification for our benefit). If we use your photo, you will get $10 of Mountaineers Money as well. ■ At the end of each year, all correct respondents’ names are placed in a hat and the winner of that drawing will receive $50 of Mountaineers Money good for purchases at The Mountaineers Bookstore. ■ Two correctly guessed last month’s mystery summit, Mt. Baker, as photographed by Curt Baxstrom. The coin flip went to Steve Glenn of the Bellingham Branch. While it will take some time to see change, within months of his appointment Vilsack rolled out initiatives to stop the loss of American’s agricultural land and reinstated the Clinton era roadless rule which protects over 50 million acres of our nation’s roadless national forest lands from logging, mining and oil and gas drilling. Of course, the real metric by which to judge the Forest Service’s commitment to this new vision will be how funds are allocated within the infamously underfunded agency. It is this fact and the often competing expectations of the Forest Service that make Vilsack’s job one of the toughest jobs in the country. An important and often overlooked point made by Secretary Vilsack is that 80 percent of America’s forested land is actually state and privately owned: “The Forest Service must not be viewed as an agency concerned only with the fate of our national forests, but must instead be acknowledged for its work in protecting and maintaining all American forests, including state and private lands. Our shared vision adopts an ‘all-lands approach,’ requiring close collaboration with the NRCS (Natural Resources Conservation Service) and its work on America’s private working lands.” Vilsack also mentioned that new economic possibilities in emerging energy technologies were of common interest to landowners and the Forest Service: “Emerging markets for carbon and sustainable bioenergy will provide landowners with expanded economic incentives to maintain and restore forests. The Forest Service must play a significant role in the development of new markets and ensuring their integrity. Carbon and bioenergy aren’t the only new opportunity for landowners. Markets for water can also provide landowners with incentives to restore watersheds and manage forests for clean and abundant water supplies. These markets can also create (rural) jobs.” He further emphasized the common, shared interests among public and private forests in fighting wildfires and bark beetle infestations: “The threats facing our forests don’t recognize property boundaries. So, in developing a shared vision around forests, we must also be willing to look across property boundaries. In other words, we must operate at a landscape-scale by taking an ‘all-lands approach.’” The only sour notes concerned thinning and woody biomass: “Our shared vision begins with restoration. Restoration means managing forest lands first and foremost to protect our water resources, while making our forests more resilient to climate change. Forest restoration led by the dedicated people at the Forest Service opens non-traditional markets for climate mitigation and biomass energy while appropriately recognizing the need for more traditional uses of forest resources.” Recent research from Oregon State University reveals that forest-thinning projects designed to lower fuel levels in big, crown-class fires are counterproductive to the new mission to use our forests as carbon sinks in an effort to mitigate climate change. Collection of woody biomass from snags and downed logs on our forest floors is also counter to the protection of clean water and the alleviation of downstream flooding, and interrupts the natural nutrient cycling where decaying organic material is broken down to elements essential to the regeneration, overall health and ecology of forests. Leesa Wright is Mountaineers public policy associate.
Summit Savvy
conservation CURRENTS
Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack addresses a crowd at Seward Park in Seattle about his vision for forest management in the coming years.
Leesa Wright photo
Ag secretary conveys vision for forests
By Leesa Wright U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack held his first major address on the state of the United States Forest Service in Seattle’s Seward Park on Fri., August 14. A moment that seemed to generate great excitement at the local level occurred even before Secretary Vilsack’s speech began when the new Region 6 Forester Mary Wagner introduced Congressman Norm Dicks. Wagner thanked him for his tireless work on the “Legacy Roads and Trails Remediation Act.” Dicks informed the crowd that in Washington state alone the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) is facing a $300 million road maintenance backlog. With this in mind, Dicks said that he will ask for an increase from $50 million to $100 million in federal appropriations for legacy roads projects. In outlining a new direction for the USFS, Vilsack presented a near 180degree turnaround from past Forest Service policy direction. According to Vilsack, while timber harvests and fighting forest fires will continue to occupy large segments of Forest Service operations, a new emphasis and guiding principle will be placed on conservation and restoration. In his opening remarks Vilsack acknowledged the ”many uses” of our national forests while recognizing them as the national treasures that Americans increasingly understand them to be: “A healthy and prosperous America relies on the health of our natural resources, and particularly our forests. America’s forests supply communities with clean and abundant water, shelter wildlife, and help us mitigate and adapt to climate change. Forests help generate rural wealth through recreation and tourism, through the creation of green jobs, and through the production of wood products and energy. And they are a national—requiring all of us to protect and preserve them for future generations.” “Why restoration as a driving principle in forest policy? There is no doubt that we are facing a health crisis in our forests. Climate change places them under increasing stress that exacerbates the threats of fire, disease, and insects. Throughout the West – but in other parts of the country as well – a legacy of fire suppression has resulted in forests that are over-stocked and much more susceptible to catastrophic fire and disease. Restoring forest ecosystems, particularly in fire-adapted forests, will make forests more resilient to climate-induced stresses and will ensure that our forests continue to supply abundant, clean water.” Vilsack’s cabinet-level appointment as head of the Department of Agriculture was received by the local conservation community with cautious optimism.
Throughout 2009, donors age 70½ and older can use their IRA funds to support The Mountaineers Foundation without the withdrawal being subject to income tax or withholding. This giving opportunity was extended in the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008. Before this gift provision, you had to withdraw money from your IRA and then contribute it. The amount you withdrew was taxable and you received a charitable deduction for the amount of the contribution. In some instances, making a gift directly from your IRA under this special provision will allow more money to go to the foundation and less to the IRS. In other instances, there are advantages to not increasing the amount of your taxable income even if you can use the offsetting charitable deduction. This giving opportunity was extended only for two years and expires in a few months (the end of 2009). The gift is easy to arrange – just ask your IRA administrator to send a contribution directly from your IRA account to The Mountaineers Foundation. To request a copy of a form letter to use in making your request, or to ask any questions you might have, contactJudy Halls at [email protected] or call 206-521-6006 for more information. We would be happy to assist you.
IRA holders 70½ or older have another way to support the great outdoors!
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The Mountaineer
Continued fron M1 while supporting 115,000 jobs. Additionally, water and air filtration as well as flood control are invaluable ecosystem services provided for free by roadless areas. Support for the Roadless Area Conservation Rule in 2001 managed to cross party lines and garner bipartisan support:
September 009
great nation—offers a truly unique way to experience our national forests and some of the last vestiges of wild and unspoiled lands in America.” It would be a shame to lose it all for a short-term gain.
Legal battles over roadless rule far from over
Through the introduction of complex legal processes, the Bush Administration seemed intent on eliminating protections for our roadless forests. Among these was a provision that placed the onus on state governors by “…it makes no sense to continue to build new roads at the public’s exrequiring them to petition the pense when we can’t even U.S. Department of Agriculture afford to maintain the ones we “…it makes no sense to continue to build new roads at the (USDA) if they wanted roadalready have. Leaving roadless public’s expense when we can’t even afford to maintain the less national forests in their areas roadless not only saves states preserved. This and tax dollars, it also helps local ones we already have. Leaving roadless areas roadless not other purposeful impediments economies. Roadless areas to the rule have resulted in 55 provide scenic vistas, hunting, only saves tax dollars, it also helps local economies.” percent of the original 58.5 camping, fishing, hiking and -- former Washington State Sen. Bill Finkbeiner million acres now standing touring opportunities that can unprotected. retain current residents and businesses, while also attracting non-resource-extracting businesses.” —Former Washington State Sen. Bill Finkbeiner In September 2006, Judge Elizabeth Laporte, magistrate for the U.S. District Court in Northern California, ruled that the Bush Administration illegally repealed the Roadless Rule and reinstated the original 2001 version of the rule. The case was immediately appealed by timber interests and has been awaiting decision in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals for nearly three years. Last month, the court reaffirmed the lower-court decision to reinstate the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule. However, the legal battle is far from over. In a different case, a Federal District judge in Wyoming decided in 2008 that the Clinton-era rule, adopted in 2001, was invalid because it violated environmental statutes. Conservationists appealed that decision to the 10th Circuit, which has not yet ruled. Stay tuned as news develops on the fate of the Roadless Rule. Leesa Wright is public policy associate for The Mountaineers.
“We cherish our roadless areas as sources of clean water, critical habitat for rare, sensitive and endangered species, and as destinations for recreation and beauty. Many of our state’s leading businesses, who seek to attract highly mobile employees, and much of our tourism industry, depend on the environmental quality and amenities that roadless areas and adjacent park and wilderness lands present.” —Washington State Gov. Christine Gregoire Roadless areas are unique zones that, once gone, are gone forever. Tom O’Keefe, chair of The Mountaineers Recreation Access Division and avid whitewater kayaker, puts it this way, “Paddling along remote rivers and waterways (in roadless areas)—the original highways used to explore our
Glacier monitoring team feels climate’s pulse underfoot
By Tom Hammond
Founded by Dr. Mauri Pelto of Nichols College in Massachusetts, the North Cascades Glacier Climate Project (NCGCP) was established in 1984 to get an important perspective on climate that glaciers offer. The project is not about remote sensing: it is boots on the ice every year to obtain high fidelity measurements of mass-balance, longitudinal profiles and stream flow and discharge. The team has measured the same eight glaciers (formerly nine glaciers, but the Lewis Glacier of Corteo Peak has disappeared) on an annual basis since the project began. Other “option” glaciers are surveyed on an approximate five-year rotation as time allows. From south to north, and from wet west to dry east, the glaciers are selected for aspect, location and relative ease of access. The project team travels more than 98 miles and 33,000 vertical feet in a typical season, rain or shine. It is hard, hot and cold work. The glaciers are Columbia Glacier (Monte Cristo Peaks), Easton Glacier, Sholes Glacier, Rainbow Glacier (Kulshan, aka Mt. Baker), Lower Curtis Glacier (Mt. Shuksan), Big Four (optional visit to view avalanche cycle, resulting ice caves, and age of deepest ice), Ice Worm/Hyas Creek Glacier, Daniels Glacier and Lynch Glacier (Mt. Daniel).
The monitoring team spent three days on the glacier and at Blanca Lake, above.
Tom Hammond photo
The team consists of Director Mauri Pelto (Nichols College, MA), his son Ben (Alfred University, NY), daughter Jill (high school), and hired field assistant Shannon Skinner (Evergreen State College). Researchers from Montana and the Discovery Channel will make single-glacier appearances during the season. Columbia Glacier trip: July 27-30, 2009 As with many trips this year, I had a bit of trepidation going in because the forecast called for record highs (90+ F), and I’d be hiking in the heat of the day. Still, the thought of being on a glacier during a week of high heat also had great appeal. It started off nice enough, with a new sign denoting entrance into the Wild Sky Wilderness, but that’s where all that was nice ended, at least for this day. It began with quite a climb up the steep hill. I normally go 50 minutes of hiking between breaks, but here I was looking at my watch after only 17 minutes and wondering about a break. I pushed to 30 minutes, and as soon as I stopped, I was covered in black flies. I could only stand it for a couple minutes before I had to get moving. But the trail was so steep and my pack so heavy that I couldn’t out-hike the bugs. Continued on M6
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September 009
Continued from M1 the group. He had taken a spur from the ridge that he thought was the trail on which they had come up the mountain. He had broken an ankle and the leader took him to the hospital before finally turning her steering wheel homeward. This is an embellished depiction of an actual trip taken earlier this summer. Despite a couple of augmentations, it is a representative example of an issue that has particularly haunted the club this summer, according to trip reports received by The Mountaineers Safety Committee. whereabouts of a party member was unknown. One was the subject of a rescue. In the other, the hiker’s location was reported by hikers outside of The Mountaineers party. which consists of 15 members from the various club branches. “We want to make sure people read our annual report and learn from it,” stated Lauren. It is currently a paper document, but he said the committee soon would
The Mountaineer
“you can’t leave anyone alone.” He said the leader should have a buddy system in place that keeps at least two people together at all times.
Mistakes are made, ‘but we all know what we have been taught’
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an Lauren, chair of the committee, stated, “We are seeing more near misses.” These are incidents that may not result in injury or rescues but quite easily could have. Five were cited in leaders’ reports in 2008. According to Lauren, it is likely that more occurred; they were just unreported. “Some become public knowledge because a search and rescue is required,” he noted. In the past couple months, there were two incidents in which the
he Safety Committee encourages leaders to report near misses when they occur. It helps fulfill the committee’s objective: to promote a culture of safety among The Mountaineers by collecting and reporting on accidents as well as near misses. It uses this information for educating and training the many leaders and instructors in the club—a system similar to that which won a National Park Service award for The Mountaineers and Mt. Rainier National Park over the summer (see last month’s Mountaineer). “Our mission is to write up these reports in a factual format and include recommendations or what needs emphasizing,” said Lauren, a Tacoma Branch member who has been active with the club for more than 10 years. The summaries and suggestions then end up in the annual safety report produced by the committee,
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“You can’t leave anyone alone.”
– Dan Lauren, Safety Committee chair
here are many reasons a leader’s party becomes separated. In fact, it is sometimes the leader who must request separation because he or she becomes ill. Especially in those cases, Lauren maintains, there must be a buddy system. “The leave-no-one-alone and buddy-system rules must be pervasive throughout our climbing and hiking programs,” Lauren said. A leader on many club climbs over the years, Lauren added, “We have all made mistakes. I have let people go back by themselves on occasion. But we also know what we have been taught.” As long as the club practices what it teaches, The Mountaineers can continue to be recognized as an industry leader in safety for outdoor activities—the Safety Committee’s ultimate objective. Brad Stracener is managing editor of The Mountaineer.
like to create a “safety link” on the club website in which resources on safety can be easily found. “We would like to distribute this clubwide in a factual and non-judgmental manner.”
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roup separation is an especially tough issue to remedy because it hinges largely on personalities and the ability of one person to persuade another that separating for a few minutes is hardly going to result in a tragedy, especially on hikes when technical equipment is not used to ascend or descend. But the bottom line, Lauren says, is that all leaders need to understand
Power and fragility of glaciers revealed in team’s time on ice
Continued from M5 I was struggling big time, trying to stay hydrated, but never able to really stop. Hell. I made Virgin Lake in 2.5 hours, having consumed a half-gallon of Gatorade and still very dehydrated. My clothes were literally as wet as if right out of the washtub. I had another liter of water from the lake, but could not quite get enough fluids in me. A tough night for sure, but by morning I had drunk enough to be functional. experienced the North Cascades in terms of backcountry travel, so it was especially fun to introduce them to snow caves, moulins, and the local relief that make this area so impressive. At times the Evergreen field technician was speechless—and rightly so. There were many spectacular moments. The 2008-2009 season was a great will suffer a significant negative mass-balance. Mass-balance is the difference between accumulation and ablation (melting and sublimation). The reason it is negative is because we’ve had the driest May through August in recorded history (including an official record of 30 days without measurable precipitation in May and June). carving and cutting the glacier with runnels more than a meter deep. Small super-glacial streams are common on the Columbia, but these were fast-rushing streams more reminiscent of the water courses found on big glaciers in Greenland and Alaska. We happened upon a rather large moulin that opened a window into the glacier—the cutting action of the water made me ponder the impact on the mass-balance over time. Perhaps hot days or even hot weeks might not show up on overall mass-balance analysis, but the heat-related water action must increase the disintegration of the terminus (the lower glacier). One would expect this would manifest as a more rapid retreat. The main outlet stream of the glacier proceeds out of the upper cirque of high peaks in a series of spectacular cascades—north cascades one might say—waterfalls roaring with an intensity that shakes the air and quickens the pulse as the water races to Blanca Lake. One can appreciate the extremes of this world—there are no fewer than eight species of wildflowers growing next to the outlet falls. So much power and so fragile all at the same time. And, all Continued on M7
The avalanche snow could not hide the obvious: the Columbia is disappearing; and, this year it will suffer a significant negative mass-balance.
year for snow at all elevations, but especially at lower ones. It was also a great year for big avalanches, and this was evident throughout our visit to Columbia. Indeed, the avalanche cycle provided some amazing snow-cave action, as well as a nice covering of snows on the terminus of the Columbia. The new lakes are there, but they were easily walked due to snow. The same snow cupped a surface pond of remarkable aquamarine color. The avalanche snow could not hide the obvious: the Columbia is disappearing; and, this year it The week of our trip would produce the highest temperatures ever recorded for the Puget Sound area. At the same time the lowlands were being scorched, we were throwing on jackets at mid-glacier, as the breeze coming down-glacier was a bit chilly. It is simply awesome to tread a kilometer long, three-quarters of a kilometer wide sheet of ice under withering heat. The streams running on the surface of the glacier were remarkable. By afternoon each day we were there, trickles had turned into full-blown creeks,
Mauri and the team showed up at my tent at 6:15 a.m.—they had camped close by, and were on the path early to beat the extreme heat, though it was already hot. So we met at the outlet of Blanca Lake for breakfast and the icy ford. Last year the lake was virtually frozen over; this year there was not a bit of ice in the water. I was fortunate to snap the picture you see with this article of the amazing vista. From left to right, you see Columbia Peak (two big towers), Wilmans Peak(s), and the Columbia Glacier below Monte Cristo Pass, Monte Cristo Peak, and Kyes Peak (three towers on right). We would spend the next three days living on the glacier and by the lake, surrounded by glory of the North Cascades. Neither Shannon nor Jill had ever
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The Mountaineer
September 009
Off the shelf
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The latest from your Mountaineers Library
By Kathleen McCluskey, librarian
In support
Mountaineers Foundation Donors
The Mountaineers Foundation desires to acknowledge and thank all its donors. Unless individuals request their names not be published, all donors will be acknowledged in The Mountaineer on a quarterly basis (usually September, December, March and June). If you have donated during the period of May through July 2009 and your name is not on this list, please notify Paul Robisch, Mountaineers Foundation, 206-363-1989, [email protected]. Your name will then be added to the next published list of acknowledgments. Donations received after July 31 will be acknowledged in the December issue of The Mountaineer. The Mountaineers Foundation thanks the following donors: Aagaard, Eric Amos, Barrett Anderson, Kareena Baron, Anthony Berner, Richard Boeing Corporate Match Boone, Aaron Carey, Kathleen Caster, William Cordone, Richard Davis, Tom Davis, Robert Dejanikus, Daphne Dexter, Marilyn Draves, Richard Eades, Glenn Eby, Scott Finn, Judith Gilmur, Thelma Greenaway, Leonard (bequest) Gross, James Grubb, Suzanne Hall, David Haven, Sylvia Hensley, Russell Hickey, Robert Hurlbutt, Cynthia James, Frank Johnson, Jean Jonquiere, Martin Karlstad, Mari Kastama, Diane Klein, Fritz Kornreich, Louise Lester, Evelyn Marshall, Margie Maughan, David McMahon, Patrick Microsoft Corporate Match Moss, Sandra Navasio, Gretchen Nelson, Robert Olson, Donald Pearson, Matthew Pelz, Ruth Price, Scott Sayers, Linda Schultz, Betsy Sevareid, Max Simpson, Dean Thomas, M. Troje, Frances Tubb, Barbara Tyers, William Vanhaagen, Paula Walyor, Bruce Washington Falconers Association Watrous, Diane Wick, Debra Wiseman, Paul Wittrock, Paul Zobel, Christian In Memorial: Engle, Stanley Elvin, Ann Miller Elvin, Frederick Eldwin
he book, “Natural Areas of the San Juan Islands,” by Terry Domico, lives up to its description as a “must for birders, kayakers, botanists, naturalists, conservationists, and outdoor explorers who want to get to know these amazingly diverse island environments.” This book gives the user information on sites, facilities and access for the islands of San Juan, Lopez, Shaw, Orcas, Yellow, Little McConnell, Gossip, Cone, Strawberry, Saddlebag, Sinclair, Cypress, Jones, James, Clark, Matia, Sucia, Patos, Waldron, Stuart, Fidalgo, D’Arcy, Sidney, Mandarte and Rum. There is more than the usual guidebook fare here. The book is filled with stories that will excite the reader to visit the islands while offering history and trivia that will enhance the experience. For instance, did you know that 250,000 to 400,000 European rabbits roamed San Juan Island in the late 1970s? Did you know you should beware the poisonous secretions of the rough-skinned newt? Did you know that the pure-white, rocky cliffs of Mandarte Island get their color from an aerial visitor (i.e. thousands of birds leave their mark) or that you may see up to 100 harbor seals at Shark Reef Park? Did you know that Canada’s D’Arcy Island was used as an “escape-proof” leper colony, or that the Lime Kiln area includes “some of the most dramatic coastal views in Washington State,” as well as “one of the best places in the world to see orcas from shore?” The English Camp National Historic Park commemorates the site of the Pig War and hosts a British cemetery. At Bell Point you can find “one of San Juan Island’s geological anomalies: a limestone cave,” and site of the film, “Journey to Spirit Island.” This is a book that ensures endless days of fun on family outings and brings history to life for the kids. It can inspire the next generation not only to love the outdoors but to act to preserve the habitats that are home to more than just the obvious, large and lovable creatures. It casts its lens on other tiny creatures—such as the rough-skinned newt—and plants that are critical to the ecological survival of the natural wonders of the San Juans. Don’t miss the appendix, “Cooperative Conservation Resource Guide,” if you want to not only enjoy the local treasure known as the San Juans, but also to ensure it is around in all its splendor for the next generation. LIbrary hours: Please visit www.mountaineers.org to view current library hours.
Summer melt outpaces winter moisture
Continued from M6 so beautiful as to take the breath away. Water is the profound difference our planet affords us—water as a vapor, water as a liquid, and water as a solid—a glacier. Even with a huge winter snowpack (1.5+ meters at Big Four picnic area) and a healthy avalanche cycle, the Columbia Glacier is minus 0.6 meters for the year. This provides a key lesson in glacier science: summer melting is a more critical component to mass-balance than heavy precipitation in winter. Look to future editions of The Mountaineer for final data on all of the North Cascades glaciers measured by NCGCP during the 2009 season. Tom Hammond works at the University of Washington as a technology manager. He has been fortunate enough to pursue post-graduate classes at the UW to better understand the geologic processes in the North Cascades, with a focus on glaciology. He is a volunteer for the North Cascades Glacier Climate Project for which he has served as a field scientist for the past six summers.
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