Cascade Range, WA – Garrett College’s intrepid mountain climbers were at it again last month.
Six Garrett College students – all of whom took part in last winter’s expedition to New Hampshire’s Mount Washington – participated in a 12-day trip (July 6-17) to the Cascade Range in Washington State. The students used the trip to complete the College’s three-course, seven-credit alpine climbing track that they began with last winter’s Introduction to Alpine Climbing (OLA 125) within the Outdoor Leadership & Adventure Education program.
Students completed GC’s Intermediate Alpine Climbing (OLA 225) and Alpine Climbing Instructor Development (OLA 271) courses during the trip to the Cascade Range, which included climbing to Mount Baker’s 10,781-foot summit.
“The trip provided broad exposure to traveling and managing people in an outdoor environment,” said OLA Professor Andy Hershey, who noted students completed online course components prior to starting the trip. “The courses they completed prepare people to obtain entry-level jobs with organizations like AAI [American Alpine Institute] and other alpine climbing and mountaineering organizations.
“This trip gave them a picture of a component of the outdoor industry that you wouldn’t get to see in Western Maryland,” added Hershey.
Hershey said the group spent several days at the start of the trip preparing for the adventure – “buying groceries, updating our outdoor gear, practicing self-arrest, using our ice axes.”
GC student Travis Martin said summiting Mount Baker was one of the trip’s highlights, including ascending what’s known as the Roman Wall right before reaching the summit.
“The Roman Wall is an extremely steep section of glacier,” said Martin. “You’re climbing up a couple thousand feet of pretty good exposure. We were roped up for that whole part, and then got to spend a couple of minutes on the summit enjoying the view.”
Students also developed their rescue skills in crevasses, which are ice cracks that open up in glaciers.
“The crevasse was about 10 feet deep,” explained Martin. “We practiced falling into the crevasse, catching each other, and pulling each other out of the crevasse. It was pretty cool.”
It was also safer than it sounds, said Martin, thanks to the precautions taken.
”We didn’t go into the crevasse unless we had a backup anchor already attached,” said Martin. “There were a lot of good risk management techniques employed, ensuring we were redundantly protected while simulating the experience of crevasse rescue.”
Hershey and the six students were joined on the trip by international guide Chad Cochran, a Garrett College graduate who works with the American Alpine Institute.
“Chad was in the first class I ever taught at Garrett College in 2005,” noted Hershey. “Now he is a highly trained and certified alpine guide that works around the world.”
The trip also included activities that provided exposure to the business side of the profession.
“One day we went to North Cascades National Park and met with rangers from the Wilderness Management Team, who talked about work as climbing rangers,” said Hershey. “Another day we went to the offices of the American Alpine Institute, where the owner talked about the realities of the lifestyle when you’re a full-time, big-mountain guide.”
While Mount Baker holds the global record for most snowfall in a single year – 1,140 inches during the 1998-99 winter – conditions are relatively forgiving in the summer. The average July high temperature at the summit is 47 degrees Fahrenheit.
“It’s warmer than you would think, but it does freeze overnight,” observed Hershey.
Notes: The five students in addition to Martin who were on the trip were: Haiden Hinebaugh, Iris Dubansky, Brooks Mead, Ashlynn Anderson, and Charlie Wroten.
