Glacier CS 1

Classroom Sessions Logistics

Location: Tacoma Clubhouse

No Gear needed for this lecture.

Reading Assignment:

Before the lecture starts it is recommended that you complete reading all information on this site prior to the classroom session.

Key Point:

• Risk Management

• Trip Planning - Safety plan, personal data, gear, route choice, navigation, weather, pre-climb briefing, on climb monitoring, post climb debrief

• Navigation - Caltopo, Gia GPS, time

• Snow Conditions

• Weather

• Accident Analysis 

  • • • Podcast:  Out Alive podcast - Disaster On Mount Rainier

        • Open to students to discuss 

          • What did they do well?

          • What could they have done better?

          • What else could have been done in their pre trip planning/pre trip conversations?

• Risk Management

  • • • Overview of what risk management is

        • Perception (Control)

          • Identify and categorize hazards specific to glacier travel

            • Subjective (Human)

            • Objective (Environment)

              • crevasses, rock fall, snow conditions, weather, etc. 

      • Preparation (Mitigation)

        • Dependent on skill, experience and risk tolerance of group

        • Risk vs Consequence 

        • Placing protection

      • Improve your risk management through experience and analysis

        • Recognize hazards, make a decision, experience and outcome

        • Debriefing 

• Practical Risk Management Summary

• Snow/Glacier Travel in Context 

  • Roped Glacier Climbing

    • Occasions for roped travel

      • 1. When traveling on crevassed glaciers

      • 2. When protecting pitches (running belay or anchored)

      • 3. When traveling along ridge tops (consideration give to fall anticipation)

      • 4. Rescue

    • Distance between climbers 

      • Spacing: Cascade climbs (10 - number of climbers on rope) = number of arm lengths between climbers)

        • Example: 3 people on a rope = 7 arm lengths between climbers (10-3).

        • When carrying coils on both ends, calculate distance from the middle of the rope

      • Spacing will change with type of glacier (e.g., longer for glaciers with huge crevasses) 

        • See: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=igWCe0RZvBs

    • The advantages and disadvantages of traveling with knots in the rope

      • https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=IgNR-VZMwHo

  • Glacier Route Assessment

    • Parts of a Glacier

    • See FOH 9th edition (2017; pp. 400-403)

    • If two options to avoid an obstacle/crevasse exist, favor the versatile route

      • Think of driving on a 3-lane freeway; the center lane gives you the most choice for lane change

    • View the glacier from a distance on approach, rely on photos for reference

    • Time = exposure which increases risk. Plan around your necessary glacier exposure and attempt to reduce time spent exposed

    • Some route problems have no solution; know when to bail and go home

  • Team Ice Axe Arrest

  • Crevassed Glaciers and Decision Making

    • Hazard assessment: falling down the mountain, into it, or both?

      • Fall down the mountain: direct line ascent up steep icy sections

      • Falling into the mountain (crevasses): Avoid the most crevassed sections

      • Both: Direct line ascent, pitch it out

    • Crossing crevasse bridges

  • Crevassed glaciers and decision making

    • Hazard assessment 

    • Crossing snow bridges

• 
  

• Pre trip planning can help to facilitate risk management 

  • • • Crevasse rescue is NOT risk management

      • Planning: Choosing the right route, assessing the weather conditions, and being aware of the potential hazards.

      • Equipment: Proper gear and protection

      • Training: Experienced leaders

      • Communication: Expectations, Goals. 

      • Contingency plans: Backup route or knowing how to get help in an emergency.

• Technical Trip Planning 

  • Trip Plan Components

    • Safety plan (contact numbers, communication, first aid leader)

    • Personal data (medical, contact, special issues)

    • Gear, clothing, tenting, camping, transportation

    • Route choice (alternative route(s) contingency plan)

    • Navigation/time/white-out plan/turn around time

    • Weather watch (begins several days before trip)

    • Recent trip reports/local beta (rangers, guides)

    • Pre-climb briefing (gear check, weather, route conditions, role assignments, plan changes)

      • Everyone have glacier glasses?

    • On climb monitoring

      • How are your feet doing? How much water have you drank so far?

    • Post climb debrief

      • What went well, and could have gone better? Did we work well as a team?

  • Navigation Plan and Resources

    • Map/navigation/time plan: Gaia and CalTopo

      • Creating route/line, waypoint

      • Terrain stats/profile

      • Map layers and overlays

      • Global imagery

      • Sentinel imagery

      • Export/import gpx

      • Sharing web link

      • Premium Features/cost

      • Phone

    • Trip Reports

    • NPS Publications

  • Whiteout Navigation Strategies

    • Bring a route plan, waypoints, altimeter, GPS/knowledge

    • Active measures

      • GPS, Hard Copy Map, Refer to Pre-Trip

      • Moving point to point using defined and predetermined distance

      • Handrailing using natural border features (cliffs/ridges)

  • Navigation

    • Construct your plan at home, write it down, leave with emergency POC, discuss pre-trip, modify on the fly within reason

    • Build a time table by days and checkpoints for your route (pre-trip)

      • By having this included in your pre-trip there is a written plan and spoken agreement by the team to abide by and respect turn around times and checkpoints to be made

    • Trip reports and GPS tracks can be helpful but may be outdated, or in error

    • Vital components

      • Waypoints: POI, breadcrumbs, launch point, intended destination, potential campsites and alternatives

      • Elevation at each waypoint

      • Distance between way points

      • Time estimate to waypoint (ascent and descent) 

• Snow Conditions and Snowpack Analysis

  • Snow Pack Analysis

• Mountain Weather

• General Weather Concepts: Washington

  • Western has maritime climate: dry summers, mild and wet winters

  • Eastern has continental climate: warm summer, colder winter, drier and sunnier

  • Jet Stream moves from west to east (Polar Jet Stream)

  • High Pressure brings good weather: Air sinks and disperses, making it hard for clouds to form

  • Low Pressure means bad weather: winds head toward low pressure in a spiral manner. This provides pathway for moisture to rise, cool, and condense into clouds

  • Winds move from high to low pressure, in a spiral manner (clockwise): greatest wind storms come from SW to S

  • Rising air cools: by terrain or low pressure, can’t hold as much moisture. Humidity rises as air cools until air condenses into clouds and eventually rain and snow

  • Sinking air warms: terrain or high pressure, warms quickly (clouds dissipate and precipitation)

  • Cascades and Olympic Range Impact: Windward (west) side: air condense, cools, and releases moisture. East Side: air descends and warms

  • Rainshadow

  • Offshore (easterly) flow is required for heat waves

  • Marine Push: clouds burn off (but not always in the lowlands) unless the warm air rises and causes mixing

• Weather Forecasting

  • Notes

    • Forecasting is a prediction, not a certainty

    • Uncertainty increases with the period of the forecast

    • True weather forecast is not a single forecast, but an ensemble of probabilities

    • There are different “weather models” Euro, GFS, NAM

  • General Forecasts

    • NWS Point Forecasts (GFS)

    • NWS Forecast Discussion

    • Windy.com

    • SpotWX

    • Rainier Recreational Forecast

    • MountainForecast (DON’t use this)

  • Precipitation

    • ECMWF (shows cloud, temp, precip, and wind)

  • Snow Conditions

    • NWAC: Daily forecasts, telemetry, recent observations

    • Snotel Sites: snow depth and snow water equivalent compare against typical year

    • USFS Snow Depth Map: Projected snow depth

    • SentinelHub: Resolution satellite imagery every few days

• Regional Cascade Weather Trends

  • Weather can change rapidly over a few miles of west to east gradient

  • Hydrological crest is different than the topographical/meteorological crest

  • Cascade Passes are the target of marine pushes

  • Microclimates

  • Partly Sunny means different things on each side of the crest

  • Easterly Flow: brings cold temps with a sudden temp change and brings fog to the passes

  • Incoming storms are predictable, outgoing not so much

  • Models do not understand volcanoes

  • Single large peak can influence local weather

• Snow Specific Trends

  • Too much fresh snow is a bad thing

  • Temp change is as important as absolute temp

  • Pay attention

Homework before CS2

Write up a comprehensive two or three day trip plan of a basic glacier route you would like to complete.. Use the trip planning, gear and contacts and weather forecast files for building out your plan.

Include a detailed planning email and a planning document including:

• Plan for conditions: route, snow, forecast

• Navigation: mapped route (build with CalTopo or Gaia student’s choice) with minimum three POIs (include description, elevation, and notable considerations for each), and desired campsite plus alternate campsite

• Risk management plan - foreseen hazards/problems, unforeseen potential hazards/problems

• Exhaustive gear list for a party of 9 climbers (assume 6 climbers are brand new basic students). List should include outlined group gear as well as individual gear.

• Weather info for a climb

• Point by point estimated checkpoints and desired time points, turn around time, anticipated camp arrival (approach day and summit day), anticipated safe return, anticipated communication with emergency POC

You will be sent an email with this information and a site for submitting this information.