Originally Posted by
Seattle Forrest
I covered 2.7 miles in 30 minutes on the stair machine at the gym last night, "rested" briefly doing the weight circuit (all upper body stuff, probably irrelevant for this) and then did 2.5 more miles in another 30 minutes on the elliptical. But this was with no gear, and no snow.
Snow can definitely slow you down, especially if you're post-holing on in an area of uncertain conditions. If you are on an established trail where you don't have to worry about falling in a crevasse you can usually travel pretty fast especially if you are using snowshoes or crampons.
Originally Posted by
Seattle Forrest
It will be 35 to 40 pounds. I'll have climbing gear, rope, crampons, and the whole nine yards. And I've got a friend who offered to lend me all the gear in advance, so I can get used to not just the weight, but how it's distributed.
That is nice of your friend. It'll certainly help to have that a known quantity ahead of time. That climbing gear weight adds up fast and it can get heavier on the mountain (wet rope)! It's probably not a bad idea to train with something closer to 50lbs
Originally Posted by
Seattle Forrest
This class is going to cover glacier safety, and how to climb. They have a field trip to the Nisqually glacier on Mt Rainier, where each student is going to "fall" into a crevasse, and be rescued; and each student will rescue someone. But mostly it's how to cross glaciers without falling in. I think it finishes with a climb up Mt Baker.
Sounds like a blast! I haven't done any real mountaineering since I took my son up Whitney when he was 9. He's 20 now! I've always wanted to climb Mt Rainier, just haven't been able to make it happen yet. One of these days...