Basic Glacier Travel Field Trip - Rescues, End-coils, Pickets, Prusiking

Field trip: Basic Glacier Travel Course

Basic Glacier Travel Field Trip - Rescues, End-coils, Pickets, Prusiking - Mountaineers Seattle Program Center

This is an in-town field trip. We will work on crampon technique, passing pickets, knot sign-off, prusiking sign-off and general glacier travel.

  • Sat, Apr 7, 2018
  • Seattle Climbing
  • Climbing
  • Basic Alpine
  • Adults
  • Moderate

See Leader Notes (click "More+" below)

Questions? Just email: craig.mountaineers@gmail.com
Click "More+" below for more info.

Topics
* Knots
* Prusiking
* Running belay skills (passing pickets)
* End-coiling methods
* Crampon technique
* Glissade and self-arrest positions
* 2:1 raise practice

Gear to bring
* All your glacier gear (harness, carabiners, pulley, cord, etc.)
* Gear should be neatly attached to your harness
* Mountaineering boots (you'll wear crampons for a bit)
* Backpack (fill it with stuff so it's not completely empty)
* Helmet
* Crampons (hopefully you own them already)
* Headlamp (attached to your helmet)
* Ice axe
* Warm clothes
* Picket (if you happen to own one, not required for course)
* 10 foot "knot practice" rope (if you were given one)
* Snacks/lunch/drink (there will be a 30 min lunch break)
* See the gear matrix in your handbook for more info

When & where
Meet inside the Seattle Program Center in Goodman B. We'll be inside the building for the entire day. Be ready for a glacier climb at 7:59am...this means being checked in and wearing your boots/backpack/harness/helmet/headlamp. You'll wear all of this for the entire field trip.

Carry everything with you
For this field trip you won't be able to put anything on the floor, no exceptions! We're treating this like a real climb, so carry everything with you. Put your lunch in your backpack too. The only time you can leave your backpack unattended is when you go to the bathroom.

Ice axe safety
Please put duct tape or some other type of protection on the adze of your ice axe. If you also have a way to protect the pick and spike that would be great too. Thank you.

Mark your gear
To make it easy to know which gear is yours, please mark your gear if you can. One way is with a small nail polish mark. Another way is with colored tape, and a good selection of 1/2 inch wide fun tape is at Fred Meyer next to the duct tape.
Also don't mark your pre-sewn runners/webbing since they don't have a tail you can mark. Some people say it's not a good idea to put chemicals on weight bearing fabric. One solution is to use one of your marked carabiners when using an unmarked sewn runner.

Clothing
At the beginning of the day you'll be inside the warm building, so wear clothing appropriate for practicing skills inside. But have warm clothes easily accessible in your backpack since part of the day you'll be outside under the eave or down in the basement with the garage doors open. You'll be protected from rain all day, so there's no need to bring your waterproof layer.

Logistics
There will be 4 or 5 stations you'll rotate through, and those will end around 2pm or 3pm. There will also be a 30 lunch break at around noon.
After those stations, around 2pm or 3pm, there will be a prusik area set up for you if you still need to get signed off on prusiking to the ceiling. If you've already been signed off on it then you can skip this area. 
Also starting at 2pm or 3pm there will be space for practicing 2:1 raises. This is an optional part of this field trip, but it's recommended you stay and do it at least once. There will be lots of instructors so please take advantage of this and practice 2:1 raises. Stay as long as you'd like. We'll start cleaning up at 5pm.

General knots
* Water 
* Double Fishermans 
* Girth hitch 
* Prusik 
* Figure 8 on a bight 
* Bowline 
Knots for tying in
* Butterfly 
* Rewoven Figure 8 
* Bowline on a bight (see the left 3 images here, ignore the rightmost image)
Bonus knots
* Square (at the bottom of the images click the types...you want a "Square" or "Extra Half Knot", you do not want the "Granny" or the "Thief") 
* Clove hitch 
* Munter 
* Double overhand 
* European Death Knot

 

Route/Place

Mountaineers Seattle Program Center


Roster
Required Equipment

Required Equipment

See Leader Notes (click "More+" above)

Trip Reports