A Very Productive Past Two Weeks with Pictures! (Ryan Post #2!)

Ryan here again, can you believe it?  Katie's busy working next to me so it's my turn to post about the last two weekends, and I'm thrilled to do so because they were great!
The weekend before last (Saturday I think) the Climb For Clean Air gang gathered at the base of Seattle's famed Tiger Mountain for training climb #3 (our 2nd - having missed the first).  Filtered sunshine ultimately led to a warm and dry day following a crisp early morning start.  Group members really started to get familiar with each other on this climb, and Katie and I both found ourselves having really nice conversations with a wide variety of our teammates as we ascended the trail.  Next hike we'll be able to greet them by name when we arrive and maybe bond a little further during the hike.  As for the hike, we were told to carry 20 lbs, which we did, and we had no trouble.  In total I think the hike was around 6 miles and maybe 1,800 vertical feet.  As a group we moved a little slower than we had on the shorter Little Si trail (the previous hike), but nice and steady.  Based on experience with "MicroSpikes" (baby crampons for your boots) loaned to us from our reliable hiking buddies Jacob and Natasha, we had just spent our 20% REI coupons on some for ourselves and I got to put them through their paces near the summit when we encountered icy conditions left over from our recent spring snows.  Unfortunately Katie's order hadn't arrived yet (separately ordered) so she braved the slippery conditions with only hiking poles.  At the top we got a great shot of us with Tacoma in the background.

Tiger Summit (#3) - Tacoma in background

Last Friday night we had our favorite hiking duo (Jacob and Natasha) over for dinner where we discovered their plans to car camp on the San Juan Islands soured a bit due to the rainy Saturday forecast.  So we asked to them to accompany us on a rainy hike instead.  With all the spring snow we've been having and opting to remain out of the avalanche danger we chose a lower yet still challenging trail off Highway 2 this side of Steven's Pass.  Actually, Katie and I had partially completed the hike after work back when we just started dating, but we really wanted to complete the route and see Lake Serene, after Bridal Veil Falls, where we had turned around the first time.  In total the route was about 8.5 miles and about 2,500 vertical feet.  Light rain for the entire drive was surprisingly replaced by humid but dry conditions on the trail initially.  On the way up we actually had (as she called it) a "Boeing siting" of a gal I work with in Flight Test.  She asked us why we weren't at work implying in jest 787 flight testing couldn't very well continue while we were all gone:)  Truth be told one of the enablers of the trip was that all 4 flying airplanes have grown roots on the ground and aren't flying at present due to planned "layups."  We crossed the multitude of falls that make up the Bridal Veil, stopping only for more than a pause at the largest fall for some photos and some cooling mist.

Bridal Veil Falls - revisited

You have to actually backtrack about a half mile from the fall to rejoin the trail and continue onward and upward to Lake Serene.  On the way up we found a whimsical tree trunk precariously hanging over the trail - an excellent photo op.

I eventually had let it go

Continuing on, just as the trail steepened we encountered a trio that looked pretty wrecked.  Strange given their descending, comfortable temps, no rain, seemingly no injuries, and obvious fitness.  Weird.  They half-heartedly warned us of impending snow but indicated we'd make the lake no problem.  Onward.  After some steep climbing interrupted once in a while by dramatic views across the Skykomish valley, we hit the snow.

Skykomish Valley - town of Gold Bar in the distance

And then we hit the rain!  It's amazing how fast an enjoyable hike becomes "not all that enjoyable."  After gearing up we continued with only a rare post-holing or slipping.  The slushy snow didn't lend itself to the MicroSpikes so we went for it rocking only naked boots.  Finally though, as with most mountain lakes, we leveled off just as we caught glimpses of the lake slightly below and through the trees.  Wow!  Lake Serene sits beneath a 3,000' vertical rock wall comprising famed Mt Index's NE face.

Lake Serene & Mt Index NE face

By the way, Mt Index is where the first American to summit Everest (Jim Whittaker) claims he came the closest to using his 9th life!  Just as we sat down at the frozen lake's edge for lunch we were jolted by the thunderous crashes of ice and rock colliding as narrow avalanches whipped down the shoots between the cliff faces.  Nature's fireworks, it was truly awesome!  Not to be outdone by nature two gentlemen emerged from behind us breaking open a six-pack and firing up cigarettes!  Ok, I enjoy a beer, so we've got something in common there, but these two were just wearing jeans and t-shirts, no sign of a pack with more gear in sight - literally just the beer!  They sure were friendly guys though, I felt bad when I we had responded to their inquiry that we had no booze of our own.  Heading down we encountered more folks who seemed pretty ill-prepared for the rough weather.  And it turned out they would need better gear than sweat pants and tennis shoes as the sky finally opened and unleashed its deluge for the the last hour of our hike to the car.  Our two beer loving friends made it just fine though, happy as clams as they emerged from the trail as we saddled up to head home.
After a shower and change of clothes we finished off the night with an additional $400 toward our cause thanks to a fun-filled night of poker with Katie's colleagues.  Plus, Katie contributed an extra $40 as she came in 3rd pulling in 5 points toward the 2010 Flight Deck Poker Series championship!

Katie joins the poker elite alongside the tourney points leaders Steven and Martin

As of today, with a few more donations trickling in today, I think we have only about $200 to go to secure our spot in the climb!!!  THANK YOU!!!!!!

Technical Difficulties and a lot of Exclamation Marks (sorry I am excited)

Sorry for the lack of posts...
We have gotten ourselves a new camera to document our trips but the camera did not come with a cord in which to download the pictures to the computer.  Sad I know.  So we have been out hiking and enjoying this nice weather, but as of right now we have no new pictures and posts are boring without pictures so you will have to stay tuned on that front.  Hopefully it won't be much longer for us to resolve this situtation.

As for the fundraising part of this big adventure we are doing AWESOME!
Team Younkin/Hammell have raised $9795!!  We are just $705 from our minimum goal of $10,500!  It is not even the end of April, this is just an amazing blessing that I think only our friends and family are so easily capable of!  Ryan, Dad, and I are totally impressed by the giving to such a worthy cause and with such grace.
So once again many thanks, we will continue to thank you because stopping kids from smoking, curing lung diseases and keeping our air clean is something to be excited and thankful for.

We are hiking this weekend, anyone want to join us this Saturday?

Two days in a row!

We did make it out to hike two days in a row, didn't have to work either of the weekend days!
Sorry its been 7 days until you got to hear the trail reports, when I take off for a weekend of fun, there is a lot of catching up required the following week!
On Saturday 3/20 We(Ryan, Jacob, Natasha and I) headed over to the Olympic Peninsula via Edmonds Ferry and Hood Canal Bridge, in search of some good views and less snowy trails.  We found great views, but also a lot more snow then we were expecting, at Mt. Townsend Trail.  The weather on Saturday was unbelievable, super sunny nearly 70 degrees, just a great day.  The first two miles of the trail were icy in places but passable.  When we reached about 4800ft , we hit snow and lots of it.  The snow was on a steep grade and it was very soft.  Snowshoes are not workable when you have to put one foot in front of the other to stay on the narrow trail..  We made it through the snow for about an hour.  After an hour of post-holing and a super steep ascent we took in the views while we devoured our lunch.  After replenshing the calories we had just burned so rapidly, we discussed and decided climbing more wouldn't get us very far and put us at risk for injury so we turned around at about 5600ft. 
On Sunday Ryan and I joined the American Lung Association Climb for Clean Air Team for a training hike.  We hiked Little Si just outside of North Bend.  For as sunny and warm as Saturday was, Sunday was the complete opposite.  The entire hike was in the rain.  Although it was raining and a bit chilly we got the chance to meet up with some great people.  We look forward to more chances to get to know them and to hike Mt. Rainier with them. 
the weekend in pictures:

The Olympics from the Edmonds Ferry

Getting Ready at the Trailhead

Ryan, Natasha, and Jacob at the start of the snow

The view from lunch, of the Cascades and Seattle

The only picture we took at Little Si, because as you can tell it was very wet.  My face is supposed to look happy(because I was), just squinting to not get rain in my eyes!

Ready for the Woods!

Its been two weekends without any hikes, we are craving some trail time.  For the physical training of this adventure, the gym is a great substitute for the trail when you have to get in some cardio and can't make time for the trails.  As you may recall there are 3 parts to this adventure: fundraise, physical fitness and mental confidence/strength.  Unfortunately the mental training for all of this has been put on the backburner.  We know that we will be most mentally prepared if our heads are clear of stress and worry about: the climb, work, house stuff, condo sale, proximity to family, etc.  Wow those things not only fill the mind they fill our time!  Without complaining you can imagine that the busy-ness of it all has kept us from the trail.  Well we have finally found some time and hope to keep it for the trails and not get sidetracked with work, yard stuff, etc. 
For Ryan and I, being outside in the woods, hitting the trails, keeps the clarity in our minds of what is important.  I know it may sound silly but after a hike we emerge from the woods feeling more patient and happy.  So this weekend we head for the hills.  Saturday morning we will be doing Mt. Si.  We would prefer a bit more solitude, but I have to go to work in the afternoon so this is the closest hike we can do and get back in time.  Sunday Ryan has to work but I get to join the Climb for Clean Air team for a training hike to Little Si.  The hike shouldn't be hard but it will be great for meeting other people on this great adventure.  Stay tune for pictures and hike reviews.

Fundraising and Training Update

Lets start with the fact that Ryan and I are $532 from reaching our $7000 goal!  Even more good news is that my dad is $1500 from his goals of $3500.(donate to dad)  How awesome are our friends and family?  I will tell you simply that our friends and family are inspiring.  We laid out our hopes and you are all exceeded expectations!  We are helping those with lung disease with such ease, awesome!

Ok so now to the training.  We are fundraising prepared but what are we doing to prepare for a 14,000ft climb? 
With our work schedule it makes it tough to get to the gym or outside regularly, but on average we make it to the gym in the morning 3 times a week.  I am really looking forward to warmer and brighter mornings to run outside and breathe the fresh air.  The gym is great to get in some sort of cardio, which is better than nothing, but we all know preparing for a big climb means hiking and climbing outside in the real mountains; which our hearts want to do every evening after work and every weekend.  Work sure gets in the way of the heart!  We have had the pleasure of a few hikes and snowshoes trips as reported earlier in this blog, but recently all we have time for are a few urban hikes.  I would just say a nice walk but we have committed to wear our amazing new daypacks on evey walk we go on, which makes it feel more "hike" like.  Yep thats right, can you picture it?  We are walking around Brier, a lovely neighborhood of sidewalks and cute homes with our bags filled to the brim, helmet , ice axe, and trekking poles attached to the outside.  Yep, we look a little silly but wow it sure helps the heart when work won't let us head to the woods.  So we hope as it gets warmer we get more time in the woods, but we are staying active. 
In other news, last weekend and one day next weekend we have been working to completie a MOFA class.  MOFA is a 26 hour outdoor first aid course designed by the Moutaineers.  The class is a requirement for any alpine scrambling (which we are taking) and basic climbing courses offered by the Mountaineers.  We are 2/3 complete and feel pretty prepared for most accidents in the outdoors.  The last day of the class is going to be practice of all the things we learned to really set up our confidence with the new found knowledge.
Hopefully the following weekend (3/20-21)we finally get a chance to go hiking!  Any recommendations?

Fundraising Update

Wow!  Thank you Friends and Family we are getting closer to our $7000.00 goal for the American Lung Association.  They say climbing Mt. Rainier takes about 80% heart and head, and only 20% physical.  With all the generous support we are getting its going to be pretty easy to have the right head and heart on this adventure. 
Ryan and I sent out an email on February 18th to all of our friends and family; prior to the email we had raised $2015.00.  In the past 10 days we have had our amazing friends and family double the donations!  We are currently at $4098.00, 58.5% of our goal!  We are more than halfway there!
There are 31 days left until the deadline in which we gave ourselves -March 31st.  By March 31st we hope to have reached our goal and raised $7000, that means we have to figure out how to raise $100 a day for the next 31 days.  We know that the American Lung Association is an awesome cause, there is no one else to thank as much as this organization for making living with Asthma easier, no smoking in our bars and restaurants, awesome education for kids to prevent them from smoking, and all the money raised goes to reasrch of serious lung diseases.  Just awesome! 
At our kick-off meeting a week ago, a past climber and fundraiser spoke about the experience and what we should be prepared for fundraising and climbing.  The one thing she said that really gets me excited and terrifies me at the same time is that when you are standing at the top of Mt. Rainier your breathing gets tough, the air is thin and you get a glimpse at the feeling that people feel daily because of a lung disease.  Knowing I will get to feel the thin air excites me because I am headed to the top, but also because with Ryan's asthma I do not understand at all what it feels like and how it can be so much trouble to him at times.   I look forward to being in his shoes, even if its briefly. 
Again all your support is going to make 80% of this climb so easy.

Lake Valhalla Snowshoe

Saturday we had a lazy start to the day, slept in until about 8am!  May not sound early but man work has been requiring early starts and late nights.  On our way out of town we picked up Natasha, sadly Jacob had to work, but having Natasha's company was great!  We hadn't seen Natasha in over three weeks, much too long.  We drove about 6 miles east of Steven's Pass(1hr 45 min drive), parked near the start of Smith Brook Road and headed out into the woods to try and find Lake Valhalla.  I say try to find because the directions in our book were not clear and we were not bent on having a destination so we didn't bring a map.  We did use Natasha's GPS a few times to make sure we were heading in the right direction, which we were, but never actually made it to the lake.  We snowshoed for about 3.5 hours, covered at least 6 miles, and thoroughly exhausted Lily, a perfect day!
Washington Trail Association Website, - provided the details of the hike and directions on how to get to the trailhead.

Katie, Ryan and Lily halfway up the trail

New backpacks in action!

Natasha, Katie and Ryan taking a lunch break, The snow makes some great seats.

Navigation Engineer and Pilot learn to navigate

Post from Ryan!!! This is a long post - but I think I have some making up to do don't I?

Saturday we spent the entire day at Heybrook Ridge just off US 2 near Index, WA this side of Steven's Pass learning real world wilderness navigation skills with The Mountaineers! Unfortunately we could not test out of the class, and in the end I think we must admit that was a good thing. Although we already understood taking a bearing, triangulation, declination, using topo maps, etc, neither of us had ever practiced "leap-frog," "landfall," or "obstacle" navigation methods. Not only that, but we got in probably 2000' vertical feet and 6 miles or so of hiking. At the end of the day we were surprised at how quick the day went and how spent we were! For a great story on where we spent Saturday, take this link.

Activities began with a 4:30AM wake-up!!! We were out the door at 5AM and on to the Mountlake Terrace P&R to meet up with our carpooling buddies Dave and Dennis. We arrived a tad early to a surprising reception of signage and volunteers, an oasis of activity in the still-dark morning! After milling around and waiting for the group of approximately 100 mountaineers to arrive and get situated, we teamed up in small group of 9 (7 students and 2 instructors). Following brief introductions we began en-mass our hike to the ridge where the navigation fun would begin.

The hike up went fast, despite the large group. We spent some time getting to know our small group members and the time just flew by. After about an hour we had reached the powerline clear-cut where we would start by taking bearings between a series of stumps identified by signs. First we worked alone, then we teamed up in two's (Katie and I were separated) and accomplished some word problems. Next Katie and I teamed up again and practiced the leap-frog and landfall methods across the clear-cut, then through the woods a few hundred yards and on to our group lunch spot. In case you (like us) don't know these methods - leap-frogging is where you direct your parter to walk the desired bearing from you, have your partner stop, then you pass your partner and get directed by your partner to travel the desired bearing from your partner's position. So it's just like it sounds, you leap frog eachother. This is helpful in low-viz conditions. Once we hit the woods we transitioned to the landfall method, which is extremely simple and is effectively the same method I already teach flight students when visually navigating, but had never known it by that name. In this case we navigated independently as we took the desired bearing to the nearest easily identifiable landmark (usually a tree, a stump, a rock, and usually within only about 50 feet). Then, just walk to it, break out the compass, and start over. Simple of course, and as we discovered, with an accurate compass can be extremely accurate too! Over a range of 700 feet we found we could navigate to a point within +/- 20'!

Next we sat and had a "working lunch" as we enjoyed our pb&j's, bars, carrots, etc while also taking bearings on prominent distant landmarks to triangulate our position on the topo map. By carefully taking the bearings and carefully drawing the bearings on the map from the major landmarks (Mt Index, Philadelphia Mountain, Baring Peak, etc) you are in theory located where the lines intersect. We were thankful to discover we new where we were!

After lunch we all gathered again for a hike even further up for our "final problem." From the ready area where we received our general instructions we were told to find a stranger and work with him or her. Once we randomly selected our partners we began to travel further uphill, and in both our cases we chose the "most difficult" route instead of the "moderate" or "easy" routes. This effectively just meant we would cover more distance using the landfall method and therefore that we must climb quite a bit before starting. After a healthy climb we reached our launch gate and were given our bearings. My partner and I left first on a 189 degree bearing. We were to navigate independently but to stay in eye shot and within voice contact and if we were to separate laterally to check each other's bearings and perhaps split the difference before continuing.

All in all the course was about a kilometer long downhill through wet and brushy forest filled with deadfall. My partner and I remained within about 25 feet and reached our final destination within 0.5 and 0.75 degrees, respectively, which is pretty darn good. When Katie came down I found out she had bested me by reaching her target within 0.5 degrees, big surprise right? Unfortunately though, we had to assemble the entire group now before heading back to the parking lot, and we were one of the first few groups down to the target area. So for the next hour, we stood around as it finally began to rain. We had some obligatory gear talk with strangers for a bit, then chatted it up with an acquaintance of ours from Boeing who turned out was taking the class with us! He is about to take The Mountaineers kayaking class we took last year and so we discussed that quite a bit, and it was good to catch up with him.

Finally we were all found and it was time to hike out about 1,000 vertical feet and about 2 miles to get back to the car, turn in our grade cards (spoiler alert - we passed), get in the car, and get home.

The drive home was thankfully uneventful with no ski traffic back-ups near Monroe, WA and we were back to the house with plenty of time to spare to get cleaned up for our romantic Valentine's day trip for a couple's cooking class and winery tour at Efeste Winery in Woodinville, WA about 15 minutes east of our house! We made potato croquettes and had a lovely evening together, and I should point out had no marital difficulties while navigating together (not even during leap-frogging!). And this morning our smoked legs let us know how many miles we had put on and how much standing around we had done.

Next up - Mountain Oriented First-Aid (MOFA) with The Mountaineers, a prerequisite for our Scrambling class. Oh, and by the way the new packs were sweeeeeet!

Quick Post-Good Day

Drove into work today just about the same time as sunrise, what a beautiful drive!
Captured this quick picture with my phone, not the best detail but you can see the awesome colors and "The Mountain".  Yep, any day you get to see her; its bound to be a good day.  Especially when its February 2nd - Groundhog's day where Pux. Phil saw his shadow and predicted 6 more weeks of winter.  Also its winter in the lovely Pacific Northwest and its not raining.  So far its been a great day, still sunny!

New Gear and lots of Lessons Learned! * Warning long post but worth the read if you want to learn about gear

This weekend was not an outdoor weekend.  I was assigned to work this weekend, supporting 787 airplane 2 in flight test.  We wound up doing house errands on Saturday and I worked all day on Sunday.  The best part of the weekend was Friday night, which was spurred by Monday evening.  So let me go briefly to Monday evening. 
Monday Evening 1/25/2010
Ryan and I attended the first of three lectures for a Mountaineers' class called Alpine Scrambling.  At the end of the class we will feel more comfortable fording our own path to high peaks with ice and loose rocks.  The lecture covered required gear, physical conditioning, and what the class will be like.  The lecture was overall nothing new for us but it remind us of gear we may have to buy $$$.  For Mt. Rainier's climb we had planned to rent boots, helmets, ice axes and perhaps even borrow some gear too.  By the end of the evening we were rethinking the "plan".  This leads to our fun urban adventure on Friday.
Friday Evening 1/29/2010
We got home from work beat but wanting to get our errands done Friday night, (Outdoor stores, Ikea, World Market and Pier1 to look at house decorations for our newly painted walls), so that just in case I didn't have to work Sat. or Sun., we would be able to go play outside.  Well we only got to the outdoor stores because we spent over 3 hours gear shopping!
First stop was Second Ascent in Ballard.  Fabulous customer service, and great selection of gear.  We only walked out with a used ice axe for me but we tried on everything!  First thing to learn more about -Moutaineering boots.  We tried on really stiff boots, lighter boots with full shank soles, and thick, stiff warm boots too.  All were different and good in their own way but for the cost (>$250) we decided that the plan to rent for Mt. Rainer would be best and that our current boots will be great for scrambling.  In fact the guy helping us out goes scrambling in the same boots Ry owns.  Score, huge savings!
LESSON 1 -The boots we have will work just as well if not better because they are already broken in.  I have Asolo TPS 520 GV Hiking Boots and Ry has Vasque Wasatch GTX Hiking Boots
After trying on all the boots we could and exhausting all our questions/concerns we briefly looked at ice axes.  We determined that the one dad bought years ago for me will be long enough for Ry and that I needed one, so first purchase of the evening was a great priced used ice axe.
LESSON 2 - For the Alpine Scrambling we are doing the best length is to hold the head of the axe in your hand, pointy end towards the floor, with arms at your side and have it be no longer than to your ankle.  This is so that you can walk with it in your hand and not scrape it against the ground or loose rocks, preventing exhaustion in your arm.
LESSON 3 - The shorter the ice axe the more bad ass you are in the mountaineering world.  Don't believe the wild stories of a guy that looks rookie and is carrying a long ice axe.  (There are a few exceptions to this rule, so don't get to judgemental)
Next area of the store - DAYPACKS!  The last daypack Ryan used was a school bag that I nixed shortly after we started dating. The daypack I was using that we now share is very small and really only better because it has comfortable shoulder straps.  Although a real sturdy bag just too small.  For the past 4 years we have made it work and, pp until now we really didn't need anything more, especially one for each of us.  The Mountaineers require that all hikers/climbers carry our their own first aid, their own water, and their own gear.  Ok, ok, ok twist our arms we will get new packs.  Talk about kids in a candy store!  We must have tried on, tugged at, stuffed, and analyzed over 20 bags.  The changes since we bought our backpacking bags in (1997/1998) are just unbelievable.  I would still agree with anyone that we didn't have to get new bags but after serious examination we decided it would make trips much more enjoyable and we would be best prepared with better bags.  Also this allows for both of us to train for Mt. Rainier since we can each load up our own packs, and not worry about borrowing the weekend of the big trip.  Unfortunately Second Ascent didn't have exactly what we were looking for, but after a quick Google on the trusty iPhone we saw that REI does have what we are looking for.  Off to REI we went after profusely thanking the staff for all their help. 
Now take these two gear adrenaline pumping goons already excited and put them in the Flagship REI store!  Yeah we had to remind ourselves when we were going in why we were there, and yet we still wind up buying more than daypacks!  Don't worry the extras were on the list and now we are both much safer with helmets and a 3 liter camelpack to go in my new daypack!
LESSON 4 - Decide what you are looking for, what is most important to you.  This daypack is going to be carried for several hundred miles (hopefully) and will be something you only have to purchase once.  (i.e.our backpacking bags circa 97/98)
LESSON 5 - Make sure you do not change your mind about what is important to you in a pack because of something superficial like the color, brand, model name, etc. 
LESSON 6 - Do not go to REI without a list, thank goodness for dividends!
OK so now what bags did we get and why?
Our requirements were:
1. Side pocket on each side of the pack for water bottles
2. Camelbak bladder holder
3. Ice Axe loops
4. Easy access to the inside of the bag from two angles, not just the top.
5. Want ability to hold trekking poles and/or snowshoes, maybe even skis for later down the road.
6. Side straps for making the pack smaller when needed. 
7. Comfortable hipbelts. 
With these requirements the only brand that matched was Osprey.  All the other brands while great packs in their own right only covered 6 of our 7 requirements.
I got an Osprey Kestral 38 Pack-S/M, pretty bag, super useful, great match for me, Even comes with its own rain cover!

Ryan found that the Osprey Talon 44 pack was more to his liking, his favorite color is orange so I had to be sure he wasn't just drawn to the color.  it does make sense that he go up a size since his gear is a little larger and volumous than mine.  Besides the size, the bag is very similar to mine.

To end this very long post just in case all you do is look at the pictures I post here is a picture of Ryan leaving the store.  His quote of the evening is "I do not plan on taking my new pack off, I am going to wear it everywhere", including out of the store, yes we were those goobers, but we were happy goobers.