September 9, 2015
Uphill Battle
With little discussion, Ryan and I got out of then tent and started hearing water for breakfast. Our muscles are tired and there really wasn't much that needs to be said. Today's task: haul the rest of our gear up to the Drolambao Glacier at roughly 16,000 feet.
We allowed ourselves to relax for a few minutes while the water heated when suddenly we heard a loud crack. A serac on an adjacent mountain had broken free unleashing a large avalanche. We watched for a few seconds as a 400 meter wide swath of snow and ice billowed down the mountain face - almost in slow motion. We knew we were safe as we were high above the run out but we gathered up any loose items laying around our camp and threw them in the tent. A minute later a cloud of spindrift engulfed us covering everything with a layer of light snow.
A few minutes later we were eating our breakfast and enjoying the warmth of the sun. Our relaxation was short lived as we still needed to carry more loads up to the glacier. We debated if we should just throw everything into our Granite Gear duffles but we opted for packs instead.
Over the past several months I've been working on a big mountain pack design that can also be used for pulling a sled (like on Denali). Mike and the team at Granite Gear listened to my design requirements and after a few samples and revisions the Rolwaling was born.
Ryan and I have been hauling gear in the Granite Gear Rolwaling pack for the past 10 days but today the pack was definitely the hero. Stuffed to overflowing and very very heavy, the packs distributed the weight and managed the loads incredibly well.
Two trips later, we had finally moved all our gear to the top of the glacier.
'Won't be missing this route,' Ryan commented after or third total round trip.
Hiking up a 40 degree rocky slope with a 60 pound pack was hardly a Sunday cake walk, but the grueling climb did give us a chance to study the geology of the area a little better. At one point, there was a 20 foot swath of granite carved smooth by a prior glacier. Another huge chunk of iron, flakes of mica everywhere and even large slabs of green olivine. However, as beautiful as all these rocks were, we were more than a little happy to reach the ice again.
Worn out, we still had to level an area for our MSR base camp tent which we set up in just a few minutes. We threw our gear inside, took a few pictures, ate dinner and talked briefly about our plan for tomorrow which went something like this:
'Let's make a decision in the morning.'
We allowed ourselves to relax for a few minutes while the water heated when suddenly we heard a loud crack. A serac on an adjacent mountain had broken free unleashing a large avalanche. We watched for a few seconds as a 400 meter wide swath of snow and ice billowed down the mountain face - almost in slow motion. We knew we were safe as we were high above the run out but we gathered up any loose items laying around our camp and threw them in the tent. A minute later a cloud of spindrift engulfed us covering everything with a layer of light snow.
A few minutes later we were eating our breakfast and enjoying the warmth of the sun. Our relaxation was short lived as we still needed to carry more loads up to the glacier. We debated if we should just throw everything into our Granite Gear duffles but we opted for packs instead.
Over the past several months I've been working on a big mountain pack design that can also be used for pulling a sled (like on Denali). Mike and the team at Granite Gear listened to my design requirements and after a few samples and revisions the Rolwaling was born.
Ryan and I have been hauling gear in the Granite Gear Rolwaling pack for the past 10 days but today the pack was definitely the hero. Stuffed to overflowing and very very heavy, the packs distributed the weight and managed the loads incredibly well.
Two trips later, we had finally moved all our gear to the top of the glacier.
'Won't be missing this route,' Ryan commented after or third total round trip.
Hiking up a 40 degree rocky slope with a 60 pound pack was hardly a Sunday cake walk, but the grueling climb did give us a chance to study the geology of the area a little better. At one point, there was a 20 foot swath of granite carved smooth by a prior glacier. Another huge chunk of iron, flakes of mica everywhere and even large slabs of green olivine. However, as beautiful as all these rocks were, we were more than a little happy to reach the ice again.
Worn out, we still had to level an area for our MSR base camp tent which we set up in just a few minutes. We threw our gear inside, took a few pictures, ate dinner and talked briefly about our plan for tomorrow which went something like this:
'Let's make a decision in the morning.'