Archive:Valentine Gates Traverse

Synopsis

This is an alpine traverse of the beautiful Place Glacier area. Climbing up Spetch Creek to Valentine Lake - a beautiful, heart shaped, alpine lake. Up over the shoulder of Saxifrage and into true alpine terrain crossing ridges and glaciers, over the Olds-Oleg col and back down the Place Glacier and eventually Gates Lake. Depending on the speed and fitness of the group it may be possible to summit Gardiner, Oleg, Olds or Saxifrage - but likely we will have to leave these peaks out as the traverse itself should be quite challenging.

If you've been on a few trips, perhaps nothing too serious, but are reasonably fit (or at least very tough) and own (or can borrow - maybe from the club) the gear you need, this is the trip for you. If you're wondering whether or not this is the trip for you, go ahead and email the organizer or better yet post on the message board, as other people might have the same question. The idea is for the trip to be pretty cool without requiring absolutely everybody have special skills and experience.

Google Map of the route

Difficulty

Because it is a traverse you are committed. The trip starts and ends in different locations, so you can't just "leave out" the Sunday summit push while you recover from the brutal hike Saturday - you have to finish.

This trip is 2140m elevation gain and 25km travel (south-north) (possibly add another 400m if no 4wd or brave 2wd). This means that, if you are reasonably fit and bring a light pack, you should be able to complete it in a weekend but will be moving all day with no time spent resting. If you bring a heavy pack you will suffer, and the group will suffer because of you - don't do this.

It also crosses glaciers and will (probably) involve some easy scrambling.

Hazards

Glaciers

On a glacier snow is a mixed blessing - since it covers up the crevasses. This can be good since it lets you travel over them, sometimes without even knowing they're there. If can also be bad, because the snow may collapse suddenly and you fall into a crevasse. The normal solution is to 'rope up' where you tie yourself together with your climbing partners so if you fall in your friends stop you from hitting the bottom. It's also a good idea to take off your crampons, if your boots are stiff enough to walk on the snow without them, since they can catch the sides of a crevasse and break your ankle. If we must travel on snow we'll rely on the 'huge rope team arrest' idea. By making really large rope teams no finely tuned skills are required in the event of a crevasse fall - just rely on the extra weight. This does mean that we'll have to avoid steep snowy terrain, but probably we should be doing that anyway.

Yourself

This trip will involve what's often called "General Mountaineering" - the sort of stuff you learn at Glacier School. Most of these skills are actually quite simple, but could have fatal consequences if done incorrectly. If you're asked to do something, or see everybody else doing it, (like put on a harness, rappel, rope up, put on crampons - anything) and you're not absolutely sure that you know how to do it speak up and ask for help. Seriously - stopping to ask for help is OK, putting yourself and everybody else in danger because you're not sure about what you're doing is not.

If you do something incorrectly it may be too late before your error gets noticed. You are responsible for your own safety.

Kit

We'll be sleeping somewhere... possibly on a glacier, but hopefully we find a scrap of rock. We'll need tents, or maybe we'll sleep under the stars (could be dewy). A sleeping bag and pad are needed, and they should be reasonably warm. In summer it can be really warm during the day, but will be cold at night if it's clear (below 0C).

Likely it will also be hot, and quite sunny - so suncreen, sunglasses, a hat and a bandanna are a really good idea. On snowy terrain it is possible to go completely snow-blind in a weekend without sunglasses.

We're also bringing some glacier kit. Enough rambling - it's listed below, might get updated as we get closer to the date.

Other stuff includes (list reserves the right to be amended):

Clothes

• 1 set of non-cotton clothes (just the one on your back)
• a fleece or sweater - can be fairly light as we'll be either moving, eating or sleeping (no lounging)
• A nice light breathable softshell to break the wind (maybe has a little insulation)
• toque (best warmth/weight ratio going for clothing)
• gloves
• boots (good, sturdy, boots. Note that mountaineering boots are different and far superior on snow compared to hiking boots)
• sun hat
• gaiters

Shelter

• Tarps, hopefully - tents are heavy
• sleeping bag (a summer bag is probably good, depending how warm you think you sleep. 0C or warmer)
• full length sleeping pad

Miscellaneous

• Burly container / outer bag for carrying poo bags
• Sunscreen
• Headlamp
• lip balm
• sunglasses
• camera
• bug net (works way better than bug juice, plus it doesn't wreck the environment or your stuff)
• Toilet Paper
• Poo bags (will be provided)
• Toothbrush
• Lighter
• Bearspray (optional - with such a large, probably noisy, group I'd be highly surprised if any self-respecting bear would go anywhere near us)

Gear

The absolute minimum:

• ice axe (the lightest you can find)
• crampons (which fit boots! Test beforehand! Really - figure out how to put the crampons on before the trip)
• climbing harness
• locking 'biner
• helmet
• NOTE: boots are listed separately under "clothes" - but might well be considered "gear". The VOC lends out sturdy boots if you need them.

If you know how to use them you may also wish to bring:

• rope (or be one of 6 friends with someone who has one)
• a few prussiks and extra biners
• webbing
• ice screw and hooker for making V-thread

Maybe nice:

• ski/trekking poles (poles are highly awesome for hiking. I can't recommend bringing poles enough)

Food

• stove + pot + fuel + lighter (or be friendly)
• Plastic thing to eat out of (old yogurt container? Or something fancier)
• spoon
• Lunch, Dinner, Breakfast, Lunch - remember you'll be on the move all day, so bring extra lunch for Sunday. Eat extra breakfast (which you then don't have to carry on your back) before heading out Saturday morning.
  • Most people can eat somewhat under 1kg of food per day (we're talking dehydrated food - no heavy water). Veenstra eats way more than most people and usually brings 250grams/breakfast, 400-500grams/lunch+snacks, 250-350grams/dinner+dessert.
• Water (ability to carry 2-3L, depending on your size).
• Water purifier drops/tabs (optional)

Luxury

(some things might be worth their extra weight, including):

• songbook
• 1 pair extra socks
• down slippers for camp

Pack

And a pack to put it all in. Remember - stuff is heavy, so don't bring too much stuff! If you show up with a pack larger than 50L, the organizer will tear it apart in the parking lot looking for extra weight.

Participants

We’ll need a variety of different kinds of people to make this trip happen. Mostly we’ll need:

• People who can get up earlier than everybody else and do a car shuttle. Ideally we leave 1 getaway car for every 5 drivers.
• People who can drive, still getting up pretty early (although not quite as early as the shuttlers) whisking us safely in between the city and the mountains.
• People who know things about glaciers, preferably who also bring their own ropes. Ideally we’d have 2 of these people per rope... but maybe we’ll have to be satisfied with fewer.
• People who own tents, and people who own stoves, and are willing to share
• Keen people who’ve never been on a glacier before to remind us old timers of the magic and wonder we might not feel ourselves anymore, just from being on a glacier.
• Attractive young ladies, to keep our spirits high
• Attractive young men, because ladies don’t do it for everybody

Pretrip Meeting Agenda

• Plan + Questions (go over information on wiki)
  • route
  • equipment
  • hazards
  • leaving time
  • big group talk (how to avoid making an ass of ourselves)
• Sort out "interested" from "actually coming"
• Tent+Food faff (this will be "free form" - you will be given the opportunity to arrange these groups among yourselves)

• Gear hours will not happen, because we're at the beach. Attend the regular gear hours.
• Car faff will be finished by Christian on Thursday morning. Drivers are welcome to assemble their own pickup runs by picking passengers themselves before then, which I will try hard to preserve.