Archive:Whitemantle Traverse 2008

Whitemantle Traverse 2008

This orphaned page is to help organize

Kayaks

- we need 2 double kayaks,

Tasks

get a second double kayak

Ideally Nimbus Skana (21' 8", 800L Volume) Madeline will look into friends boat (x2) Christian will check Jericho again

Here are some links to possible rental businesses on Quadra, apparently the Campbell River company has the best prices, and is open to price negotiation Quadra Island Kayaks: http://www.quadraislandkayaks.com/quadra_island_kayak_rentals.html Campbell River Kayaks: http://www.comoxvalleykayaks.com/vancouver_island_kayak_rentals_bc.php Out for Adventure: http://www.quadraislandoutfitters.com/kayak_rental_vancouver_island_rentals.htm HBI Adventure Centre http://www.islandadventurecentre.com/kayaking_rentals.html If were able to rent from the CRKayaks it would cost about $810 calculating for 3 weeks, but I guess that is if we could convince them to let us rent, and maybe getting a deal would be possible...

Sponsorship

Madeline will look into sponsorship - MEC / Nimbus / Seaward ?

Nimbus is a no go - they stated that they are too small a company to offer support to this expedition MEC is also a no go

We're on our own for money.

Maps

Steve will look into printing on Tyvex Madeline will see whether or not she has extra Tyvex

Sleds

Christian will prototype sleds with Steve. Pete Hudson Tim Blair Stephan

Four orange! crazy carpets is now purchased. They can be found in Line's room.

Steve has Tim's sled harness rig (modified chest harness)

Steve purchased:

• another four fullsized, and two short (36inch) crazy carpets
• a Coghlans grommet kit (and extra grommets -- 40 in total) -- btw. MEC is half the rice of Cdn tire for these items
• 1.5m X 60 inch silnylon from outdoor innovations (enough for 1 sled + a few stuffsacks) ($20 per meter - 60inch wide roll)
• enough misc webbing/cord/etc for one sled

Route

Christian will call Whitesaddle about weather forcasts and radios Christian will call Chuck at logging camp ask trails to cumsack and house. Steve will look into arial photos of Brig Line will summarize CAJ articles

Aerial Photographs

We should check the aerial photograph library at UBC to see if there are any photos of the south face of Brig. http://www.geog.ubc.ca/resources/gic/air_photo.html

Steve has a lead on aerial photo's/up-to-date loggin road maps c/o Tom Furst (friend of Pete Hudson). His company is doing microhydro work at the head of Bute Inlet. (details to come)

Conversation with Chuck

Chuck, the camp caretaker of the Homathko logging camp can be reached at (250) 286-0962 or 604-288-7747. The Logging Camp at Waddington Harbour is on the east side of the Homathko River about 3 km up the river from the ocean.

CAMP located at NAD27: 10U 368809 5646108 (bivouac)

Route - Somewhere near Potatoe Point the trail to House starts. Apparently it's obvious. The scenery along the ridge to Cumsack is supposed to be spectacular. The trail down from Cumsack is not as nice - brushy and travels through an old burn. Not recommended for uphill travel. Chuck says that lots of people head up this way to get into the Whitemantle range, but that he's not sure if it's possible to make it. I'm not sure exactly what this means - hopefully Rob Wood can clarify. Certainly, lots of people have gone along the House-Cumsack ridge.

Weather - Campbell River, Williams Lake are closest centers. Whitesaddle air might know better.

Homathko river peaks in August ~ 7knots, in May we might be able to kayak up, if we want.

Communications - Chuck says an Iridium phone might not help out so much. Homathko camp has a repeater tower which covers most of the Whitemantle - along with Whitesaddle's in the Panthenon most everywhere is covered. We should either buy a VHF programmable radio that we can program ourselves (Chuck would give us the frequencies at camp). Alternatively, Whitesaddle air rents radios with the frequencies pre-programmed.

homathko@xplornet.com

Satphone

Steve will look into satphone costs The Iridium distributor in Vancouver is InfoSat:

Vancouver - Head Office
18 Fawcett Road
Coquitlam, BC V3K 6X9
Toll Free: +1.800.871.3011
Worldwide: +1.604.524.3038
http://www.infosat.com

Chris Michalak says:

I have the Globalstar GSP-1700 which was released about a year ago and
is half the weight of its predecessor, the GSP-1600. See models here:
http://www.globalstar.ca/en/content.php?cid=105
There's a good description of the problems with globalstar on wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Globalstar
You can get a list of Globalstar retailers here:
http://www.globalstar.ca/en/dealerlocater/locate_dealer.php?province=BC&city=Vancouver
I bought mine from Glentel.
Iridium is the only other handheld sat phone provider. They are much
more reliable at the moment (and are truly global, unlike globalstar
which doesn't work in the middle of the ocean or in the arctic).
Negatives are that they are more expensive and the handset is ~385g vs
~210g for the GSP-1700.

Looks like you can rent an Iridium for $289/month here:
http://www.deakin.com/index.cfm?action=display&product_class_id=2&product_group_id=39&product_id=44

Radio

Steve will talk about VHS radio

Altimiter

Christian will buy an altimiter

Transport

Steve's truck may be able to transport everyone Christian will convince someone (Matthew?) to weekend Quadra for the departure date.

Hammocks

Everyone will test drive a hammock

Water gear

Christian will develop kayak gear recomendations

Plan B

Do we have any 'plan B's for the trip?

Scrambles guide to the Whitemantle Range

We should find info on some of the local peaks

Planning Guides

Christian will consult planning guide and print off sheets

Medical

Steve will get his knees checked

Stoves

Steve now has a working stove to match Christians (Primus Himalaya Multifuel) He will get a spare hose.

Random

Go to Baldwin's slideshow (Tuesday, March 11)

Gear

Kayaking

Volume requirements

~ 400L of food 4x 50L drybags for packs 4x 120L Alpine equipment 2x 35L for kayak stuff 4x2 35L drybags for personal kayak crap 4x 5L drybags for small personal kayak crap

Total for trip ~ 1450L (no skis...)

Entertainment

• Frisbee
• full size deck of cards
• jungle speed
• each bring one book

Personal Gear

• fishing license (for clams etc.)
• Bug net
• Soap
• Rain/Sunhat
• 4x Bear spray
• Headlamp (double for Alpine portion)
• Sunscreen
• (!) Chap stick
• (!) moisturizer
• (!) Pee bottle
• (!) Camera
• (!) Dive Knife
• (!) Whistle (seahorse kind)

Eating

• Spoon
• Bowl / measuring cup
• Thermos (optional)

Clothing

• Technical top
• Drytop
• Wetsuit bottoms and/or Bathing suit
• Neoprene booties / tivas
• Neoprene skull cap / fleece
• Neoprene gloves
• (!) Lightweight gloves to prevent burning - cycling gloves?
• (!) Warm upper for kayak
• Sunscreen
• Sunglasses
• separate underwear for camp
• fleece pants for camp
• fleece hoodie for camp
• warm socks for camp
• clogs or other dry footwear if bringing neoprene booties

Sleeping

• Sleeping Bag (not doubled with alpine) (sythetic?)
• Blue foamy / thermarest
• Hammock

Group

• (!) 2 Short, sturdy, aluminum pipes to facilitate moving the kayaks as a team of 4
• (!) Bearhang kit including 2 20m pieces of 5mm cord, 3 5m pieces of webbing, 2 pulleys and 4 'biners.
• (!) 5 Bear canisters - 1 per person for daily use food and a 5th for the group cooking gear. (Veenstra has 3)
• Tarp
• Big pot for seafood
• 2x metal garden trowel for clams
• Clippers for trailblazing (Vlad)
• 2x pots (doubled with Alpine)
• 2x stoves (doubled with Alpine)
• water treatment (pristine drops - steve has 60ml of the stuff. more will be required)
• water purification (one of: Steve's MSR waterworks filter (ceramic element with membrane) or Christian's ??? filter).

Skiing/Mountaineering

Entertainment

• deck of cards (Steve's microcards)

(!) Personal Clothing

• 2 pairs skiing socks
• 1 pair sleeping socks
• 2 pairs skiing underwear
• 1 pair sleeping underwear
• 1 warm lower
• 1 base lower (preferred light, to wear in the sun)
• 1 shell lower
• 1 warm upper
• 1 base upper (preferred light, high collar, to wear in the sun)
• 1 shell upper
• toque/balaclava
• down jacket
• 1 pair gloves with removable liners
• 1 pair overmit shells
• 1 pair lightweight gloves to protect hands from sun
• gaiters
• camp booties

Personal Gear

• (!) Voile Straps (how many?)
• Sunglasses
• Goggles
• Sunscreen
• Sunhat/sunshield
• (!) spf30 or better Lip Balm
• (!) moisturizer
• (!) small knife, < 150g
• (!) lighter
• (!) pee bottle
• (!) whistle

Group

• Christian's Tent
• Thermos (?)
• Spare pole (colapsable)
• Bear spray (?)
• Extra sunglasses
• Kickwax
• Pinklady
• Repair Kit (some discussion)
• (!) First Aid kit

Skiing Gear

• Skiis
• Skins
• Poles
• Boots + Liners
• Beacon
• Shovel
• Probe

Mountain Gear

• 2x 60m ropes (maybe buy new lighter ones?)
• 1 long iceaxe each
• Secondary super-light axe (?)
• Single long screw with hooker
• Crampons
• Harnesses
• Ski crampons (?)
• Helmets (?)
• 2 prussiks each
• 2 small locking biners each
• 1 large locking biner
• 1 double length sling each
• 2 non-lockers
• 2 prussik minding pulleys total (?)
• 10m rap tat

Not bringing

• Extra iceaxe
• Snowsaw
• Pickets
• Rock Pro
• Belay Device

Food

Requirements

Kayak

• 9 Breakfasts
• 10 Lunches
• 9 Dinners

Alpine

• 16 Breakfasts
• 16 Lunches
• 16 Dinners

Transport/Faffing

• Breakfast at Zoe's / Quadra
• Dinner at Zoe's / Quadra
• Meals for drive to / from Quadra

All dinners will be shared! Each person brings 1 group breakfast for the Alpine portion.

• Everyone brings

26 lunches
21 breakfasts
4 Alpine dinners to share
1 Alpine breakfast to share
2 Kayak dinners to share

• Christian brings 1 extra Kayak dinner

Christian

Average daily consumption

• 200g Breakfast
• 500g Lunch
• 400g Dinner
• 50g Chocolate
• 60g Protein Goo (2 servings)

Breakfasts

21x200g=4.2kg
2.2kg (11 days) Granola
1.2kg (6 days) Oatmeal
0.8kg (4 days) Oats

Lunches

26x~500g=13kg
25% = 3.25kg trail mix
25% = 3.25kg sesame sticks
15% = 2.0kg pepper nut cookies
10% = 1.3kg granola bars
10% = 1.3kg cheese
7.5% = 1.0kg meat jerkey
7.5% = 1.0kg peanut butter

Line

Average daily consumption

• 250g Breakfast
• 400g Lunch
• 300g Dinner
• 60g Protein Goo

Ideas?

• Clarified butter to further reduce weight and reduce chance of spoiling

First Aid Kit discussion

What was brought to the head of Knight Inlet: Drugs:

• Loperamide (Immodium) x 10000
• Cephalexen 500 mg x 40 (broad spectrum antibiotic)
• Dipenhydramine HCl, 25 mg (antihistamine)
• Hydrocortizone Cream (for itchyness)
• ibuprofen

Paper:

• Accident Incident Report form (form to fill out when someone gets hurt, helps you remember what to check)
• Pencil
• Instructions for all drugs (cut off of box, or from prescription)
• Instructions for more complicated bandaging supplies
• Guide to Wilderness Medicine
• Accident flowchart (steps to take)
• Illustrated Guide to Life Threatening Emergencies

Wound cleaning:

• 10 mL syringe
• nitrile gloves
• povidone iodine prep pads
• isopropyl alcohol prep pads
• cotton tipped applicators

Ziploc for waste

Cutting:

• several needles (various sizes)
• scalpel blades (we had #11 and something else?)
• first aid scissors (easily cut through clothing etc, blunt end)

Bandaging:

• lots of bandaids
• 2nd skin blister pads
• several OpSite sheets
• various sizes of steri-strips
• 2nd Skin Moist Burn Pads
• numerous 3x3" and 4x4" sponges
• some non-adherent dressings
• moleskin
• triangular bandage
• safety pins
• tensor bandage
• small rolls of gauze
• abd pad

Tape:

• athletic tape
• micropore tape

• thermometer

• consider metal splints

typically for longer trips you want more sponges, gauze, bandaging supplies because if you have a wound you have to keep changing the dressing.

Most available at Lancaster 601 W. Broadway http://www.lancastermed.com/

This stuff was packaged into 3 or 4 thematic ziplock bags inside one drybag so you could dump out the drybag and find what you needed without worrying about the contents getting wet.

MEC Grant Application

Relavent qualifications

Madeleine is looking into an MEC grant application. Since last time I tried this we dropped a combined $15000 at MEC, this is a very good idea MEC Member info - Relevant qualifications - what you have done to prepare for this tripplease post and i will compile

Christian

Growing up in Ontario, Christian began camping, backpacking, and canoe tripping during childhood. Upon moving to Vancouver in September 2005 for graduate studies at UBC, Christian shifted his outdoor focus to better suit the mountains. After going on an introductory backcountry ski-tour with UBC's Varsity Outdoor Club in 2006 Christian discovered his true passion, and was organizing his own VOC ski-tours within a few months. Since then he's spent over 100 days on skis in the backcountry. During the summer Christian spends his time scrambling peaks and organizing the maintenance of the the VOC's backcountry huts and trails.

In the summer of 2006 he participated in a self-supported kayaked accessed attempt on Mount Waddington via Knight Inlet, including a 230km kayak approach. Logistically successful, the party of three made it to the head of Knight Inlet bringing with them full mountaineering gear for rock, snow and ice. Unfortunately, one party member became seriously ill on the second day of the land portion - this illness spread to the rest of the group and the party was forced to abandon the trip. Once everyone had recovered the party kayaked out, returning 30 days after departure (4 days early). Although the expedition failed to reach the alpine, it served as an eye opening experience to the possibilities (and difficulties) of totally self-supported travel.

Christian's role as an executive member of the VOC, with frequent organization of VOC trips as well as experience in the Canadian Armed Forces Reserves have prepared him for his leadership role on the expedition.

Partial list of ski mountaineering, winter ascents and ski-tours:

• Wedge (with ski decent Wedge Couloir)
• Black Tusk (false summit)
• Gandalf
• Aragorn
• Peregrine W1
• Duke ESE3
• Wrottesley (kayak approach)
• Snowspider
• Vantage
• Deception
• Ashlu-Elaho traverse
• Garibaldi Neve (in a day)

Gear we need, and don't own already

Kayak

• Kayak for Steve/Madeline
• Spare paddle, 2 bilge pumps, 2 floating life ropes, 2 paddle floats for above kayak
• 2 kayak mounted compasses
• Personal kayak gear

* Jacket, farmer john, skull cap, gloves for everyone, booties
* Live vest, dive knife, whistle, paddle for Steve, Line, Madeline
* Pee bottles for Steve, Line, Madeline
* Giant MSR 

Dromedaries for Kayak portion

• Hammocks
• Giant tarp (or 2 small tarps?)
• 1 million drybags
• 1 million bear-proof cans
• Custom drybag for skis (I was going to make it, but we might as well ask...)
• fuel
• Big pot for clams

Alpine

• Big pack for Steve (he's got a borrowed Bora 95 confirmed)
• Big pack for Madeline(?)
• Light ice axe for Madeline(?) (chistian, line & steve have light ones)
• Heat exchangers for pots (steve will buy one. does christian have one already)
• Aluminum crampons(?)
• Small glacier pulleys for Steve, Line, Madeline (?)
• Kick wax
• Altimeter
• G3 repair kits (Line has bought two. Steve already owns one)
• Maps?

Gear we could use, since what we own is old/heavy

Alpine

• New sleeping bags for everyone
• New sleeping pads for everyone
• New ski setup for Madeleine
• New Gortex ___ for people (ie. pants for Christian)
• New gloves
• New probe for Christian
• New light 450g shovels for Steve/Madeleine(?)
• Crampons
• Pickets
• Fancy GPS
• Ice screw(s) + hooker

Gear we own, but is consumable

Kayak

• Lots of batteries
• folding solar panel to recharge stuff

Alpine

• Ropes (christian's petzl dragonfly's: two X 8.4mm X 60m @ xxx g/m. steve's mammut: one X 60m X 8.0mm @ xxx g/m)
• Tent (probably not, since MEC doesn't carry a comparable tent)
• Webbing

Other costs

• Food
• Sat phone rental
• Transport costs to get to Quadra
• New digital cameras for everyone (how else will they get their good photos?)
• First aid supplies