1. Read your posts from the previous blog entry in which you addressed your preparation and identified your goals for the Katahdin experience.
2. As you think back upon your trip, check out some of the pictures from your experience. Select one photograph that represents a time or event during the trip that stands out to you and comment on how you felt at that particular time or place. (Note - you do not have to appear in the photo)
3. Comment on your overall experience on this trip. As you’re writing, think about the following:
- How did your experience compare with your expectations?
- Did you accomplish your goal(s)?
- How do you feel about this?
- What did you do well?
- What didn't you do well, and how can you change that next time?
- Did you notice any kind of special achievement by anyone else?
- Describe any barriers you encountered.What helped you overcome them?
- Would you do it again? Why or Why Not?
- What worked well? What didn't?
- Give an example from everyday life when you backed away from something you didn’t think you could do. Do you think you could do it now?
- Describe an example of good and not-so-good Expedition Behavior (EB) while on the trip.
- Comment on our group management on the trip.
- What are the potential consequences of good & not-so-good group management?
- Specifically, how could our group management have been better on the trip?
- Did you feel unsafe at any time during the trip?
- Is there anything that you think could have been done to make the experience more safe?
- Do you think this expedition is too risky? Why or why not?
- Is there anything you would like to change about the experience?
- Anything else you would like to add
Remember to use a word processor to compose your post and use spell and grammar check. Your post to this blog is due before class Friday, February 13. We will discuss several aspects of this post during class.
Dana Marble
ReplyDeleteAs I scrolled through the Katahdin pictures, one picture stands out, the very first one in the parking lot with Katahdin in the background. This was the start, everything still to come, the skiing, the cold, the wind, the climb and the mountain.
I feel good about the trip. Right up until I strapped on the skis I didn’t know if I was up to the challenge. In fact that was my goal, was I up to it mentally and physically. Could I stand the cold or the hardship?
One of my concerns was whether I had enough warm clothing. There were times when I was cold but I always had more layers to put on if needed.
Another concern was the food. This also turned out to be not a problem. The AT trip helped to determine what and how much food I needed. I especially liked the Mountain House meal.
There were two that I felt that stood out. They are Travis and Sam. Sam because she was the only girl and was always out in front. Travis is a big guy and just to make it in and out of Katahdin is a job well done.
I didn’t feel unsafe at any time and the entire was well organized. That said, there are two things I would change. The first is to summit the fourth day. That would give those who were exhausted from the two day hike a day to rest. The other was the avalanche training, it was too cold and windy to concentrate on the training. This is weather related and weather is a variable that can’t be controlled.
The overall experience was good but I think I’ll pass next year if you don’t mind.
The katahdin experience was not as cold as I thought it would be. We got some great weather except the day we were to go ice climbing. The goals were accomplished we made it to Chimney Pond as a group and I was able to stay relatively warm through the trip. I really just enjoyed being up at Chimney Pond. I was able to thermoregulate pretty well most of the time. After summiting, I didn’t have any more goals, I didn’t really like the Roaring Brook Campground, got sick of post-holing. On the way out, the last 1.6 miles I got caught up with the leading group for the rush to the van I think I could have been more patient. I think Joe did a great job considering this is his first expedition with us, he seemed ready for whatever was going on. I think the biggest barrier for me was just getting out of the warm bag in the morning, I found a method for getting out of the bag that was less shocking than just getting out and seemed a bit more efficient. Im not sure I would enjoy doing it again with such a large group. It seemed like distances between all of us in a line just got too big, I think it had a lot to do with our means of traveling which helped some of us and may have inhibited others. I remember this one time when I didn’t jump from a factory roof ten feet out and 25 feet up. It was at the limit of my ability at the time, I’m pretty sure I could jump far enough and latch on hard enough not to fall from the tree. Our last day had the best and worst EB examples in the trip. Everyone got up early and on time and got packed up fairly quickly. However, in the end our group turned into two different groups. This was also a problem coming into Roaring brook. I like the look-behind-you method, I limits us to the slowest person in the group. I still question the efficacy of any of the methods, it doesn’t seem like any of them work for very long before somebody forgets we are all together. I would like for these methods to work, but when they don’t I find it difficult to want to keep trying. I don’t really know who was managing the group, I felt like there really was no management just a sort of group think occurring in smaller units; with occasional reminders that we were actually one group and not a few. I think the problem with not so good group management would be forgetting one of the members, maybe even panicking one if left too far behind which would be detrimental for them in general Or if someone was to become injured how long would it take for another to know, and it would be a lot better to have more people just nearby in order to assist. With good management there would be consistent progress for the group and more efficient travel from hydrating, fueling and resting properly. I am constantly reminded of the “Tortoise and the Hare” when I look at the different ways people in our group travels. I did not feel unsafe through the trip I felt we as a group were capable of self rescue with our limited wfr training and were in good hands with our guide Steve and if “It” really hit the fan, there was always Scott Tierney nearby! I don’t think the trip is that risky, if we were to blindly climb the mountain with no weather forecast or idea of snow conditions I think that would be a risky move. I think I would have like to experience the hurricane force winds on katahdin I think it would have been exhilarating or would have liked to summit again for some snowboarding on a steep ridge. This is the longest winter camp-out I have been on. The only thing I would have liked to include was a morning or two to sleep in, I know my ancestors liked to sleep in on some of the cold winter mornings.
ReplyDeleteLooking back at my goals for Katahdin I have to say out of the three goals the only one that I accomplished was learning as much about avalanche safety as I could. The other two goals that I wanted to accomplish were to summit which I was kind of frustrated that I couldn’t because my knee was acting up. My other goal was to get in some ice climbing and to learn about that. We couldn’t go ice climbing because the weather didn’t cooperate. This was a pretty big bummer because I thought hey if I don’t get to summit than I will at least get to ice climb. That day came and the weather was crappy so It felt more like a waste of time to me to walk all that way suffering almost every step of the way the last mile and a half for nothing. I hope I get the chance to do it again and I will go no matter what even if I have to crawl up and down.
ReplyDeleteOne picture that stands out to me is one where Jake is pulling the sled with one ski pole and a messed up shoulder. This stands out to me because it reminds me of the sledding down the hill. Me and Joe had some pretty close calls like that but we managed to squeak by without actually contacting a tree like that head on. Jake had the experience of meeting a tree and I’m glad that it didn’t happen to us. He is probably one of very few people in there that even though hurt kept on trucking.
The trip experience was actually more like I expected it to be than not. I didn’t expect the travel to take so long or to be as difficult as it was. I did however expect that the nights were going to be cold and no one would want to get out of their sleeping bags in the morning. The last day was pretty funny after we came up with the idea if no one was up at 610 the other lean too was going to get snow filled. I only accomplished one of my goals and the others are still a work in process. I’m hoping to get a chance to go back there next year and if I can I wont be pulling a sled. I feel this is what tired me out going up hills. This was almost the whole trail too. I did however meet my goal of learning as much about avalanche safety as I could. I feel kinda bumming that I didn’t get to summit thinking that we could ice climb the next day and than when that day came and the weather was crappy we couldn’t really do any ice climbing so it was a pretty big bummer. I felt like I walked all that way and struggled just to sit in a lean too and walk back. I think I did well because I actually made it to chimney pond. There were a couple times on the trail I was just thinking about saying screw it and turning around and going back. Than when I thought about it I realized that it was farther out than it was the rest of the way up the hill so I figured that I might as well finish it than rest up so on the way out I would have some energy and strength back. I don’t think I did well on the way out. It was one of those put one foot in front of the other don’t look back just keep on chugging. I felt as If I stopped I wouldn’t be able to get back up. For about the last mile I could feel myself going so slow and I couldn’t make myself go any faster. I would have waited up top next time for everyone to catch up. There were a few special achievements that I realized on the way up there and out. First being Travis. He is a big boy. The kind of person that you look at and be like he made it up Katahdin? I don’t believe it. But he keeps pushing even when he knows he cant do anymore and he starts getting leg cramps he keeps pushing. The other person is Jake. He kept sweep almost all the way in even though he wasn’t tired a bit he didn’t throw a fit at all about being so slow and wanting the back people to speed up. He also after he hurt his arm took a sled because he couldn’t hold a backpack and dragged his stuff out on a sled. Not many people have that much ambition to after an injury keep on moving. I cant really say that there were any barriers that I encountered while on the trip at least there isn’t any I cant think of right off the top of my head. Would I do it again? Of course I would. Nothing is better than being able to stop at subway and McDonalds on your way home and fill your face from both places and still be hungry. If I get to do it again I want to finish meeting my other two goals no matter what the consequences be. I think the whole hooking the sled onto the backpack idea worked awesome. I tried to hook it onto my harness and put my bag in the sled but I ended up getting some fairly nice bruises on my hips from where the harness would bounce and jar and didn’t feel all that great. Probably one thing in life I backed away from would be cross country skiing for a whole day straight. I backed away from this because I wasn’t quite sure if I could do it nor did I really care to find out. I know now that I could do it if I wanted to and not even just cross country skiing but I know I can ski all day with a pack and a sled also. Some good EB I think I did on the trip was keeping Travis company on a stretch of the uphill section to chimney pond. I kept talking to him and didn’t tell him he couldn’t do it but was like come on keep going your almost there. He ended up motoring right along and left me and Joe right in the dust with our sled. He didn’t even take a break with us at the look out I don’t recall because he knew if he stopped he wouldn’t get back going. The not so good EB I would have to say was really nothing serious. We didn’t really wait for each other at the end but that’s a different story. The group management on the trip was really good almost the whole trip except for the last hour or more on the way out. We almost split up into two groups and instead of waiting for everyone back behind we just kept moving because everyone was getting cold. Good group management would make people all be able to achieve a goal at the same time instead of the stronger ones finishing first and the ones that are having a hard time finish last it doesn’t make them feel very good about it and if we aren’t all together and something ends up happening than we have really no way of knowing and it may mean us skiing back that whole distance we just came out to ski back in to help somebody that may have gotten injured. I think that the group management could have been better on the trip if we would have actually waited at the designated spots like we were supposed to and we would have used the if you cant see the person behind you thing to slow down. I felt really safe all times through the trip. I did get a little sketched out sledding down the hill but that’s normal in that kind of a situation. I think all in all it was a safe experience maybe next time give everyone that wants to go head first a pair of shoulder pads but that’s about it. Its not too risky at all. It is just basically a day and a half hike one way. Other than that it’s a safe trip its like saying is the at too risky. Everyone had their gear checked the day or so before and made sure all the necessities were there. If they weren’t and there was a risk of something happening without the equipment than that person wouldn’t be allowed to go. But we had everyone there and everyone came out in one piece so its not really risky in my eyes. There is not really anything I would change except for the quinzhee idea. Yea I would agree it is a good thing to know how to make a shelter but I would rather do it around here maybe even in the Friday class because the time on Katahdin wants to be explored not wasting time making a quinzhee that really anyone can do in their own back yard. There is really nothing I would like to add. But I do have to say the picture when we are all ready to head back to roaring brook from chimney is north face material.
Samantha Sutton
ReplyDeleteThis trip went surprisingly better than I expected. I wasn’t as miserable as I thought I would be. I was cold, but unlike the AT trip I was dry for the most part. Which made it a lot better, I can handle the cold, but not the wet and cold.
My goal for this trip was to stay warm, and I feel like I accomplished that to the best of my ability. I was cold some nights, but I kept all of my stuff dry, which made it easier to stay warmer. I also would have liked to summit, but I’m not really too upset that I didn’t go.
I know compared to everyone else, I didn’t look like I did this well, but compared to past expeditions I took care of myself better. Like I didn’t need as much help from others this time, as other trips.
I don’t really know what too choose for not doing to well because I didn’t do to well in many aspects. I tried not to complain as much, but I know I still did. I tried working out before the trip to get in shape, but I still wasn’t in good enough shape to summit. I tried to be happy or at least pretend to be on this trip, but I was pretty miserable…and I think others knew that.
I thought everyone did really well with this trip. Jake pulled his sled out by himself while he was hurt. Joe came into this program with this as his first expedition, and he was one of the two first years who summated. And overall this was a pretty rough trip and I think everyone did well.
The coldness was probably my biggest barrier, and I overcame it with proper thermal regulation. Also I did really well at keeping my stuff dry. Another barrier is I can’t ski well. I don’t have very good balance or coordination. And on the last day it was all icy and I couldn’t ski. I had no control over my skis, and I was basically afraid to ski out. And well I didn’t have much of a choice in overcoming it; I had to just keep going to best of my ability.
No, I don’t think I would do this trip again. At least not in the winter, I would like to go up in the summer. I just can’t handle cold temperatures. Also it was a lot of work for nothing to me. Like everyone else was going up to snowboard, ski, or ice climb, but I didn’t know how to do anything. So the trip just seemed pointless. I’m not the type of person who feels accomplished when they do something difficult. I feel accomplished when I do something I really wanted to do, and I didn’t want to climb Kahtadin.
What worked well…well stripping layers till your shivering then beginning on the trial so you don’t sweat worked really well. I was able to stay really dry, which made it easier to be warm when it really counts. Also hot hands, at night I would put a bunch of them throughout my bottom layer and I would stay warmer at night. What didn’t work well is putting the hot hands on during the day because then you would sweat and get your clothes wet, and then for me its impossible to get dry again. The first day my feet were cold so I put hot hands in my socks and added my last layer of socks. Well by the end of the day they were wet. So I slept with them on, or on my chest but they never dried. Therefore I had wet socks for the next four days. And when we got back I realized that I had frost nip on both my feet, which lasted for a few days. So hot hands can be a lifesaver but know when to use them.
A lot of times when were doing something that’s new to me I usually stand back to see how it’s done before trying myself. But know after climbing Mt. Kahtadin I feel like I would be more willing to jump right in and try things and figure it out as I go. Like even something as simple as the stoves, I now know how to use them because I tried to just figure it out rather than waiting for someone else to do it for me.
Good expedition behavior is having a positive attitude and lending a helping hand. I think even how Taylor would check up on people to see how they were doing is good expedition behavior. Bad expedition behavior is having a negative attitude, not helping others, and basically just not being a team player.
The group management on the trip was all right. We all worked together and got what we needed done. However when on the trail we needed a different strategy of keeping the group closer together. But I don’t blame the leaders cause I was up there on day one and I would wait as long as I could, but it was just way too cold. And I tried to go along the trail slowly so people could catch up and I would stay slightly warm. We just got way too spread out, and it was way too cold. Also our group never woke up, so we needed to do something about that too. But I can’t say much because I didn’t get up either.
Some consequences of not good management would be not being able to summit because we didn’t wake up in time. Also being very cold because you got ahead of the group and your pack with your layers in it was at the end of the group in someone else’s sled. Those are two things that happened to me on this trip from poor management. And with good group management I would have been warm and been able to summit. We would just have got everything done very efficiently if we had better group management. But overall I thought everything went just fine.
I didn’t really feel unsafe on the trip, because I chose what I wanted to do. If I did everything that everyone did I would have felt unsafe. For example on the summit with the wind I would have been afraid of falling like Taylor. Or sliding down the hill I would have been afraid of getting hurt like Jake. And skiing out, if I went down some of those hills I would have felt unsafe because I fall a lot on just flat ground let alone down hill. So I just popped off my skis and walked down the hills that I wasn’t prepared to fall on.
No I think that the trip could have been unsafe, but you had the choice. I never felt pressured to do anything unsafe. I think that if you did away with the unsafe aspects of this trip then you would be taking away the best parts of the trip for some people. The only thing I would suggest is maybe make the people who ski and sled down from chimney pond where a helmet.
I guess I don’t really think that this expedition is too risky, but I feel that something should change about this expedition. For example it would be helpful to have a winter camping before we climb Kahtadin. Also I would really have liked the choice to just not go on this trip, but that’s ideal to real. I know that this trip will never be optional, so I think you should really just find out more what people like and don’t like. For example I would have rather hiked in and out the whole way instead of skiing because I just wasn’t comfortable on skis. And these are probably the only things I would change about this expedition.
There is a picture that was taken during our snow school, where I’m on the ground with an ice axe underneath me dug into the ground. I was feeling kind of silly to be throwing myself on the ground with an ice axe in my hand. And I was pretty cold at the time. But overall I liked the snow school, I learned a lot from it.
Travis says:
ReplyDeleteI chose the picture of me holding up a grilled cheese that dana made as burnt as it was I thought it tasted pretty good because we were outdoors and we made do with what we had even if we didn’t have the right kind of gear to cook the grilled cheese but it is all part of the experience and it was awesome.
My experience was what I thought it would be long hikes being all sweaty even thought it was pretty cold out and when we weren’t hiking it was hard to stay warm. I did accomplish my goal of doing as much as I could and stay strong. I did well on the way in on the hikes and I did well at trying hard and achieving my goal. What I didn’t do well was being able to do more around camp and be active because of the cramps in my legs. If I had the choice of doing this trip again I might do it I would have to get something to help with the cramps but I believe I could do it. I never back down from something I didn’t think I could do with out giving it a shot first but the ones I didn’t succeed in I believe I could do most of them know. A good example of (EB) is that we worked as a team to get each other up the mountain by saying things like your doing great and your doing it man you kicking the mountains ass. A example of bad (EB) is that not all of us followed the directions like on the last day when the lead group was supposed to wait for scott to get to them and they just decided to go down the mountain and not radio contact the sweep. Our group management was all rite the was a few people who didn’t care for what others had to say or care about certain questions people were asking. I think that the expedition could have been risky for certain people because they either didn’t have the right gear or didn’t take the time to put the gear on the just would walk to stay warm or some would just suffer through the cold but there was certain things that were low risk like frost nip and cold hands and feet, wet clothes and stuff like that the higher risk would have to be sliding down to roaring brook from chimney pond for example jake crashing into a tree hurting his shoulder yes he was smart enough to put on his helmet which had made the risk lower but there’s always a chance something could happen. another example is the sled going into the pond getting all the gear wet possibly if it was deep and taylor couldn’t of reached it in time and he could have lost all the gear but luckily stuff just got a little wet.