Washington Board Approved
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Volume 10, Issue 1 Keep climbing mountains and don’t slip! March 2001 Beyond the MEMBERSHIP RENEWAL TIME It's Time Once Again front page: Forms enclosed, so send them in now! Submitted by Bob L. Hello everyone. It's that time of Hinkhouse X-Country OSAT Style out the window at every- year again to renew your member- Articles Submitted by RbynSmith one having fun and being ship. You have until April until your —p. 2 This is a first-person ac- athletic, while I was name is removed from the Yodel trapped inside. Of course, Quick-Reference count of my attempt to mailing list, so act now. Check your —p. 3 learn cross-country skiing, the trap was of my own mailing label to see what your OSAT style: After washing making. status is. If it doesn’t say 2001 in Letters & BOTS —p. 4 out of the glacier climbing I have very little athletic the upper right corner you need to course last year, high- ability, and I don't learn a renew your dues. I have a request Calendar lighted by a near-death new skill the first time I when filling out your renewal forms. —p. 5 experience on the ice axe try. It takes me lots of Please take the time to fill out the Marketplace — p. arrest field trip and a repetition and practice to optional information on the back of 8 nightmare about being a be adequate. However, the the renewal form. The "Interests" frozen fish stacked in a desire to challenge and section is of special importance. crevasse, I wasn't sure I'd improve myself continues This will help us to plan activities by continue with my OSAT to outweigh the bad tracking the interest level for a membership. Once again, given activity and finding individuals ONE STEP AT (Continued on page 7) A TIME I'd be resigned to looking who are willing to be leaders. If you have already sent in your mem- (OSAT) Be Careful out there! bership renewal and didn't fill out MISSION: Submitted by Doug H. the optional information please take “To provide a For some of us it's early in the season, and we're in a hurry the time to fill it out and mail it in. clean and sober to get up and down the trail, trying to get the old heart rate environment for up. In the last week (2/20 & 2/22), King County Search & Everyone who wishes to par- members and Rescue has been dispatched to Tiger Mt. & Mt. Si respectively friends of 12-step ticipate in OSAT activities must recovery groups, to pick up injured hikers off of the trail. The subject on Tiger sign a new release form every to participate in Mt. slipped on the trail and broke his leg. The Mt. Si mission year. Be sure to sign the re- outdoor and social involved a 16 year old who slipped on ice near the top and lease form on the back of the slid into a tree, injuring his knee. I personally slipped on a events in the spirit membership form. of conservation, water bar coming down Tiger on 2/19 and jammed my preservation, and thumb in the process. It's easy to get complacent on benign, I look forward to seeing you out on ecology.” easy trails. Please take care out there! King County SAR sta- the trail! tistics show that our 2 highest percentage of SAR missions are on these to popular, yet seemingly easy trails. My Rainier Climb The summit of Mt Rainier was like ter to the true summit was carved Submitted by Carol nothing I had been expecting. into the landscape like an alien The snow in the crater was frozen clay tunnel. And in this strange Five months of classes, field trips, into feather like structures some land I realized that I had the cour- and weekly hikes finally resulted yielding to my footfalls and some age, strength, and determination in a successful climb of Mt Rainier not. The sandy clay near the sul- that could carry me beyond any on July 28, 2000 at 6:00 am. I fur vents could have been found previous self-imposed limitations. stood 14,410 ft above the world in on a tropical island or some extra- a landscape that could of deco- It all started two days earlier terrestrial beach. The volcanic rated another planet, buffeted by when I stepped onto the stone steam vents created a haven from winds that nearly knocked me steps of Paradise that marked the the freezing winds that had fol- down, with a grin so large I felt beginning of our ascent. There lowed us all the way up from base my face had frozen into it. camp. The path through the cra- (Continued on page 6) The Yodel v10.01, p. 1 Names and Recollections cietal memory that resides in the withdrawn because it abutted a wil- Submitted by Rik A. place names is faint indeed. Few who derness area, and research indicated board the Fauntleroy ferry think of the peak we chose as a substitute has When my father died this fall, among the family by that name who lived been known by four unofficial names the first of his possessions that I put near that bay, and for whom many of in the past. in a box to claim as my own was a the Olympics across the Sound are nondescript reference book, Lewis Many letters of support were sent to named. Fewer still stop to think that McArthur’s Oregon Geographic the Board from friends in OSAT, so all the “Chucks” around (White Chuck, Names. As a teenager I pored they got a true picture of how Jim's Pilchuck, Skookumchuck) spring from through its tiny print, reading the ob- ideas continue to affect the lives of that exciting period when Chinook scure history of names of places fa- people who never knew him. Thanks Jargon emerged as a way for people miliar and unknown throughout the to the support expressed by many, from a wide variety of cultures to state of my birth. I probably learned the Board and its chairman, Jennifer communicate as the Northwest more about the history of Oregon and Belcher, seemed genuinely impressed brought Native American and Euro- the Northwest from that book than with the impact Jim had on the Wash- pean cultures together. Nevertheless, from the several public school history ington climbing and recovery commu- the reality that geographic names courses I’d faked my way through. nities. Comments both on and off the provide a tangible and more-or-less record indicated that they believed The Middle Sister was my first 10,000 permanent link to the past has always Jim was extremely worthy of this ft peak. I delighted at the discovery interested me. honor. I think they voted for the that the Three Sisters actually had So, there was a great deal of personal proposal not simply because we met names (Faith, Hope, and Charity), lost satisfaction on December 8, when the their requirements for information and in disuse. I was fascinated to learn Washington State Board on Geo- justification, but because they genu- the failed attempt to name the entire graphic Names unanimously accepted inely felt this was the right thing to do string of major Oregon and Washing- the application to name the peak on and they were pleased to be a part of ton peaks for American presidents. I the north side of Washington Pass it. was distressed to discover that “Hinkhouse Peak”. The location af- “mazama” was not a native American Your letters gave what one Board fords as dramatic a mountain vista as word, but Spanish for “goat”, and member told me was “a feeling I exists anywhere in the Cascades -- spread about the Northwest by the know him myself now.” When she with a fabulous view of some of the Oregon climbing club of the same volunteered that, it sent a chill most notable rock climbing peaks in name! Throughout the 35 years of through me. Since Jim’s death, I’ve the state. From all reports by the first living away from my parents, and become acutely aware of the role “the OSATers to visit the peak last Octo- away from Oregon, many visits vast structure of recollection” plays in ber, Hinkhouse Peak is a climb that “home” afforded quiet moments and distinguishing human-kind from other will appeal to day hikers and rock the opportunity to get lost again in species. The differentiating charac- climbers alike. vicarious travel back and forth across teristic is an ability to recognize and the state as I flipped through the This was a very satisfying project, as accept the reality of people and pages following some obscure train of it brought together a number of the events that occur outside of one’s though. loves in my life: geography & maps, own experience of time and space. climbing and climbing history, OSAT, Now the name “Hinkhouse Peak” en- Some of you will recall the series of and of course Jim himself. It has ters into that vast structure. “Mountain Monikers” published a few been a one and a half year labor of years back in the Yodel, a small at- It is with a combination of gratitude, love. There were some unexpected tempt to spread the lore of Washing- humility, and certainly a bit of pride challenges along the way. The nomi- ton contained in the names of peaks as well, that I share this accomplish- nation of a lesser peak had to be that OSAT climbs.