Vol. XV No 4 Janua Ry , 1976
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MONTHLY NEWSLETTER OF TI-1E ROCKY MOUNTAINEERS OF WESTERN h?ONT4N4 Vol. XV no 4 Janua ry , 1976 NATIONAL SKI PATROL / NOPDIC DIVISION 'VOL XV No* 4 THE MOUNTAIN EAR JANUARY 1976 Page 1 The Rocky Mountaineers of Western Montana, Box 1575, Missoula, Montana 59801 welcomes all persons interested in the out-of-door activities of hiking camping, ski-touring, showshoeing, river floating, bicycl ing, and technical cl imbing - summer, winter, autumn & spring. Subscription to the Mountain Ear is by membership: $4/yr. single, $5/yr family, $2/vol, to out-of-town addresses. Eight issues per volume. ,OFF I CERS P res. -Carol Butterbaugh 728-9 166 Treas. -Myra Howe 543-4200 V i ce P res . -George Howe 543-&200 Subscription Set.-Raelen Kaag Sec. -Kaye Lyons 54.9- 1507 777-5745 P ,MOUNTAIN EAR ED. STAFF Virginia Vincent-Editor Mona Frangos-S ketches Florence Ell lott-C lerical Raelen Kaag-Acting Editor ,1-l..l.~1...1..l. ~L-L.t..t&lwl~ LI*..LJH~.~..L \ db 4\ /\ <\ t\ d$ db d\ #b #$ fb 4\ 4\ f$db #\ d\ MEETING - JANUARY 14, 1976 - 7: 30 -Place: W. Fed. Savings & Loan, Hwy, 93 S at the Time & Temp Program: K. Ross Toole, professor of history at the University of Mon- tana, noted Montana author and historian, will present the program for the meeting. LL.L.IXL.L.~. *LLI.L!..LLL.L ,L.L.L.I~l..L f\ d\ db db fb fb db 4) db d\ 4b d\ d\ d\ #\ #b d\ db TENTAT l VE TRl PS Jan, 17 Day cross country skiing trip to Lubrecht Forest. Leader, Bill Morgan. For information call Bill at 363-5339 or Carol Butterbaugh at 728-9166 Jan* 24-25 Weekend trip to Discovery Basin; Stay overnight at Fairmont Hot Springs. Choice of cross country and/or downhill skiing. For information call winter trip coordinator, Dave Hohl, 549-5396. Jan. 31 or Day cross country skiing trip to Lolo Pass (Possibly Wagon Mt. Feb. 1 rail) For information call leader, Les Ojala, 721-1923. NEW MEMBERS Jacquel ine Forget Jeanne Mueller Karen Fogg 200 Connell, Apt. C-5 Rt. 6, Wi ldcat Rd. 323 Crosby Russ Rusunen Char 1 es Stevenson Sara Chapman McClain 1614 S. 9th C/O Trai lhead 824 Jackson RENEWALS Dave Hohl Harley Schwarz and Family Helen Wi 11 iard Bob Benson Page 2 MOUNTAlNEERS DO HOODOO On Sunday, December 14th, Raelen and I led a day crosscountry ski trip to the Hoodoo Pass area above Superior on the Idaho-Montana border. Actually, everyone else led and I followed, as I experienced my first ski touring si.nce returning from three years in the tropics. Numerous I1Stitz marks" in the snow will bear this out. Some mountaineers arrived at Helen Williard's house in Superior the night prior to the trip and camphd on Helen's floor. Sunday morning at 9:30, after the Missoula contingent arrived, twelve skiers and one snow- shoer embarked for the pass via the Trout Creek Road which is being plowed this year because Diamond Mill is logging there until Christmas. The day was cloudy, but snow conditions were excellent, with cold tem- peratures and a deep snow base covered with powder. Most skiers with wooden skis used regular green wax, some with a blue kicker, Some skiers with fish scales, etc. found it tough going uphill in the soft snow. We toured up the ridge to the west, starting about 10:30 and climbing upward through deep snow until we stopped for a half hour lunch break in a sheltered spot down from the crest of the ri.dge. The cold and wind soon had us on our way again, and we shortly began our descent down a snow covered road back toward the top of the pass. Good downhi 1 1 run! We reached the cars at 3100 and continued to ski in the surrounding area until 4~00,when we loaded our gear and ourselves into the vehicles and started back down. Some snow mob i lers who had j ust arrived at the pass were pol i te and courteous and even gave .two of our party a ride to the top from further down the road. Unfortunately, three other pickups loaded with snowmobi les and their, riders arrived as we were leaving, parked on both sides of the icy, snow-packed road at the bottom of the f i rst switchback f rom'the pass, and pa rked the i r mach i nes i n the road be tween them. eve ra1' snowmob i 1 es were operating on the road'surface with little regard to triffic. The dis- regard of some snowmobilers for the rights of others wi 11 win snowhobiilk;s little support in their battle to maintain recreational access in disputed a reas. Returning to Superior, the party stopped again at Helen's house to re- pack gear and warm up and then returned to Missoula where they congregated at Little Big Men for welcome portions of pizza and beer. The outing received uniformly favorable and enthusiastic reviews from a1 1 participants. By Don Kaag DO YOU KNOW...What the initial warnings of hypothermia are?... What kind of terrain is more likely to have increased avalanche danger? ...What the safest routes are when ascend i ng and descend i ng s lopes?. .What you should do i f someone in your party is caught in an avalanche? These questions and many more are answered by the "Winter Recreation/ Safety Guide" packet of information which 'is distributed by the Forest Ser- vice. The four pamphlets-"Four Lines of Defense Against Hypotherniail, "Gen. Bib. of Ski Touring Literature1', "Winter Travel in the National Forestr1, and I1Snow Avalanchet1-p rov ide goodbas ic informat ion which is we1 1 worth the short amount of time it takes to read it. It is valuable for both the novice and the experienced outdoorsman and would be especially valuable for a review of safety information for a family or a group before a winter trip. TRY IT! BE A NORDIC SKI PATROLLER! The Nordic Division of the National Ski Patrol conducted two seminars at Essex recently. The seminars were primarily aimed at training the newly formed Essex ski patrol , but the material covered and the pract ice rescues would have been extremely valuable for even an occasional day skier. The first seminar dealt with winter first aid and search and rescue, Bandaging, splinting, using and assembling toboggans and improvising splints and tobaggans from available naterials such as skis, ski poles, and nylon cord were discussed, as were frostbite and hypothermia. We were sent out on several mock search and rescue missions including one at night, which, if you stop to think about it, is probably the time most ihj ured day trippers wi 11 be reached. One of the night victims, Karen Hall (notice who gets to do the dirty work) gutted it out through two hours of below zero temperatures before her rather disorganized rescue party stumbled on her. If she was still playing a role then, the ensuing tobaggan trip allowed her to stop pretending. After she had been fully rescued she took a seat, moved it up to the fireplace and did not move for the rest of the evening, while Gary was spotted several times running up the stairs from the bar with shots of brandy. The one point that each of the practice rescues demonstrated was that if even a healthy llvictimll could go through a pretty chilling and bone-jarring experience while being rescued, what would happen to someone who was really hurt?' Compared to downhill, Nordic skiing is very safe, but while the chance of injury is much lower, the time lapse and problems of rescue are greatly in- creased. .The second seminar covered basic mountaineering skills. A training session in Nordic technique featured the ranger from St. Mary's who demonstrated a - . variety of ways to turn and gracefully control a downhill run on Nordic skiis.. He made the telemark turn, the step, turn, and the jump turn a1 1 look easy. The only turns left out were the sit, the slide, and the splat. Some people just .can't bear the thought of getting any snow on their knickers. Well, we amply made up for his omissions. We had some practice in belaying occupied tobaggans down steep hillsides, , which was a good way to shatter anyone's confidence in his snowplow. We were also scheduled to have practice building snow caves. There were only a few inches of snow on the ground, but Gary was undaunted and decided that we could build them in the ten foot mounds which had been piled up by the snow- plows that had cleared the railroad yard. Even one bent snowshovel couldn't stop him, but he finally had to settle for a eight-inch hole when his pick ! bounced back at him, ringing like a tuning fork. There was a long involved class in avalanches. The best way to avoid avalanches is to go shopping every Saturday and watch ~i\dWorldof Sports on Sunday, or else ski timbered areas or broad val leys. Otherwise, there is no way to summarize the basic information on avalanche hazards. It has to be read and understood. Classes also covered equipment repair in the field, waxing, and win- ter survival. Rather than going into all the details, I think it would be best to state their most important theme which simply involves a change in attitude.