Aug/090
Route Update // Ben Wicks
One of the challenges of a late summer attempt on Mt. Rainier is that large crevasses tend to open up, snow bridges become soft, and rock falls become a higher risk. Given the unusually warm summer we have experienced, these conditions become exacerbated. The good news is that our equipment and training provide a strong level of protection against these risks. And, of course, a clear head to judge and evaluate risk along the way up is crucial. Ed Viesturs, a local Seattle mountaineering hero, says it this way…“Getting to the top is optional, but getting down is mandatory”.
Below is an update on the conditions of our route up to Camp Muir and beyond .
August 12th
Muir Snowfield
Numerous crevasses have begun to open on the snowfield below Camp Muir between 9,200 and 10,000 feet. Although some of the known crevasses are wanded, the intense heat has been melting out the snow bridges faster than wands can be placed. The current trail travels over bridged cracks that are up to six feet across. Use extreme caution as you move above Moon Rocks on your way to camp. The recent rains have melted out a large amount of the snow above 9,000 feet leaving behind exposed and slick blue ice that requires crampons for secure footing.
Disappointment Cleaver
Late summer weather and climbing conditions have been prevailing themes on Rainier recently. This has made for a high summit success rate and even some t-shirts on top of the peak! Rockfall and melting snow bridges are the two primary risk management concerns affecting the route currently.
The cleaver has completely melted out and all travel is now on rock. As you travel along the cleaver, aim for the spine and slightly left of the spine for the most efficient and least exposed route. This route is wanded but the flags can be difficult to see under headlamp before the sun rises each morning. Be mindful of those travelling above and below you. Avoid kicking rocks or snagging them with your ropes as you move up and down the path. If you happen to dislodge a rock, alert others immediately by yelling ROCK!
The recent string of hot, bluebird days have affected the mountain’s snowpack drastically. Crevasses have been observed opening up by a foot or more in the span of a day during the warmest stretches of weather. Snow bridges are becoming very weak and the trail is becoming extremely narrow in places. The two fixed lines on the route, below and above the cleaver, have paths that are at most six inches wide. These thin routes require careful footwork with crampons to avoid accidental spike snags in gaiters and pant legs. The intense daytime sun has been weakening the picket placements that support the fixed lines. Be sure to test any gear that is in place on the route as its strength will vary widely throughout the day. The end of the traverse over onto the Emmons shoulder is beginning to break apart and requires running protection at this time.
With all of that said, the route is still pretty direct and generally in good shape as we near mid-August. Weekends continue to be near capacity up at Camp Muir and Ingraham Flats but the weekdays have been seeing much less traffic. Hopefully the weather fronts this week will bring some new snow and colder temps to help preserve the route for a while longer this season.
Aug/090
Why I Climb – Josh Hebert
Why I Climb
Spending many formative years living in Alaska I developed a passion for the outdoors. Living at the foothills of the Chugach Mountain Range provided many opportunities for hiking, skiing and adventure. Some of my favorite memories involved heading to the hills with good friends. Whether back country skiing, climbing or fishing mountain streams the kicker for me is doing these activities in the context of great relationships. Mountaineering has brought these passions to a new place. You develop trust and dependency when roped to a team of climbers. You are able to encourage, challenge and inspire one another. You share experiences that develop deep bonds within the team. I have always enjoyed endurance challenges and sports or activities which require technical proficiency. Climbing is an opportunity to push myself, in the context of meaningful relationship and experience places in creation that few people experience. It doesn’t get much better!
Why I Climb for this Cause
Before 2007, I was completely unaware of the magnitude of human trafficking around the world. Like most people, I would read stories about containers of people being shipped to the United States and assume that the majority of these people were simply seeking a better life. I was completely ignorant of the fact that many of these people were not receiving the jobs they were promised but literally being sold as sex slaves. When my friend Jeremy returned from India, he brought back stories of the horrific conditions that women and children were living under in the brothels. Children being drugged and chained to beds while their mothers work as prostitutes hoping to buy their freedom. However, he didn’t just bring stories of tragedy, but he also brought amazing stories of hope, freedom and restoration. I was also blown away with how much work can be done with the money given. There are many organizations around the globe fighting to end human trafficking. Every dollar given to Climb for Captives rescues victims, imprisons perpetrators and rehabilitates the rescued.
Aug/090
Climb for Captives Blog Tour
Do you write a blog? You can be a part of getting the word out about Climb for Captives. We want to encourage you to let your blog audience know that you support Climb for Captives by writing a post about our trip this coming weekend. Who knows what kind of movement you can initiate through those who read your blog. Here are a few examples of blog posts about Climb for Captives.
Aug/092
Significance // by Chris Judd
Confession: I once cried on the bus on the way to school because I wore a pair of shoes that my mom didn’t want me to wear. I was probably in 1st or 2nd grade at the time. Mom’s hope was likely that I would wear the shoes she had picked out because they matched the shirt she had picked out for me (a truly asinine concept in the mind of a 7 year-old). I never was (and continue to be to some degree) concerned with matching. I just wanted to wear my cool, red high-tops every day. I could care less that the neon green shirt didn’t match. But Mom cared and I didn’t and I think that’s why I cried. I felt guilty. I grabbed my lunch and snuck to the bus stop without her noticing. Once on the bus, this seemingly insignificant wardrobe choice and the ensuing guilty conscience was too much for me. I put my face down on the stinky green fake leather seat and bawled.
I recalled this story today as I was thinking about what makes an event or action significant. It’s very unlikely that my mom had any clue that trying to get her son to match and, consequently, his rebellion would stick with him for the rest of his life. For her, not so significant. For me, significant enough to remember specific details.
I believe that significance is a very tough thing to gauge. Right now, today, as a 27 year-old, I want to live a life of significance. I want to make choices that have a positive impact in the lives of others. But often I feel like I don’t see the significance of my actions unless they impact someone in a negative way.
That is what makes supporting Climb For Captives so rewarding to me. The money I give literally buys FREEDOM for a life. The girls that are purchased out of the sex trade by International Justice Mission are rescued, cared for, and treated in aftercare. My seemingly insignificant amount of money has the potential to give hope to the most hopeless and broken children in the world.
Today, I challenge you to give to Climb for Captives. Take a few minutes and look at the horrific reality of sex-slavery in our world. Visit www.climbforcaptives.com to get a broader understanding of the issue and a clearer picture of how you can help. I assure you, no amount is insignificant to the millions of children worldwide that are crying for help.
Be significant.
Give.
Aug/090
Our Planned Route
The climb of Mount Rainier is definitely more than a long hike in the snow. Our first day will begin at the Paradise parking lot on the south side of Mount Rainier. We will get an early start and hike for approximately 6-8 hours (elevation gain of 4,788 feet) up the Muir Snowfield to Camp Muir at 10,188 feet where we will set up base camp. There we will eat a hearty dinner and try to get to sleep as soon as possible. After a rest (and hopefully sleep) of several hours, we will get up around midnight, don our summit gear and headlamps, and begin our ascent. It is ideal to climb during the cold of the night in order to avoid the rockfall and soft snow-bridges caused by the warm sun. The route from Camp Muir crosses the Cowlitz and Ingraham Glaciers and then ascends Disappointment Cleaver and then on to the summit. Our goal is to summit shortly after sunrise and then descend back down before the snow softens up too much.
Below is a recent update on the route which illustrates the conditions we will likely be climbing under:
Disappointment Cleaver – August 3rd
The warm weather continues, with freezing levels above 14,000 feet. Wind has been the variable de jour. At the summit, winds have been calm on some days and blowing to 60+ mph on others. Recently at Camp Muir, half a dozen tents were blown over during the early morning hours. Plan for these changing conditions… and bring some good snow anchors for your tents!
About the route…
- While the Cowlitz traverse and Cathedral Gap are in fairly typical conditions, the lower section of the Ingraham (below the Flats) is full of cracks and rockfall here has been significant. While we sometimes see groups heading to the Flats casually, we strongly urge you to rope up here and travelling without a helmet is… well, just don’t do it.
- Beyond the Flats, take a moment to assess the traffic on the route. A narrow ‘one-lane’ road, there is only enough room for one party to move at a time on the final ~100′ before you get onto the Cleaver. A few suggestions for moving through this terrain: 1) Time your travel with other parties. If you need to wait a few minutes, find a safe spot to do so. 2) As you move, use the hand-line, but do not prussik into it, as this will further slow down an already bottlenecked area. 3) You may want to consider shortening the distance between members of your rope team to improve communication and to more more efficiently.
- For many climbers, the lower Cleaver is the routefinding crux of the route. There are a few wands to help you find your way, but be prepared to make decisions about how to move up the rock. Eventually you’ll want to be on climber’s left side of the Cleaver to pick up the switchbacks on snow for the upper section. As always, there is a chance of rockfall through this section. Keep your helmets on and be mindful of where you stop to take breaks.
- Above the Cleaver, another fixed hand line will J you begin your traverse right toward the Emmons Glacier. As with the section below the Cleaver, this is a ‘one-lane road’ with exposure and no means to pass. Use similar strategies as with the lower traverse (shortened ropes, use the hand-line without prussiking into it, time your travel with other parties to avoid congestion).
- Beyond the hand-line, the route becomes less exposed as it traverses to and eventually climbs the shoulder of the Emmons Glacier. There are several spots with open crevasses. Use good communication and crevasse travel belay techniques as the terrain requires (e.g., a boot axe belay) as you make your way up to the summit crater.
Jul/092
Why I Climb – Jarrett Mylander
Why do you climb mountains?
This will be my first true mountain summit. Ever since moving to Seattle five years ago, I’ve looked to Mt. Rainier and thought how awesome it would be to climb it. I love the outdoors and I try to stay fit, but I know I have no clue what I’m getting myself into. I’m excited for the challenge, for the cause, and for those people you and I can help pull out of human trafficking.
Why human trafficking?
The Eighteen: I am a firm believer that every single person on this planet has infinite value. Human trafficking is in direct contradiction to that belief, minimalizing if not completely stripping individuals of their God-given beauty and worth. Every person is a beautiful child of God, offering amazing talents and abilities that nobody else has. Human trafficking is a scourge to the value of these individuals, dehumanizing victims and perpetrators alike. We can pull Eighteen people out of the sex trade. Eighteen people who can change their families, communities, countries, and the world. Eighteen people who deserve all life can offer. Eighteen people of infinite value.
Jul/092
Who do YOU climb for?
People climb for many different reasons. But we climb for the captives—the nearly 27 million men, women, and children who are bound in slavery and illicit human trafficking.
You will be shocked (and we hope you are) to know that that, despite living at the historical zenith of wealth, political freedom, and self-actualization, there are more people living in slavery today than ever before. The statistics are staggering and the total market value of illicit human trafficking is estimated to be in excess of US$32 billion (UN), or more money earned by Google, Nike, and Starbucks combined.
Although our history books teach us that slavery was abolished in the 1800s, the reality is that there are more slaves in the world today than ever before, and modern slavery manifests itself in a host of nefarious ways. Forced labor, child soldiering, unjust detention, the commercial sex trade—slavery in the modern world knows no creative bounds.
As if a shadow cast beneath the extraordinarily active and interconnected global economy, human trafficking is quickly becoming the most expansive criminal industry in the world today, rivaling even the drug and arms trades. The commercial sex trade perhaps epitomizes the cruelest forms of this practice, with each year, more than 2 million children are exploited in the global commercial sex trade (UNICEF). Despite the almost universal outrage over this injustice, sex trafficking remains one of the most profitable form of human trafficking, manifesting as prostitution, pornography, bride trafficking, and the sexual abuse of children for profit. This epidemic is not solely a “overseas” phenomenon either. An estimated 17,500 foreign nationals are trafficked annually in the United States alone and the number of US citizens trafficked within the country is estimated to be even higher with an estimated 200,000 American children being at risk for trafficking into the sex industry each year.
Driving this underground economy of slavery is, at heart, a worldview that regards people as commodities—whether inhumanely working a man and his family to exhaustion to pay off debt, or subjecting young children to service the sexually demented of our world, the modern day slave trade is empowered by a deranged mindset that aggressively defies the innate dignity in each and every person.
We hear often about the audacious claims by abolitionists to end the modern day slave trade which oppresses nearly 27 million people through forced labor, prostitution, and indentured servitude. But what is the purported abolition of slavery without the restoration of the soil in which this ancient weed has sprouted, for as William Wilberforce so insightfully remarked, “God Almighty has set before me two great objects, the suppression of the slave trade and the reformation of manners.” There will be no abolition of slavery without the reformation of our society, and it is to this end we must labor.
So the question is not why we climb. What we and our supporters know, is that it is the who we climb for that makes Climb For Captives so compelling:
We climb to give a voice to the voiceless.
We climb to give hope to the hopeless.
We climb to advance the modern day abolitionist movement.
We climb to inspire a generation to radical generosity, solidarity, and activism to end slavery in our lifetime.
**photo by ThEssenceOfFaith. Statistics provided by Kevin Bales @ NotForSale, International Justice Mission, the UN, and UNICEF.
Jul/090
Garage Sales Save Lives!
We have been working hard to promote the Climb for Captives in hopes of raising awareness about Human Trafficking and bringing true, tangible freedom to children who are forced into the sex trade in India. This effort takes a lot of time and a lot of energy from all of us on the Climb for Captives team, but when we hear stories like this we are reminded about the importance of what we are doing and we are inspired to keep pushing forward in hopes that one more life will be saved. Last weekend a Canadian family outside of Vancouver, British Columbia decided to have a garage sale and donate all of the money to Climb for Captives. Their kids began spreading the word around the neighborhood and telling their friends that children around the world are suffering and need help. One little girl, after hearing about the kids in India, went home and sold her pet fish to her brother for $8.15 and promptly donated the money to Climb for Captives. Incredible.
When it was all said and done the family, in addition to raising awareness about the reality and prevalence of Human Trafficking, was able to raise $850 dollars at their garage sale, to help rescue victims in India. Once again, incredible!
We hope that you are as encouraged and inspired by this story as we were. Anyone can make a difference and every little bit helps…even a per gold fish can help to forever change a life. Dream with us about how you might join the Climb for Captives.
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Jul/090
Follow Climb for Captives on Twitter
Follow @climb4captives on twitter for info, updates and ideas.
Jul/090
Climb for Captives 2009 Team
The 2009 Climb for Captives team has been finalized. We have added some seasoned climbers to the team as well as a strong base camp team. Be sure to check out our site and take a look at the climber bio page to find out more about the 2009 team.
Training is underway and fundraising has begun. Please join us by spreading the word as well as hitting the give now button on the site to make a difference today!