Climbing Stok Kangri- Photos September 2, 2008

From Leh, Allison and I set out to climb Stok Kangri. It is the biggest mountain in close proximity to Leh. It is not a technical climb, but difficult due to the elevation(20,100 feet or so).

We hired a guide service, which provided us a Nepalese sherpa guy, a donkey man and his helper, and a team of donkeys. The donkeys unwillingly carried our tent, food, and cooking supplies for us.

The trail on day 1.

Our donkey man. An 80 year old Tibetan fellow.

This line of work is surprisingly dangerous. The day before I took this photo, the group camping about a half mile up ahead of us had just pulled into their camp when their pony man got kicked in the head by one of his ponies. Early the next morning, that pony man died from his head injury. We heard about it from the man’s group as they were descending back into to Leh that morning. We were surprised that no one reporting the accident appeared to be very shocked or dismayed by the event. I guess they figured the pony man was onto his next life already.

I gather that working with donkeys is a little safer due to their smaller size. Here the group is unloading the beasts of burden.

Donkeys are, or course, more stubborn and harder to work with. This donkey called it quits about 100 feet before he reached camp. They had to unload him after he refused to go any further bearing the load.

Donkey 1 – Donkey men 0

To acclimatize effectively, our hiking schedule was pretty laid back, just a few miles and a few thousand vertical feet per day. This afforded us lots of camp time.

We had lots of time to drink tea.

Allison won lots of rupees from me in countless poker games.

Everyday, we beat the donkey man and his donkeys to camp. While waiting for the donkeys to arrive, we had to come up with other things to do. We introduced our guide to bowling.

Not a bad setup for the wilderness.

I used an example of perfect form to demonstrate.

I don’t think they have bowling in Nepal. This guy may have been up Everest twice, but I doubt he could break 100 at Luckystrike.

Allison’s really hard on herself when she scores under 250.

On day 3 we made a big climb up to the Stokla saddle at about 15,000 ft. We posed for a misty photograph.

The Himalayas are gorgeous.

Really interesting rock formations.

This is a yak.

Everywhere you look, there are prayer flags flying across some great span of space.

We made it to basecamp (16,500ft) on day 4.

Looking down towards the basecamp ghetto of tents.

On summit day, we departed at 1:30 am.

A brutal time to wake up, but Allison was still smiling.

We walked through the snow in the dark for hours. There was only a few inches on the ground, but it was just enough to make everything slippery. Once the sun came out, we realized that the sky was completely socked in.

Climbing to the final pitch, we roped up for safety.

The sun came out for a brief few minutes. The rocks were glazed with rime, and glittered in the sun. The views were amazing. It took a few quick shots at around 19,600ft.

Looking south.

Looking down the ridge we had just come up.

And up towards the summit.

Approaching the top, there wasn’t a lot of air to breathe. Our pace slowed considerably, but we trudged on to the top.

We stayed on the summit for 10 minutes or so, just enough time for a few photos.

It was cold and windy, and didn’t appear as if we were going to get any break in the clouds, so we headed back down to basecamp. We left the summit at around 7am.

Allison and the guide snaking back down into the clouds.

We made it back to basecamp, did a high-5, and took a few short naps.

The next day we hiked down to the town of Stok Village. One more wait for the donkey man and we hopped on a van to take us back to Leh, where we planned our route back to Delhi and onto Mumbai…

-A’s

Wilson Peak July 21, 2008

This morning Allison and I set out to climb a 14,000 foot peak. Wilson Peak is situated amidst a group of 3 14ers. We picked Wilson Peak because the weather didn’t look like it was going to cooperate, and it’s the one you can get up and down the quickest. We left the house before 6 am. On our trip towards the trailhead, we had no idea that not only would we not reach the summit, but we’d be taking a helicopter home…

Driving up to the trailhead, we passed some cattle. I like the haircut on this one.

A view of Wilson Peak from the approach. 14,000 something feet high!

We parked the car at the trailhead. Hiking with an MIT student can be frustrating. You’re not allowed to start walking until your watch can pick up enough satellites to track your elevation gain vs distance traveled….

It took a while, but soon we were underway. Nice Marmot.

Looking back down the valley we hiked up. Beautiful.

A disintegrating building.

Lots of slippery snow to cross.

Approaching the saddle 13,020 feet, just before the scramble to WIlson Peak.

This is a photo of Allison at the saddle. Up above, we could see two figures taking a rest at about 13,200 feet. We would get to know these folks very soon….

This is the last photo I took before the day took a turn for the worse. You can see Lizard Head in the far right of the photo. Our trail took a left turn at this point.

Allison stopped to eat a quick snack, and I ran up the trail to look for a route. I crested a small ridge and saw a heap of gear just below some steep rocks, right where they met the snow. I looked further down and saw two people, the same silhouettes we had seen above us just 15 minutes prior. Only now, they were about 100 feet below us. One of them was lying in the snow, the other standing over him. I yelled down, “Are you guys alright?” My question was answered with an abrupt, “NO!” Not an answer you are ever expecting to hear. It was followed by an assertive, “We need rescue. Broken Thigh!”

I walked down to them, and Allison stayed up high in the hopes of getting cell communication. Luckily we could separate while maintaining voice contact.

I think they were happy to see us. A guy who works in a hospital, on an ambulance, and on ski patrol. And a hot chick with a cell phone and a GPS watch.

Looking up, I could see that the fall had been considerable. 30 feet bouncing over steep jagged rock and a 100 foot slide down the snow, to where he came to rest.

This guy’s femur was obviously broken and his thigh was as big as watermelon, only harder. And it would only get worse over time.

I took vital signs, treated for shock, and improvised a long bone traction splint. The ingredients? Two trekking poles, a stuff sack, duct tape, and 3 mil rope. Take a look…

The patient and a long view of his new splint.

The muscles in the the thigh are really strong, and once the femur breaks, the muscles go into spasm. They will pull the sharp bone ends together, causing extreme pain, and life threatening bleeding. A closed femur fracture can cause enough blood loss to lead to death.

This splint, pulling ~15lbs of pressure down on the foot is actually pulling the bone ends apart…

Allison was hard at work up the ridge. She couldn’t get voice cell service, but could squeeze out some text messages. She texted a friend, who called the sheriff’s office. The sheriff’s deputy, in turn, texted Allison. At this point I had yelled up to Allison that we need a helicopter ASAP. She passed that along and that got the gears turning. Amazingly, the whole entire rescue was coordinated via text message. Not a single phone call was ever placed.

We had been on scene since 10 am, and the sheriff’s deputy promised a chopper by 1 pm.

I hiked 5 minutes down to a flat spot where I thought a chopper could land. It would take a brave pilot, but there was some flat snow just along side an old mining cabin. I made a big X in the snow that would be visible from above.

I grabbed an old board and stuck it upright in the snow. I tied my shirt to it to make a windsock. This is the last time I would ever see my shirt intact, but In marginal conditions, these pilots can use all the information they can get.

The chopper came in at about 130. We were glad to see it.

Awesome landing, right on top of my X!

Out of the helicopter came two people with lots of equipment. It then lifted off, to return when we had the patient ready to load.

We met up with Eric and Brian, members of the local search and rescue.

We hiked them up to the patient. They had lots of medical stuff with them, which we desperately needed.

I used some of it to start and IV on the patient, and to give him some fluids and some morphine. He was happy to have some pain relief.

It took over an hour to get the patient stabilized, moved into a basket, and carried the 400 feet down the snow to the helicopter landing zone. It was starting to sprinkle and lightning was moving in. We were about to lose our window to use the helicopter. The alternative? Carry this guy down 3500 vertical feet.

Luckily the weather held off. This is a shot of Eric waving in the chopper. That fabric in his hand used to indicate wind speed and direction? A fragment of my shirt…

A great shot by Allison that really shows the clouds mounting in the background.

Here’s the chopper coming in. Brave pilot.

Brian covered the patient while I held onto my hat and the IV bag. By this time, the patient looked pale as a ghost, and really needed IV fluids to keep his pressure up.

We all helped load this poor guy.

The helicopter left to drop the patient off. Luckily, it came back to get us, and give us a ride back into town.

Amazing views out the windows.

Approaching the Telluride airport via helicopter.

Once we hit the ground, we met up with Eric again. He told us that when he was transferring the patient to Flight For Life, he curiously began complaining of back pain. Since we had done such a thorough evaluation of the patient over a period of 6 hours, Eric was stunned. Reaching down to feel the patients back, as any good medic would do, Eric pulled out these rocks which were firmly pinned up against his spine… Ouch!

And no adventure is complete without a few souvenirs…

You can read the news story about the rescue in the Telluride Daily Planet.

-A’s

Sneffels Highline Trail July 13, 2008

Today Allison and I hiked the Sneffels Highline Trail, which is a dozen mile loop that starts from the town of Telluride. The haze I mentioned in the last post is still here, which somewhat hinders mountain photography.

Here’s Allison towards the beginning of the trail.

The trail climbed through the Aspens.

You can see the haze really well in this shot. Mount Wilson in the background.

Approaching treeline…

Allison cooling off.

If you like waterfalls, come to Telluride. I’ve lost count of how many we’ve been to. Notice the haze?

I like all the colors in this one…

The trail to the top. The bottom of the U-shaped rock formation in the center of the shot is the top of the pass. All downhill after that.

Nice views on the other side too…

A few hours down the trail and we were back in town!

-A’s

Lizard Head July 7, 2008

Allison and I are back in Telluride. She was in meetings all day, so I took a ride up to Lizard Head Pass. I packed a bag for a 7 mile hike, but due to weather, I never ventured far from the highway.

I did get a few nice photos though.

Here’s one of Lizard Head Peak. I’m not sure if I lack imagination, but I don’t see the lizard in this one. All i see is the world’s largest “We’re #1″ foam finger.

Lizard Head is over 13,000 feet high, and is one of Colorado’s most difficult high peaks to climb. It has near vertical faces made of rotten crumbly rock. Here’s an interesting account of climbing it written by a guy who did so only because his astrologer told him to.

Since the weather was getting so bad, I focused my attention to taking some pictures. I found some sheep to photograph. These two were nice and friendly.

These two hated me and my camera.

Here’s the wide view. There had to be thousands of them.

Speaking of sheep, here’s Sheep Mountain to the east.

This is looking down from Lizard Head Pass, towards the south. You can see the rain coming. Lightning was also getting very close as well. I took this photo right before I headed home.

Speaking of lightning, check out this story out about a whole family that got hit yesterday in Aspen. It happened near American Lake, which is right next to Electric Pass.

-A+A

Electric Pass July 5, 2008

Allison and I spent the holiday in Aspen. We hiked up to Electric Pass on the 4th. What an amazing day.

Electric pass is so named because of its tendency to attract the worst of Colorado’s afternoon thunderstorms. A good summertime rule of thumb when hiking above treeline is to get a very early start and be on your way down off the peaks by noon.

I’m not quite sure what happened, but we didn’t start the 16 mile(round-trip) hike until after 10. So much for the rules I guess…

We got lucky and started off with a clear blue sky. Here’s Allison on the way up.

And across the valley.

Electric Pass sits at about 13,500 feet. On the way there we passed by the turnoff for Cathedral Lake, a popular summer hike for visitors to Aspen.

Here’s the lake from up above.

There are some beautiful views on the way up. Here’s Allison gazing up at the Elk Range’s notoriously crumbly sedimentary rock around Cathedral Peak.

There were plenty of lingering snow patches to negotiate, but most of them were supportive and easy to cross.

In places without snow, the flowers were already in bloom. Massive fields of them.

Climbing higher, Cathedral Peak, to the west, towered over us.

Here’s a close up.

Now above the trees, Electric Pass is in view. It’s the saddle in the middle of this photo.

This scree field was really loose and steep. Towards the end of it we encountered snow that was too difficult to cross. Just 200 feet short of the pass, we turned around.

Heading down, we slid on some snow. Allison’s about to go down here.

We went off trail a bit, and found a lake full of ice cubes.

Allison dared me to jump in. We compromised, and I went in up to my knees. I’m not sure how the camera caught a smile. I was in pain.

I lasted about 2 seconds and climbed out. My expression in this photo more accurately reflects how it felt.

Have you ever seen “Where’s Waldo?” books? I call this photo, “Where’s Allison?”

The walk down was steep, long, and hard on the knees. This photo is looking down on some switchbacks.

Evidence of avalanches was everywhere. We passed acres and acres of bent and broken trees.

We made it to the car around 4. Just enough time to shower and head into town for a BBQ and fireworks. Happy 4th!

-A’s

Hope Lake June 29, 2008

Allison and I got a late start yesterday. We headed for Hope Lake in the late afternoon. We planned on finishing the 7 mile trip before dark. Hope Lake sits at about 12,000 feet, so we knew we could encounter some snow…

It’s about a 12 mile drive from Telluride. The last few miles are a jeep trail.

Once at the trailhead, Allison was sad to learn that she couldn’t take her dirtbike.

The trail was nice and flat at first, no snow to climb over just yet.

Here’s the first of many snow patches to negotiate. Allison looks terrified.

Don’t forget to stop and smell the flowers.

Climbing higher, the trail began to liquefy. The heaviest snow year in at least a decade has left plenty of volume remaining at higher elevations. The melting snow above us was making travel difficult.

There is a trail somewhere under this water.

We had so many stream crossings to contend with, that eventually you just needed to get your feet wet.

I almost made it across this one in one leap. But not quite…

Take a look at the nature.

Continuing on, we found more streams to cross. I like this shot because it looks like Allison is wearing a magical river-crossing stripper shoe on her left foot. Amazing!

Looking down the valley, post stream crossing.

The water raging downhill, perpendicular to this shot, is actually over the trail. We had to improvise and take routes around.

We worked our way around for a while, but it was getting late. Shortly after we took this photo, the trail turned to steep switchbacks covered in giant mounds of snow. Forward progress was painstakingly slow and difficult. We posed for one last photo.

Heading for home, we decided we would come back in a few weeks to finish the hike to the lake, complete with photos. To be continued….

-A’s

Bridal Veil Falls June 24, 2008

This morning I was planning on heading to Aspen. I have to work tomorrow at 930. Allison and I made a last minute decision to put off my departure until 5am tomorrow morning. There are just too many fun things to do here.

With our new time extension together, we hit the trail that heads east out of town up to Bridal Veil Falls.

For a mile or two, the trail follows the dead end road that leads out of town. The road dead ends because Telluride is situated in a box canyon; that is, a canyon with only one entrance, walled in on three sides.

Behind me is one of those walls. You can see the falls just above my head.

Here’s a far away shot through the 10X zoom. The falls are over 100 feet tall.

Once the trail ended, we walked along the road, which was now unpaved. The road is open to vehicles, but requires 4wd with high clearance. At the start of the dirt road, there were many old mining buildings. The land on both sides of the road is owned by the local mining company, Idarado. More on the Telluride mining history in a future post.

Some aspects of the mine appeared to be operable and workers were moving about. We came across this sign.

I’m thankful Allison is not the kind of girl who sees a sign like this and says, “Why doesn’t it say women working! Those pigs! I’ll show them! I’m getting a job at the mine!”

We passed some nasty retaining ponds. Doesn’t exactly make you want to jump in for a swim.

Approaching the falls, we saw some skiers working hard for a few turns on a north-facing snow patch.

The road crossed an avalanche path which had clearly been active this winter. The debris had been cleared off of the road, but remained on both sides. Still pretty deep and littered with broken trees.

Here’s some destruction in the slide path.

We made it to the falls. There was an enormous cloud of mist, which made Allison chilly.

The mist creates a little microclimate all its own. It felt like the high mountain tropics.

On the descent, we had a nice view of Ingram Falls up above.

Here’s a view of town, looking west. Looks like rain…

Sure enough, it started sprinkling. I convinced Allison to stop for one more photo.

That is the last I saw of her. She took off down the trail, leaving me to pursue my passion: really bad nature photography.

I hung back to play around with my camera. The subject this time? Flowers!

Here’s a white one.

I took these two photos just before I got caught in a raging downpour. I got absolutely drenched. Allison, of course, made it home right before the rain…

-A’s

Up To Mountain Village June 18, 2008

This morning Allison and I went to Mountain Village. It’s a town perched above Telluride, accessible via the free gondola. We chose instead to walk(Allison’s idea) the 3 miles from town via the Boomerang Trail. We started on the river trail, which follows the San Miguel river. The river is swollen from snow-melt, and at times the path was a little flooded.

Further down the river there was so much water, we had to circumnavigate the path

I worked on my crappy urban nature photography.

Along the way we passed a hippie school. Looks like the hippie children made some birdhouses.

Telluride has some of the most interesting architecture that I’ve ever seen. A lot of ultra-modern looks mixed with classic mountain Victorian. Here’s a picture of an old mining cabin directly adjacent to a modern building intended to look like an old mining cabin. It’s an unusual concept, but I think it works really well.

Once we made it to Mountain Village, we took the gondola back into town. Time for a vegetabletarian lunch.

Here’s the happy cook…

-A^2

The Jud Wiebe Trail June 18, 2008

Allison and I went for a really nice walk yesterday. We picked up the Jud Wiebe trail at the north end of town. It is an hour and a half or so round trip. It climbs steeply into the terrain that seems to hang right over Telluride. There is a beautiful view at the trail’s apex.

Allison found a bench and waited for me to catch up.

Here’s one of me with the ski hill in the background…

…and one of us.

We finished with the photo ops and continued on the path. Allison is a fast hiker and quickly left me trailing behind.

This is her saying, “C’mon!”

On the descent, Allison found a cliff she wanted to look over. Good thing she found a nice sturdy tree to anchor to…

We found a fuzzy little nature creature living in a rusty old pipe..

Here’s a shot of the venue for the Telluride Bluegrass Festival.

What a pretty town…

We arrived back in town just in time to take a quick shower and head out to watch the Celtics win! A few celebratory games of Pac-Man, and we called it a day.

A+A

Take a Hike! June 11, 2008

We went for a hike today. Telluride is insanely beautiful. Aspen is well known for having close and easily accessible open space. Telluride blows Aspen out of the water. We picked up a trail today right in town. We hiked a few miles into the Bear Creek drainage.

It was amazing. We made it to Bear Creek falls, which was raging with spring run-off.

Along the way I tried my hand at some photos of the nature.

(Clearly I have much to learn)…

I also took some photos of us

Allison gets annoyed sometimes when I take too many pictures, especially of her. She fought back the camera with some snowballs.

I felt like a paparazzi. I had to run for cover…

I launched a counter-attack…

and it was right back to crappy nature photography!

-A+A