Preparing my Stomach

I'm super excited about Nepal and everything that it has to offer. And what else to look forward to but food! I had fun reading this Wiki on Napalese Cuisine. Check it out!

Now, I probably haven't been able to completely mimic the meals that we will be partaking in while out of the country, but I'm doing what I can to prepare my body for less protein, more rice, and lentils. Shown here on the right is come curry lentils over a mix of rice and quinoa. A little bit of canned chicken tops off the ensemble. It's very good (especially with a little Sriracha hot sauce!) and very simple to make. I made these containers the night before and then Alli and I had them for lunch the next day.

Pray with me that our stomachs and our bodies will be able to adapt quickly to a foreign country, especially that we would have the fuel and energy to carry our supplies into the mountains.

No. 5 Denali: Two Miles above Sea Level

All smiles while traveling in a mini-blizzard from Camp 2
at 9500 feet. Those goggles are pretty photogenic, no?

Journal Entry No. 5

Location: 11,000 foot Camp, laying in the tent after a big haul from 9500 feet. We went to bed at 9500 feet with high hopes for the next day and awoke in a blizzard. But our RMI friends were moving so we felt like it was okay to move too: the weather was snowy and visibility poor but it wasn't too cold to risk frostbite or worse.

June 20th—Storm Day...kind of.

We're laying in the tent right now trying to take a nap after a big morning, but I can't sleep, so I'm reflecting. I guess I'm also sitting, not laying, in my Thermarest chair. Awesome investment by the way...

Another big day today. It snowed last night and we woke up to an obliterated trail, about two inches of fresh snow, and poor visibility. Since there wasn't going to be as much of a problem with being too hot, we slept in after seeing the conditions. I think we got up sometime around 5, broke camp, and headed out to our cache from yesterday. We dug it up without problem (pink is a very good color for wands), and continued along behind a large guided group that passed us while we were repacking our sleds.

It was really difficult to see the way to go, especially when we came to a section of trail with no wands. (Even our friend/guide Mike got lost initially until he checked his GPS). Comically we were in the process of passing a different guided group and came to the lead person right as the wands ran out. Dad was following the contour of the slope and veered right in a small radial curve and ended up going about 90 degrees off course. It was made even more dramatic since the lead guide started tending left to avoid a steeper section of trail. Then Dad wanted to follow them and I got really frustrated with the pace and didn't handle it very well. Dad graciously put up with me. He needs to carry the GPS the next time we travel in a whiteout though.

I couldn't help but laugh out loud: I'm standing there while Dad is making a dramatic turn to the right and had no idea! We got back on track and waited for the guided rope teams to pass us and then followed them. As I mentioned above, they were moving very slowly, at a pace that felt uncomfortable for me. I tried to motion to Dad that they were slow and we could move faster, but my I think all my limited sign language was able to express was some impatience. Note to self: sign language, unless agreed upon before the climb has now place in mountaineering. Bad communication and hurt feelings are a very real threat to any expedition.

Did I mention we ate well on the trip? A pancake frying
in my frybake pan. Yum!

Camp at 11,000 feet didn't come without a fight: the last hill into camp proper was a beast of a climb. Tired and hungry we built camp. By the time we melted snow and cooked “breakfast for lunch” around 1:30, morale was at a low. But what could turn it around but pepper-jack cheesed bacon and granola, walnut pancakes, and syrup. My new frybake is awesome!

Dad showing off a pretty amazing looking pancake. Much
needed nourishment after a long hard day up to camp.

When pulled into camp and began to set up, another guided group came through with Vern Tejas in the lead. Vern is crazy: a mountaineering machine, having climbed all of the Seven Summits multiple times, and has claim to the first winter solo ascent of Denali. He also comes into 11k foot camp singing a made up song at the top of his lungs. Let's think about this, I'm having trouble breathing because of the elevation and he is singing. Again, crazy

After our afternoon nap, we're going to have pasta with butter fried, smoked salmon...and pudding for dessert. We're going to have to work on camp a little too for a little evening calisthenics.

Camp at 11k feet looking at the route up Motorcycle
Hill. The weather is still fairly foggy/socked in.

Climbing roped on glacier is an interesting mix of individual and team effort. You choose to travel with partners so as to be safer in the case of a crevasse fall. But being roped 20 meters apart essentially means you are climbing by yourself with no one around to talk to. It's probably good on an expedition like this though: confined to the same tent as someone for several weeks can be trying for an introvert like me. Alone time while climbing and writing are very restful periods. On the other hand, my dad is the best partner I could ask for on this trip. There is no pressure to perform or make hasty decisions. We are also very good friends which allows conversation to go anywhere.

I still can't get over how amazing it was skiing on the glacier yesterday!

I have a note on the border of the page that says, 

"Right now, I have no doubt in my mind that we will make the summit of Denali.”

At this point in our journey, Dad and I have both gone through numerous highs and lows with regards to the success of our expedition. Our recent success of traveling through various weather and snow conditions, bolstered by our new found RMI friends, is allowing us to feel positive again, as though we might be able to pull this thing off. 

View from camp at 11,000 feet. We had some really
beautiful days up there. 

Father's Day on the Mountain

A beautiful sunrise on the upper Kahiltna.

Journal Entry No. 4

Location: 9500 foot Camp, writing after our cache-and-carry day up to this elevation. It was a big day to haul all of our gear up here, even stashing some of it around 10,000 feet. In the rest of the journal I'm going to talk a lot about food. We bought our food through a service called Exposure Alaska and they put together 20 days worth of food packaged in five-day bags. They have been providing their service for quite a while now and through the feedback they get from clients have dialed in their quantities and a variety of meals that are easy to prepare and are pretty tasty. I was excited about going through them to get a “taste” of what expedition food is like and know in the future what to prepare and how much of it. My family has never really enjoyed “gourmet” food while even car camping let alone while backpacking or climbing. The preparation is certainly more than boiling water and pouring into a freeze dried meal bag, but it's almost a nice chore to get to do other than sitting around in the tent waiting for the next morning. Even at home I like to cook and preparing good food while out on a glacier is a particular pleasure. Thankfully Dad is a willing guinea pig and will pretty much eat anything that I put in front of him. He's also a great sous chef and is more than helpful in our kitchen.

Hauling loads in our sleds for the second trip up to
9500 feet. 

June 19th—Happy Father's Day!

Since the last time I wrote we've eaten a lot of food, and because I wanted to document the meals that we've eaten on this expedition I'll try to catch up.

Dinner Saturday: Salmon Carbonari Pasta

Dessert: Reese's Stix

Breakfast Sunday (at 9500 ft camp): Power Oatmeal! (3 packets, powdered milk, nuts, raisins, granola, butter...)

Dinner Sunday: Pasta w/ soup mix, cream cheese and cracker apps

Dessert: chocolate pudding

Today was a big day. We got up early and shuttle half our food and some gear up to about 9800 ft. Our intention was to cache it at our camp location but we misjudged the distance and blew by it. We'll just have that weight that much further along for tomorrow. After the cache, Dad and I skied roped-up back down to our tent at Camp 1. It was the most amazing ski run of my life. Not because the snow was incredible (it was hard and stiff but relatively easy) but the exposure and the view for miles and miles down the Kahiltna Glacier was breath-taking! Just that ski run (down “Ski Hill” mind you...) made the whole trip worthwhile, and we still have a possible two weeks more!

Dad is all smiles at 9500 feet!

After that, shaking and giddy with excitement, we broke camp and hauled the rest of our gear up to 9500' “Camp 2.” We've had a really nice exchange with a guided group through RMI. Mike, lead guide, is the friendliest guide we've run into yet. The whole group is interested in chatting and learning names and exchanging jokes. Our camp is right next to theirs tonight and I am pleased. It will be fun climbing the rest of the mountain with them.

Posing with our mascots while enjoying the amazing views
of the Kahiltna Glacier, snaking its way for miles into the
valley below.

Speaking of food...we have so much! We've gorged ourselves today and are still finding food and drink mixes in our first food bag. It's good though: we need the calories to stay strong for the rest of the climb. And...it's fun to cook. We're already scheming about a cheesecake to celebrate the Summer Solstice!

I have two favorite memories from this camp. First, I was trying to film a “tour” of our camp for documentation and 'K', one of the RMI climbers came over and literally demanded that I film him. While I was frustrated at the time that he in effect ruined my tour video clip, what he said regarding Father's Day and being able to spend an expedition like that with my dad still rings in my ears. It is an incredible honor to be sharing a tent on a glacier on North America's highest peak with my best friend, who also happens to be my dad.

Second memory: the sky was clear all day and the sun was particularly brutal. At some point, I think I was whipping up the pudding for dessert, I heard Dad say something about being hot. The next time I turned around he was gone, nowhere to be found, until I spotted him stripped to his scivys sprawled out in the tent. Temperature management was a difficult thing to deal with the whole trip. We were warned by some friends too, but it's different experiencing it first hand: when the sun is out you can stand around in 5 degree weather in a light shirt, but when it goes behind a cloud it gets frigid and we have to scramble to get another layer on.

Dinner is served!

Journey to Camp 1: Hauling Sleds on the Lower Kahiltna

Traveling in God's country and loving every minute of it.

Journal Entry No. 3

Location: Camp 1 at 7800' elevation, the base of “Ski Hill”. We single-hauled gear in packs and sleds to the first camp, crossed the extreme lower glacier without crevasse trouble, and set up camp before sunrise. Thankfully the glacier froze two nights in a row and we never punched through with our skis on. I was extremely relieved when I realized that climbing Denali was a “doable” thing, and I wouldn't get stuck in Base Camp.

Dad on the morning of our move. Glad to be traveling safely.

When we transitioned from skiing to skinning, we stopped at a not-so-smart location next to a Japanese team that didn't really seem like they knew what they were doing. When Dad stepped off his skies, I remember him looking back at a me with a weird look in his eyes saying something like, “We're right on top of a crevasse!” Apparently his foot punched a little deeper into the snow bridge than he was prepared for. Breakfast was fantastic but we're once again reminded that the sun is pretty brutal.

It's a big load between the pack and the sled...

June 18—We traveled today! The alarm went off in my head (well, my watch was in my hat after all...) at midnight. We checked the snow conditions and they looked stiff and favorable. We slept for another hour though and then dressed, broke camp, and skated down “heart break hill,” none too gracefully. I had both brakes on my sled so I was skating downhill and still only making progress with the pull from Dad's rope. Then it was a glorious skin/tour to Camp 1, passing a team and a guided group along the way. After camp was set-up we whipped up some gourmet hash browns and eggs for a late breakfast and commenced napping/resting in the shade of the tent. Dad beat me in our first ever scored game of Cassino :( Score: Dad-21, Colter-12

We are scheming of how to do a double carry to Camp 2 but in the same morning. We'll see if the weather holds out. Here's praying.

Gotta love those Bekos! Dad and I are hanging out in the shade of our cook tent.

Later...

Ps. 147:10-11 “He does not delight in the strength of horses; He takes no pleasure in the legs of a man. The Lord takes pleasure in those who fear him, in those who hope in His mercy.”

Ps. 144:1 “Blessed be the Lord my Rock who trains my hands for war, and my fingers for battle.”

How does one reconcile two verses like these? God gives strength for battle but doesn't take pleasure in that strength?

I took a small 'New Testament and Psalms' Bible with me on the trip and had a chance to read a bit that day. I still can't figure out the two opposing trains of thought in the 147^th and 144^th chapters of Psalms. All I know is that I felt like I leaned on God a lot during our expedition, even being in a situation where I was trying prove myself worthy of climbing big mountains. He gave me strength for my “battle” against the elements and helped Dad and I on our journey, but imparted little nuggets of wisdom along the way that gently reminds me summitting mountains is nothing when compared with a life with God. There are very few things in life that I love more than climbing, but God takes greater pleasure when I use the joy and energy mountains give me to fill those around me with love and happiness.

What a glorious morning on the Kahiltna!

During our camp at the Base of Ski Hill we witnessed a huge avalanche across the valley caused by a serac fall. It was pretty impressive and we felt a gust of wind from it from a mile or two away. We stayed in the shade of our tents during the heat of the day, napping, eating, and drinking to pass the time. There was a lot of down time on Denali, balanced with some pretty hard pushes: it was an interesting mix. At this point with two nights on the glacier under our belts, we've got a pretty good snow camping system going. It's still pretty early in our three week stint on the 'High One' and we continue to get more comfortable with the gear, packing and unpacking, melting snow and cooking big meals.

Today, just about the time when the shade hit us (remember there isn't really any darkness, only a large period of time when you aren't getting direct sunlight and thus feels like a night), we saw our friend 'Hans' madly double-poling back down the glacier to his tent at Base Camp. Hans was a Swiss ski guide that we met in Base Camp and had several funny conversations with. He talked about the Kahiltna like it didn't have any glaciers: “If you want to see glaciers, go to the Alps,” he said in a very thick German accent. This guy was a beast: he had legs like a horse and skied like a mad man. The morning that we left Base Camp, he blew by us going down Heart Break Hill, transitioned to skinning and flew up the glacier. We never saw him until that night skiing back through Camp 1. I have no idea how far he went, possibly to Basin Camp at 14,000 feet in an attempt to acclimatize. We were amazed to say the least. 

Home sweet home at the base of Ski Hill.

Another rope team getting into camp after us. We saw a lot of other people on our trip, seeing as how it is the most popular route on the highest peak in North America.

A food preparation photo: cream cheese crackers for an appetizer, freshly chopped garlic, and dry hash browns ready to be fried up.

An avalanche a hop, skip, and a jump away from our camp. Pretty humbling.

Nap time!

Happy Mother's Day!

It felt like summer today. The temperatures were in the mid-60s, the sun was out, and us and our neighbors were out in our respective backyards enjoying it to the fullest. My parents and I had a fantastic Sunday lunch on the back deck for the first time of the year: grilled steaks, strawberry-spinach salad, baked potato, guacamole... Mmm-mmm!

I feel really blessed to have been living at home the past year, where it seems like everyday is Mother's and Father's Day. I hope I never take this time living with some of my best friends for granted and I only feel sorry for my friends who have to settle for a phone call and a Hallmark greeting card.
Not only to my mother, but all the women in my family who will stumble across this post in the future: I love you and am grateful for a socially accepted holiday in which to celebrate you! Have a wonderful Mother's Day.

Fun with Food

Well here's a post to share with you some of my food forays in the past month or so. Not a lot, I need to make it a point to use my camera in the kitchen more...

 Making "Power Oatmeal" for a recent winter camping trip. I added powdered milk, cinnamon, brown sugar, a dash of salt, and some almonds to quick oats. It was delicious and all we had to do was add hot water and enjoy. No mess, no clean up.

An appetizer that I took to a food party recently. Slices of bread from a skinny baguette, dollop of humus, and a half-moon slice of cucumber. Delicious and simple!

I baked some blueberry scones for my mom's birthday last Sunday. Didn't quite get up early enough to serve it to her in bed...but I think she liked it nonetheless. Scones were paired with scrambled eggs and turkey sausage. The scones didn't turn out shaped like scones very well. They were supposed to be the classic wedge shape, but the frozen blueberries the recipe called for were a little freezer burned and mushy, making the batter too runny. Oh well, I'll just have to make them again. Maybe with huckleberries next time? Yum!

Experimental Sandwiches and Secret Bread Ingredients

I received a book from my auntie this Christmas called Backcountry Bowhunting, in which the author Cameron Hanes touts the qualities of "peanut butter and bacon" sandwiches.  As a man blessed (or cursed, whichever you choose) with a palate enjoying weird food combinations, I had to try it.  So I've been experimenting while out skiing, both at the resort and in the backcountry.  I've tried PB, Bacon, and Banana as well as PB, Bacon, and Maple Syrup.  Both were tasty, but in my opinion the banana overpowers the taste of the bacon and thus I find it questionable to have it in there at all.  The maple syrup combo hit the spot and I've repeated it several times.  The nutritional qualities of a PBBMS might not be very good unless your activity level is such that your body is just in need of calories, such as climbing hard or skiing harder.  The average couch potato should be duly warned of becoming addicted to such a snack...

My experimentation has coincided nicely with some bread making.  Over Thanksgiving, my baker-of-a-younger-sister off-hand suggested that you can make really good bread by substituting bacon grease for the butter or lard called for in the recipe.  When I made a couple of loaves of whole wheat bread  recently, I had saved a supply of bacon drippings from my sandwiches, so I threw it in instead of the butter and added maple syrup instead of sugar or honey.  The result was fantastic: moist, delectable, with a hint of smoky bacon!  Great for a side with dinner, sandwiches, and eating a half of a loaf before bed if you're my dad...

Don't be alarmed! This is a healthier variety of sandwich: ham,
pickles, and spinach doctored with a touch of honey mustard. 

Homemade Cliff Bars

I've been wanting to make my own version of the Cliff Bar for several years now, in attempts to cheapen the cost of an energy bar and just because I feel like it should be easy. Well, I finally made my first attempt this week. I searched lots of sites on the internet for a general ratio of ingredients. Practical Hacks had the closest to what I was looking for, so my recipe is bases loosely on "Kevin's." However, I definitely added my own twists: the biggest being adding chia seeds and quinoa flakes. These ingredients are well known for their incredible nutritional value and were/are staples in the diets of early civilizations/current people in Mexico and Peru, respectively. (I might post another discussion on these but I don't want to get into too much detail right now.) Thus I am dubbing my version of the Power Bar or Cliff Bar the "Bars of the Ancients." And if I add flax seed, which was prevalent in the diets of ancient Egyptians, it will fit even more...

And success! The bars came out very tasty. I added dried cranberries and chopped almonds (although it took waaay too long to chop the nuts, maybe use a blender next time?) and the flavor was tasty. I may have baked them too long, and winded up slightly burning a couple, but I wanted to make sure and cook the eggs enough so as not to kill my taste-testers. In the future I will be experimenting with adding some spices and fiddling with the ingredient ratio even more.

Memorial Day Weekend

Rain is a very funny thing. I get home and the Flathead Valley is experiencing an unusually wet and rainy spring. Naturally I find myself complaining that I am not able to get out and do what I love to do best: climb (and skiing isn't really a very good option either since the weather is bad in the mountains). However I have to pause and realize what a blessing it is to have the moisture. It's making everything green and grow well, giving farmers hope of a good farming season and everyone dream of no fires toward the end of the summer. I have to remind myself surprisingly often that I'm not the center of the universe and not everything revolves around keeping me happy. Imagine that!

Well regardless of the (un)fortunate rainy weather, Memorial Day Weekend had a lot of excitement, especially of a sort that I don't often get to take advantage of since I'm usually on the go. Saturday night, my parents and I threw together a couple of homemade, whole wheat crust pizzas from scratch and ate them while relaxing with the movie Up. Very tasty and entertaining! Then Monday, I had work off for the holiday and was able to whip up an apple pie (again from scratch) to celebrate Dad's belated birthday. We even savored the scrumptious dessert to the tune of decaf coffee and Bananagrams.

Yet another reason to be thankful for the blessings-in-disguise of the rain: forcing us all to slow down and relish the small and often overlooked things in life.