Whittaker Mountaineering

Give the Gift of a Climb for the Holidays

It's that time of year again. Non-stop Christmas music playing in the mall, every retail outlet turning into a madhouse...doesn't it make you want to climb the highest mountain possible, alone? In the hustle and bustle of the holiday season, it's easy to get so involved in buying things that we forget to think about those less fortunate. If you'd like to give back this holiday season, check out Big City Mountaineers' Summit For Someone Fundraiser. Big City Mountaineers is a program that sponsors climbs and backpacking trips for at-risk teenagers.

Climbing a mountain can be a chance to get away from it all, even a genuinely healing experience. If nothing else, the kids served by the program could definitely use a vacation and a chance to get outside. Here's how the program works: you need to either raise or donate enough money to meet the pledge amount for the climb of your choice. All climbs are guided and include chances to climb Mt. Hood, Mt. Rainier, Denali, and more. In exchange for your donation/fund raising efforts, you'll get to go on the climb you selected. Neat, huh? Big City Mountaineers will even send you a fund raising packet to help you start raising money.

If your gear closet is looking a little empty this year, you'll be pleased to know that the climbs come with gift certificates for you to buy gear for the trip. Obviously, participating in this fund raiser is going to be a little more involved than dropping some change in the Salvation Army bucket or even participating in your local Turkey Trot. Not everyone is going to be able to make it happen. However, if you can do it, this would be a great way to score an awesome climbing vacation for yourself while you giving under-privileged kids a great experience at the same time.

The Cascades

The Cascades-Where Have All the Glaciers Gone?

Climate change doesn’t just affect polar bears. It affects mountaineers, too-especially when climbing glacial mountains like the Cascades. Backpacker.com reports that the major glaciers on Mount Rainier are now “at or near their historic minimums.” They don’t seem likely to recuperate, either, and glacial retreat is having major impacts on the roads and trail systems mountaineers depend on for access. In the January 2009 print edition of the magazine, Michael Lanza explains the problem in more detail. Basically, as the glaciers recede, they leave behind moraines, fields of dirt and rock that are inherently unstable.

Also, as the earth’s temperature slowly inches upward, blizzards are being replaced with increasing frequency by rainstorms. The rainstorms melt even more snow, and create massive floods of water, mud and rock from the moraines, and debris. These rivers of debris are called lahars. In this way, the increased rainfall is reshaping (in some cases, obliterating) trails and rerouting streams on Mount Rainer. As anyone who frequents this mountain knows, the storms of November 2006 did major damage to the road and trail systems. Millions of dollars and massive amounts of volunteer work later, much of the mountain is accessible again, including the Wonderland Trail. However, too much rain could undo a lot of that work in a matter of hours.

The retreat of the glaciers also means mountaineers will see less snow and ice on the lower elevations. There’s a chance that global warming will cause more winter snow and could help build the glaciers back up, but it’s just that-a chance. So, if you want to hike Mount Rainier, now is probably the best time to plan a trip. In fact, if you have any dream hikes planned in the Cascades region, don’t put them off. You never know when a bad storm could completely reshape the landscape. The trail you’re planning on taking could be there for decades to come, or it could be completely rerouted as floods carve new channels into the mountain’s sides.

Before you go: Make sure to check the weather before you leave and pack accordingly. Be careful in heavy rainstorms-if you hear a sound like a train, move uphill with a quickness to avoid being swept up in a mudslide. Make sure you have an up-to-date guidebook or a professional guide, as some trails have changed significantly over the past 2 years. Check for updates online. Be safe, but most all, enjoy your trip!