Wednesday October 1, 2008

Tim at the start of Black Peak in the classic guide's "pose" during the AMGA Alpine Exam

From September 18th through the 27th I had the privilege to work as an examiner for the American Mountain Guides Association Alpine Guides Exam. The exam took place in the North Cascades in WA and I was working with one other examiner. The ratio for the exam was at 2:1 so each examiner would be examining two candidates per day. Over the course of the exam we would switch up the groups so each candidate would climb with different candidates and with a different examiner. Concurrently another AMGA Alpine Exam was taking place with two other examiners and four candidates. The two exams coordinated so as to go to different areas to keep group size and impact to a minimum.

Many climbers and some untrained and uncertified guides mistake a guides exam as a climbing exam. The reality is that only strong climbers can make it to the point of taking an exam. Each candidate had long resumes of climbs and experience. In our exam alone that range went from an Everest climber to a candidate that had just recently ascended the Moonflower Buttress on Mount Hunter in Alaska! Add to this, each went through up to 30 days of guides training, first aid certification and up 12 days of avalanche training with AIARE Level 3 Avalanche Certification. This exam then is a high level test of guiding and decision making skills that their future clients can know they have gone through before they can call themselves AMGA Alpine Certified!

On the afternoon of the 17th the examiners and candidates got together for the introductory meeting. Our exam would start out with a two day guided climb of Mount Shuksan via the Fisher Chimney Route. Our plan was to camp above the Chimneys and just above a small 60m ice face called Winnie's Slide. On the morning of the 18th we started our ascent with the candidates guiding us to the camp. The afternoon was spent testing the candidates in crevasse rescue. The crevasse rescue portion of the exam is an objective exam with specific rules as to the scenario and equipment allowed, it s also timed and cannot exceed 45 minutes. Here is how the AMGA describes the crevasse rescue exam.

Setting up a haul out of a crevasse during the AMGA Alpine Guides Exam

Crevasse Rescue Time allowed:45 minutes
Equipment allowed:
1 Single rope
1 ice axe
1 ice hammer (a picket may be substituted for either the axe or hammer)
1 pack
3 ice screws
1 harness
1 helmet
3 cordelettes
5 locking carabiners
4 non-locking carabiners
3 slings (webbing or cord). Cords should be minimum diameter of 5.5mm Spectra or 6-7mm nylon.

The guide must be protected when within 2 meters of any crevasse edge. Candidates begin the exercise with the client tied in for glacier travel, standing on the glacier. The victim slides into the crevasse. The guide must arrest the fall with the victim in the crevasse suspended by the rope. The exercise must be completed in the order indicated below. The clock starts after the fall has been stopped.
1. The victim slides into the crevasse, the guide arrest the fall.
2. Build an anchor and transfer load to that anchor.
3. Rappel to victim. Safety back up required on guide.
4. Move victim into upright position with some form of chest harness.
5. Ascend out of crevasse.
6. Establish haul system. Minimum 5:1 mechanical advantage required.
7. Haul victim out of crevasse.
The exercise is complete when both client and guide are on the surface. Candidates may be required to demonstrate other systems in combination with other scenarios. While candidates will be demonstrating the application of technical skills in a controlled situation, decision making, judgment, error correction, and the safety of the guide and client are essential components of the exercise. Intervention on the part of the examiner, should reasonable margins of safety be compromised, is grounds for failing this portion of the exam.

Sunrise on the way to Shuksan's NE Ridge Click on the picture for a larger version

After the crevasse rescue we ate dinner and got ready for a ascent of the NE Ridge on Shuksan the next day. The NE ridge sits on the opposite side of the glacier surrounded summit pyramid of Mount Shuksan. From the camp, the two groups would round the summit pyramid in opposite directions to approach the ridge. The NE Ridge itself is a knife edge type of ridge with lots of 3rd and 4th class terrain interspersed with 5th class terrain rated at about 5.6. The approach route my group took brought us through Hell's Highway, a glaciated passageway from the Upper Curtis Glacier to the Sulfide Glacier. We then traversed the Sulfide and made our way to the Crystal Glacier then around to the NE Ridge. The other group went directly up the Upper Curtis and Hanging Glacier to the NE Ridge. Both groups descended down gullies on the south side of the summit and back to camp, then we reverse the Fisher Chimneys and returned to the car.

The day went well and both groups summitted about 30 minutes apart and eventually back to the car before dark. Here is a map of the routes the two groups took. Note that Winnie's Slide and the Fisher Chimneys are mismarked on the map. Hell's Highway is also called the Hourglass, most climber's call the gully to North of Hell's Highway the Hourglass. For North Cascade climbers these map mistakes are a fairly well known fact

Here are a few more pictures of our ascent of Shuksan

Approaching the start of the Fisher Chimneys Click on the picture for a larger version

Looking up a section of the chimneys

Looking down a section of the chimneys

Getting comfortable at the camp

Peter ready to jump into a crevasse for the crevasse rescue exam

Getting down to the victim

The 5.6 section of the NE Ridge of Shuksan

The first group heading down the Sulfide Glacier towards Hell's Highway

Packing up the camp

Back at the car with the first two days of the exam complete

Once back to the cars the candidates prepared for the next day of the exam. This third day of the exam is another objective part of the exam, rock rescue and the rock movement skills. We all made our way to Anacortes WA and to a small cliff called Mount Erie. The rock movement part of the exam requires the candidates to move fluidly through a 4th class rock climbing section in mountain boots, top rope a 5.8 in mountain boots and lead a 5.10 in rock shoes. The rock rescue skills section requires the candidate to complete a knot pass in 5 minutes and do the following rock rescue exercise as excerpted from the AMGA.

Rock Rescue Systems Time Allowed 45 minutes
Equipment allowed:
harness
helmet
2 cordelettes cordelettes should be 6-7mm nylon minimum, or 5.5mm Spectra.
5 locking carabiners
6 non-locking carabiners
4 slings (webbing or cord, including a “mini” prussik loop)
1 tube-type belay device, or a combination belay/autoblocking device such as the Reverso, ATC Guide or GiGi
1 climbing rope
The victim is allowed to carry one additional locking carabiner and a belay device.

Candidates will begin the exercise from a prefixed anchor belaying the client directly from their harness with a plate type device or Munter hitch. Back ups are required whenever the clients weight is suspended by a friction knot. The client can stand and move around but is not available to assist in any other fashion (except when required to rappel). The exercise is normally done on a vertical cliff .
The exercise includes the following techniques, but not always in the order listed below.
Belay escape
Raising using a 3:1 then a 5:1 or 6:1 system
Lowering
Rappelling to the victim and placing an improvised chest harness on them
Rope ascending
Counterbalance rappel
Station transfer following a counterbalance rappel
Tandem rappel to the ground

While candidates will be demonstrating application of technical skills in a controlled situation, decision making, judgment, error correction, and the safety of the guide and client are essential components of the exercise. Intervention on the part of an examiner, should reasonable margins of safety be compromised, is grounds for failing this portion of the exam.

Peter on a Grade IV lead in the Coleman Ice Fall during the exams ice movement section

After completion of the rock rescue and movement exam the group prepared for the next assignment, a climb of Mount Baker's North Ridge. This two day route starts with an easy approach to a camp in a stand of trees overlooking the toe of the Coleman Glacier. This camp, nicknamed Murkwood takes 1.5 to 2 hours to reach from the trailhead. On this approach day we spent some time below Murkwood on the Coleman Ice Fall to do the ice movement section of the exam. This includes French Technique, a one tool top rope of some pretty steep ice and a grade IV ice lead.

That night we slept with a steady rain battering the tent, it seemed doubtful that we would be able to climb the 6000 vertical feet up Mount Baker's North Ridge the next day. We all awoke early and found the weather to be poor but not impossible. The rain had stopped but the sky had a low overcast with periods of fog. The route we took from Murkwood to the North Ridge was not the normal line. Because we were climbing in the late summer the normal route can be difficult to navigate do to the open crevasses caused by the summer melt out of the glacier. Our route would take us below the Coleman Ice Fall over to the medial moraine that separates the Coleman from the Roosevelt Glacier. Here is a map of the route. We would follow that moraine to its top and navigate our way on the glacier to the start of the North Ridge. The North Ridge climb in the late season is a great ice climb with some snow that can have difficulties up to grade 3+/4 ice. It also is mostly free of objective hazards so it s a very enjoyable and long glacier ice climb.

Overall the climb went well albeit a bit cold and windy. Both parties climbed o the top of the North Ridge and we were for the most part within shouting distance all day long. The planned descent route was down the Coleman Demming route which is widely considered the "normal route". On most days the Coleman Demming is a straightforward glacier route but on our descent a large and complex section of the route was in total whiteout conditions. In the end the whiteout proved to be a good navigation challenge for the exam. Due to conditions the route took a bit longer than anticipated, after the 6000' ascent and a 7000' descent we arrived back at the cars 13-14 hours after leaving camp.

Here are some pictures of the North Ridge of Baker

Reaching the glacier above the moraine between the Roosevelt and Coleman Glaciers

Silas climbing around the Nose

Silas getting some early season swings into the ice

Peter, Tom and Kurt high on the North Ridge

Peter getting above the clouds and near the summit

Our footsteps from the summit plateau

Heading to the summit

Descending into the whiteout!!!

After the Baker climb the weather stayed pretty bad so we headed East to the dry side of the range, the rest of the exam would be based out of Mazama, WA. So the next day was spent drying out and driving to our next venue. After getting ourselves organized in Mazama we planned for our next day objective which would be Black Peak via its NE Ridge and down the South Gullies. The route starts from Rainy Pass and follows the Lake Ann/Maple Pass Trail to Heather Pass you leave the trail here and cross Heather Pass on climber paths down to Lewis and Wing Lake and onward to the NE Ridge of Black Peak. Here is a map of the area. This was to be a long day climb so it was nice to be able to carry only a light day pack. We started the day by hiking from the trailhead around 6AM and we were to return around 5:30 PM. All in all a great day.

After climbing Black Peak we got rained out the next day. On the final day of the exam we climbed on Cutthroat Peak. My group was to climb the West Ridge and down the South Buttress. The other group climbed the South Buttress and descended down the West Ridge. Cutthroat is a great little alpine peak that has a very short approach for the Cascades. Unfortunately I left my camera behind so there are no photos of our last climb.

Here are a few pictures of Black Peak

Black Peak from the approach

On the crest low down on the ridge Click on the picture for a larger version

Peter, Tom and Silas on the NE Ridge of Black Peak

Good ridge climbing

Peter enjoying one of the last days of the exam

Cold but good fun

Classic Cascadian endless scree and talus on the descent!!