Thursday, June 17, 2004
Hiking in Snow
6/17/04
Today was a really hard day. We hiked a lot on snow spending time to find our way through trees, across avalanche zones, and across slopes. Most of it was across snow, and I soon noticed that animals who wanted to go the same direction as we did would follow the trail, and since they live there a good portion of the year, they knew the path without seeing the trail. I followed bear tracks as I lead us through the forests and mountainsides.
Our day was headed toward Ahern Drift, a noted difficult spot on the Glacier NP section of the trail.
Ahern Drift. Ahern Drift. The words and vague threat echoed through my mind. Should I be worried? How hard was it? Have I been on a 60 degree snow slope before?
The guide book features a poor-quality black and white photo, like a wanted poster, showing a steep rocky face with some snow on it. From the photos, it looked like a generic snow field.
We could see across to Ahern Drift as we approached it. It was on the other side of a huge elongated bowl. Moving closer, I got to see what the real challenge would be. At the end was a very difficult looking vertical snow surface that required climbing while traversing it. Well, either we were going to make it, or we were not. I look at most challenges that simply.
The approach was difficult with lots of snow and steep slopes.
Keep in mind that we are the first people through this section of trail this season, or so we've been told. Also, we are coming through fairly early in relationship to the amount of snow.
 | Looking south toward Ahern Drift |
Since we were early in the season, we were crossing a lot of snow that most hikers don't encounter. Ahern Drift is on a north-facing slope, so the snow is always around, and a big challenge for most hikers later in the season. The Park actually cuts steps in the drift later each year to make it more accessible for hikers.
As we reached the bank that ended the trail tensions were high. Earlier in the day, I'd done some scouting that was perceived as dangerous to me and the rest of the group. We cleaned up that tension and focused on getting our crampons on. I double-checked my bindings to make sure they were tight, and went second in line after Spur, who was cutting steps. Behind me was Gottago, and Apple Pie was bringing up the rear.
Although I did not realize it at the time, it was around 7:30 PM. The sun was shining ahead of us on the narrow snow-lined 'sidewalk,' our next challenge.
But I stayed focus on the challenge at hand.
Plant ice axe on uphill side.
Plant hiking pole on downhill side.
Plant foot.
Check footing.
Transfer weight.
Repeat with opposite foot.
I felt comfortable and focused. I even felt comfortable enough to, gulp, look down.
Part of the consideration in mountaineering is what they call exposure: the risk to body and soul should something go wrong. Exposure includes what's below you and how far should you slip and fall. It also includes things like risk of avalanche, consequences of delays, places to camp, and other factors.
As I looked down considering that aspect of our exposure, I rated it as a 4 on a scale of 1-10, where 10 is incredibly dangerous. Sure it was steep. Sure it was a long way down But there were not a lot of rocks on the way down and the run out was easy. The landscape flattened which would automatically slow down the fall.
I was literally looking at one of the advantages of an early traverse of the Ahern Drift: all the extra snow would make a fall much less dangerous. Later in the season, it would mean a smashing up on indifferent rocks. For us, it would mean a long hard climb back up. Time to move.
OK Plant ice axe. Plant hiking pole. Plant foot. Check footing. Transfer weight. Repeat with opposite foot.
We were making our way toward the light. It wasn't so bad. I could see that our path would get steeper as we continued and approached the end, so I wasn't sighing relief yet. Everybody seemed to be doing fine though. Ahead, the sidewalk looked wide enough two walk on. There was enough room between the remaining snow on the left side and the dropoff on the right.
 | The sidewalk after Ahern Drift |
Spur was off. I stepped onto the trail. Gottago made it. Apple Pie was off. We'd done it.
Although I wasn't beyond my comfort level, Gottago and Apple Pie were. I was glad to be able to help them through it.
By now, it was clear that the day was coming to a close and we still had miles to go to our reserved camp site. We made our way along the sidewalk and continued on. The snow did not relent. We came to an unexpected flat area and decided to camp. We would be camping on snow again, but the day was so hard and I was exhausted. We set up camp as the sun dropped behind the gigantic snow-capped mountains surrounding us. I fell asleep without changing my clothes having hiked 10 or 11 miles in 12 hours.
