Three Sister’s Traverse

Rest Day – A Post from Captain Grant

By: “Captain” Grant Burrow

Ping…Ping…Clank…Ping…Clank.  This is what I hear every morning around 4:30am on the ‘Ring of Fire’ Volcano Tour.  My eyes slowly open; I can smell the coffee brewing and sense the stoked atmosphere inside the Spyder Land Yacht from Team Volcano Tour as they prepare to climb and ski yet another volcano.

This is a volcano tour – an attempt to ski seventeen volcanoes throughout the Pacific Northwest during the month of May. But this is much more then a ski trip – it truly is a journey (and a mostly unscripted journey at that). Beyond the team’s stated priorities of meeting local skiers and mountaineers, partaking in local activities, and, well, climbing and skiing a ton of vertical feet, it’s an open book.

For those of you who have been following our blog, you know about the team’s experiences on the mountain.  As the ‘Captain’ of the Land Yacht, I have a unique perspective of this journey.  As ‘Captain’ – and we’re going to use a more expansive definition than a mere driver here – I spend my days holding down the fort as the cleaning crew, the cook, the jester, the DJ, the maintenance tech, and as the navigator. I’m a one-man army up in here.

My day starts when the team rises (no soundproof walls in the Land Yacht). After a quick bite to eat, I watch them exit the rig and then disappear into the woods or up a trail. Then what? I turn into the cleaning machine. For me, a clean home is a happy home!  I tie up my apron, put on my rubber gloves, and get to work.  I vacuum, do the dishes, set out our “outdoor patio” (artificial grass and lawn chairs – yep, as hilarious as it sounds), and then prep food items for brunch for when the team returns.

We’ve interacted with a ton of locals on this tour. Sure – the team has encountered many like-minded locals on their ascents, but I on the other hand, have had the opportunity to meet the very unique. I walked an Indian family through the RV whom have their eyes on something similar United States. I also gave a tour to a woman wearing a full leopard print leotard with a matching eye patch on a motorcycle at a gas station in Mt. Shasta.

As you all can imagine, hiking 4,000+ feet per day to reach a summit makes a human’s body get hot and sweaty. Do you know what a hockey bag smells like?  Or soccer shoes after the season ends?  I do, and that is exactly what the team smells like!  For the Mt. McLoughlin climb, we were stationed at a very nice campground called Lake of the Woods. The campsite was on the side of a beautiful lake with a great view of the volcano.  When the team returned, it was time for a quick bath!  Although the water was only 50 degrees Fahrenheit, I refused to depart for our next destination until all three took a dive.  Thank you Lake of the Woods!

We are trying to take in the local flavor as well.  While we were in Bend, OR, we went to a new microbrewery called GoodLife.  As you all know, this is a small world.  When we walked in, one of the brewery partners named Pratt came up and started talking with Dav.  Turns out he recognized Dav from Aspen where he used to live. I can’t go anywhere with Team Volcano Tour without someone recognizing them – wish I were that popular!

We then headed over to Great Outdoors by Altrec.com for a little employee appreciation BBQ.  We cooked up hotdogs and served GoodLife’s Mountain Rescue Pale Ale.  A father and his two young kids were infatuated with the Land Yacht.  Davenport told them that we had an elevator and the kids’ eyes lit up.  He took them for a ride on the back gate (hydraulic lift into the back garage). After a hotdog, Spyder stickers, and signatures from the team, the family left happier then when we arrived.

This trip has been quite an experience … one I’ll never forget.  I’ve had the opportunity to see a beautiful and expansive swath of the Pacific Northwest – maybe through a different lens than the team, but this isn’t a popularity contest.

Signing off…

-Grant Burrow a.k.a. THE CAPTAIN

Mount Baker 9,065

Mount Thielson

Volcano Tour on the Road

The Ring of Fire Tour is going off right now.  We are in a perfect corn cycle.  Internet has been tough as well as trying to get enough sleep.  For daily updates, please visit blog.spyder.com

Mount McLoughlin – Volcano Tour #3

2012 Ring of Fire Tour

Mount McLoughlin, OR – 9,495 ft

Mount McLoughlin is a must ski.  Put it on the list!  It’s my favorite volcano we have skied so far on the Volcano Tour.  I began with low expectations for multiple reasons: the lack of beta about the peak, the road closure, and the exhaustion I felt from skiing Mount Shasta the day before were definitely on the list. But I had – we had – an amazing day. The adventure, the perfect snow, the competition-worty terrain … it all came together for us on Day 3 of the Volcano Tour.

“Mount McLoughlin is the highest peak in southern Oregon, a beautiful near-symmetrical volcanic cone. Despite being the highest point in a 200-mile stretch of the Cascade Range between the Three Sisters and Mount Shasta, McLoughlin is relatively unknown and often overlooked. The Northeast Bowls of Mount McLoughlin are easily the finest ski descent in Southern Oregon, with a sustained 45-degree pitch in the upper sections and nice open cruising below.” www.skimountaineer.com

Mount McLoughlin was the first volcano to test the team logistically.  Doubt was creeping in through the windows of the Land Yacht.  Dav, feeling deflated due to the lack of beta said, “We need to be prepared for the possibility that we don’t ski all of the volcanos.  I thought weather would be are biggest hurdle, but logistically McLoughlin might not work out.  Maybe we should just head to Theilson?”   Luckily, Daron had spent the previous three hours on his GPS and felt confident that he could navigate the forest.  The only other deterrent was that the road to the trailhead might still be covered in snow.  There was only one way to find out!

I went to bed feeling exhausted from Shasta and a little wary about the next day’s adventure.  The road to the trailhead was covered in snow, which meant we would have o hike in an additional three miles before we even began the ascent.  And we weren’t totally sure we had the correct road to the trailhead.  Daron had plotted a route on his GPS, but the road we planned to follow didn’t match the road on the GPS.  It was going to be an adventure.

Dav’s alarm went off at 5:30 am which is a later start than we had wanted – we decided that trying to navigate the thick forest in the dark would be futile, but we hoped the sunlight would give us a little advantage. A quick breakfast was in order due to our late start. We whipped up some Hulk Smoothies which are quickly becomning a favorite breakfast item for the team.

Whole Foods Hulk Smoothie Recipe

• 1 cup spinach
• 1 cup kale
• 1 cup orange juice
• 1 tbsp flax seed
• 1 banana
• 1 tbsp Maca Powder (the secret weapon)

At 7:00 am, we headed up the forest service road, not sure if we would find the trailhead.  The morning was gorgeous; even if we were on the wrong road and didn’t find the peak, it was worth the walk.

Three miles up the forest service road we came to a small, non-discript sign.  We were all hoping the sign would say “Mount McLoughlin this way,” but we weren’t so lucky.  Daron to the rescue!

Luckily, we found the trailhead.  But we still needed to find the peak. We quickly changed out of our shoes into our boots.  Next step, navigate the forest.  The trees were huge and the only thing we could see was blue sky.  Suffice to say, without Daron and his GPS, we may not have skied McLoughlin today.

After an hour of skinning through the trees, we caught our first glimpse of Mount McLoughlin.  We were stoked to say the least.  Afterall, it looked like we were going to ski McLoughlin today.  I knew Dav was excited because he doubled his skinning speed, and we were off.  Around 8,000 ft., we skinned above treeline and saw our first view of the area.

The view was spectacular.  We could see Shasta to the south and Theilson to the north.  It is very unique to be able to see where you’ve been and where you are going from where you are presently – that’s something we’ve all enjoyed on this trip. From the summit of of McLoughlin, I could see Shasta to the south and Theilson to the north.  How great would it be to have that clear perspective on life?

Not only was the view fantastic, but the terrain of the East Face looked sick!

Once we cleared treeline, the rest of the approach was a breeze.  There was a perfect ridge to skin all the way to the summit.  There is something rewarding about skinning to the summit.  The skiing was as good as it looked!

McLoughlin should be at the top of your list of ski mountaineering destinations. I would go right now.  The snow is awesome.  It is warming up, so plan to ski early.  It took us five hours to reach the summit.  I wouldn’t call it a slog, but I would bring a friend who knows the way of a GPS to help navigate the forest.  And I would highly recommend a “quick” dip in the Lake of Woods to cool off after your ski.  The water is a refreshing 32 degrees!

Mount Shasta – Volcano Tour #2

Volcano Tour #1 – Lassen

2012 Ring Of Fire Tour

Blog Post May 5, 2012 Written By Chris Daventport

Lassen Peak, CA 10,457’

Our first ski experience of this project couldn’t have gone much better.  Daron, Jess and I have been so excited to get this trip underway, and now that we have our first peak under our belts, we are thrilled.

After a three hour drive from Reno with “Captain” Grant Burrow behind the wheel, we pulled into Lassen National Park and the “Devastated Area” parking lot at 5 pm.  We spent the good part of two hours pulling all our gear and food out of the RV to sort and organize everything.  With two weeks of food from Whole Foods, Bare Naked, and Clif Bar on-board for 5-6 people a day we had a lot to go through.

Although it probably wasn’t necessary to wake up so early for what would be a relatively short climb and ski, we were so anxious that we had the coffee on and were gearing up at 6:15 am.  The sunrise illuminated the grand NE Face of Lassen, the unstable weather having pushed out the day before.

We were skinning through the forest at 7 am and by 8 were above the treeline and climbing steadily.  If any of you have been following Jess’ blog or her tweets (@jessmcmillan) you will know that she has been training like crazy at her home in Jackson, WY, and has climbed almost 75,000 vertical feet in the last three weeks.  I was feeling good as well, having just come back from a wonderful trip to the Alaska Range, and Daron, well, he’s just about as strong as they come.

We hit the summit of Lassen in just under three hours after a straight-forward skin directly up the NE Face.  We ended up boot-packing the final 1000 feet as it was just a bit too steep and slippery to skin, even with ski crampons.  There was a breezy north wind blowing up there, which cools you down quick, especially if your at all sweaty from the effort getting up there.  But our spirits were high and the views spectacular.

Our next objective, Mt. Shasta, shown brightly in the distance as we pulled skins and stepped into our bindings.  *** (Insert Mt. Shasta shot) The NE Face is big and has many options.  Jess dropped in first and went skiers left into a steep and clean gully filled with fresh, wind-deposited snow.  I headed over to the north-facing bowl skiers right and had some awesome high-speed turns on soft snow, and Daron traversed across the upper face and dropped into an east-facing couloir that some friends of our had skied the day before.   The fact that we all skied the face top-to-bottom without stopping was a testament to how great it was!

We regrouped in the basin below the face with big smiles and high-fives going around.  The snow had been safe, soft, and really fun, and the group was truly strong.  We enjoyed a pine-tree giant-slalom for more than a mile back to the parking lot and our waiting Spyder Land Yacht.

Right now we are en-route to Shasta, downloading photos and video, eating mango slices with almond butter, and mentally preparing for our first of two 14ers on the trip, Mt. Shasta, tomorrow.

Stay tuned…

Chris

First Volcano Tomorrow!

It’s happening!  Let’s see if all of my training pays off!  We are kicking the trip off on Mount Lassen tomorrow.  The weather is forecasted to be absolutely gorgeous!  Please follow us at blog.spyder.com!