We camped along the Columbia River Friday night and woke up at 5.30 Saturday morning to get ready for the rock portion of the class.
At Horsethief Butte, we learned about rock climbing anchors, practiced belaying other climbers, practiced rappelling, and practiced many other climbing techniques. The day culminated with a 95 foot rappel from the top of Horsethief Butte (I brought my GoPro to film it, but unfortunately, the battery was dead). Here I am about to step off the edge.
And here I am rappelling down it.
We got to "sleep in" til 6.30 Sunday morning and after breakfast set off for Mt. Hood and a day on the snow.
We practiced walking on snow in rope teams, learned about snow anchors (such as a bollard, as seen on the Man vs. Wild episode with Will Ferrell), practiced catching a partner's fall while on a rope team, and at the end of the day, practiced self arresting if you fall and start sliding down a snow field. Here I am at the beginning of the day practicing walking with an ice axe (I'm on the far right).
One of the best things about the class is that I met a lot of people with similar interests. I've already done a practice climb part way up Mt. Hood with one of the people I met (more on that in the next post). The class has also opened up some other opportunities for me. I'm signed up for a glacier travel/crevasse rescue class and an ice climbing class later this year through the club.
