facebookFiled under: Girly Guides | Tags: Angela Hawse, Chicks Guides, Chicks with Picks, Girly Guides, Grand Tenon
Angela Hawse Guiding in the Tetons
The lantern going on is harsh for our 3:00 a.m. wake up call at 11,600 feet on the Lower Saddle of the Grand Teton. Bodies bumble about the Exum hut trying to choke down some food, get harnesses on and out the door by 4:00. We’ll scramble for an hour and a half on 3rd and 4th class terrain before the sun hits the Middle Teton and the rest of the world begins to wake up in the valley below.
It’s July 4th and Chicks with Picks alum, Caroline Doucett is about to get a dose of the Grand Teton in full alpine conditions; rare for this time of year and feared by most. I’m psyched and Caroline is seasoned and prepared for the mixed climbing we’ll encounter on the Owen Spalding route. With Chicks with Picks under her belt and ample time at altitude on snow in other ranges I know she’ll send it. The rock game is fairly new to her but she clearly demonstrated her prowess down in the valley the day before. She’s about to put all her skills together and take it to the top of this one.
Caroline Doucett on the summit of the Grand!
As we near the Upper Saddle the first light hits the Middle Teton and illuminates our little world. We’ve been moving for almost two hours, over rock and snow, kicking steps and plunging our axes up steep snowfields. The business begins on the first two pitches, as we traverse out over the vast West Face with nothing but cold air and exposure under our dairyaires as we tip toe across the Belly Roll and Crawl Pitches, avoiding verglass and snow. It’s bitter cold and the air is thin. We gain the Double Chimney Pitch and scratch our way up the crux Owen Chimney, which in dry conditions goes at 5.5. In mountain boots with crampons and an ice axe it feels at least 2 grades harder and full on. Caroline confidently climbs it in fine style, impressing the guide below. Some more steep snow, easy 5th class chimneys and scrambling, we reach the 13,770 ft. summit on a gorgeous day. A proud ascent for Caroline and my first of the season on my favorite mountain in the world. Thanks Caroline… you Rock!
Angela Hawse
AMGA Certified Alpine and Rock Guide
http://www.alpinist007.com
Filed under: Girly Guides | Tags: Anna Keeling, Chicks Guides, Girly Guides, New Zealand
After sadly missing guiding at the last few Chicks with Picks because of having a baby and family issues in New Zealand, I am still in New Zealand but am guiding again. Ski season here, apparently ice also, but it’s hard to find and a busy 2 year old doesn’t give much time for the 4 hour ice chase (and that’s just to the base!)
Anna Keeling
I’m teaching some avalanche classes, heli ski guiding and back country skiing in my first winter back in NZ in 9 years! Luckily it’s an awesome one with plenty of snow but also some nerve-wracking avalanche conditions to contend with.
Being a guide is not a career that matches well with motherhood, so far. Sometimes I feel like my career has slipped away on me but I’ve had to let go a bit – which is probably good for me!
As part of turning 40 this year, I sailed a passage to Tonga, right from outside the house I grew up in, on a 30 foot wooden boat with 2 guys. It was a good adventure – 1500 miles/15 days with a force 8 gale, man overboard, partial knockdown…. you name it, we had it. All for 15 hours in Tonga because I had to get back before my husband, Scott, left to work in Siberia.
We will be back in USA at the end of the year and look forward to seeing old and new faces at Chicks next season. Back-to-back winters -yeehah!
Filed under: Girly Guides | Tags: AMGA, AMGA Exam, Caroline George, Chicks Ice Climbing, Girly Guides, ice climbing, women's climbing, women's ice climbing
This winter has been busy with travels, trainings and exam. Upon returning from the Khumbu Climbing School, I headed to beautiful and remote Silverton, CO to take my level III AIARE course/exam, which is a necessary step to take the AMGA aspirant ski exam. After much talking and learning about snow, I passed the AIARE III and headed to Vegas to teach clinics at the Red Rocks Rendez Vous. A day later, I flew to Switzerland to visit my family and friends, to ski and climb (see my blog for pictures of that trip: carolinegeorge.blogspot.com) and eventually, by mid april, flew to AK to train for my ski aspirant exam with Chicks with Picks guide, Angela Hawse.
We drove from Anchorage to the ski mountaineering and heliskiing mecca, aka Valdez, and immediately got down to business, checking out the terrain we later be tested on and perfecting our drills: sled lowers, building shelters, beacon search, snow profile and skiing
technique. Each day, we would head up another mountain and ski. Each night, we were greated with Anna’s – our hostess – amazing home cooked meals and pies and share beta with the other course and exam participants. After ten days there, we were ready for the course to start.
We met our instructors – Howie Schwartz, Bela Vadasz and Martin Volken – on the first day and headed out to get tested on the above
mentionned drills. We spent three days doing drills, which felt like an eternity. All we really wanted to do was ski. Eventually, the
skiing component started. We learnt new tricks of the trade, practiced some crevasse rescue and skied amazing corn snow. On day 6 (out of 10), we flew into the range in a helicopter and got dropped off on a little pass on a ridge. We spent the following three days traversing back to Thompson Pass (where most of the easily accessible skiing is located), carrying huge packs with our skiing gear (shovel, probe, beacon, skins, etc.), our camping gear (stove, fuel canisters, tent, sleeping bag, mat, jackets, headlamps, food, etc.), navigation gear (maps, compass, GPS, notebooks, etc.) and glacier travel gear (harness, ice axe, crampons, prussiks, cordelettes, carabiners, ice screw, first aid kit, tarps, etc.). Heavy! Yet, this was an amazing trip across gigantic glaciers and we benefited from amazing weather too. Angela and I shared the tent and the stove! We spent the last three days getting examined.
The exam component is a new one in the advanced course, and one that enables American guides to become IFMGA aspirant guides, once they have passed the three disciplines offered by the AMGA: rock, alpine and skiing. This was my last advanced course/exam. I completed the Alpine in August 08, the Rock in September 08 and the ski just this past April 09. With this, my lifelong dream of being an offical IFMGA aspirant guide came true and my need to belong fulfilled. This status will also enable me to be a better guide for Chicks with Picks… and hopefully, I’ll be an even better guide once I have completed the full IFMGA certification. To get there, I still need to take the exams in each discipline: alpine, rock and ski!
To see pictures of this story, view my blog: carolinegeorge.blogspot.com
Filed under: Girly Guides | Tags: Chicks Ice Climbing, Chicks with Picks, Khumbu Climbing School, Nepal, women's climbing, women's ice climbing
Each year, I look forward to my time guiding at Chicks with Picks:
sharing my passion for ice climbing, meeting new ladies, spending time in Ouray, eating great food, and above all, having a blast. This year though, I chose to deprive myself of such a joy but donating my time and knowledge to the Khumbu Climbing School in Nepal. The 2009 edition of the Khumbu Climbing School was run by Chicks with Picks guide Amy Bullard. So, in a way, it felt like we were having our own little CWP time over there.
The Khumbu Climbing School enables Nepali people to learn how to be safer in the mountains. We teach them how to build anchors, walk and climb on ice, belay, rappel, tie knots, climb up fixed ropes, etc. At the end of the ten day course, the students take an test, which
provides them with a certificate, which, in turn, enables them to get
work more easily on Everest or other big mountains around. Working at KCS proved to be really gratifying in that we were teaching for a
cause. Although it was a different venue than Chicks, it offered much
of the same satisfaction: at Chicks, we raise money for women
shelters, in Nepal, we provided our students with a paper that would
open doors.
Check out my blog for pictures of KCS: www.carolinegeorge.com
