Getting in gear

Friday morning we woke up and assessed our gear situation. After laying out everything we'd brought it became clear this was going to be a big haul, at least to the base camp(s). We reconciled overlap gear, cobbled together a first aid kit, and decided we needed more cord, more webbing, more carabineers, fuel, food, and odds and ends. Off to REI we went, the Tacoma store, not the flagship.

I rented an ice axe, a wicked looking implement that has an adze one side and a pick on the other, used for digging, self arrest, etc., and a helmet. More of a hard hat really, not what you're used to seeing in a bike helmet or a sporting style brain bucket. The only thing it could possibly save you from is a rock falling on top of your head, and even then one wonders if the odds are worth the hassle. The folks working there were characteristically helpful but I found the store to be woefully under stocked. Selection was pretty limited in a few key areas, but we managed to get what we needed.

From there it was off to the school where Mom and Dad work to practice protection systems and self rescue. Using the swing sets we were able to set up a top rope belay and practice ascending the rope with prussic knots. It was awkward at first but after getting the rhythm it wasn't too bad. After 15 minutes of huffing and puffing I announced I had this in the bag, and Matt looked at me and explained that the only rope I'd actually ascended was the slack currently in the rope. I looked down at the 2 feet of rope or so that lay dangling around my harness and thought, oh great.

We moved on to arresting a fall and placing protection. I discovered that the one shouldered harness we had decided to use was out of the question, seeing as the entire force of the victims fall would be placed on one of my shoulders. It was either the full chest harness or nothing, and as it turned out, that was exactly the case. In the process of setting up our systems we discovered we were still short on gear, so yet another trip to REI was made, and more rope and carabineers were acquired. A final stop at Safeway (can I just say, since when did a half pound of cheese cost $7) for some jerky and batteries and we were headed home to pack up and try and get some sleep.

When all the gear was stuffed into our packs, we decided to weigh them to make sure we'd divvied up the load equally. I stepped on the scale at a sprightly 195 lbs, and the pack brought that up to 250 lbs. Matt's was roughly the same, so we called it a night.