Fall Assessments

Monday, December 7Since cleaning and repair of MSR Whisper Lite camp stoves will be on assessments (kinder and gentler name for exams) and we may not have had experience with that yet, Beth does a demo so that we can then do the same. The afternoon will be time to ask questions or practice shaky skills. I'm feeling shaky for personal reasons and having had about 1 hour of sleep. Ask me to take something apart on a good day and I'd be running and screaming. Ask me today, and I periodically fall apart. Not good and Beth tells me I'm "taking this all too seriously." But in the end, I remember most of what Beth shows us and take apart and clean the stove.  Austin is available for ropes questions and I ask some of what I need there, still shaky. I try setting something up but am struggling and Austin notices, too. Damn, just need to get out. And, the construction guys break a water main so we all get out.

The old practice rope I have from class has no flex so it's worthless. I buy a piece of rope on my way home and practice knots and rope system set ups in my kitchen. I refer to the field guide and try to remember what institutional rappels and climbs looked like out on the rocks. I keep tying anchor knots: double bowlines with back-up barrels, figure 8s on a bite, combos of wraps and half hitches. There's no way I can practice from the online demo 'cause it's too fast and they have different names. Within the class, there must be a dozen different ways to tie the same knot. I needed to master one way so have been using Austin's demo. I wish I had signed out some carabiners and ATCs so I could finish a whole system. I need to understand the principles behind the setups--the physics and geometry of it all. Maybe I can over Break.

Tuesday, December 8
Assessments include written and hands-on skills assessments. My plan is to get the written work out of the way in the morning, as well as the stoves and orienteering, so that I can concentrate on the ropes without distraction in the afternoon. I had no idea how off target that plan was! Got a few hours more sleep than the previous night.

LNT-Leave No Trace Principles
List and describe the LNT principles which are basic to our expedition learning.

WFR Soap Notes
We are given 2 medical scenarios and need to diagnose and write the anticipated treatment and problems on our soap notes.

Risk Management/Ethics
Write it in class or at home. I think these were 2 different scenarios but I can only remember 1 in the moment.
Scenario. I'm a rock climbing instructor to whom a co-leader has been assigned to run a class. All seems well in planning but out at the site, the co-leader is careless and downplays safety to the group. What do you do?
Use my time well. I take mine home and return it next morning.

Orienteering
I get out on Orienteering since "stoves" already has a wait list. Beth tells me to find #2 on the map and draw a picture of it on my card and bring it back to her. I see on my map that it's not too far from the building. I take a bearing and start off toward the challenge course but remember that I should have shot to a target rather than the general direction so that I can leap frog from point to point. I head back to give it another shot but as I walk with "Red Fred in the shed but follow the directional arrow," the red needle shifts and sends me further west and up a short steep hill that takes me into the woods and off trail. I follow this for a while, questioning if I did this right but the needle keeps moving me up steep hills. I check the map from time to time but don't pay as close attention as I should. When I finally do pay more attention to the contours and handrails, I'm 90% sure that I'm way off track but close to a road. I may as well get to the road before I turn around only to find that I was 20' from where I needed to be to find my target.

Okay, so I'm looking at what turns out to be Rt. 2. And I look at the map again and confirm that I'm way off track. I also realize that I'm wearing mittens with a magnetic snap. Don't do that! I'm laughing as I head back, figuring Beth must wonder where the hell I went off to. I consider looking for #s 4 and 5 since I may be closer to them than my assignment, but head back toward where I should have landed and eventually find #2. I bring it in to Beth after 55 minutes out. She had gone out looking for me. I told her what happened. I told her I was laughing. She knew. She sent me back out to find 4 and 5 and I took her dog Marley with me for a romp. If I had to chase Marley down, Beth was going to have to spot me some time!
Didn't do it well but learned in the process.

Stoves
Kate is assessing the stove area; 3 stoves, 3 people at a time. I've gone there a few times but with the wait, checked back periodically while doing natural history. Kate tells me to take the pump apart and lube it. I need to use pliers on one piece that just won't turn. I suggest that I not actually lube the 3 O-rings since they're already wet. That I found them was enough and I successfully reassemble the pump. Then I have to attach the pump to the fuel bottle and those to the stove and light it up. . . safely. It's successful but with an erratic flame. I'm asked what might cause the problem and how might I solve it. Well, the first tried and true is to knock the stove on the ground a few times to loosen up any stuck particles or gunk. If that doesn't work you could. . . . Kate says not to over think it. The reason is really simple. Oh, the fuel is almost empty! Yay. I passed.  And, I get to go inside. It's freezing out here and I packed my clothing for the demo we need to do, but foolishly forgot about it in the classroom. 

Natural History
Identify various trees and plants flagged on campus. If we don't know them, we can use the field guide, another part of our learning. Rarely does anything look similar so we must use pictures with written descriptions.

Since the leaves are dead and on the ground (mixed with leaves blown from other trees), we can get a better view of the branching to determine if it's alternating or opposite. . . that's my positive framing of not having live leaves on trees. Most trees are alternating except for the MADOG trees which have opposite branches: maples, ashes and dogwoods (1 or 2 exceptions). With a few other exceptions, the brown or gray barks look too similar to me to distinguish. I argue with myself and the guide, debating the characteristics for way too long. On the Raquette River trip, Ian gave me a great way to identify White Pines. Whites have bundles of 5 needles vs 2. The Beatles "White Album" has 5 letters in the word White. Ian has an affinity for classic rock. Well, there ya go. Later, I'm looking at another conifer and read that Hemlocks have 2 white stripes on the needle underside. Really? I had to scrutinize but, yep, Hemlock it is. 

I'm starting to appreciate what I've never paid attention to in nature. I might go out with a guidebook someday and look at more. Teachable moments on the trail don't stay with me and, in theory, I should have been learning this stuff over the course of the semester. The only way I'd learn it is the way I'm doing it now--book in hand and studying. So much of the semester I felt like I spent time shopping for gear. . . it's own learning experience. At least now I'll stop calling all conifers "pines" for shorthand. I didn't know it then, but since I only got to about 3 trees that day, Beth insisted I go out again the next day--too many blanks. Sometimes people need more time and I appreciated that she pushed me. . .despite the frigid temps and wind. And I wasn't feeling well, still not sleeping much and feeling weak and nauseous, common when I'm overtired.

Wednesday, December 9
Canoeing
Beth made a model canoe and had two plastic spoons for paddles. Some concern was expressed later in class about using a model with spoons vs a real paddle. Beth said it's a typical learning tool to accommodate other learning styles. We needed to demonstrate the direction and synchronicity for the bow and stern paddlers to accomplish certain maneuvers. Then we needed to describe and show "novices" how to paddle. Beth said I did a great job and was the first one to nail the paddle position and torso rotation to get the maximum power. 

Clothing/Equipment
Really, this was a 10 min "proper clothing" demo to first time backpackers on a 5 day trip in early October. I took 15 min and Kate told me that even though my $15 Salvation Army, looks-like-new soft-shell jacket says that it's waterproof, she said it will be soaked in a downpour and I'd best bring my shell. Damn. Well, it's still a great find!

Natural History
Continued per Beth. Leaves are now under snow.


Thursday, December 10
Kayak Wet Exits

Written: You will be demonstrating "wet exits" to beginner kayakers. List the talking points and details. I think I did this one well. Using a skirt, make sure that the grab handle is outside the skirt and not tucked inside. Lean forward when I roll. Stay calm. The skirt is likely to pop off and I'm likely to fall out of the cockpit. That's what happened to me so I never had to push my hips out.

Forgot to say hold on and push hips out of boat.


Rock Climbing
Finally, I get to rock climbing. The first day, Austin had run the ropes outside but now that we have snow, to keep the ropes dry and manageable, he has set up 2 stations at the classroom rock wall. He asks me to build an Institutional Top Rope Climb. Okay, don't blank.

I start with the ground anchor below: friction wraps and a double bowline backed up by barrel knots. Follow that with the figure 8 on a bite that will reach the belayer's harness and connect with a carabiner. Add another carabiner to the figure 8 that will also hold the ATC with the belay rope. I'm getting confused since there's lots of rope in a 10' area, none of which is actually up on rocks.

The pretend cliff anchors are little anchors in the wall and had I set them up first it would have alleviated some confusion. I need to set up 2 separate equalized anchors at the top to the master point; always redundancy. The master point is where the two ropes come together with separate carabiners to a figure 8 on a bite and it should fall over the cliff edge to avoid friction and sheer. I add a prusik to the rope and clip in to keep me from falling over the cliff when I walk to the edge and yell "rope" as I drop the rope over the cliff for the climber. Austin appreciates my attention to a point of safety. Austin needs to clarify some parts of the setup. I still don't fully grasp the principles. But, when I look at what I know now compared to what I knew when I started the semester, I've come leaps and bounds. I just need to leap and bound higher.

My first error--I should have set up the top anchors first and then dropped the ropes to set up the ground anchor. I forgot that's what we did on the rocks.

Next, I need to set up an Institutional Belay system. It's similar to the climb except that one of the belay ropes from a top anchor needs to be static so there's no stretch or bounce, separate and releasable. That will be the belay that the rappeler uses. That's what I used when I was nearly passing out on my rappel. The other rope will be the redundancy back-up belay that will be used by the belayer up on the cliff. That's what Erin used.
No pass--In this moment, I intend to set these systems up over January so that I feel competent in the spring.  Have signed out ropes, carabiners, ATCs and a prusik to practice over Break.

Natural History
Beth sends me out again. . . .

Friday, December 11
Boat Tie-Downs and Trailer Hitch

Austin is running the boat tie-downs and the trailer hitch segments. I go out to start the boat tie-down and blank on my trucker's hitch followed by half hitches. I jump off the trailer and yell to Austin that I've blanked and will be back. Damn. And now I have to wait again.

I come back and Austin asks me to do the trailer hook-up while others finish the boats. Whoa. I forgot to think more about the trailer hitch as needing review. I haven't really seen this since late Sept or early Oct. Oh, yeah, crank the wheel up to clear the hitch and make sure I line up right over it. The trailer rocks but I manage to line it up and let it drop. I need to connect the chains and I remember conversations about not twisting them because it could cause the trailer to jack-knife. But I twist them a bit to shorten them and then I'm looking for a lock. I forget that the hooks drop over the eyes in the hitch. I'm kind of drowning for what to do next. Austin comes over and I tell him what's stumping me. He shows me. Duh. And the electrical system is missing but this one's different 'cause it's Austin's car rather than the college van. I connect that. Now I just have to deal with the wheel. I crank it up but don't remember what to do next. Austin again has to show me that it folds up. "Well, I guess a few things were missing here," he says. Yeah, just a few.

This should have been so easy and I'm reminded of returning from the White Mountains trip. When I drove the van and trailer home from the backpacking trip, I fully intended to back the trailer up to it's holding place and unhitch. I'd never had that experience and wanted it. But when we got here, one of the guys who said he would guide me back yelled, "Just stop here. We're going to unhitch." Disappointed, I let the sound of an "authoritative" voice stop me. I mistakenly thought it was probably Beth's directive. I was pretty angry to learn later that it wasn't when she came to the driver's window and said, "Eileen. Don't let the young 'uns steal your opportunities." I had told her I wanted to do it. Why did I think she would have directed otherwise? So, that would have been a reminder opportunity on the trailer and I let it go by. Don't let that happen again!
No pass. Damn, should have been so easy.

Boat tie down went okay this time around although the ropes were so stiff from the cold, I had a hard time tightening and making them stay. Pull the rope behind a vertical trailer brace to position the rope properly over the boat. Start the trucker's knot up high so that when I wrap the rope under the trailer arm and pull, the knot will stay up high on the boat. Austin showed me a different way to finish the knot by running the rope under the trailer arm again that helped to keep the tension true. I need to get clarification on it again, though.

Tarps
Setting up tarps was timed and Kate was inspecting. I've been of the "if you don't know the knot tie a lot" philosophy when it comes to tarp knots. Today I needed to do better and had asked Austin what he uses to tie tarps. He does a few friction wraps, a half hitch and a slippery half hitch--that's a half hitch on a bite. We had no stakes so had to find a usable spot with trees and sticks to set up in the snow. It had to be a bad weather tarp which meant set up low for wind and rain. Most sticks I used broke with pressure. Eventually, I had a pretty good setup and had never done one by myself. Kate said the center could have been a little higher for rain runoff but all in all was good.