So, here we are, the beginning of a new membership year.  In this month’s newsletter, we have:

• President Armand Gutierrez’s President’s Message
• Armand’s Membership and Jackson Hole report
• Jackson Hole flyer and sign up form, trip date : Jan 24-31, 2015
  Jake the Ski Fool says “follow me to Jackson Hole for our 2015 ski week trip.” NSC has not been to Jackson Hole since 2001 and it’s time to make a return trip. There’s a new big “Red Tram” to whisk us to the top, Corbet’s Couloir for the insane skiers, the Vertical Foot Club, and perhaps a moose or two on the slopes….
  
• Hoyt Nelson’s Fall Creek Hike in Cowell Redwoods Park on June 22
  Join Hoyt in another of his fun hikes.  Probably no concrete slides on this hike, but lush verdant views! Get in touch with your arboreal self…
• Annual BBQ Picnic and General Meeting at Las Palmas Park, Sunnyvale on August 9
  Renew acquaintances, make new ones, meet your officers at the annual BBQ picnic!
• Mountain View Obon Festival beer booth  – July 19-20
  Volunteer for the beer booth. NSC has some of the most impressive beer drinkers, come help out or buy some beer!

Editor’s Opinion In Armand’s President’s Message for this month, he describes the board composition and the absence of general elections for the 2014-2015 membership year.  Armand surmises that the membership is happy with the board and its management of the club and the direction the board is taking.  I would like to offer a differing opinion.  I contend that one does not know how the membership feels without elections or taking a survey.  While continuity is good, new blood could be better.  Some of the board members have been tirelessly fulfilling for years.

Some of us would like to relinquish our positions and move on.  We don’t really know how the membership feels, or perhaps, you’re apathetic, assuming that the club will take care of itself while you enjoy all that the club has to offer. Hopefully, this has given you something on which to ponder and make the decision to step up and become a member active in the running of your club. ~ your Ed. ~

Snow activities in summer!

So, the day before Memorial Day, I ran another marathon, but I had this urge for snow, so 4 days later, I was climbing to the top of Mount Shasta at 14,179 feet with crampons on my feet, helmet on my noggin and ice axe in hand.  It was an arduous two day adventure, but very rewarding. Read about my adventure here: << Mt Shasta climb >>

A New Season
June marks a new season for NSC and so far it’s off to a great start. As president for a third term it’s a pleasure to announce that we have the same returning board members, which will maintain the continuity we’ve had for the past five years.  Although we have provisions for nominations/elections and we didn’t have any this year, it appears that perhaps the membership is satisfied with the current board and direction the club is taking. But, there’s always room for improvement and the board is going to actively pursue candidates that would be an asset as new board members.

Another highlight for the new season is the addition of four new members (and hopefully more in the coming months), and the return of former members. Most likely this is due to the popularity of the Jackson Hole trip, and it’s encouraging to see former members return to NSC. See the <<Membership Report >> for additional details.

Mt. View Obon Festival July 19th and 20th
This is an annual volunteer event that NSC participates in and is always a fun event. After all, there’s a variety of food, carnival-style games, cultural events, lots of people, and the famous Beer Booth. There’s room for a few more volunteers to work the Beer Booth.  Here’s the link to the << Obon Festival flyer >> or contact Karen Soo (tripdirector@niseiskiclub.org).

NSC Picnic, August 9th
Mark this down in your calendar for the NSC Picnic on August 9th at the Las Palmas park in Sunnyvale (same place as last year). See the flyer  at this link:  <<Picnic Flyer >>  and there will be an Evite invitation in your email sometime in July.

Jackson Hole, a Big NSC Ski Week?
When I first announced on our Sun Peaks ski week that Jackson Hole would be our destination for 2015 there were quite a few positive responses. Later, as news started spreading it came to my attention that this could be a really big event. I also learned that there are quite a few members from the Hawaii Ski Club that are interested. So, in response to the popularity of this trip I’ve increased the 40-person limit to 50. Look for the Jackson Hole flyer in this edition of the newsletter and other details on the Jackson Hole Report.  << Sign Up form & Info >>

~ Armand Gutierrez, President ~

Membership Activity

May was just a flurry of renewals, former members joining, and new memberships as members took advantage of the early sign-up discount.  There were a total of 37 signups, with four new members joining NSC for the first time, which handily beats last year’s 26 early signups.  Currently we have 44 members (including the seven board members), which is a record for early signups. Last year we had a total of 52 members and it looks like we’ll surpass that in June.

I would like to welcome new members Teresa and Warren Miller from Live Oak, and David Schultz and Lieu Lieu from San Jose. I’ve known Teresa and Warren for several years and have skied with them up at Tahoe. We also skied and stayed at the same hotel on the FWSA Zermatt ski week this past March. David and Lieu have been on Hoyt’s summer hikes and have wanted to join NSC for several years.

In addition to new members there were nine former members that have returned to NSC, most likely for the Jackson Hole trip in 2015. The return of former members is exciting because it’s always a pleasure to see familiar faces.

Jackson Hole Ski Week (24-31 January 2-15)

Last month the board met Matt Hollis from Sports America at our May board meeting. Matt provided us with  information about the Jackson Hole trip and I’ve been working with him to finalize the lodging arrangements. For details on this great trip see the Jackson Hole flyer in the June Newsletter. This trip appears to be quite popular and I’ve already expanded the available airline seats from 40 to 50.

I’m also getting indications that the Jackson Hole trip might bring in a few members that we haven’t seen in quite awhile so hopefully that will mean more signups in the coming months.

Sign up form and details link → Jackson-Hole Flyer -SignUp

The week of Memorial Day was a very busy week for me, your newsletter editor.  The day before Memorial Day, I ran another marathon and BQ’d.  It must have been the runner’s high or euphoria of some crazy nature, or maybe just plain craziness,  but 3 days later, I was headed to Mount Shasta to climb to the summit with a group of 10. Of the 10, only 3 were experienced at mountaineering.  We had backpacking experience, but not mountaineering experience.  Heck, we had trouble figuring out how to put the crampons on! Nonetheless, , we enthusiastically set forth on our adventure with the assurance that 2 of the experienced climbers worked with Mountain Rescu! but had never climbed Shasta before. The plan was to hike/climb up on Day 1 from the  at Bunny Flat trail head (6700 feet) and set up base camp at Helen Lake at 10,000 feet of elevation .  On Day 2, the plan was climb to the summit and descend  back to our cars .

Day 1 – The first couple of miles from Bunny Flat (I never saw any bunnies) were your garden variety backpack trail.  

Then it became scree, loose rock.  Loose scree rock gave way to snow.  SOFT HEAVY snow!!!  The stuff you sink into up to your knees at time especially with a 35 – 40 pound pack on your back.  (reminder to self – bring trekking poles next time) The final ascent to Helen Lake was incredibly steep, but little did we know, the climb to the summit was to be much steeper at times. Camping in the snow at 10,000 feet can be bitterly cold, especially if the wind kicks up.  To make this more difficult, Mount Shasta is one of the National Park sites where one  is required to carry out one’s human waste!  So, we had to take time to aim our derrières at paper targets, then collect the results into paper bags, then seal them into zip lock bags and pack it out.  All this with frozen hands and  rear-ends!

Day 2 – The summit climb was unforgivingly cold.  We awoke at 2:30 but our group didn’t get going until almost 5 am.  Other climbing groups set off much earlier, as early as  2:30.  It was so cold that I wore a light base layer, a thick “expedition” weight base layer, a down vest AND a jacket and wasn’t too warm despite the exertion of climbing up a steep icy slope above 10,000 feet.  Virtually everyone’s water froze.  Even those with insulated hoses on their CamelBaks had frozen hoses and bite valves.  I kept my bottle from freezing by keeping it inside my down vest!  Despite that precaution, ice crystals  could be seen forming in those few minutes when I took it out to drink from & share with others.  As I had decided late to go on this climb, I didn’t have time to buy or break in proper mountaineering boots.  My normal lightweight hiking boots gave me frozen toes for the first several hours of the summit climb.  However, despite not having mountaineering boots, I never had the predicted problems with loose crampons. Word of advice – wear warm mountaineering boots!

The first climb from Helen Lake to Red Banks, a wall of red rocks,  was entirely in the dark.  The climb was so steep that our rhythm was to walk only 20 or 30 steps and rest for a few minutes.  We chose nearby “goals” to aim for, rock formations that were only about 75 yards away.  When we reached those goals, we sat down, rested, re-hydrated, ate a little and made crampon adjustments as needed. We were all so grateful when the sun finally rose high enough to warm our frozen bodies.  But the warm sunny slopes meant that the icy slopes gave way to soft deep slushy snow!  This was much harder to climb through than the ice. While easier to walk on, the ice was dangerous, .  We had to learn how to execute an ice arrest with our ice axes in the event of falling and sliding down the mountain, or worse, off a cliff.  In addition there was also the danger of falling rocks.

The mountain began to take it’s toll and only 3 of us  7 newbies made it to the summit.  The rest  succumbed to fatigue, dizziness, nausea, headaches and altitude sickness.  My fellow summiters, Lauren,  Chris and I were exuberant upon finally making it to the 14,179 foot summit.  The summit views were incredible as Mount Shasta is a stand alone volcanic mountain, unattached to other mountains.  Hence, we could see for miles around including Mount Lassen over a hundred miles away!

Descending was also taxing.  The last  picture above is of Lauren (in red)  descending backwards using her ice axe and crampons to tackle this steep section.  We learned this technique thanks to our mountain rescue fellow climbers, Todd and  Joe.  Thankfully, Todd and Joe accompanied us on the descent until we were within sight of our tents when they were certain we wouldn’t be stranded on the mountain. After descending back to Helen Lake in the heat of the day, we broke down our tent, rested and ate some, then descended back to Bunny Flat.  It was a really tough day.  We finally arrived at our car  at 9:40 pm, the last portion of the descent in the dark by head lamp, of course.  19 hours after we woke up that day, we were finally done. It was a rewarding close to a strenuous and rewarding week.  

Next climb – Kili! (I hope) Anyone who is reasonably fit and a lot of determination can do this climb! ~ Ed. ~