Team ready to head for Great White North

Dispatch from the team — July 10, 1997

Michelle and Morgan take a crash course in video production at NOLS

The group left Astoria for NOLS PNW in Conway, Washington on July 5. They were about to begin a new phase of training, now with the gear and guides they would have on the real expedition.

The 5th and 6th were spent organizing gear and learning the ropes at NOLS. The group was also taught the all-important fixed-line ascension, useful for going up or down crevasses. They also prepared their equipment for a training trip on Mount Baker, found in the North Cascades.

The training trip was set to go from the July 6-9. This trip was to teach the group the fundamentals of snow and glacier travel, but rain made this impossible. The conditions, rain on snow pack, were ripe for causing hypothermia, so everyone spent the 8th in tents. The group quickly left on the 9th, after brief instruction on snow techniques and ice-tool nomenclature.

The 10th was spent at NOLS PNW packing gear for the departure to Canada, which will be on the July 11.