Pick-Up Follies

Sometime after Thanksgiving, I was out in the parking lot at work my supervisor and a bunch of co-workers around trying to replace a serpentine belt in my truck. As the seemingly simple task of replacing the belt was becoming more daunting and difficult it started to dawn on us that maybe the auto parts store made a mistake and gave me the wrong sized belt. Before that concept could sink into my head, my supervisor who at the time was giving it a try sheared off the bolt to the tensioner pulley (note: in order to remove the belt you have to relieve the tension on it by applying leverage to a bolt that moves the pulley away from the belt). "Fuck" was the first word that came to mind and my mouth. Step 2 at this point was easy and all to familiar when it came to problems with this truck: I got a ride to my house (in our ambulance in this case), picked up my other car, and had the truck towed at a later day. The 7 weeks following that day were spent swearing and sweating as I attempted with all of my might to remove the pulley bolt and eventually the entire pulley tensioner assembly off my engine block with the intention of replacing it. Two things proved my downfall in a speedy repair of my truck: the first was the lack of the appropriate tools to do the job and the second being my reluctance to pay someone to do what I at first thought would be a simple job. It being a new year and 6 months since I've been able to drive the old girl, I finally swallowed my pride and had the truck towed to a diesel mechanic who had the entire tensioner assembly replaced in a few hours. Since she was in there I had him take care of a few other minor problems. Hopefully I'll be swinging by Monday to pick it up. As much as I love that truck, my new year's resolution for 2010 is to again own a car newer than 2000...

Happy Birthday...

This past week leading up today has been very distracting for me. Today, my father would have been 71. His birthday has held a somber tone with me ever since he died. I keep forgetting that mine is in 8 days but I always know within a few weeks that his is upcoming. I still miss him terribly and every once in a while it really affects the way I think/concentrate as well as my performance at work and in life. Yesterday while at work, my partner and I were called to INOVA's Heart and Vascular Institute (a facility from which we're bound to do 2-5 transports a day but for the sake of this post it's the part of Fairfax Hospital in which my father died) to pick up a patient and take them back to their residence. Upon arriving at the ambulance entrance, as we were getting out, a funeral home van pulled into their designated parking spot, pulled out a gurney, and proceeded inside the building. Seeing that this was a normal part of our (and his) job we continued doing what we were doing. However, what proved to be creepy was the large Raven that was hanging around the black van on that cloudy and particularly gloomy day. We proceeded inside up to the 2nd floor to pick up our patient. As we got to the nurses station, I looked around and my eyes fell upon the room in which my father died: 259. Flashbacks from that early morning came to me fast. I fought them back in order to focus on my job but that dull feeling I first started experiencing outside stayed with me for the rest of the day.

Today wasn't bad though. My partner has become a good friend of mine and he helps keep a sometimes mundane day interesting. I managed to stay focus and happy. I use my father's birthday as a day to embrace his life and life in general. The years fleeting away from 2006 are getting better and better. Now, I have my own birthday to contend with...



Happy Birthday
Nathan E. Bevans
23 January 1939 - 20 April 2006

Disconnected from Maleigha

I'm trying to covertly establish myself as an unofficial live-in member at the firehouse. It's been working very well. So well that a) not many people have realized I've been doing it the past week or so and b) I see my house about once a week. Between living at the firehouse, being sick, and work, I haven't been able to talk/see my daughter in a couple weeks which has worn me down a bit. Her mother and I have been attempting to arrange to get a hold of each other at least once a week which worked for a bit but now it's been hard. With my new laptop, I'm hoping to find time in the evenings no matter where I am to give them a few minute call...even at work that has proved pretty hard.

Maleigha has definitely grown! Her vocabulary, still very limited, is definitely more extensive since I last saw her in August. Kim has told me that it has grown even since I last spoke to her so I'm hoping for a surprise when I talk to her/them in a couple of days...

Mid-Atlantic Winter Recreating...

It's been pretty cold here in the DC area the past couple weeks. The nights have been getting down into the high negative teens (that's Celsius...so the positive teens Fahrenheit). With a near constant wind over the past few weeks, the windchill has been getting into the low negative teens if not pushing -20 C. I'm very use to this. For my friends and family who have yet to venture beyond either of the polar circles the weather has proved merciless and frigid. We've already had one major snowstorm that dumped about 55 cm on the DC area and more are predicted well into late February. I'm longing for the wind and snowdrifts of Antarctica right now...

The cold does not stop me from heading into the wilds. The problem with a lot of DC climbers is the fact that the second the temperature drops below 10 C they run for the comfortable confines of a gym until there's enough fake snow strewn about the few ski resorts we have in the region. Finding climbing partners who are willing to venture out in the cold and snow in the middle of January to climb a few pitches of trad is definitely a feat. Trying to coordinate schedules is even worse! There is always skiing though. The nearest resort to the DC area is Ski Liberty near Gettysburg, PA. Albeit a small resort...it's something. The closest place where I'd have to wear a transceiver would be 9 hours away in New Hampshire. So here I am, stuck in this hole called the Mid-Atlantic. I should come up with a paypal donation account to raise money to fly me somewhere snow laden and mountainous...

A New Year

Well it's a brand new year as well as a new decade (unless you're Roman in which case your new decade starts next year...). A year ago, I was hoping to be spending this recent New Year's back in McMurdo. After dealing with several issues regarding my school, distant learning, and the sheer fact that I was attending Virginia classes online in Antarctica, I felt it necessary to put McMurdo on hold for a while until I'm done with school. It was incredibly painful then while I was down on the ice knowing that I wouldn't be coming back the following year. It was especially painful throughout the entire fall reading blogs and facebook status updates of friends who were heading back down there. Such is life though. I figure I can dream and research cool things to do here, around this country, and around the globe but for now I'll definitely live one day at a time.

I've been told that I've been offered a job with the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority (MWAA) Fire Department by a chief there who retired on the 31st. My being hired then was in preparation of the subsequent promotions to fill his spots and the spots that would open up underneath him. This, my friends, came as bittersweet excitement: I am totally stoked that I am working for MWAA's fire department. I really am. They have everything I look for in a fire department sans a wildland program: Aircraft Rescue and Firefighting (ARFF), a haz-mat team, a technical rescue program, a marine program, etc. At the same time, the prospect of settling down for however long in a permanent job scares the shit out of me. Fear aside, I really can't complain. I'll be working in a fire department job with benefits, I'll be receiving a decent paycheck, and I'll be receiving some excellent training and experience. I'm hoping to continue working for PTS on a part-time basis as well as picking up a part-time job with Patagonia in Georgetown (outdoor clothing and climbing equipment is expensive!). So for now, I'll be living in the DC area for a lot longer than I expected...

First Winter Storm, First Winter Problems

I've been slacking on the post front which I really apologize for. I'm hoping to put some past stories that take place from the past few months up but in the mean time I'll start with today's actions.

Saturday the Washington DC area experienced it's first winter storm for the season. We received about 4-6 inches of snow that reduced the area into a state of mild pandemonium. Grocery stores were packed. There were motor vehicle accidents everywhere. You would have thought the apocalypse was coming. Sadly, this is fairly typical for the metro area when we get any type of storm with the word "winter" in it. My Saturday morning was spent waking up at a friend's apartment still drunk from the night before. I managed to slalom amongst the timid crowding the roads from Arlington back to Great Falls to sleep in an actual bed versus a couch. My day was fairly uneventful. I had been looking forward to an ice skating date with a friend later that night so I just lazed around the house wasting time until night fall. About an hour before I left, my mother cried out to me, "Did you hear something fall?" I had heard nothing. Then again, I was playing music pretty loudly and had barely heard her. My friend who had been walking with his wife by our pipe stem came, knocked on our door, and informed us of the source of the noise: A 20 meter tree with a diameter of almost a meter fell over in our yard barely missing our house. I cut up some branches so our neighbor could in fact get out of their driveway, took a shower, and went out with my friend.

My friend and I came back to my place with a bottle of wine and watched TV till we eventually passed out (from skating and not necessarily wine that is...). When I woke up it and left the house to take her back, it dawned on me a) how much of a task it was going to be to get rid of the tree and b) how lucky we were that it didn't fall 90 degrees to the right into the house. I had no luck Sunday trying to find a chain saw so I lazed around again till Monday. We used the phrase "Saw shape" to describe how in shape one was to run a chainsaw for hours on end in a fire. Saw shape I was not in. The tree was hemmed up in several different trees in our yard. I spent most of my time cutting away brances of smaller bushes and trees just to get to the tree that actually fell so I can see how to get that one down. I left my house after hours of cutting bushes and broken branches to get more fuel and contemplate as to how long it would take me to finish falling this tree. While I was out I decided to get some fuel and something to eat.

From Home - D.C

From Home - D.C

From Home - D.C

I went to a Sunoco at the intersection of Leesburg Pike and Baron Cameron Ave in Herndon/Great Falls, VA. I started the pump and went inside to get a gatorade and something to eat. I looked like shit. I was wearing dirty oil covered overalls, and a black flees with sawdust all over it. I was walking out and to my car when a woman that had just pulled up in a Lexus put her credit card in my hand and told me to, "fill it up with regular and make sure you do a good job on my windshield when you wipe it this time!" A wave of anger overcame me stemming from working in my yard for hours on end. My mouth loosened to say something vulgar but I hesitated. Instead, I smiled, said, "Yes ma'am", stuck her card into the pump, stuck the Diesel nozzle into her tank on full blast, and gave her card back (she never even looked me in the eye while she was talking on her cell phone). I got in my car and left.

At this point I was pretty upset with the way the day was going. I finished for the day around 1730. There was shit everywhere. You could smell pine for hundreds of yards. Our yard was covered with sawdust, pine needles, mud, and bucked up logs. There's still 25 feet of tree hung up in another tree that I have to take care of tomorrow. But, our house is standing and we're alive, thank God. Hopefully the rest of the storms throughout the winter don't bring any other problems to our home.

October

I was actually amazed by the amount of people that follow my ramblings about my life regardless of whether I'm traveling or not which made me fell somewhat bad that I haven't been updating this thing much since I've been back from Utah. I'm still working for Physicians Transport on probably one of the best shift-schedules I could possibly ask for (3 days on, 1 day off, 3 days on, 7 days off). I'm back volunteering with AVFRD on a more-than-regular basis and I'm in the process of trying to volunteer on a regular basis at Seat Pleasant Fire Department. I'm volunteering with Shenandoah Mountain Rescue Group but not as much as I had been hoping to on account of scheduling conflicts at work. I can say for the least, I'm happy with everything I had planned for this time of the year.

October was a rough month for me despite everything going well. For most of the month I've had an overwhelming feeling that I should be somewhere but here. I should be flying somewhere, or staring at a mountain, or exchanging money. Alas, I am here, in Great Falls, VA. It feels good to be at home being close to school so I won't have the academic problems I did when I was halfway around the world this time last year. I did not get the job I was hoping to with the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authorities which means unless I get another semi-permanent job along the lines of what I was looking for with MWAA, I'll be back out west next summer. I've made the decision to apply for both summer and winter alternate Lieutenant positions within the Antarctic Fire Department because, hey, you never know what I'll do if presented an opportunity at the last minute but for now, looks like PTS with an interim for the summer with the NPS somewhere.

Never Forget

On this specific day, I've been reading a lot of Facebook status updates, twitter feeds, news headlines, etc. and thinking about the meaning of a lot of what people have to say about today. Some of them were elaborate. Some people tried to reach out to the masses with large and striking fonts. Some people were very passionate and emotional, sometimes evoking muse from biblical passages. There was only that truly stood out to me. One that still evoked emotion with two simple words yet managed to encompass the thoughts and feelings of Americans as well citizens of other countries sympathetic to us in our time of remembrance and sorrow: "Never Forget". I really don't think I need to say anything more to symbolize the importance of those words and this day...

A Recap

I've been extremely lazy with my posting here on tmbevans.blogspot.com. The reality is I don't even have an excuse. To recap since my last post on the 11th of August, life is a little bit slower now. I drove back to Northern Virginia/D.C. after visiting my daughter in Boise, ID. I traded my Nissan Xterra for a 1993 Ford F-250 and have been happy and ecstatic over the decision ever since. I'm back volunteering on a regular basis at the Ashburn Volunteer Fire & Rescue Department and I forgot how much I miss the place and the people here. I volunteer my time with the Shenandoah Mountain Rescue Group doing Search and Rescue here in the mid-Atlantic. I work for Physicians Transport Services as an EMT-Basic and am loving (almost) every second of it. Class(es), traveling, and just spending time with friends sums up the past few weeks...

As far as current events, I've applied to a firefighter position with the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority whose hiring process I start next Wednesday. I've been feeling pretty down that I'm not heading back to McMurdo this year. I've been reading a lot of status updates on Facebook of friends heading down or getting ready to and it sometimes makes my heart sink. I also felt pretty bad leaving Zion helitack so early despite how slow the season was even after I left. But it does feel good to be home...

Back at Work...Stuck at Coal Pits

My days back following my medical follies were spent at a lovely location outside of the main part of Zion National Park called Coal Pits. Coal Pits is a hellish patch of desert in the Virgin River gorge where Springdale and Rockville, UT are located. It's owned by the NPS and is used as a helibase/spot for incidents in the park as well as a shooting range for the rangers. Our stay there was to support the 100th Anniversary Fire named in honor of the Centennial celebration within the park. Our involvement was limited to helibase duties which, for a fire this small, was pretty limited in it self. Still I can't really complain...I'm physically able to be back at work and I'm getting paid to sit at Coal Pits for 3 days. It would be nice if someone turned down the heat a little.

Health Insurance Follies

With impecable timing regarding a possible reform on health care in America, I ended up going to the ER last Sunday morning right before I was suppose to go into work. Thinking my pain was pulmonary related (sharp, stabbing pain in my right chest under my armpit) I wasn't really that worried. I came to find that the nurse that was reviewing my x-ray thought I had some enlargement of the left side of my heart and I was having a mild arrhythmia (ST Elevation to be exact). A shock indeed, but almost right away I really didn't think much of it for some reason. It could have been my faith in that what ever will be will be and my life was in the hands of God (which I was happy with)...or it could have been the fact that I had been working out the past few days in a row all the while reaching my target heart rate with no pain, ill effect, or any suggestion that anything cardiac was wrong with me. After a few hours of hanging out in the ER with a friend (Thanks Thea!), I was discharged with orders for light duty at work and an echocardiogram sometime within the near future. Monday morning it was and the beginnign of my insurance follies. Now, after reading an article about how a girl got sued by her apartment rental company for complaining about mold in her apartment on her Twitter page, I'll with hold the name of the insurance carrier for fear of a law suit for defamation (I know, I must be ill, right?). Throughout the afternoon after I got out of the ER I was trying to prepare myself for whatever tests and appointments I had to schedule (and pay for) considering I was still thinking in the back of my head something may be really wrong with me. My insurance company did not want to pay for the appointment since they believed it to be elective since I was not getting the procedure done in the ER. After and hour of arguing I finally managed to convince them to cover me (which was sad I had to convince them in the first place). Monday morning, when I was sitting in the receptionist's office, she informed me that my insurance company in fact changed their mind when they found out that I was out of state. Needless to say, ferocity ensued. The overall tab for the echocardiogram turned out to be $1100 plus another $400 for a consult later on that week. A day after I had that simple, albeit expensive, 30-minute procedure, I came back to the ER only to find out that nothing was wrong with me and whoever red my x-ray completely misread it. On top of that the degree of ST elevation I had was completely normal for me. I'm still fighting the issue with my insurance company but I am relieved to be in good health. This could, however, end up to be a $1500 check-up for me if I managed to lose this fight. All I gotta say is that Obama, something needs to be done because this is appauling!

A July Synapsis

I've been pretty lazy with my posts for the month of July (as is typical I've noticed for the summer months as far as this blog is concerned) so I figured I'll recap the entire month in one, long-ass entry...

The beginning of this month began with fire. Our first two fires were in Zion National Park. The Woofman fire and the Horse fire both started out pretty small in the first few days of their existence. I never made it to the Horse fire (we were only needed for two days on my days off) but I managed to get a couple operational periods in on the Woofman fire:

From Zion Helitack 2009

From Zion Helitack 2009

A week went by before we went on another fire to the north of us near Richfield, UT called the Amos Canyon Fire. This fire didn't see us do much asides from assist with a couple recons only to leave a few hours after we showed up. We went on our first major fire on 11 July up near Panguitch Lake. The Horse Valley fire proved our longest roll so far. 6 days were spent running the helibase and working on the line combating the tens of spot fires the main fire had caused.

From Zion Helitack 2009

From Zion Helitack 2009

From Zion Helitack 2009

Since then most of our time has been spent running small single-trees that have been struck by lightening and doing some project work around the place. Now, (of course 3 weeks before I drive home) we're definitely starting to pick up a lot of lightening and a lot of local fires...as crazy as it sounds I'm probably going to miss this place when I leave on the 18th...

I've spent a little time here and there getting away from Cedar City. I had my sea kayak shipped out this way so I could use it on the many lakes and reservoirs around this area...primarily Navajo Lake:

From Cedar City

From Cedar City

From Cedar City

From Cedar City

I've managed to get out for a few local climbs but nothing in the park this month. With me being the states for the rest of the winter, I'm really not too worried about trying to get as much climbing as I can in the summer...

Asides from all of that, I've been trying to trade in the Xterra for an older model Ford pick up...like a 1996 F-250 or something like that. Despite being away in the winters for the past two years, I've driven the shit out of that car over the past 5 years and it has held up pretty well but I'm looking for some thing that will hold up for a few hundred thousand miles versus what a gas engine will. I dunno. I have 3 weeks to pull it off...hopefully I'll be driving home in something different than what I have now...

I think that sums up the month of July so far...

A Wet Situation in the Present and Busy Situation in the Future

Dreams of firefighting glory and paychecks fat with overtime and hazard are slowly crushed into reality with the continued assault of rain on the land here in Southern Utah. Every morning at work we read the National Situation Report praying for an increase in activity or an elevation of the National Preparedness Level. Slowly, the amount of fire we're seeing in the states is increasing. I guess now it's just a matter of time before we start working fires on a regular basis.

My time here away from work is spent relaxing. As much as I love (and sometimes hate) it out here, I'm counting down the days till I can get back home and enjoy several months at home. While I'm here, I'm hoping for fires for more experience and to attend certain trainings to further advance my career with qualifications.

I'm looking, this coming fall/winter/spring, to pile on things to keep me busy. I have a job (hopefully) lined up with an interfacility ambulance transport service which will be my main source of income over the months. I'm already planning on returning to duty with Ashburn during the last week in August. I'm looking to volunteer for Shenandoah Mountain Rescue Group when I get back as well. Hopefully in November, Virginia's wildfire season will be busy enough to warrant a deployment out of me. With Zion Helitack's hopeful plans of putting up an aerial ignition module for the winter with the sole purpose to provide prescribed fire solutions to various government organization I'm hoping to possibly come back out west to do one or two two-week details with the crew and possibly work on some aerial ignition qualifications myself. And maybe, if I'm not busy enough as it is, I'm hoping to work part-time with Patagonia in DC to help with financing my addiction to climbing and (now) skiing. With work, obviously, comes play. I've been telling myself since I won't be going to Antarctica this season I'm looking to do a couple weekend Europe, Africa, and/or Central and South American trips this winter. For a while (before I even knew that I wasn't going back down to Antarctica during the 2009-2010 season) I had been planning on a trip to Iran to do some backcountry skiing and climbing. A lot of people (due to their ignorance) expressed their displeasure in the idea which fueled the urge to go through with the trip even more. With the current political upheaval and social unrest in the country I may put that trip off for a little bit longer. All of that on top of school means for a fun, albeit busy, winter...

Rain, Rain, and Lots of It

We're 3 weeks into June and it has done nothing but rained it's ass off. This time last year we were already well into our fire season with the Corn Creek Fire that grew over 2500 acres before being considered "controlled". Here we're getting rain on an average of every other day. For us firefighters here in Color Country (and probably everywhere), every day at work we see rain proves demoralizing for the fire season outlook (as well as that of our seasonal salary). It's like I explain to everyone that's not a firefighter: firefighters and EMT's don't wish death and destruction on anyone...but we damn sure want to be there when it happens. Anyways, our days have been spent trying to find things to keep us busy. Hopefully it picks up and we can get away from the base for a while...I think we all are getting pretty restless...

From Zion Helitack 2009

From Zion Helitack 2009

A Work Project on Top of West Temple

Monday was a project day at work for we spent all day in the park flying up to two of the several repeaters in the area. With fortune having me on the initial attack load on our helicopter for the day, I got to do the first flight of the day which took us up to West Temple in the park. The morning brought on flying repeater technicians up to the sight as well as slinging their gear up behind them. While we sat there for hours waiting for them to finish (and a while I was flying up too) I took in the scenery around me:

From Zion Helitack 2009

From Zion Helitack 2009

From Zion Helitack 2009

From Zion Helitack 2009

From Zion Helitack 2009

From Zion Helitack 2009

From Zion Helitack 2009

From Zion Helitack 2009

After 3 or 4 hours chilling on top of the plateau we flew back down to let a few other firefighters have some scenic fun this time at a repeater site called Timber Top in the Kolob District of the park. For the rest of us we hung out by I-15 handling cargo nets at our temporary helibase and just hanging out. All in all a fun day at work taking in the scenery of my office!

Keyhole Canyon - Zion National Park

Today, being the last day of my standard three day weekend, was spent in Zion with my friend Dan and his friend Sally (an Interpretive Ranger within the park) exploring a slot canyon within the park known as Keyhole Canyon. Keyhole was a very short and fun (and incredibly cold even with a wetsuit) technical slot canyon that we were able to finish in under two hours (before 1300 to be exact).

From Miscellaneous Climbing and Hiking

From Miscellaneous Climbing and Hiking

The route through the canyon required a few rappels...both of which required swimming when reaching the bottom.

From Miscellaneous Climbing and Hiking

From Miscellaneous Climbing and Hiking

Near the end (during which I left my camera in the dry box I had) was a windy section of the canyon nearly 50 meters long, less than 4 feet wide, and over 6 feet deep. Luckily since the canyon was so narrow at this point we made our way through by pushing against the walls. The canyon opened into a drainage less than a 1/4 mile from the trailhead and our car. After loading our wet clothing and gear in the car, we got lunch and then parted ways all before 1500. Not a bad way to spend the day....

A Month Hiatus...

It's been a month since I last made a post here and for that I apologize. I really don't have a glorious reason as to why I haven't posted an entry for so long. I would love to say that I was exploring the Sahara or skiing in the Pamirs or climbing some remote unknown peak. In reality I just got lazy over the past few weeks. The start of our crew was a blessing for me. Our first day was the 12th and we hit the ground running...literally in that sense as well. For the first couple of weeks we were PTing twice a day which I welcomed considering how out of shape I was yet still dreaded. We spent most of that time training: helitack operations, orienteering, NPS training, initial attack wildland firefighting, etc. Our first taste of fire came in our second week when we did a small prescribed fire within Zion National Park. With our helicopter coming on last Thursday, we started doing a lot of project work over the weekend which also led to our first fire! I don't have any pictures (considering I broke my camera skiing last month) but it really wasn't much. A single juniper tree that got struck by lightening. Considering that our first fire last year didn't come until 15 June, this is a very good sign as to what will come of this fire season. I'm in debt right now and I'm trying to buy a new truck (no one tell my mother!) this summer so hundreds of hours of overtime will definitely help!

I started working 4 10-hour days on Saturday which makes my particular work week Friday through Monday. I'm going to try to travel as much as I can between visiting Maleigha in Boise and being close to Las Vegas' Airport. Hopefully this is a premise to more exciting journal entries!

Improvised Emergency Toboggan

During my epic adventure yesterday, after the first time I twisted my knee, I started thinking about self-rescue techniques that usually linger in my mind when I head out into the back country, more as an EMT rather than just a safety-conscious skier or climber. I remembered a few techniques I had read about that either left a lot of questions unanswered or required commercially built equipment to complete the package. Today, I spent it all spreading out the things I would carry for single day back country tours, ski-mountaineering tours, or multi-day skiing tours. After trial and error, I came up with my own improvised sled using the stuff I religiously carry on tours:

From 009

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What you see in this photo:
Pair of K2 AT skis with rescue holes in the tips
Pair of Black Diamond Expedition Ski Poles
Black Diamond Raven Ice Axe (even though somehow I forgot it yesterday...)
15 ft untied prussik (7 mm soon to be replaced with 6 mm cord) with a standard carabiner
Black Diamond Deploy Shovel
x2 Brooks Range Ski Straps

Not shown:
x3 more ski straps I always have in my pack for a total of 5


This is the process I came up with:

Step 1:
Align the rescue holes in the tips of my skis:

From 009

Step 2:
Feed the prussik through the holes to it's halfway point

From 009

Step 3:
Disassemble shovel and place underneath the tips of the skis. Thread the cord from the skis through the top holes of the shovel.

From 009

From 009

Step 4
Cross the cord over the tops of the tips of the skis and thread them through the bottom holes of the shovel.

From 009

Step 5
Tie a bend (a connecting knot) in the ends of the cord and clip the standard biner that was used to rack the cord into the bend created by the cord.

From 009

Step 6
Thread ski straps through the holes in the head and end of the ice axe.

From 009

From 009

Step 7
Lash ice axe to the tails of the skis.

From 009

Step 8
Lash the ski poles (the patient's ski poles preferably) to the skis in the front and back of the bindings. Note: with my skis, I was able to use my ski leashes to lash the front pole to my skis.

From 009

Step 9
Real important for your patient's well being: if your skis have them, remove their crampons!

From 009

For day long tours, this is the extent of the gear I carry. It's not the most comfortable toboggan but it's definitely usable and pretty sturdy. If I were doing a multi-day tour, I could take the following extra steps to reduce hypothermia and further injuries:

Step 10
Lay a sleeping pad on top of your newly improvised toboggan (if yours is inflatable as is mine blowing it up would help).

From 009

Step 11
Lay a sleeping bag onto the pad with the head somewhere close to the shovel. Note: preferably I would put the patient into the bag before putting them onto the toboggan. It would be to their benefit to get them into a warm environment (i.e. a sleeping bag) as soon as you've finished an assessment on them.

From 009

Stay 12
Since on major tours (climbing, skiing, backpacking, etc) I carry a full 7 meter cordalette, I took the liberty to use it to lash the patient (in this case a comforter and a few t-shirts in a balaclava and ski goggles) to the toboggan utilizing the ski poles as lashing points.

From 009

Considering I was pretty sore from yesterday and I have no life, I spent all day toying around with ideas and perfecting it to my liking. Hopefully next weekend I can find a patch of snow and a willing victim to test this out!

Skiing Mt Holly

As the saying goes, "Skiing is like sex: when it's bad...it's still good." Today was a tried and true testament to that saying. My supervisor had invited me for an assault on a peak called Mt Holly about an hour and a half north of Cedar City. Being the first time I'd get to take my skis on a back country peak of decent size (a huge change from the crevasse ridden hills of Ross Island in Antarctica) I barely hesitated to charge a nearly 12,000 ft peak. I was picked up at 0800 and we were on the road around 0830 after picking up Ben's (friend and supervisor) friend. Mt Holly is easily accessed via Elk Meadows Ski Resort which has been abandoned for quite some time. We pulled into the parking lot around 1000. We changed quickly, packed our packs, and started hiking by 1030. We could have skinned but it was just as easy (if not easier) to just hoof it for the 2 miles or so to the summit. The hike to the summit was challenging but doable. Going from 200 ft elevation to 5600 ft elevation to starting a 2+ mile hike to 11,895 ft from 10,400 ft will put anyone's lungs to the test. After a hard push up a 1/4 mile up a 40-50 degree ridge, we stood proudly atop the summit and soaked in the view of the surrounding peaks and valleys. After a 30 minute break it was time to do what we had came to this place for: to ski! I happily unstrapped my skis from my pack, locked myself into my bindings, switch my boots from walk mode to ski mode, and volunteered to bring up the rear as we skied down a small bowl on the SE side of the summit. Here's where life got fun...

I made it 100 ft down the bowl when I went from happy and free to buried head first to my shoulders in snow. I dug my self out and started to figure out what the hell had happened. I looked down and realized that my Randonee bindings had unlocked; my 'free heel' (which is supposed to be locked when skiing downhill) swinging wildly in the wind. Now, I had this problem once or twice while skiing in Antarctica...but beacuse of the crevasses on the island, there wasn't much room for carving nice turns. So if you wanted to enjoy downhill skiing, you had to gun it straight down the trail (The Castle Rock Trail to be exact). I figured when I started carving hard, my heel lock came undone. No problem, clean out the snow and lock them again. I started skiing again only to have my heel unlock again twisting my knee pretty good and face planting me, again, into the snow. Got up, regained composure, tried again. Again, twisted knee and face plant. Now I figured something big was up. I hiked down to where Ben and his friend were waiting for me. When we looked at my skis, we noticed that the person that had mounted my bindings mounted the heel lock less than a 1/4 inch to far back on my skis...far back enough where if you put a little pressure against the lock, it opens without any problem....pretty dangerous if you're skiing. So choosing not to risk tearing every ligament in my knee, I decided to hike nearly a mile to a coral at the base of the bowl where everyone was waiting for me. I quickly learned that hiking down a slope in knee to thigh deep snow is harder than hiking up a slope in shin deep snow. After an hour of cussing and sloshing through snow, I made it to the bottom only to realize through the slosh and tumble that could barely be called a descent, I lost my smaller Canon Powershot camera. Oh well. I go through roughly one a year so I figured it was time. Being at the bottom was a relief...the rest of the hike back was done mostly on skis with climbing skins. Considering that my heel lock wasn't working, I figured I was in the clear with skinning back to the truck. About 1/2 a mile into the trek, one of my skins stop sticking to my ski all together...which not many people ever think about until you realize how much your other ski runs over said skin when you're trying to move. Annoying as hell is the only phrase I can think of to describe this situation. 2 hours later, I finally managed to limp back to the truck after contouring around a knob for nearly a mile and trying to descend a few more hills.

So all in all, a day trying to ski turned into a hike from hell, a sprained knee, a reality check of a defective binding mount to my ski, a trashed climbing skin, and a missing camera with nearly 60 un-downloaded photos. There was even one moment where I was so mad I threw my skis only to quickly see through my rage at the stupidity of this act and tried to slosh down-slope after them. Luckily they nosed into a patch of soft snow a couple hundred feet away. Ben, feeling sorry for me and sore from laughing at me, had a beer waiting for me (PBR to be exact) at the truck. I downed it, changed, chucked my stuff in the back of his truck, and climbed in nearly happy to get the hell off the mountain. I was hoping to get out to ski again before June but I doubt that will happen. Right now, I need to focus on taking my skis back to the shop I had the bindings mounted, talking to them, and, if it comes down to it, buying new skis and a set of skins...which will obviously come later on in the summer...right now I'm too broke.

Like I said, when it's bad...it's still good.

Sidenote: I had plenty of photos from the day but, as stated, I lost my camera. When I get photos from Ben, I'll post them.

Week 1 back at the BLM

It was good to see everyone in the Cedar City side of wildland firefighting again. Week 1 of being a seasonal BLM employee has finally passed. Pack test, done. Sexual Harassment training, done. Refresher and orientation training out of the way. Nothing really exciting happened this week asides being back at some form of work for the first time in a couple of months. Monday is my first day back on Zion Helitack. To be honest, I can't wait but I don't know what to expect. Hopefully, this fire season will be even more fun and exciting than last season.