Whitemantle Traverse 2008

This orphaned page is to help organize

Tasks

Still to do:

Steve to ask Gareth about Parks Garbage bags
Steve think about a simple crazy carpet sled that will hold the Bora 95
CV harras Whitesaddle
CV will get charts - waterproof and tide guide
Steve has a lead on aerial photo's/up-to-date loggin road maps c/o Tom Furst (friend of Pete Hudson). His company is doing microhydro work at the head of Bute Inlet.

(details to come)

test hammocks 2725 W 7th
Steve will get his knees checked (monday appointment @ Peak Performance)
Christian will get spare hose for stoves
Steve does math on solar panel
Give photocopies of maps, route plans, contacts, etc to Matthew

Completed:

Madeleine has arranged a second double kayak
Madeleine put together a great sponsorship effort, which was denied
Christian, Steve and Line prototyped sleds... decided on garbage bags
Steve bought a bunch of sled materials
Christian has talked to Homathko logging camp, and Whitesaddle Air about route
Christian has arranged for a radio for the trip (although it still hasn't arrived)
(?) Steve checked for photos on Brig, but didn't find them (?)
Christian and Line checked all past CAJ articles available at UBC
Christian talked with Baldwin about our intended route
Satphone was abandoned as an option (information contained in wiki history)
Christian bought a car, so we don't need a CAN vehicle
Personal info filled out

Conversation with Chuck

Chuck, the camp caretaker of the Homathko logging camp can be reached at (250) 286-0962 or 604-288-7747. The Logging Camp at Waddington Harbour is on the east side of the Homathko River about 3 km up the river from the ocean.

CAMP located at NAD27: 10U 368809 5646108 (bivouac)

Route - Somewhere near Potatoe Point the trail to House starts. Apparently it's obvious. The scenery along the ridge to Cumsack is supposed to be spectacular. The trail down from Cumsack is not as nice - brushy and travels through an old burn. Not recommended for uphill travel. Chuck says that lots of people head up this way to get into the Whitemantle range, but that he's not sure if it's possible to make it. I'm not sure exactly what this means - hopefully Rob Wood can clarify. Certainly, lots of people have gone along the House-Cumsack ridge.

Weather - Campbell River, Williams Lake are closest centers. Whitesaddle air might know better.

Homathko river peaks in August ~ 7knots, in May we might be able to kayak up, if we want.

Communications - Chuck says an Iridium phone might not help out so much. Homathko camp has a repeater tower which covers most of the Whitemantle - along with Whitesaddle's in the Panthenon most everywhere is covered. We should either buy a VHF programmable radio that we can program ourselves (Chuck would give us the frequencies at camp). Alternatively, Whitesaddle air rents radios with the frequencies pre-programmed.

homathko'AT'xplornet.com

Gear

Kayaking

Volume requirements

~ 400L of food 4x 50L drybags for packs 4x 120L Alpine equipment 2x 35L for kayak stuff 4x2 35L drybags for personal kayak crap 4x 5L drybags for small personal kayak crap

Total for trip ~ 1450L (no skis...)

Entertainment

Frisbee
full size deck of cards
(Line) jungle speed
each bring one book
songbook
ukulele?

Personal Gear

fishing license (for clams etc.)
Bug net
Soap/hand sanitizer
Rain/Sunhat
Bear spray (one each, with holder)
Headlamp (double for Alpine portion)
Mini light for camp, so you don't need to carry so many extra batteries (if can find one with switch)
Sunscreen
Sunglasses
Chap stick (spf 30)
toothbrush
toothpaste
dental floss
TP!
Optional moisturizer
Pee bottle (at marine store? Called "Little John")
Pee funnell for the ladies
Camera
Dive Knife
Whistle (seahorse kind)
Towel
Flagging tape to mark your drybags (Line gets Pink, Christian Orange, Steve Yellow, Madeleine Whatever)
Paddle leash (Christian will aquire)

Eating

Spoon
Bowl / measuring cup
Thermos (optional)
Nalgene
Huge water bladder or capacity (10L minimum)

Clothing

Technical top
Drytop
Wetsuit bottoms and/or Bathing suit
Neoprene booties / tivas
Neoprene skull cap / fleece
Neoprene gloves
Lightweight gloves to prevent burning - cycling gloves? (optional)
Warm upper for kayak
separate underwear for camp
fleece pants for camp
fleece hoodie for camp
warm socks for camp
clogs or other dry footwear if bringing neoprene booties

Sleeping

Sleeping Bag (not doubled with alpine) (sythetic?)
Blue foamy / thermarest
Hammock (with 3 auxillary biners)

Group

(Christian) 2 Short, sturdy, aluminum pipes to facilitate moving the kayaks as a team of 4
(Steve) Bearhang kit including 2 20m pieces of 5mm cord, 3 5m pieces of webbing, 2 pulleys and 4 'biners.
(Steve buys 1, Christian has 3, Madeleine buys 1 if feeling spendy) 5 Bear canisters - 1 per person for daily use food and a 5th for the group cooking gear.
(Madeleine + Steve) 2x Tarp and rigging
(Christian) Big pot for seafood
(Steve and Christian) 2x metal garden trowel for clams
(Christian) Clippers for trailblazing (Vlad)
(Christian and Steve) 2x pots (doubled with Alpine)
(Christian and Steve) 2x stoves (doubled with Alpine)
(Christian and Steve) 2x water treatment (pristine drops - 60ml)
(Steve) water filter
(all kayaks on their own) enough webbing to secure all drybags to deck

(Steve) Repair Kit (additional to the alpine repair kit)

extra webbing
extra elastic cord
large roll duct tape
big multitool
rivet gun
brace and bit with drill bits
2-part epoxy

Skiing/Mountaineering

Entertainment

deck of cards (Steve's microcards)

Personal Clothing

2 pairs skiing socks
1 pair sleeping socks
2 pairs skiing underwear
1 pair sleeping underwear
1 warm lower
1 base lower (preferred light, to wear in the sun)
1 shell lower
1 warm upper
1 base upper (preferred light, high collar, to wear in the sun)
1 shell upper
optional addittional warm upper
toque/balaclava
down jacket
1 pair gloves with removable liners
1 pair overmit shells
1 pair lightweight gloves to protect hands from sun
optional gaiters
camp booties (or equivalent)

Personal Skiing Gear

Skiis
Skins
Poles
Boots + Liners + orthotics
Beacon spare batteries
Shovel
Probe

Personal Large bits

(!) Huge Pack modify lid to enable day tripping
Sled are we still good to use garbage bags?
Sled towing crap - long webbing with elastic inside, 2 biners, Voile strap

Personal Small bits

Voile Straps (4 each - two medium one large one garbage sealer)
Sunglasses
Goggles (lighter lenses?)
Sunscreen
Sunhat/sunshield
nosesheild
2x extra webbing straps to attach random crap
hand sanitizer/soap
toothbrush
toothpaste
dental floss
TP!
spf30 or better Lip Balm
moisturizer with aloe
small knife, < 50g
lighter
pee funnel for the ladies
menstrual cup for the ladies (better than disposables - if it works for you)
Birth control (at least for Line)
small cloth
whistle
Compass
Headlamp spare batteries
Camera spare batteries

Personal Sleeping

Sleeping Pad
Sleeping Bag

Mountain Gear

2x 60m ropes (maybe buy new lighter ones?)
1 long iceaxe each
Secondary super-light axe (?)
Single long screw with hooker
Crampons
Harnesses
Ski crampons (?)
Helmets (?)
2 prussiks each
2 small locking biners each
1 large locking biner
1 double length sling each
2 non-lockers
2 prussik minding pulleys total (?)
10m rap tat

Group

(Christian) Tent with spare pole segment
(Madeleine) Thermos (?)
Bear spray (?)
(Christian) Spare pole (colapsable) (? likely not)
(Christian) 1 Extra sunglasses
(Christian) Kickwax
(Line) 2x Pinklady
(Steve) Globstopper
(Christian) Maps
(Steve) Guidebook - photocopy relavent peaks
(Steve) GPS spare batteries
(Christian) Altimeter
(Christian) VHF Radio spare batteries
(Christian and Steve) 2x pots
(Christian and Steve) 2x stoves with repair kits
(Christian and Steve) 2x windscreens
(Christian and Steve) 2x heat exchangers
(Line) 1x pot scrapers
(Line) 1x scrubbies
(Steve) 1x spondonacles
(Line) Fuel Email faff about how much
(Madeleine) Extra salt and pepper
(leftover from kayak) Water drops
(Line) black plastic for water generation

==== Repair kit ==== (Christian and Line) note: spare ski pole, tent pole segment, and sunglasses in group kit

small roll duct tape
25' steel wire
small multitool
small screwdriver
small file
1x G3 repair kit screws
2x extra binding cables
2x extra cartridges
3x extra heel throws (Steve got one)
spare skin tip loop
seam grip
2 m of 2mm elastic cord
15m 2-3mm cord
spare basket
goretex patches
thermarest patch kit
spare thermarest valve

Eating

Bowl/measuring cup
optional shaker cup
Spoon
Nalgene
Water Bladder

Not bringing

Extra iceaxe
Snowsaw
Pickets
Rock Pro
Belay Device

Food

Requirements

Kayak

9 Breakfasts (max 3 warm, min 6 cold)
10 Lunches (must be edible as snacks - we will likely not find beaches to eat at)
9 Dinners

Alpine

16 Breakfasts (4 warm are shared, remainder are cold)
16 Lunches
16 Dinners

Transport/Faffing

Breakfast at Zoe's / Quadra
Dinner at Zoe's / Quadra
Meals for drive to / from Quadra

All dinners will be shared! Each person brings 1 group breakfast for the Alpine portion.

Everyone brings

26 lunches
21 breakfasts
4 Alpine dinners to share
1 Alpine breakfast to share
2 Kayak dinners to share

Christian brings 1 extra Kayak dinner

Supplements

2 servings Protein Goo per day
multivitamin
optional glucosamine
optional cold assist

Christian

Average daily consumption

200g Breakfast
500g Lunch
400g Dinner
50g Chocolate
60g Protein Goo (2 servings)

Breakfasts

21x200g=4.2kg
2.2kg (11 days) Granola
1.2kg (6 days) Oatmeal
0.8kg (4 days) Oats

Lunches

26x~500g=13kg
25% = 3.25kg trail mix
25% = 3.25kg sesame sticks
15% = 2.0kg pepper nut cookies
10% = 1.3kg granola bars
10% = 1.3kg cheese
7.5% = 1.0kg meat jerkey
7.5% = 1.0kg peanut butter

Alpine Dinners

minestrone soup + shrimp and sundried tomato on angel hair pasta with lemon pesto sauce
crab and corn soup + savory chow mien dish
good old fashioned tomato and ground beef spaghetti with Parmesan + mousse (or sorbet if I can pull it off...)
meatloaf with mashed potatoes + pineapple orange tapioca

Alpine Breakfast

Muffins

Kayak Dinners

chicken soup + seafood spices, veggies and rice (to go with clams/mussels/beach crabs or limpets, in order of preference)
Chicken and gravy with cranberries and walnuts on Quinoa + jello pudding
Unknown

Line

Average daily consumption

250g Breakfast
400g Lunch
300g Dinner
60g Protein Goo

Breakfasts

21x250g=5.25kg
kg (17 days) Oat with powder milk 
1.0kg (4 days) cereal with powder milk

Lunches

26x400g=10.4kg
Peber noedder
chokolade
Beef Jerky
Gummy bears (for kayaking)
granola bars
Almonds
Cheese
Crackers
Nutella

Alpine Dinners

vegetable and shrimp noodles+ snow cones or shakes
Ground beef with mushroom sauce with mashed potatoes + tomato soup(with bacon)
Pasta with tomato sauce(with bacon) and falafel + chokolade pudding
Sweet and sour cous cous + some soup with bacon

Alpine Breakfast

Kayak Dinners

Curried rice + some soup with bacon
Spaghetti a la carbondale(with bacon)+ oat and coconut balls

Ideas?

Clarified butter to further reduce weight and reduce chance of spoiling

First Aid Kit discussion

What was brought to the head of Knight Inlet:

Drugs:

Loperamide (Immodium) x 10000
Cephalexen 500 mg x 40 (broad spectrum antibiotic)
Dipenhydramine HCl, 25 mg (antihistamine)
Hydrocortizone Cream (for itchyness)
ibuprofen

Paper:

Accident Incident Report form (form to fill out when someone gets hurt, helps you remember what to check)
Pencil
Instructions for all drugs (cut off of box, or from prescription)
Instructions for more complicated bandaging supplies
Guide to Wilderness Medicine
Accident flowchart (steps to take)
Illustrated Guide to Life Threatening Emergencies

Wound cleaning:

10 mL syringe
nitrile gloves
povidone iodine prep pads
isopropyl alcohol prep pads
cotton tipped applicators
Ziploc for waste

Cutting:

several needles (various sizes)
scalpel blades (we had #11 and something else?)
first aid scissors (easily cut through clothing etc, blunt end)

Bandaging:

lots of bandaids
2nd skin blister pads
several OpSite sheets
various sizes of steri-strips
2nd Skin Moist Burn Pads
numerous 3x3" and 4x4" sponges
some non-adherent dressings
moleskin
triangular bandage
safety pins
tensor bandage
small rolls of gauze
abd pad

Tape:

athletic tape
micropore tape

Other:

thermometer

Not brought, but should be considered:

metal splints
thicker ziplocks for waste
polysporin
disposal of used scalpel blades/needles
stiches kit
foreceps

typically for longer trips you want more sponges, gauze, bandaging supplies because if you have a wound you have to keep changing the dressing.

Most available at Lancaster 601 W. Broadway http://www.lancastermed.com/

This stuff was packaged into 3 or 4 thematic ziplock bags inside one drybag (OR fabric one, so it's reasonably light) so you could dump out the drybag and find what you needed without worrying about the contents getting wet.

MEC Grant Application

Relavent qualifications

Madeleine is looking into an MEC grant application. Since last time I tried this we dropped a combined $15000 at MEC, this is a very good idea MEC Member info - Relevant qualifications - what you have done to prepare for this tripplease post and i will compile

Christian

Growing up in Ontario, Christian began camping, backpacking, and canoe tripping during childhood. Upon moving to Vancouver in September 2005 for graduate studies at UBC, Christian shifted his outdoor focus to better suit the mountains. After going on an introductory backcountry ski-tour with UBC's Varsity Outdoor Club in 2006 Christian discovered his true passion, and was organizing his own VOC ski-tours within a few months. Since then he's spent over 100 days on skis in the backcountry. During the summer Christian spends his time scrambling peaks and organizing the maintenance of the the VOC's backcountry huts and trails.

In the summer of 2006 he participated in a self-supported kayaked accessed attempt on Mount Waddington via Knight Inlet, including a 230km kayak approach. Logistically successful, the party of three made it to the head of Knight Inlet bringing with them full mountaineering gear for rock, snow and ice. Unfortunately, one party member became seriously ill on the second day of the land portion - this illness spread to the rest of the group and the party was forced to abandon the trip. Once everyone had recovered the party kayaked out, returning 30 days after departure (4 days early). Although the expedition failed to reach the alpine, it served as an eye opening experience to the possibilities (and difficulties) of totally self-supported travel.

Christian's role as an executive member of the VOC, with frequent organization of VOC trips as well as experience in the Canadian Armed Forces Reserves have prepared him for his leadership role on the expedition.

Partial list of ski mountaineering, winter ascents and ski-tours:

Wedge (with ski decent Wedge Couloir)
Black Tusk (false summit)
Gandalf
Aragorn
Peregrine W1
Duke ESE3
Wrottesley (kayak approach)
Snowspider
Vantage
Deception
Ashlu-Elaho traverse
Garibaldi Neve (in a day)

Steve

Madeleine

Line

Gear we need, and don't own already

Kayak

Kayak for Steve/Madeline
Spare paddle, 2 bilge pumps, 2 floating life ropes, 2 paddle floats for above kayak
2 kayak mounted compasses
Personal kayak gear

* Jacket, farmer john, skull cap, gloves for everyone, booties
* Live vest, dive knife, whistle, paddle for Steve, Line, Madeline
* Pee bottles for Steve, Line, Madeline
* Giant MSR

Dromedaries for Kayak portion

Hammocks
Giant tarp (or 2 small tarps?)
1 million drybags
1 million bear-proof cans
Custom drybag for skis (I was going to make it, but we might as well ask...)
fuel
Big pot for clams

Alpine

Big pack for Steve (he's got a borrowed Bora 95 confirmed)
Big pack for Madeline(?)
Light ice axe for Madeline(?) (chistian, line & steve have light ones)
Heat exchangers for pots (steve will buy one. does christian have one already)
Aluminum crampons(?)
Small glacier pulleys for Steve, Line, Madeline (?)
Kick wax
Altimeter
G3 repair kits (Line has bought two. Steve already owns one)
Maps?

Gear we could use, since what we own is old/heavy

Kayak

Alpine

New sleeping bags for everyone
New sleeping pads for everyone
New ski setup for Madeleine
New Gortex ___ for people (ie. pants for Christian)
New gloves
New probe for Christian
New light 450g shovels for Steve/Madeleine(?)
Crampons
Pickets
Fancy GPS
Ice screw(s) + hooker

Gear we own, but is consumable

Kayak

Lots of batteries
folding solar panel to recharge stuff

Alpine

Ropes (christian's petzl dragonfly's: two X 8.4mm X 60m @ xxx g/m. steve's mammut: one X 60m X 8.0mm @ xxx g/m)
Tent (probably not, since MEC doesn't carry a comparable tent)
Webbing

Other costs

Food
Sat phone rental
Transport costs to get to Quadra
New digital cameras for everyone (how else will they get their good photos?)
First aid supplies

Emergency Plan

Primary contact in Vancouver is Matthew. I'm putting all this info here in case my computer dies or something.