Thursday, September 16, 2004


Matt's 30-year old North Face A-frame tent, the only one to hold up in the 60 mph winds, at base of Hotlum Glacier.
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1 comment:

MBC said...

Albeit only after the stakes yanked out from the gusts, flapping the side panels of the roof, and I climbed out at 1:30 a.m. to re-rig everything with the prow into the wind,

Then, after finally getting back into the sleep sack, the wind changed direction 90 degrees back again, So I got up again and re-rigged back to the old direction.

This time I roamed out and got lava boulders and hauled them home, and built cairns over top the stakes so they wdn't pull out again.

By the time I got into bed at 2:00 a.m., the guylines were so tight the lines and the nylon panels thrummed, and I knew all planes were as tight as a drum.

Suddenly there was a SNAP! Then a quiet extra flapping in the wind. A gust had snapped a gusset panel holding a wall out. The wall began to billow. It wanted to slap me in the face all night.

I didn't have the energy to get mad, nor to get up and fix it, with only a few hours left before the big push 4,000 ft. more to the summit. (And 6,000 ft. back down again.

So I just pushed a lot of stuff up against that wall to hold the roof tight, to shed the wind and rain.

But it was the only tent standing upright by morning.

12:06 PM

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