Photo: Bordering the city to the west, the Wenatchee Foothills rise steeply above town and offer commanding views of Wenatchee, the Columbia, and the Cascades.


The Chelan-Douglas Land Trust (CDLT) announced at a press conference Wednesday morning that they are shooting the moon and going big. In an effort that will be the biggest fund-raising campaign launched by a non-profit in the Wenatchee Valley, the CDLT is attempting to raise $8.1 million to double the amount of protected open space in the Wenatchee Foothills to a total of 6,000 acres (nearly 9 square miles). Most of the funds will be used for property acquisitions that have already been discussed with willing landowners while $1.6 million will go toward stewardship funds so that the acquired properties can be cared for into perpetuity. The final $400,000 will be used to help restore and improve the existing trail system in the hills.

As is the way of financial drives of this ilk, a quiet phase of the campaign has been under way for about a year, garnering support from some 300 major donors. These efforts have already raised $6.4 million (about 80 percent of the funding goal) and have secured a number of properties that are part of the goal.

On Wednesday morning, the campaign was more formally announced in hopes that the entire community would get behind the movement to protect these lands. Recreationalists, naturalists, and others who appreciate what natural lands, open space, and trails mean to this community’s quality of life are being asked to put their money where their values are. We are being asked to help protect strategic lands that will preserve Wenatchee’s quality of life despite the inevitable growth that the future will bring.

Spring photos: Scenes and adventures accessed from Wenatchee...without driving anywhere.

What’s the big deal? Why is it important to protect the natural lands rising right out of the city? Why should we keep sprawling development and piecemeal ownership from partitioning the hills?

Other Western communities -- like Missoula, Boise, Winthrop, Boulder, Helena and more -- that have protected the open, wild lands adjacent to their cities, and that have created trail systems to facilitate the use of these lands have discovered that land preservation:

• Creates livable communities where tourists pay to visit and where doctors, lawyers, retirees, and workers with transportable jobs come to live.
• Improves the public health of children and adults, including the overall health of the local work force.
• Sustains the wildlife, water, and other natural resources important to their community.
• Improves the aesthetics, natural beauty, and the appeal of their community.

Bob Bugert, the Executive Director of the Land Trust mentioned Boise, Idaho as an example of what similar campaigns have meant to other communities. Several years ago, Boise invested $10 million to better protect its foothills and improve access to their lands with more trails and trailheads. For the year of 2012 alone, the local economic contribution of the Boise Foothills to the city was valued at $12 million. In other words, said Bugert, the one-year economic return of these actions was already surpassing the investment. 

Summer photos: There's no need to go anywhere when this is where you live.

Residents of the Wenatchee Valley who are not nature lovers or trail users may need to be sold on this campaign by seeing the economic benefit other communities have realized through the conservation of their open spaces. Those of us who are already outdoor recreationalists, however, understand the importance of these efforts. We understand that the Land Trust’s purchase of Saddle Rock last year (acquired as the initial phase of this campaign) means we will have places adjacent to the city where we can immediately walk, run, bike, and watch wildlife. We understand that acquiring the Horse Lake Preserve (a million dollar acquisition that was also part of this campaign) means keeping the foothills intact as a place to recreate, unwind, appreciate nature, and connect to trails deeper in the mountains. We understand that purchasing property to allow access to Castle Rock and developing trails that connect Castle Rock to Twin Peaks would be a triumph for the community. This is one of several additional opportunities that has yet to be realized, but it will transpire if this campaign succeeds in raising the final $1.7 million.

In time, an even bigger recreational outgrowth of this campaign will be the eventual development of an extensive and integrated Foothills Trail System moving south to north from Saddle Rock to Castle Rock to the Sage Hills, and moving east to west from Wenatchee to Twin Peaks, Mission Creek, the Blewett Pass environs, and even into the Alpine Lakes Wilderness. All of these areas can be interlinked by trails with only the occasional crossing of a paved street. What amazing opportunities await us as we go from Ground Zero here in Wenatchee to the great Infinity beyond – all without ever needing to drive a car. For the community, that’s a huge strategic outcome from a relatively modest investment.

Fall photos: Early and late autumn in the Wenatchee Foothills... the good times keep rolling.

Now is the time to cement these opportunities, and we are the citizens tasked with the job. Our recent history shows it’s worth meeting the challenge. Had those who secured and financed the Loop Trail fallen short of the goal, we’d be a far poorer community now. Frankly this is a much more significant opportunity than constructing the Loop. From Here to Infinity … All on Trails: that’s a legacy that will be valued by this community for a century to come and it’s one we can pull off. Many of us who live here already know our foothills are a plum, but this kind of protected backyard trail system will put us on the map as a community with some of the best recreational chops in the country.

 
Details Details. Getting Involved and Making it Happen

• See more of the details about the campaign.
• Donate to the campaign.
• What else you can do to help? Get friends involved in helping and giving.

Details, Details: The Five-Mile Final Exam

Challenge your navigation abilities and, rather than simply tromping along the Five Mile Road,  follow this cross-country route along the high ridges bordering the Five Mile Road. The route is more interesting and the scenery is better because ridge running is like being on a summit all day.

Length: Five miles, of course – unless you do the shorter version of the route described that avoids the climb up to Peak 4,778’ – then it’s more like the Four-Mile Exam.

Elevation Gain: 2,100 feet for the full exam, 1500 feet for the short test.

Skill: 2 (intermeditate). Fitness: 2 (intermediate).

Season. This area is usually snow-covered from mid-December until mid-March.

Access. From the Y-Junction a few miles east of Leavenworth, drive 16.2 miles south along Highway 97. Five Mile Road is at milepost 168.7 on the east side of the highway. You can usually park at the base of the road in a small, plowed, pull-out (elevation 3,054’ feet). If this pull-out is filled with snow (e.g., after a storm), there are typically small plowed pullouts along Highway 97 within a tenth of a mile of the Five Mile Road. No permits are required for parking.

Trip Instructions:

• From the parking spot where the Five Mile Road intersects Highway 97, use our map and a compass to travel cross-country and get on the south-facing ridge system leading up to Peak 4,536’. Once on the ridge, just stay on or near its crest to the top of the peak (there are one or two little sandstone obstructions on the ridge you will need to cut under).
• From the top of Peak 4,536’, head southeast down to the col  at waypoint f6 on the map.
• From this waypoint you can follow the road for nearly a mile to waypoint f11 (shorter route) or take a more scenic and adventurous line by following the northwest and north ridges to waypoints f7 and f8 to reach the summit of Peak  4,778'. From this summit, descend west trending ridges to reach waypoint f11.
• From waypoint f11, leave the road by heading west (steep) and then southwest along ridges that re-intersect the road at waypoint f14.
• From waypoint f14, travel west and cross-country down a less distinct ridge until you hit Highway 97; then walk alongside the highway a very short distance back to the start.

Map. See a map of the route.

Hazards. This is fairly safe route with little exposure to avalanches unless the avalanche hazard is high or extreme. In the event of very icy conditions, which are not common but possible, there could be a hazard of falling and then sliding on steep slopes below some of the ridges followed.

Land Ownership. Forest Service Lands and roads. No permits needed.

Trip Reporter and Date: Shelly Forster and Andy Dappen, February 12, 2013

Leave It Better than You Found It. This should be every user’s goal. Leave no litter and pick up trash found along the way.

Disclaimer. Treat this information as recommendations, not gospel. Conditions change and those contributing these reports are volunteers--they may make mistakes or not know all the issues affecting a route. You are responsible for yourself, your actions, and your safety. If you won’t accept that responsibility, you are prohibited from using our information.

Words and photos by Andy Dappen

Tyee Mountain is better known as a firefighter’s mountain than a skier's mountain. Twice in recent history it has erupted in flames, once in 1970 when 100,000 acres burned in the Entiat Valley and again in 1994 when the Tyee Creek fire spread over 135,000 acres.

All that burning hasn't exactly made Tyee a sight for sore eyes, but between the Entiat River (elevation 1,600 feet) and the summit (6,654 feet), fires have opened up a lot of steep, north-facing ground for powder skiing. This combination of ash and stash, of powder and nice, are intriguing, but it's a trip that's best taken with someone who can interpret the mountain's ecology and fire history. That's why Tom Janisch and I put the head clamp on Matt Dahlgreen, an enthusiastic backcountry skier and a forester who worked in the Entiat Valley for years. We suggest to him -- ever so politely -- that if he values his fingers he'll give us a little schoolen' while we ski. 

Matt accepts and takes on his role as educator with gusto. Right off the valley floor, as we move through stands of old Douglas firs and ponderosa pines that are being inundated by young firs, he tells us fire once burned through such stands on 20 to 30-year intervals. These more frequent fires would torch the small trees of the understory. Fire suppression over the past century changed the recipe and allowed fuel – like these trees -- to accumulate to the point where flames ignited by lightning or by human carelessness might claim more than the understory. They might jump into the canopy and destroy many of the old-growth trees on the mountain.

That lesson has been learned and now prescribed burning and mechanical cutting (chainsaw work) are trying to treat thickets like this one before the understory gets out of hand. Unfortunately, public fear of escaped prescribed burns, public dislike of smoke, and funding shortfalls all make it impossible for land agencies to keep pace with the unrelenting rate of tree growth. Nature wants to fill the void of open ground. “In a few years, if the weather is right, this stand will be ripe to go big when it catches fire again,” Matt tells us as we hack through a jungle of oversized Christmas trees. 


Photo: Charred snags, remnants of the Tyee Creek Fire, as seen halfway up Tyee Mountain's East Ridge.

A few thousand vertical feet higher we’re moving through a stand of old ponderosa pines and Douglas firs when Matt gives us another lesson. Growing in the understory are thickets of young lodgepole pine that will soon be old enough to produce cones. In the age of fire suppression, this presents a slightly different problem. “In a few years these lodgepoles will be thick enough to burn down this entire stand and they’ll also be pumping so many cones into the seed bed that when everything burns down the lodgepoles will come back as the dominant species. The forest will regenerate in a different form.”

Tom and I don’t understand exactly what that loss means to Matt but we have our own gauge -- old-growth ponderosa and Douglas fir forest provide fabulous tree skiing while lodgepole stands are usually an unskiable mass of dense and fallen trees. We worry for future skiers.

Photo: Touring through dead snags of whitebark pine. Were they killed by blister rust, fire, or both?

Hours later we near the summit and move into the cold, inhospitable alpine zone where whitebark pines are one of the few and the proud strong enough to thrive… except that two-thirds of these arboreal tough guys are not thriving. Instead, we slice an uptrack below the canopies of sprawling gray snags. “Blister rust,” Matt says when we ask him what sad fate befell these beauties.

It’s yet again the recurring story of human cleverness run amuck. Whitebark blister rust turned these green islands into graveyards. The fungal rust attacks five-needled pines and was introduced by seedlings brought to North America from both Europe and Asia over 100 years ago. A few whitebarks have natural resistance to the rust and this initially mollifies Matt’s thoughts about why a third of the trees still live. Then he waffles. Whitebark pine is a fire-resistant species but the fire that steamrolled over the peak in 1994 was catastrophically large and hot, “Much of this could be fire mortality, too.”

Irony. How is it that a peak with a fire lookout on its summit has burned a few times?

From the top of Tyee Mountain the view is at once beautiful, ugly, humiliating, and instructive. We can see the rugged, rocky Stuart Range; the rounded snow-coated foothills of the Entiat Valley; and the conical Fujiesque summit of Pyramid Peak.  And yet on tens of thousands of acres surrounding us we see the black snags, salvage-logging scars, and the devastation wrought by wildfires. These are partially the fruits of human tampering – of omitting flames from a landscape formerly stewarded by fire, and of too much fuel created by the untreated slash and the overly dense second growth resulting from logging.

Matt also looks across the Entiat Valley toward the Preston Creek drainage on the side of Stormy Mountain. Nearly a decade ago, he and his co-workers at the Entiat Ranger District implemented prescribed burns in that area. Fire hazard was reduced considerably but Matt still pines for the death of more trees. “It’s amazing how tough young pines are. You can burn all their needles but if you don’t actually kill their buds, most little ponderosas have the resiliency to come back.” Matt thinks two thirds of the small trees he helped burn have survived. “We need to burn more…lots more.”

At the Tyee Mountain Lookout we strip skins, tighten boots, and clamp down bindings for the descent. Matt is a bit discouraged. His knee hurts, his tendons aches, and his professional psyche is bruised from all the trees that survived his wrath. Gravity, however, can hold curative powers.

Photos above: The curative powers of fire and fluff.

We push off and carve slopes of talcum powder through the whitebark pines and along the ridgeline we followed upward. When we drop off the ridge onto steeper northeast facing slopes, we carve around black snags on the silver lining of white sugar. We move into old-growth glades of ponderosa pine – islands of trees that escaped the burning -- and snake turns between the massive red-barked trunks. Powder, in different crystalline forms and in different densities, just keeps coming at us. Some 4,000 vertical feet lower,  Matt fesses up, “I felt like I was falling apart on the top. Now I feel great.”

Photo above and below: One good turn deserves... another.


The last 1,000 vertical feet of the descent becomes a game of hunt-and-peck. We find islands of big trees offering a few uninterrupted turns but each ends in thickets of young trees. Here we make descending traverses through wooden claws and fingers. “A good skiing forest is a healthy forest,” is Matt’s mantra as he discusses the fire he would like to rain down on the young trees impeding progress.

Photo: Between heaven and earth. A long way from the top ... with a long way to go.

In another glade we find big trees but the ground is littered with mounds of deadfall we must step around or jump over. “A good skiing forest is a healthy forest … secondary fires would contend with the fuel of all this deadfall.”

We hit the lowest slopes where Matt lectured us earlier about young trees creating thickets that would soon endanger the old trees. He doesn’t need to say it -- Tom and I recognize that using fire as a tool and interlinked turns as a yardstick would restore the health of this stand.

++++


 Details, Details: Tyee Mountain via the north and east sides

Photo: Tyee Mountain as seen from Preston Creek with the East Ridge marked.

• Park at the plowed parking at the base of Preston Creek Road and walk the road about 0.4 miles to waypoint RC3 and cross river.  See map.
  
• The next mile is likely to be the worst travel due to thick vegetation -- hang in there, the majority of the day will justify the unpleasant start. Generally follow the river's course south following the most open leads. We headed south but gradually climbed up to 1,800 feet on a contour to waypoint ER1 and then carried on using a climbing contour toward waypoint ER2 at 2,200 feet. Travel may have been easier if we had followed the flatter ground closer to the river farther south and then climbed more directly toward waypoint ER2.
• From waypoint ER2, climb uphill through increasingly more pleasant forest using a ridge system flanking a rather slotted creek drainage. Climb almost due west up to 3,200-3,300 feet.
  
• Contour across the creek's drainage and make a climbing contour in a southeast direction to reach East Ridge at the 3,400 to 3,600 foot level near waypoint ER3.
  
• Head west on the East Ridge up to 6,200 feet and then northwest to the summit (6,654 feet) with its fire lookout station on the top. (Note: the fire lookout will be locked-up tight).
  

Leave It Better than You Found It. This should be every user’s goal. Do no damage and pick up trash left by others.

Note: This article was originally posted on 9/10/08.

About a year ago I listened to Maureen Boswell, a registered dietician and a health-fitness instructor, talk to Wenatchee High School athletes about sports nutrition. Maureen has written articles for WenatcheeOutdoors like Hydration 101 and on this evening she discussed the importance of proper nutrition before and during exercise if you hope to perform your best. This information had seen some tweaks and refinements since I'd been exposed to it last. What had seen more than tweaks and refinements was the newer research indicating that when you eat and drink after hard workouts significantly affects your recovery times. Apparently, if you want to recover fast, you need to down liquids, carbs, and a little protein really soon (within 30 minutes if possible) after hard exercise. Wait too long and you won't be as strong or as fast the next day.

Maureen's talk piqued my curiosity and got me researching more about sports nutrition. This was not because I was looking for a competitive edge in competitions or endurance events. I need more than an edge. I need more fibers in my muscles, alveoli in my lungs, or plateletes in my blood to rise from the ranks of mediocrity. Still the possibility of quickly recovering from a demanding day of climbing, a long trail run, or a taxing bike ride has its appeal. If proper nutrition can help your perform better on the day of and help your recover faster the day after, I'm all for it. Here's what I found out.

****

Scientific research has yet to verify that there are any magic bullets (special diets, protein powders, vitamin supplements) on the market that will out-perform the documented benefits of good nutrition, proper hydration, and proper recovery that are covered in this section. When it comes to helping you build muscle, pack on weight, lose weight, or improve your athletic performance, the best nutrition strategies are inexpensive and simple. Unfortunately that does not prohibit peddlers of expensive products from concocting anecdotal stories and deceptive claims about their revolutionary, breakthrough products that will help you achieve the results you’re dreaming about.

Testimonials and advertising do not guarantee product efficacy so here is what creditable, science-based organizations say about sports nutrition and about some of the sports-related dietary products on the market.

Basic Nutrition

Getting the right mix of foods (energy) and fluids (hydration) is essential for gains in strength, speed, and peak performance. Nancy Clark, a registered dietician and well-known sports-nutrition expert, has written, “While there’s no secret some good athletes have junky diets, the question arises: How much better could those athletes perform if they were to eat better? The answer, as documented by research studies, suggests 6 to 20 percent better.”

Eating well for sports is mainly about eating a balanced diet with a balance of nutrients as described by the USDA with their MyPyramid plan. For athletes, there are some minor tweaks to ‘what’ you should eat and drink, and ‘when’ you should eat and drink that can improve performance, enhance strength, or build muscle. These tweaks have little to do with special products or foods. The exceptions to the rule are electrolyte drinks (sports drink) that do have a documented record of improving the performance of endurance athletes and helping athletes of all stripes recover faster from long, tough workouts.

Pre-workout and pre-game nutrition

Besides eating a balanced diet, Dr. Mark Hargreaves, an exercise physiologist and researcher, says muscles need carbohydrates for energy during high-intensity activities. For that reason, it’s wise to go into exercise with your carbohydrate stores fully loaded and some carbohydrates in the stomach to help maintain carbohydrate delivery. Eat carbs a few hours before games, competitions, or heavy workouts. Dr. Hargreaves adds that if you can stomach it, eating carbs an hour prior to exercise may be a good idea. High-carb, low-fiber, low-fat foods for these occasions include:

• Cereal with low-fat milk, banana, toast, orange juice.
• Grilled chicken breast sandwich, pretzels, oatmeal raisin cookie, low-fat milk.
• Pasta with tomato sauce, dinner roll, mixed green salad, frozen yogurt, lemonade.

Being properly hydrated before heavy workouts, competitions, or long periods of exercise is also important if you expect to perform your best. As a general rule, athletes should routinely drink 8 to 10 cups of liquid per day in the form of water, juice, or milk and their urine should look like pale lemonade rather than golden apple juice.

• On training days when you’ve been sweating a lot, you’ll need to drink more and you’ll benefit from replacing some of your fluid loss with an electrolyte sports drink.
•  Replacing electrolytes (particularly sodium) is important for proper hydration because the body doesn’t retain as much water when it is low on sodium. These electrolytes are also needed for proper muscle function and can reduce /eliminate  cramping.
• Energy drinks (Diesel, Hair of the Dog, Jolt Cola, and Red Bull) are different animals than sports drinks (Gatorade, Powerade, Accelerade, All Sport). Energy drinks sound healthful, but most are glorified soft drinks containing multiple stimulants, making them a poor choice for athletes. Sports drinks, on the other hand, provide water while replenishing nutrients, electrolytes, and sugars in the same proportion as found in the body.

Commercial sports drinks are not break-the-bank expensive, but they are still about 20 times more expensive than making your own sports drink. To make your own, add ½ teaspoon of baking soda, ½ teaspoon of salt, 3 tablespoons of sugar, and a little flavoring (a little unsweetened Kool-Aid mix) to a quart of water.

Optimal Performance During Workouts and Competitions

For short workouts and competitions (less than an hour) you’ll perform best if you drink enough to replace your liquid loss to sweat. If your pre-game consumption of carbs has been adequate, you won’t need to eat.

After an hour of vigorous exercise, the fast energy supplied to your muscles starts running low. Consequently for long runs, triathlons, extended bike rides, or other endurance events, you’ll keep muscles charged and charging if you replace fuel (by consuming carbohydrates) during exercise. According to Dr. Hargreaves, "The best results occur when athletes ingest 30-60 grams (120 to 240 calories) of carbohydrate each hour. That’s enough to allow muscles to work longer and harder…. There is no greater performance payoff with consuming more than 60 grams of carbohydrate per hour, and the additional carbohydrate has the potential to impair fluid absorption and cause an upset stomach."

• In practical terms, three to four 8-ounce cups of a sports drink with carbohydrates (e.g., Gatorade, Powerade) provides 45 to 60 grams (180 to 240 calories) of carbohydrate as well as the fluid and minerals lost in sweat. So for long workouts and endurance events, drink 3 to 4 cups of sports drink for every hour you will be exercising. Alternately, drink 3 to 4 cups of water per hour and eat a 1.5-ounce to 2-ounce energy bar or a packet of gel per hour.

• Take in this liquid and fuel in small doses by drinking 5 to 10 ounces of sports drink every 15 to 20 minutes.
• Liquids and fuels to use for a several-hour event include some combination of sports drink, water, energy gels, energy bars, low-fat cookies (gingersnaps), and crumble-resistant breads (bagels).

While carbohydrates are well-recognized as the main source of energy while exercising, athletes still frequently ask about protein – will eating a little protein during tough workouts and endurance events improve their performance? Dr. Martin Gibala with the Department of Kinesiology at McMaster University says the best conducted studies have not shown any benefit to consuming proteins or amino acids (the building blocks of proteins) during exercise.

Recovery Nutrition

Edward F. Coyle, Ph.D., with the University of Texas at Austin says, “Recovery from intense physical training and competition requires time and a diet that replenishes muscle glycogen, body water, and electrolytes, as well as stores of triglyceride in skeletal muscle.” Like most certified sports nutritionists, he says proper nutrition and hydration following intense exercise is essential for rapid recovery.

Jaqueline Berning, Ph.D. and R.D. and a nutrition consultant for the Denver Broncos and Cleveland Indians, agrees and stresses that if you don’t quickly replenish your muscles after intense exercise, it will actually take you considerably longer to recover. “Athletes who fail to refuel and/or rehydrate during (intense workouts) will not have the optimal level of energy to play at same intensity the next day.”

For water and sodium loss, rehydration requires replacing the water, sodium and potassium lost to sweat and urinating. To rehydrate completely, drink about 20 ounces of water for every pound of fluid loss you’ve had while exercising. Also eat foods that replace your salt loss. Because they have salts and other electrolytes the body needs, sports drinks are better absorbed by the body than either soft drinks or pure water. Studies have shown that the body will retain 50 to 60 percent of the fluid in a caffeinated soft drink, 60 to 70 percent of the pure water you drink, and 65 to 75 percent of a sports drink.

For glycogen recovery, Berning says you should eat a 50- to 100-gram carbohydrate snack (200 to 400 calories) within 30 minutes of your workout or game. This jump-starts the body’s recovery process. In addition, athletes should eat a carbohydrate-rich meal within two hours of this snack. “This ensures that the muscles continue to load with carbohydrate energy.” For most athletes, that means eating a meal shortly after a tough workout. Berning says that muscle glycogen is the predominant fuel for energy during exercise and that carbohydrates are the primary source of muscle glycogen. Carbohydrates, therefore, are the best source of energy and should make up about 60 percent of an athlete's diet. Depending on the size of the athlete, that could amount to anywhere between 300 to more than 600 grams of carbohydrate each day (1200 to 2400 calories). Carbohydrate-rich foods include whole-grain breads, rice, pasta, fruits, vegetables and sports drinks.

Regarding protein, Berning says that carbohydrates are the primary source of energy for muscles but that research indicates small amounts of protein (10 to 20 grams or 40 to 80 calories) after exercise as part of your recovery snack help the body recover from exercise by stimulating muscle repair and growth. “It does not take large amounts of protein to get these results.”

For replacing triglycerides after prolonged, high-intensity exercise, Coyle writes, “… it is now recognized that the increase in body fat oxidation characteristic of an endurance-trained athlete is derived almost exclusively from triglyceride fat stored within the skeletal muscle fibers… it is now clear that in order to fully restore (these reserves), athletes should eat more fat than is obtained in an extremely low-fat diet… Athletes are generally advised to eat 50-100 grams (425 to 850 calories) or about 0.45 grams of fat per pound of body weight.

Here's a sampling of healthy foods that will help athletes recover from exercise:

• Sports drinks with electrolytes
• Granola, energy or breakfast bars
• Bagels with peanut butter
• Sub sandwiches
• Crackers and cheese
• Burritos
• Fresh fruit like apples, bananas, oranges, grapes
• Vegetables such as carrots and celery
• Fruit smoothies (prepackaged)
• Rice cakes or trail mix
• Chocolate milk
• Animal crackers

Nutritional Considerations for Women Athletes

Women athletes spend hours training, but often fall short in fueling and hydrating their body properly before, during, and after exercising/competing. Suzanne Nelson-Steen, a nationally known sports nutritionist and registered dietician, says women who fuel their bodies with adequate calories (covered earlier) and adequate nutrients (basic nutrition plus a few extra points listed below) “feel better, train harder, recover more quickly, and are less susceptible to illness.”

• Calcium is particularly important for bone mass and strength and for proper muscle and heart operation. Consume at least 1,300 mg a day through low-fat yogurt, skim milk, orange juice with calcium, frozen yogurt, and cheese.
• Iron is another mineral women athletes frequently under-consume and this gradually leads to iron deficiency and results in fatigue and lower stamina. Consume at least 18 mg per day. Meat, fish, and chicken provide the body a form of iron that’s easier to absorb than the iron provided by plants. Foods known for their Vitamin C like potatoes, oranges and tomatoes also help the body absorb iron from plants and cereals. Registered dieticians recommend being wary of iron supplements and advise taking these under medical supervision if you’re unable to get enough iron from your normal diet.

 Building Bulk, Muscle, and Strength

Many athletes believe this myth: You must consume large amounts of protein to bulk up or build big muscles. Not true. Leading scientific organizations like the American College of Sports Medicine and the American Dietetic Association have studied the research and concluded that athletes building mass or muscle need only a bit more protein than sedentary individuals. If good nutrition is practiced, strength athletes only need to consume about 15 percent of their calories as protein. Furthermore, they don’t need to use any special amino acid formulas or powders to get that protein.

While athletes don’t need the large doses of protein that myths would have us believe, studies indicate that the timing of the protein eaten each day does make a difference for bulking up and building muscle. Athletes, it appears, will actually lose muscle protein if they do not consume a little protein when their muscles are recovering from heavy resistance exercises like weightlifting.

Here are some practical recommendations for strength athletes:

• Consume about .045 grams of protein (or essential amino acids) per pound of body weight, just before or just after heavy resistance exercise.
• Eat repeated small doses of protein or essential amino acids during recovery. This is believed to maximize muscle growth.
• Sports nutritionists believe the high-quality proteins contained in foods like skim milk, yogurt, fish, and chicken are just as effective as amino-acid solutions and mixtures.

Suzanne Nelson-Steen, RD, a well-known sports nutritionist, recommends these additional tips to build muscles:

• Adopt a strength-training program that challenges muscles.
• Eat 500 to 1000 extra calories per day than what you're eating now.
• Eat foods high in carbohydrates (grains, fruits, vegetables), along with protein (meats, poultry, fish, beans, eggs) and choose low-fat foods.
• Eat 5 or 6 small mini-meals throughout the day as you train.
• Snack on foods with a nutritional kick like bagels with peanut butter, granola bars and milk, energy bars and a sports drink, cheese and crackers, trail mix with nuts and peanuts, bananas and apples.

 DIETS, SUPPLEMENTS, VITAMINS FOR SPORTS

Using the previous sports-nutrition information as a science-based foundation of how athletes can most effectively fuel their bodies before, during, and after events (both workouts and competitions), you’re ready to critically evaluate specialty services and products marketed to athletes. Following are a few such items:

Fad weight-loss diets for athletes

Suzanne Nelson-Steen, a registered dietician and sports nutritionist for the University of Washington, says some athletes use fad diets claiming to help you lose weight rapidly, increase fat burning, or promote health. She says diets advocating high protein, low carbohydrate intake will have negative affects on athletes including: reduced muscle and liver glycogen stores, physical and mental fatigue, decreased strength and endurance, and increased risk of injury. Low carbohydrate diets may also be low on the necessary vitamins, minerals, fiber, and phytochemicals athletes need.

Nelson-Steen says fad diets amount to fading energy, “(They) don't have what it takes for peak performance. They're usually too low in calories and carbohydrates—the very components athletes need to compete.”

Muscle-building or muscle-recovery supplements

Athletes frequently use dietary supplements claiming to enhance muscle mass, increase energy, or speed muscle recovery. Nelson-Steen says these supplements are not regulated by the Food and Drug Administration and may contain unproven or harmful substances. She also says, “Some of the ingredients found in supplements, such as steroids and ephedrine, are banned by athletic organizations including the NCAA and NFL.”

According to Dr. Melvin Williams, with the Department of Health and Physical Education at Darden College, most nutritional supplements seen in magazine ads lack the scientific evidence to support claims made about promoting muscle growth, reducing body fat, or enhancing muscle definition. Because these claims are unsubstantiated and because supplements are relatively expensive, he advises buyers to beware.

Marketers of the following supplements make bold claims yet lack scientific evidence to back-up those claims:

• arginine, lysine, and ornithine (amino acids); ornitine alpha-ketoglutarate (OKG); ino-sine; choline; yohimbine; "glandulars;" vitamin B-12; carnitine; chromium; boron; magnesium; medium chain triglycerides; omega-3 fatty acids; gamma oryzanol; and Smilax.
• Likewise the supposed benefits body builders receive from creatine and antioxidant vitamins have no scientific support and should be validated by research before you pay heed (or money).

Protein Powders

The Gatorade Sports Science Institute (GSSI), which sticks to science-based training and nutrition recommendations, says very little extra protein is needed to build muscles--athletes require 0.5 to 0.7 grams of protein per pound of body weight as compared to non athletes who require 0.4 to 0.5 grams per pound of bodyweight. The GSSI says:

• None of the commercial protein powders have proof to substantiate their claims.
• Too much protein consumption, at the expense of carbohydrates, will leave you feeling sluggish and reduce the productivity of your workouts.

Protein powders won’t get athletes past plateaus in muscle growth or muscle definition. Surmount such plateaus by changing your workouts and stressing muscles in new ways.

Vitamin Supplements as Performance Enhancers

Will increased dosages of Vitamin C, E, D, B-6 (or other) boost your athletic performance?

Yes and no. Vitamin deficiencies will hurt your performance—in such cases more vitamins will help. You won’t boost your performance, however, by taking more than the recommended daily allowance of these vitamins.

A few comments about vitamins:

• Vitamin deficiencies are rare among groups of athletes, but it’s not unusual for individuals to be deficient in a particular vitamin. The most common deficiencies are in B-complex vitamins (especially B-6 and folate), antioxidant vitamins C, E, and beta-carotene.
• Wrestlers, dancers, gymnasts, and those who maintain their weight by restricting their diet are the athletes most likely to be vitamin deficient. If you are maintaining your weight, eat a well-balanced diet rich in fruits and vegetables. Avoid fast foods which pack on calories but skimp on vitamins.
• Athletes wanting to ensure they aren’t vitamin deficient can take a multi-vitamin/multi-mineral supplement (or half of one) every day. Check that the supplement doesn’t exceed the recommended daily allowance (RDA) of any vitamin.

Getting vitamins through foods is much preferred to supplements. Food contains many other nutrients that athletes need.

Antioxidant Supplements

Should athletes use antioxidant supplements like Vitamin C or Vitamin E?

Because prolonged and/or intense exercise produces free radicals that kill surrounding cells in your body, athletes often ask whether they should be taking larger dosages of antioxidants (like Vitamin C and E) which neutralize free radicals. Scott Powers, a professor at University of Florida, says more research is needed but at this time, “There is insufficient evidence to support the need for antioxidant supplementation in athletes who consume a well-balanced diet that is rich in fruits and vegetables. Further, over-consumption of antioxidants may have potentially harmful side effects.”

 ADDITIONAL SPORTS / FITNESS RESOURCES

1.       American College of Sports Medicine

2.       Gatorade Sports Science Institute (http://www.gssiweb.org/). Though sponsored by Gatorade, this site really is about science based information pertaining to sports nutrition. They have a top notch Sports Library of scientific, peer-reviewed sports nutrition articles. Once at the site, use the ‘Sports Science Library’ tab on the left.

3.       An excellent, thorough, and scientifically based book focusing on these matters in greater detail and fine tuning recommendations to particular sports is Endurance Sports Nutrition by Suzanne Girard Eberle and published by Human Kinetics (www.humankinetics.com).

4.       Serious athletes will benefit from the occasional consult with a registered dietician who specializes in sports nutrition and who is a Certified Specialist in Sports Dietetics (CSSD). These professions have years of training in science-based nutrition and can help tailor your diet to: your sport, your size and gender, your likes and dislikes.

Most backcountry skiers admire a beautiful set of downhill tracks snaking down a slope. In the words of Sir Arnold Lunn, one of the very first mountaineers to explore the Alps on skis in the early 1900s,  “An intersecting pattern of tempo turns on a canvas undefiled by beginners is among the loveliest of man's contributions to natural beauty."

Interestingly, few skiers actually apply this reasoning in reverse to appreciate how a beautifully laid uptrack enhances the blank canvas of snow like the pen strokes of calligraphy enhance the eye appeal of a blank page of paper.

Carving a masterful uptrack, however, is actually more than just artistry; it’s also a skill that connects to safety, efficiency, snow analysis, scenic enjoyment, and more. So let’s explore the Zen of the uptrack and discuss the many goals (which are sometimes conflicting) pursued by the masters of the uphill.

1) The prime directive for the uptrack is safety first. You can lay an ugly track that’s inefficient and erratic but, if it’s safe (avoids avalanche, cornice, crevasse, and falling rock hazards) it’s still a superior track than a beautifully sculpted line that exposes you to harm. Following ridges, traversing above or below slide-prone slopes, finding protection in trees, avoiding slopes receiving dangerous solar radiation, staying off aspects that have built-up dangerous wind slab … these are a few of the many variables pertaining to the safety of where you decide to ascend.

Photo above: Using safe terrain between slide zones for an ascent. Photo below: climbing steeply but not so steeply that skis backslide.

2) After safety, a good uptrack strives to be efficient by preserving the strength of both the trail breakers and the followers. Quite a few variables (some of which conflict with each other) are at work here. The first variable is the steepness of the line you cut. Too flat a line means unnecessary distance and, more importantly, unnecessary packing of fresh snow. Too steep a line causes you to backslide or to rely heavily upon your arms. Overly steep lines also cause you to lean so far forward that you’re fighting the resistance applied by the front of your ski boots. An efficient angle will have you leaning forward and may have you using your poles to help propel you upward, but the angle will not be so steep that arms are needed to prevent backsliding. Efficient tracks also minimize the number of uphill kick turns needed to ascend because such turns are tiring (especially for less experienced skiers). Instead, a good track uses the terrain (ridges, little benches, micro flat spots) to let you easily paddle or walk your skis through a turn. Naturally there are times you simply can’t avoid uphill kick turns but the masters of the uptrack use surprisingly few of them. Also related to efficiency is using terrain features (ribs, natural benches, etc) that make better trail beds than the bed stamped down by your skis. This is especially important when traversing steep slopes in firm conditions—a situation that has your ski tips ripping free and has you struggling to move onward and upward. The creative uptrack will finds a natural seam creating a wider bed that supports the skis without slippage…or it finds an alternate way up the steep slope via a ridge or rib that avoids a steep traverse.

Photo: Using the uptrack to analyze the snow on different aspects...and to find the best powder for the descent. Oh yeah, this looks nice!

3) Next in the hierarchy is using your uptrack for snow analysis. The master collects considerable information about the snow on the way up. This is important to assess the avalanche hazard on different aspects. It also helps you determine where you’ll find the best skiing for the descent. Even if your route goes straight up, say, an east-facing ridge of moderate angle you can collect loads of snow information. Rather than heading straight up the ridge on its crest, wrap your uptrack around the edges of the ridge so you’re sometimes at the top of south-facing slopes flowing off the ridge and sometimes at the top of north-facing slopes. This gives you a lot of information about the snow and its consistency, depth, layers, and stability. If your route isn’t strictly confined to a ridge, lay an uptrack that wanders up many different aspects so you get a broad sense of the snow conditions.

Photo: Snaking up and wrapping around ridge crests -- a trick for enjoying the views in many directions.

4) Another sophisticated use of the uptrack is to let it highlight the day’s scenery. Let’s go back to that east-facing ridge mentioned above: If the pitch of the ridge allowed it, most skiers would cut a straight line directly up the ridge. That might be efficient but such a line always has you facing west straight into your destination and wastes the airy, scenic variety a ridge affords. A snaking line up the ridge will have you looking south, west, north, and even east back down from whence you came. This is a far more enjoyable spectacle than bee-lining straight up. Furthermore if you’re enjoying the scenery, you’re more likely to feel invigorated rather fatigued, so there’s a mind-body connection that would argue that the snaking line is more efficient, even if it is slightly longer.

5) Now onto the artistry to which Sir Arnold Lunn referred when he talked about turns enhancing the canvas of the natural landscape. A well laid uptrack can have that same affect – it can artistically carve big, open white space into more interesting shapes that please the eye; it can lead the eye in a clean sweep up the slopes; and it can even compel the viewer to think, “I wanna travel that line.” Like skillful penmanship, an artistic uptrack needs to be cleanly drawn. It should run straight when it’s supposed to run straight, rather than jog left and then right like a drunkard’s trail.  Meanwhile, the aesthetic trail will have many clean arcing curves as it uses the natural features of the landscape to create an efficient trail upward.

Photo: On the summit studying the artistry of the uptrack. This one has a few jiggles that could be smoothed out. Give it B+.

6) Finally there are little matters of anticipation carved into an expert’s uptracks. If you’ll be returning the route you ascended, for example, and there happens to be flat terrain you’ll be negotiating, can you set the uptrack in such a way that you can completely avoid stalling out or shuffling across that flat area when you revisit this gravitational dead zone on the return?

Photo: Setting a straight, well-graded track across the flats to  make the return through here on the descent easier.

Once you embrace the Zen of all this and realize how much thought and expertise can be applied to the perfect uptrack, ascents become an interesting challenge and an entertaining end in and of themselves. In fact, sometimes the uphill can be more fun and more rewarding than the downhill. At this point, backcountry skiing becomes the ultimate multi-course meal and a lift or a helicopter that robs you of the physical, mental, and artistic challenges of the ascent is like eating candy rather than real food – it’s nice but it’s way less satisfying than the full-meal deal.

Photo: Objectives in collision. Here on Big Slide Mountain, avalanche hazard to the left and right kept us confined to this slope. We could have climbed the slope with fewer uphill kick turns, but we wanted to save a portion of our safe zone as a track-free area for better powder turns on the descent.

Photo: The Big Five of backcountry repairs: high-thread-count duct tape, needle and thread, stainless steel bailing wire, 1/4-ounce tube of Seam Grip, and thin nylon cord.

The Big Five (Universal Repair Kit for the Outdoors)

Archimedes said, “Give me the Big Five and a place to stand, and I will repair the world.” Or was that McGyver? No matter, what’s important is the underlying truism that with a handful of all-star repair items you can fix almost everything. Which is why I chuckle over backpacking repair kits with a hardware store’s supply of doodads like nylon ties, nylon patches, hose clamps, Fastex buckles, Velcro swatches, safety pins, cotter pins, and screws. They’re so… overblown.

Instead, with just the Big Five repair items plus a multi-tool (technically a Ten Essential rather than a Big Five), you can repair blown mattresses, ripped tents, broken skis and bindings, delaminated boots, snapped paddles, torn raincoats, clogged stoves, and just about every other piece of equipment toted into the wilderness. For that matter, you can repair just about every broken body part too. Yes, when you leave the hardware store behind, it takes more ingenuity to deal with backcountry emergencies. But as you’re about to see, with duct tape, Seam Grip, nylon cord, bailing wire, and needle and thread you can bind the world—perhaps the Universe itself-- together. 

Duct Tape

Photo: High quality duct tape (the black tape pictured) -- keep the large roll at home and pack a small wad of tape rolled over on itself. Leukotape P (the brown tape pictured), made by BSN Medical, is excellent for blister prevention and homemade band-aids and is a worthy addition to the first-aid kit.

The silver miracle has commanded previous features of its own, so we’ve underplayed its coverage here. One recommendation meriting repetition? When your assets are at stake out there, carry a Cadillac product with a high thread count and a premium adhesive-- like the Nashua 357 (available at HomeDepot, www.tycoadhesives.com). Some representative uses:

• Splint. Splint most anything (broken fingers, ski poles, paddles, pack frames, broken legs) by spanning the break with something rigid (stick, bailing wire, tent stake, ensolite pad) and anchoring this splint with wraps of tape.
• Holes. Use squares of tape to patch holes in cups, canoes, canteens, air mattresses…. Clean hole well first, then rub-on tape. When possible, apply tape to both sides of hole.
• Lost Glasses Strap. With a half-inch-wide, 13-inch-long strip, wrap the ends around the ear bands. Stick the remainder of the tape to itself so as not to snag hair.
• Lost Sunglasses. Stick two seven-inch strips of tape together, sticky sides together. Cut a notch in the center of this strip for the nose and thin eye slits on either side of the notch. Hold strip against face with a thin band of tape circling the head.
• Band-Aid. Place folded tissue or TP on a segment of tape; then dress wound.
• Butterfly Bandage. Cut strip of duct tape into an hourglass shape. With narrow part of bandage over cut, cinch edges of wound together.
• Unstuck Ski Skins. Tear tape into ½-inch wide, 20-inch long strips. Wrap these strips around ski and skins near the tail and waist of ski.
• Fabric Patch. Patch tears with tape. In critical areas, sew first, then tape.
• Broken Ski. Overlap the break with the tip portion of the broken ski underlying the tail portion of the ski. Tape the overlap with many wraps.

Liquid Rubber/Plastic

Photo: Goop and Shoe Goo are two liquid rubber/plastic solutions worth having at home because they are inexpensive and bond well to fabrics, paper, and porous materials. Aquaseal and SeamGrip are the gold standard when it comes to obtaining a good bond on slicker surfaces. The 1/4-ounce tubes of SeamGrip are recommended for carrying into the field.

Next to duct tape, this patch in a tube, which emerges from a tube as a viscous liquid and cures into a rubbery solid, is the handiest repair item ever created. Some brands worth having at home include ShoeGoo and/or Goop (available through department stores), but for field use depend on either Aquaseal or Seam Grip (both are made by McNett Corporation, www.McNett.com). These products bond much better to just about every surface, cure in air or under water, are available through most outdoor stores, and can be purchased in 1-ounce tubes for home use or ¼-ounce tubes for the repair kit. Of the two, Seam Grip is less viscous and slightly more versatile. Examples of its uses:

• Delaminated Boot Soles. Clean well; spread Seam Grip between sole and midsole. Wrap boot with duct tape during curing (complete cure requires about 12 hours).
• Hole in Therma-a-Rest. Deflate mattress and dab Seam Grip over hole. The deflated mattress will draw air into mattress through hole and pull in adhesive for a better fix.
• Hole in Toe Box (boots, shoes). Dam inside of hole with tape. Apply a reservoir of Seam Grip to hole. Position boot so adhesive doesn’t run.
• Abraded/Torn Gloves (shells, liners). Reinforce all weaknesses, tears, or holes with dabs or smears of Seam Grip.
• Leaky Boot Seam/Welt. Clean seam/welt well, coat with thin layer of Seam Grip, and rub in with finger. Apply another layer of material over seam/welt.
• Leaking Boot/Shoe Upper. Create a waterproof rand around the bottom inch of leaky boots/shoes. Clean  upper well. To create a masking line, lay tape around the perimeter of the boot one inch above the sole. Spread a thick layer of adhesive on the upper between the sole and the tape. Rub into seams and welt.
• Leaking Tent or Raincoat Seams. With tent pitched or raincoat spread out, cover leaking seam. Seam Grip cures when it’s wet so worry not about rain.
• Tear Repair. Use tape or thread to align torn edges of pack, storm wear, tent, sleeping bag…then cover slit with a ¼- to ½-inch-wide streak of Seam Grip.
• Leaking Whitewater Bag. Find hole or puncture, clean hole, and dab with Seam Grip.
• Abrasion Repair. Reinforce/recoat wear spots on tents, tarps, backpacks, gloves, gaiters, rain pants…  Rub a very thin layer of Seam Grip into the nylon. Note: Reinforced area will be stiffer.
• Loose Fixtures. Tent pole tips, tarp grommets, ski pole handles, glasses nose pads, sunglass lenses and more can all be glued in place with Seam Grip.
• Dying Zippers. Rotted fabric matrixes of old zippers can be repaired by rubbing a thin coat of Seam Grip into the fabric.
• Lock Nut. Dab Seam Grip on any screw or nut that must not loosen, like ski binding screws or crampon adjustment nuts.
• Hole Repair. Seal holes in tent floors, tarps, rubber boots, fishing waders, bicycle inner tubes, storm wear, stuff sacks, packs, water bladders…. Use a dab over small punctures. For larger holes, dam the backside of the hole with tape, then fill the hole with a reservoir of Seam Grip. Position material so the reservoir will cure without running.
• No-Sew Seam Repair. Glue unraveling seams by spreading Seam Grip between the layers of the seam as well as over the seam. Use tape to align seam during curing.
• Non-Slip Surface. If camp booties, glove palms, or Therm-a-Rest tops are too slick, put a pattern of dabs on the offending surface to create texture/grip.
• Rand Repair (boots). Squirt adhesive between rand and boot. Anchor rand with tape during curing.
• Lace Repair. Coat end of frayed bootlaces with Seam Grip.
• Cord Repair. To increase strength and extend life, coat the frays in tent cords, guy lines, or bootlaces.
• Rebuild Soles. Rebuild worn heels with a large pool of Aquaseal. Use tape dam around perimeter of heel to keep liquid from running during curing.
• Edge Sealer. Dab the edges of cut nylon to keep fabric from unraveling.
• Frayed Gaiters. Coat worn areas of gaiters (or gaiter strap) to extend life.

Nylon Cord

Thirty feet of 1/8-inch nylon cord (parachute cord) makes another important all-purpose repair item. A quality parachute cord with a 400-pound breaking strength is available through U-Braid-It (888-800-5365, www.ubraidit.com/paracord.htm). Use it for: 

• Broken Sidewall (telemark binding). Loosen binding screws and slip several two-foot lengths of cord between the bottom of the broken binding and the ski. Tighten down the binding again, step into the binding and use trucker’s hitches to cinch the boot to the remainder of the binding.
• Broken Shoe Lace/Gaiter Cord. Cut the appropriate length cord and burn ends.
• Stripped/Enlarged Screw Hole. Pack ¾-inch segment of cord into oversized holes (e.g., ski bindings that have ripped off). Fill hole with Seam Grip, insert screw, tighten.
• Split Paddle Blade. Use multi-tool awl to drill several holes flanking both sides of the split. Lace up holes like a shoe.
• Broken Paddle Shaft/Ski Pole. Splint break with branch. Wrap cord (or tape) tightly around splint and shaft.
• Broken Binding Cable (skis). Replace with cord. Use trucker’s hitch to tighten makeshift cable around boot.
• Broken Pack Frame (external frame). Splint break with a short branch or tent stake. Anchor splint with cord.
• Glasses Strap. Replace lost/broken glasses strap with a length of cord. Tape cord to ear band to eliminate ear-irritating knot.
• Torn Tarp. Use pebble or small stone to roll up torn area into wad. Tie off wad with several wraps of cord and a square knot.
• Torn Tarp Corner. Use pebble or small stone to roll damaged corner into a small wad. Wrap corner cord around wad and tie off with half hitches.
• Unstuck/Lost Ski Skin. Impede ski’s glide by wrapping short lengths of cord around ski in several places along its length.
• Broken Ski Skin (tip attachment). Use a short loop of cord to capture ski tip.
• Cracked Weld (external-frame pack). Lash the horizontal and vertical elements with cord.

Photo: Nylon cord and bailing wire. If you can find cord with Kevlar in it (yellow) consider carrying it -- it's strong and light, but more expensive. Also look for stainless steel bailing wire (under the red cord). Compared to normal bailing wire (right) it's stronger ... and it won't rust.

Bailing Wire

Sometimes you simply need metal for a proper fix, which is when bailing wire saves the day. All wires are not created equal and ideally you want to include 8 to 10 feet of .032-inch (about the thickness of a paperclip) stainless lock wire. This wire, available from aircraft supply houses, is far superior to standard bailing wire and can be rigorously bent, twisted and pried without breaking. Should you need a wire or bolt of greater diameter, twist together multiple strands of the lock wire. Some uses:

• Broken Glasses (nose bridge). Using a 14-inch segment of doubled-over wire, contour the wire along the top of the glasses frame. Make a bend so the wire contours the top of each ear band. Tape nosepiece and ear bands to the wire frame you’ve formed.
• Broken Glasses (ear band). Similar to above but start your wire splint at the nosepiece and contour along the top of one lens and the broken ear band. Tape wire splint to the nosepiece and several places along the broken ear band.
• Broken Finger. Immobilize finger with wire splint and tape.
• Lost/Broken Crampon Screws. Insert a short length of tripled wire through appropriated screw holes. Twist tight with multi-tool pliers.
• Lost Cotter Pins/Split Rings/Pegs (external frame packs). Insert wire and twist tight.
• Clogged Stove Nozzle. Tedious but possible: With multi-tool, file wire into an orifice cleaner.

Needle & Thread

One heavy-duty needle is the minimalist’s kit, but more repairs are possible with a sturdy hand-sewing needle plus a heavy-duty sewing-machine needle. The latter, taped into the pliers of a multi-tool, arms you with an awl for really tough materials--boots, pack bottoms, straps. For thread, carry 25 feet of standard polyester thread (wrapped around cardboard) for fine work, and another 15 feet of heavy, waxed synthetic thread (available from www.rei.com) or waxed dental floss for the awl. Uses:

• Broken Straps. Overlap strap about an inch. Spread Seam Grip on inside surfaces of the overlap, then sew strap together with awl. 
• Tears. Doesn’t matter if they’re in your raingear, sleeping bag, pack, pants, shirt, sock…needle and thread can fix it. If it’s a complicated job, use duct tape on the opposite side to hold materials in place—rip off tape later. To strengthen (or waterproof) patch, use Seam Grip after sewing.
• Holes. Same as above—repair the hole with a latticework of thread. Duct tape on the back makes aligning the repair easier.
• Boot Tears. Repair frayed seams and holes with the awl. Then apply Seam Grip.
• Sunglasses Strap. Lost or ruined strap can be replaced with heavy thread. Attach to ear bands with half hitches.
• Skinny Splints. For fine jobs—fixing broken sunglasses or fishing rods—thread provides a slimmer means of anchoring splints.

Photo: A needle and thread is adequate for short trips. For longer trips, consider adding a few stick-on patches (left), a few more needles, and a few pins.

Photo: Winter snows cover brush and deadfall, so snowshoers can easily access off-trail places that are difficult to access in summer.

Although many casual hikers find reason to move indoors for winter, snowshoes make it easy to stay out walking all year long. So why not become a year-long hiker and experience nature in all her moods, seasons, and colors? This course will give you the snowshoeing and outdoor skills needed to get out walking in the backcountry on your own in winter. Learn the basics of equipment, winter safety, snow safety, and map & compass use and become a self-sufficient snowshoer. Once you start getting outside during the frozen months, you’ll find yourself loving (and looking forward) to winter.

This course is jointly sponsored by WenatcheeOutdoors, Cascade Subaru, and the City of Wenatchee.

Other details:

• The course will include:

• Cost: $50 for four classes and attendance in one outing. Payment is required for registration.
• Class size is limited. Contact Sarah Fitzgerald at the Wenatchee Parks & Recreation Program (888-3283, sfitzgerald@wenatcheeWA.gov) for information or to sign-up.

Course Outline:

Class 1. Gear and Research Resources: Footwear, foot additions (snowshoes, MicroSpikes), poles, gaiters, gloves, gear for the core, hats, outerwear. Additional winter safety equipment, navigation tools, snow safety equipment, fire additions, 10 essentials. Intro to internet research resources: Online guidebooks, online snow info, online weather, online maps, WenatcheeOutdoors forum.

Class 2. Winter Safety and Navigation ABCs: Dealing with emergencies – injury, getting lost, short days. Dealing with cold. Equipment and techniques for surviving the unexpected. Techniques for getting unlost. Intro to navigation. 
                                     Class 3. Map and Compass Basics: Reading maps, using compasses, combining maps and compass, GPS ABCs, establishing routes, following routes, reading and following terrain.

Class 4. Snow Safety and Avalanches Basics: Snow Safety Equipment. Using terrain effectively for safe trip planning. On-line snow, weather, and avalanche resources.



Photo: With snowshoes, enjoy the pain of tromping up steep slopes all year long.

Flakes drift from a silver sky and transform the path before us into a stretched white shawl. The air is palpable with frost and our breaths fashion fog ghosts that float amorphously behind our walking figures. Ice stalactites hang from the colossal trees scratching the sky and from the knee-high shrubs bordering  streams. The tracks of deer, bobcat, and squirrels merge with, and then diverge from, the wilderness turnpike we follow.

Photo: Which one of these prints belongs to the real cool cat?

That turnpike, step by step, takes us higher into increasingly bitter air. A lake we pass wears an armor of ice that had been black before this snow. Now it’s changing its color as it is painted with new snow. How could frozen water that looked so totally black be coated with more frozen water to make itself perfectly white? 

We walk on with the dry, weightless snow spraying around us with each footfall. Brief crystalline squalls also swirl around us, dampen our shirts, and then give way to sun breaks that press heat into the same fabrics and steam away the moisture.

We move through stands of giant conifers whose furrowed barks are coated with hairy mosses flocked with frost. Gradually the big trees give way to stunted firs with smooth, silver skin. Higher still, the trees disappear and are replaced by fields of granite boulders capped with snow roofs.

Blue skies come and go. Long views come and go. And after a few hours of glacier skiing, we come and go as well. On the return, the scenery is 180 degrees reformed. Mountain silhouettes, alpine lakes, and forest details we missed seeing on the approach all vie for our attention. 

Also grabbing our attention is the current solitude of an area that is well-used in summer. “Why isn’t anyone else out here?” my partner wonders aloud. Why aren’t others out here observing the southward migration of the sun and the crack in the climatic cycle through which winter has just emerged?

Certainly we’re not surprised by the absence of other half-witted skiers like us who carried boards for hours to log minutes of turns. But hikers interested in watching autumn being put to bed, mountaineers looking for a scramble into the sky, snowshoers observing winter’s arrival … where are they?

The sun is well below the horizon and only a few minutes of usable light remain when we drop packs by the bumper of the car. The temperature has plunged as fast as the sun and we quickly shed snowy boots and load up. We’re tired and are happy a long day of walking is over. We are also happy winter is just getting going -- days like these leave you wanting more.

Hiking All Year Long

During the hike described above, the snow wasn’t deep enough for skis or snowshoes and yet the frozen ground covered by snow was a slippery combination. MicroSpikes pulled over our trail shoes provided traction equaling that of walking dirt trails in summer.

It doesn’t take much snow to turn an easy hike into an impossible slog. If you’re unsure of how much snow is out there, or at what elevation you’ll hit enough snow to hamper efficient travel, throw lightweight snowshoes into the pack. Now you’re ready for whatever comes your way.

Photo: Snowshoes add only a few pounds of weight to the pack yet ensure you're prepared to handle all snow conditions encountered during a hike.

Cold temperatures are not to be feared, but do need to be matched with more clothing. Bring gloves and gaiters to protect fingers and toes, an extra shirt and a puffy jacket to insulate your core, a thin and a thick hat to slow heat loss through your head, and good waterproof outer wear to keep everything dry in the event of falling or blowing snow.

Photo: A pruning saw (right) or the blade of a pruning saw (left) as well as firestarters are useful wintertime safety items.


The ability to create shelter and fire fast are important for winter safety. Should you get lost or injured, a few precautions are critical for winter safety. A lightweight silnylon tarp, lighter, and fire starter are all particularly important. And in deep-snow conditions a pruning saw and small fire pan are also important. More about winter fires.

Why Leaves Change Color...

...visitors to the Wenatchee National Forest will see vibrant fall colors in most areas of the forest. Leaves have already reached their peak colors in the higher elevation areas of the forest but are still incredibly beautiful in the lower elevations. Every year at this time visitors revel in the beauty of the trees, knowing well that it is only a fleeting pleasure. Before long though, the leaves will flutter away and become a part of the rich carpet that covers the forest floor.

Recent Photos of Fall Colors on the Forest

The timing of color change and leaf fall are primarily regulated by the increasing length of night. None of the other environmental influences -- temperature, rainfall, food supply, and so on--are as unvarying as the steadily increasing length of night during autumn. As days grow shorter, and nights grow longer and cooler, biochemical processes in the leaf begin to paint the landscape with Nature's autumn palette.

A color palette needs pigments, and there are three types that are involved in autumn color.

• Chlorophyll, which gives leaves their basic green color. It is necessary for photosynthesis, the chemical reaction that enables plants to use sunlight to manufacture sugars for their food. Trees in the temperate zones store these sugars for their winter dormant period.
• Carotenoids, which produce yellow, orange, and brown colors in such things as corn, carrots, and daffodils, as well as rutabagas, buttercups, and bananas.
• Anthocyanins, which give color to such familiar things as cranberries, red apples, concord grapes, blueberries, cherries, strawberries, and plums. They are water soluble and appear in the watery liquid of leaf cells. Most anthocyanins are produced in the autumn, in response to bright light and excess plant sugars within leaf cells.

During the growing season, chlorophyll is continually being produced and broken down and leaves appear green. As night length increases in the autumn, chlorophyll production slows down and then stops and eventually all the chlorophyll is destroyed. The carotenoids and anthocyanins that are present in the leaf are then unmasked and show their colors.

The amount and brilliance of the colors that develop in any particular autumn season are related to weather conditions that occur before and during the time the chlorophyll in the leaves is dwindling. Temperature and moisture are the main influences.

A succession of warm, sunny days and cool, crisp but not freezing nights seems to bring about the most spectacular color displays. During these days, lots of sugars are produced in the leaf but the cool nights and the gradual closing of veins going into the leaf prevent these sugars from moving out. These conditions -- lots of sugar and lots of light--spur production of the brilliant anthocyanin pigments, which tint reds, purples, and crimson. Because carotenoids are always present in leaves, the yellow and gold colors remain fairly constant from year to year.

The amount of moisture in the soil also affects autumn colors. Like the weather, soil moisture varies greatly from year to year. A late spring, or a severe summer drought, can delay the onset of fall color by a few weeks. A warm period during fall will also lower the intensity of autumn colors. A warm wet spring, favorable summer weather, and warm sunny fall days with cool nights should produce the most brilliant autumn colors.

In early autumn, in response to the shortening days and declining intensity of sunlight, leaves begin the processes leading up to their fall. The veins that carry fluids into and out of the leaf gradually close off as a layer of cells forms at the base of each leaf. These clogged veins trap sugars in the leaf and promote production of anthocyanins. Once this separation layer is complete and the connecting tissues are sealed off, the leaf is ready to fall.

The evergreens-pines, spruces, cedars, firs, and so on are able to survive winter because their needle-like or scale-like foliage is covered with a heavy wax coating and the fluid inside their cells contains substances that resist freezing. Thus the foliage of evergreens can safely withstand all but the severest winter conditions, such as those in the Arctic. Evergreen needles survive for some years but eventually fall because of old age.

Needles and leaves that fall are not wasted. They decompose and restock the soil with nutrients and make up part of the spongy humus layer of the forest floor that absorbs and holds rainfall. Fallen leaves also become food for numerous soil organisms vital to the forest ecosystem.

Although it has been explained above why leaves change color, it is just nice to go out and enjoy the spectacle and beauty of all that color that is so fleeting. Take the time to bask in the fall colors before they are all gone...

 (This information was provided by the US Forest Service).

Photos: Low-intensity fire (left) clearing the forest floor. High-intensity fire (right) clearing the forest altogether.


Story by Andy Dappen. Photos by John Marshall and others

Before we forget that fear of wildfires approaching our city and the inconvenience of breathing foul air for weeks on end, we would do well to ask what just happened on our wild lands and whether we need to fear future incidences of fire raging toward our communities.

These questions harken back to a talk given earlier this summer by Dr. Paul Hessburg, a Research Landscape Ecologist with the Forestry Sciences Lab in Wenatchee. Hessburg’s theme revolved around the 1994 fires in Chelan County that burned over 186,000 acres in Rat Creek, Tyee Creek, Hatchery Creek, and Round Mountain. Hessburg asked whether these fires were extraordinary incidents or a harbinger of things to come.

The conclusion of this talk that drew from decades of research, modeling, and actual fires was that citizens of the West better hang onto their fire hoses. Unless state and county governments, land management agencies, environmental organizations, and members of the public pull together in reducing an overload of fuels in our forests, big fires, like the Wenatchee Complex fires burning around us now, will continue to ignite. In the future we should expect more fires that can flambé structures and produce custard-thick air.

Hessburg showed representative pictures of what many Northwestern watersheds looked like 80 years ago (when they were much more fire resistant) and what some of those same watersheds look like now. Even to an untrained audience, it was obvious many of these forests were going to vaporize if drought and fire visited those areas simultaneously. Almost prophetically, Hessburg showed a picture of slopes above Mission Creek, only a ridgeline removed from Wenatchee, and explained why, like the majority of the forested landscape around us, it was ripe for a bad burn.

Top photo, taken by John Marshall in 2010, illustrates the problem of too many trees. The same slopes were much more fire resistant when the 1934 picture was taken.

The 1934 picture showed hills with patchy forests that were mottled with clearings and populated with broadly spaced, big trees. The 2010 picture, by contrast, showed an epidemic of  trees. The clearings had filled in and the hills were crammed with small and medium-sized trees. The fuel of so many trees in so many layers, Hessburg explained, almost guaranteed that once a fire got going (and fire would eventually visit these slopes) the flames would do far more than clean house; they would ignite the hillside into a forest-destroying wall of fire. Some of the very forests Hessburg used to illustrate the problem are now, as he predicted, gone.

All around the West a century of heavy human intervention has changed the landscape. In watershed after watershed the low-density, large, old trees that withstood smaller wildfires for centuries have been removed first by logging and, more recently, through stand-destroying high-severity fires. Logged and burned areas have frequently been replanted in very high densities. On top of this, a policy of suppressing most fires has dominated fire management for nearly a century. This policy has prevented low-severity fires from clearing the forest floor of small trees, fallen logs, brush, and other combustibles -- a process that took place naturally before logging and fire exclusion.

Suppression proved to be very effective for several decades but, gradually, an oversupply of combustible materials has accumulated on an estimated 150 million acres of federal forests -- an area 3.5 times the size of our state. The majority of our dry forests, which includes Central Washington, are tinderboxes.

Photo: A forest with 1) too much fuel, 2) too many small trees and ladder fuels that will jump fire from the ground to the canopy, 3) trees too densely spaced...

To rectify the problem of too much fuel on the ground there’s, ironically, a strong need to fight fire with fire by reintroducing low-intensity burns back onto the landscape. The Entiat District within the Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest (OWNF) has been on the vanguard of this practice. Matt Dahlgreen, a retired forest ecologist with the Entiat District, says that prescribed fire is “one of the most cost-effective tools for reducing fire hazard while, at the same time, returning our forests to a more diverse and sustainable condition.” 

Dahlgreen says more and more people realize that fire is a part of our landscape and that prescribed fire is an effective way to reduce high-intensity fires. For many people, that realization hit home after the 1994 Tyee Fire. Here, a number of the stands in the Entiat, like the Goman Peak Fuel Break, that were treated with fire to reduce the fuel load survived the fire with negligible damage. Many of the adjacent stands of untreated forests were transformed to charcoal.

John Marshall Photo: This stand in Byrd Canyon (Entiat Ranger District) survived the recent fires nicely. Fire cleaned out ground fuels and small trees. The medium-sized and large trees are in good shape.

A number of the best fire practitioners in the field have refined their craft in the Entiat and have not only run fire through old stands of trees that needed ‘maintenance’ burns to reduce the fuel load, but have also have also thinned forests that are overly congested with small trees by combining some mechanical thinning (chainsaw work) with controlled burning. These efforts have been highly successful and the Entiat District has demonstrated that fire, when used properly, is a very economical and effective tool for returning forests to a fire-ready state.

Unfortunately, some segments of the public are not supportive of using prescribed fire to produce fire-ready forests. The citizens of neighboring communities are often averse (and vocal) about the smoke created from controlled burns. They pressure local government and agencies to reduce the burning. Meanwhile, property owners along the forest interface, fearing that controlled burns might run amuck, frequently contest the use of fire as a management tool.

And yet as massive fires like those of 2012 in Colorado, New Mexico, Montana, Idaho, and here in the Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest erupt across the landscape with greater frequency, many experts like Hessburg and Dahlgreen believe we need to lower our aversions. There is so much terrain with an oversupply of fuel and so little ground actually receiving treatment each year that, unless we revamp our practices, we won’t bring the forests back to a safer state.

John Marshall: Another stand in Byrd Canyon that was overloaded with high-density, small trees. This slope got nuked.

Hessburg coined the choice between conducting business as usual versus using low-intensity fires to reduce fuel loads this way: “The question is not ‘whether there will be fire and smoke’ but, ‘how do you want your fire in smoke?. Do you want it in a few big, intense, uncontrolled wildfires, or in many small, low-intensity burns?”

Locally we’ve just witnessed a big, uncontrolled burn and it scared many of us living nearby. Despite the fact that over 56,000 acres of ground have been charred, we should keep in mind that this incident has been charitable to humans. Had strong winds accompanied the flames as they advanced toward Wenatchee or Cashmere, many homes might have been lost.

Hopefully our relatively unscathed escape from the jaws of the lion will not lead us to believe that we are off the hook. Hessburg concluded his talk several months ago by stating that those of us living in hot, dry climates around the West can no longer view big, high-intensity fires as isolated incidents. Until we reduce the oversupply of fuels we’ve created on a landscape level, we can look forward to fighting these monsters again.

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Note: As an addendum to this article we are developing another article focusing on what we can do as individuals, communities, and policy makers to address the issue. Weigh-in below with your thoughts in the ‘Comment’ box.

Other Resources

• See Dr. Hessburg’s presentation about the 1994 Wildfires that this story references as a slideshow.
• Fire Suppression in the U.S. (History and Shortcomings)

Photos: Some steps for bringing our forests back into a state of improved fire readiness.

It’s been a peculiar and unproductive few weeks. From September 9 and 11 fire was lapping at the doors of the world headquarters of WenatcheeOutdoors located in the foothills of Wenatchee. We were issued a Level 3 notice and were advised to evacuate the area. We didn’t flee but we did pack our computers in a car and, for several days, waited as fire approached to within a third of a mile of us on two different occasions. Had the winds not been calm or had firefighters not been present to corral the approaching flames, world headquarters might have been reduced to toast.

Photo: Fire lapping at our front door.

Immediately after the approaching flames had been contained, we were fighting another fire in the form of a crashed website. We used the opportunity to move the site from an old server that was misbehaving to a new server that should operate faster and with fewer glitches. The glitch here, however, was that it took nearly a week to accomplish what we were told would require a day. The site was down the entire time, but because our web presence has been hosted for free (a kind gesture to support our non-profit efforts), we lacked leverage to speed-up the process.

Finally, right when we should have been back in business, the website’s content editor and all-around grunt (me) was off to Mexico for eight days. In the context of the aforementioned downtime, this was a terrible time to flee. In the context of the $700 non-refundable plane ticket I had purchased to reach southern Mexico where my niece was being married, however, this was the right time to get out of Dodge. Away I went.

Of course nothing is usual about the outdoors at present because the Wenatchee Valley is still marinating in smoke. In the weeks ahead we will keep you apprised of what’s happening out there in the charred lands surrounding us, where you can get out of the smoke, and where you can stretch the legs without searing the lungs.




Photo: It's yucky out there now, but we'll help you find places that are not yucky.

It’s been a peculiar and unproductive few weeks. From September 9 and 11 fire was lapping at the doors of the world headquarters of WenatcheeOutdoors located in the foothills of Wenatchee. We were issued a Level 3 notice and were advised to evacuate the area. We didn’t flee but we did pack our computers in a car and, for several days, waited as fire approached to within a third of a mile of us on two different occasions. Had the winds not been calm or had firefighters not been present to corral the approaching flames, world headquarters might have been reduced to toast.

Photo: Fire lapping at our front door.

Immediately after the approaching flames had been contained, we were fighting another fire in the form of a crashed website. We used the opportunity to move the site from an old server that was misbehaving to a new server that should operate faster and with fewer glitches. The glitch here, however, was that it took nearly a week to accomplish what we were told would require a day. The site was down the entire time, but because our web presence has been hosted for free (a kind gesture to support our non-profit efforts), we lacked leverage to speed-up the process.

Finally, right when we should have been back in business, the website’s content editor and all-around grunt (me) was off to Mexico for eight days. In the context of the aforementioned downtime, this was a terrible time to flee. In the context of the $700 non-refundable plane ticket I had purchased to reach southern Mexico where my niece was being married, however, this was the right time to get out of Dodge. Away I went.

Of course nothing is usual about the outdoors at present because the Wenatchee Valley is still marinating in smoke. In the weeks ahead we will keep you apprised of what’s happening out there in the charred lands surrounding us, where you can get out of the smoke, and where you can stretch the legs without searing the lungs.




Photo: Air in the Wenatchee Valley is currently yucky, but we'll help you find places that are not yucky.