August 17, 9:27 AM, we have arrived at the bottom of the cliff, at the top of the glacier. We're preparing to put on our crampons to cross the glacier. There aren't any photos of crossing the glacier since we were all too busy with safety concerns. The bottom 100 feet of the glacier was very steep.
1:35 PM, we arrived at our proposed new campsite. Located in the trees just below the glacier, there were very few level spots and all of them were small. Lief and Louie began leveling out some sleeping spots. I went uphill about twenty feet and found another single spot for myself.
This is a panorama of the glacier, taken from the same elevation as our camp. The main flow of melt water comes from the center of the photo. It was ice cold and quite refreshing to drink. Our camp was located in the trees to the right of this photo.
Looking in the opposite direction, the air is clear, with thunderheads forming in the distance. We had brief rain and hail showers, then smog set in and we could barely see that nearest mountain to the east.
August 18, 2020, 12:19 PM. I have climbed to the top of the glacier to unhook loads of airplane scrap from our hoisting setup.
Another panorama showing the accumulation of scrap on the left, and barely visible to the left is our hoisting line, showing up as two white lines extending down across the snow.
Morning of August 19, Lief woke up early and made a cup of coffee. This photo was time-stamped 6:54 AM.
Here's the entire camp. Our four-man tent has been erected as a two-man tent, braced against the uphill side of a large boulder. Louie's black and grey tarp is barely visible on the far side of the tent. My sleeping bag is the blue patch to the right and uphill from the tent.
Abby, aka "the tough girl" made her appearance at 8:42 AM. The fact that she was here was remarkable, but the work she did was amazing.
9:57 AM, breakfast is finished. It's time to get to work again.
Lief took the task of climbing the glacier this time. He had enough energy to drag most of the loads of scrap up to the top of the cliff. Two loads are waiting in the background while the most recent load has just reached the top. Both snatch blocks are visible in this photo. We had a 2:1 mechanical advantage that became nullified by twisting of the lower snatch block. When the two white lines to the left twisted together it was like tying a knot in that line, so retrieval of the lower snatch block became more difficult than pulling up a load af aluminum scrap. I determined that we need to completely eliminate the use of parachute cord to resolve the twisting problem.
August 20, 9:39 AM, last day at Mooney Meadows. We're all carrying a full pack and intend to cross the glacier after pulling up one last load. Lief and Abby posed here at the original crash site and the only piece of the wreckage remaining here: the engine.
August 20, 12:06 PM, the last load of wreckage has been hauled up, Lief has crossed the glacier and now Abby is on her way. I climbed up to the top of the cliff to take this telephoto picture of her as soon as she came within sight. You can see she is standing now, not crawling on hands and knees up the steep bottom of the glacier. Louie is the last person at the bottom of the glacier and he's monitoring her progress, keeping the slack out of the line in case she starts sliding. She never did slide.
12:14 PM Abby is close enough to not need a telephoto picture. The slope is quite steep and she's standing at about 10,000 feet elevation, so lots of rest stops are needed.
12:20 PM, success at last! Now we need to get Louie up to the top and he's never walked on crampons before.
This is the final setup: Louie is climbing the glacier with the hauling line set at a 1:1 ratio. I'm keeping the slack out of the line and prepared to hold it if he starts to slide. He never did slide. In fact, he climbed up so fast it was amazing. But he's acclimated to the elevation and didn't need so many rest stops.
In these two frames you can see why I was amazed at Abby's strength and willpower. She hefted that collection of aluminum scrap straight up the face of the cliff.
Across the top of the mountain and down the west side, through the forest, Louie told me, "I want my 'little cousin' to see a bear" and sure enough, 1,000 feet down through the forest, she spotted a bear. Nobody else saw it, but minutes later we came across this freshly stripped tree, covered with bear claw marks.
"One more thing: I want my 'little cousin' to have a chance to shoot my Colt 45 Long pistol," Louie said. Abby was uncertain for a long time, then suddenly her face took on a deadly expression, she set the hammer back and pulled the trigger. I knew it was going to be loud but it still surprised me, causing my ears to ring for a few minutes.
August 21, 3:29 PM we arrived at the trail head. Everybody still feeling well enough to smile. We had been on the mountain for six days.
August 17, 9:27 AM, we have arrived at the bottom of the cliff, at the top of the glacier. We're preparing to put on our crampons to cross the glacier. There aren't any photos of crossing the glacier since we were all too busy with safety concerns. The bottom 100 feet of the glacier was very steep.
1:35 PM, we arrived at our proposed new campsite. Located in the trees just below the glacier, there were very few level spots and all of them were small. Lief and Louie began leveling out some sleeping spots. I went uphill about twenty feet and found another single spot for myself.
This is a panorama of the glacier, taken from the same elevation as our camp. The main flow of melt water comes from the center of the photo. It was ice cold and quite refreshing to drink. Our camp was located in the trees to the right of this photo.
Looking in the opposite direction, the air is clear, with thunderheads forming in the distance. We had brief rain and hail showers, then smog set in and we could barely see that nearest mountain to the east.
August 18, 2020, 12:19 PM. I have climbed to the top of the glacier to unhook loads of airplane scrap from our hoisting setup.
Another panorama showing the accumulation of scrap on the left, and barely visible to the left is our hoisting line, showing up as two white lines extending down across the snow.
Morning of August 19, Lief woke up early and made a cup of coffee. This photo was time-stamped 6:54 AM.
Here's the entire camp. Our four-man tent has been erected as a two-man tent, braced against the uphill side of a large boulder. Louie's black and grey tarp is barely visible on the far side of the tent. My sleeping bag is the blue patch to the right and uphill from the tent.
Abby, aka "the tough girl" made her appearance at 8:42 AM. The fact that she was here was remarkable, but the work she did was amazing.
9:57 AM, breakfast is finished. It's time to get to work again.
Lief took the task of climbing the glacier this time. He had enough energy to drag most of the loads of scrap up to the top of the cliff. Two loads are waiting in the background while the most recent load has just reached the top. Both snatch blocks are visible in this photo. We had a 2:1 mechanical advantage that became nullified by twisting of the lower snatch block. When the two white lines to the left twisted together it was like tying a knot in that line, so retrieval of the lower snatch block became more difficult than pulling up a load af aluminum scrap. I determined that we need to completely eliminate the use of parachute cord to resolve the twisting problem.
August 20, 9:39 AM, last day at Mooney Meadows. We're all carrying a full pack and intend to cross the glacier after pulling up one last load. Lief and Abby posed here at the original crash site and the only piece of the wreckage remaining here: the engine.
August 20, 12:06 PM, the last load of wreckage has been hauled up, Lief has crossed the glacier and now Abby is on her way. I climbed up to the top of the cliff to take this telephoto picture of her as soon as she came within sight. You can see she is standing now, not crawling on hands and knees up the steep bottom of the glacier. Louie is the last person at the bottom of the glacier and he's monitoring her progress, keeping the slack out of the line in case she starts sliding. She never did slide.
12:14 PM Abby is close enough to not need a telephoto picture. The slope is quite steep and she's standing at about 10,000 feet elevation, so lots of rest stops are needed.
12:20 PM, success at last! Now we need to get Louie up to the top and he's never walked on crampons before.
This is the final setup: Louie is climbing the glacier with the hauling line set at a 1:1 ratio. I'm keeping the slack out of the line and prepared to hold it if he starts to slide. He never did slide. In fact, he climbed up so fast it was amazing. But he's acclimated to the elevation and didn't need so many rest stops.
Across the top of the mountain and down the west side, through the forest, Louie told me, "I want my 'little cousin' to see a bear" and sure enough, 1,000 feet down through the forest, she spotted a bear. Nobody else saw it, but minutes later we came across this freshly stripped tree, covered with bear claw marks.
"One more thing: I want my 'little cousin' to have a chance to shoot my Colt 45 Long pistol," Louie said. Abby was uncertain for a long time, then suddenly her face took on a deadly expression, she set the hammer back and pulled the trigger. I knew it was going to be loud but it still surprised me, causing my ears to ring for a few minutes.
August 21, 3:29 PM we arrived at the trail head. Everybody still feeling well enough to smile. We had been on the mountain for six days.
