Foxes Feast on Food

Two foxes (of a rare sub species) are currently moving up and down the mountain from Paradise all the way up to the summit. While the mountain is their natural environment, the food they have been eating this year has not been coming from the mountain, most of it has been taken from climbers and day hikers at Camp Muir. Foxes have been consistently searching out food left in backpacks and tent vestibules.

Sadly, we have experienced what happens when foxes become habituated and dependent on humans in the park - we lost our friend Pickles.

Mount Rainier is home for these foxes, meaning we can't relocate them nor would we want to. At this point we are trying our best to have the foxes and climbers interactions be kept to a minimum. Please help us with this effort by maintaining a clean camp and storing all food zipped up, inside of your tent. Day hikers and skiers please be tidy during snack breaks and clean up your scraps (both food and wrappers). Thanks so much for your help!

Light at the end of the tunnel?

A good deal of my time so far this summer has been consumed with scanning pictures and preparing pictures for scanning. On June 2nd I reported that another 970 pictures had been scanned since mid-May, plus the 575 pictures of mom's that had been scanned in April.

For the heck of it, I decided to keep track of how much time was spent in scanning. In hindsight I probably should have tracked how much time was spent in preparing the pictures for scanning as well. Once I started on the magnetic albums, it's highly likely that as much time was spent in prep as in actual scanning.

The prep work consisted of removing the pictures from the albums, sorting them into the order in which they were to be scanned, then attaching them to archival paper. After fiddling with trying to put multiple pictures on the scanner bed and getting irritated with them moving when the cover was lowered (due to static), I decided to put the pictures on the pages where I wanted them, add captions as needed, then individually scan the pictures along with their corresponding captions. Too bad I didn't think of that when I was scanning mom's first album. Something to keep in mind for the next one!

Out of the past 48 days, scanning was done on 21 of them, usually 2-3 hours a day but occasionally 4 hours. One day I was on a roll and spent 6 hours scanning! I'm not totally crazy, it wasn't all at one sitting. I did get up a few times to stretch my legs and grab a bite to eat. And yes, I washed my hands after eating and before handling the pictures! Anyway, a total of 70 hours of scanning in 21 days netted another 2278 images. That's an average of 3.3 hours and 108.5 images per day.

That takes care of my personal albums. There are still a few more of Mom's to do. Next up will be the genealogy documents. But, they too need to be sorted prior to scanning. I've mentioned before that with my filing system I put documents of the same type together, regardless of who they are for, whether an ancestor or other relative, giving each document a number. I could find them easily because of the numbering system and the fact that when something was entered in my database the document number was entered for reference, so all I needed to do was look up the person in the database to see where the document was filed. But that system isn't really intuitive and I need to make it easier for whomever will take over my research (assuming there is a family member who wants it or in case it gets donated to a library or society). So that means sorting and putting the documents together for a given person or family. I haven't decided yet whether I'll scan "everything" or just the ancestral documents. "Everything" includes a lot. I think, after I've sorted through stuff I'll do the ancestors first and save the rest for another time. I want to get back to researching! And doing other things. But at the least, I want to get the ancestor documents scanned.

There may not yet be light at the end of the tunnel, but it will be there one day. Soon, I hope.

The picture below was taken in September 1978 while I was stationed in Japan. Above the Clouds. Sunrise from the top of Mt. Fuji. There is a story to tell that goes along with the picture, but it'll have to wait for another time.

Photo Copyright © 1978/.. by Rebeckah R. Wiseman

White Faced Calf

I found this little white faced calf while out on the desert. He posed for me so I took his photo. There was even a cholla cactus skeleton by him and a tiny cholla by it with one purple blossom.

The "new" alpine ice boots?

These are all newto me and the blog anyway. After all the blog is suppose to about alpine ice and winter climbing. Not the foo-foo world of skiing :) Some really good boots available these days for cold weather climbing. The key is finding the one pair that fits YOU the best! Hopefully I'll be able to shed some light on that part of the process with the up coming reviews, weightsand comparisons.



A fewof the boots here now or coming shortlyfor reviews. I can do better than the stock pictures I pulled off the net this morning :)



Zamberlan

3000 PAINE PLUS GTX RR









4000 EIGER RR









6000 DENALI RR







Asolo



EIGER
























La Sportiva Nepal Cube


















Mammut Nordwand TL



















Lowa 6000







and the newest Lowa 6000 below







Lowa Katok XT



















Salewa Pro Guide



















Scarpa Rebel Pro

Misty Morning, Autumn Forest

This morning was amazing. I brought a couple of friends up into the woods to shoot the fall colors and we were treated to some pretty incredible conditions! Thanks to the cold overnight temperatures and lack of wind, the forest was filled with fog and frost. To top it off, the leaf colors were magnificent. It all made for a little slice of photographic heaven.


Above image: Morning Fog, North Lake
Morning light, fog, trees, reflections... what more could I have possibly wanted? The only thing that would have made this scene better would be a moose standing out in the water :-)

Ingalls Peak

It was like a garden between Ingalls Pass and Ingalls lake. Danielle wants to live there.











The mountain goats were pretty friendly.













Snow on the edge of Ingalls Lake.

Dani exploring the shoreline. Mt. Stuart in the background.












Climbing Mt. Ingalls, North Peak.















Dave, Nicholas, Mark, Mike (and Doug) on the summit.














Nicholas rappelling down.









Ingalls Lake and Mt. Stuart as seen from Ingalls South Peak.

Gunks Routes: The Last Will Be First (5.6)

(Photo: A view of climbers on the High Exposure buttress from high on the first pitch of The Last Will Be First (5.6).)



So you had your heart set on climbing High Exposure (5.6+)... but you arrived at the base of the climb to find it stacked three-deep with parties waiting to get started?



Well, don't waste your whole day waiting below the cliff.



Go hit The Last Will Be First (5.6) instead. It features high-quality moves all the way from the bottom of the cliff to the very top. It is in my opinion harder than High E and more sustained in its difficulty and its quality. I climbed it for the second time in early December with Liz and I was struck by how great it is, from start to finish. I think it is a contender for three stars, though I understand why Dick Williams gives it only two. It has no single standout moment, like the swing out onto the face on pitch two of High E, or the move over the big roof on Shockley's.



But it has something different: consistent fun. I think only Madame G's rivals The Last Will Be First when it comes to great continuous 5.6 climbing.



The first pitch is outstanding. After the initial easy moves up a slab to an obvious crack, you'll find never-ending steep climbing on good rock with good pro. Nice move follows nice move and then you hit the crux, where you'll bust it over a rooflet and up to the top of a shallow left-facing corner. Then you escape right from the corner and past a dead tree to the final good moves up to the GT Ledge. 160 feet of goodness. I can't think of another pitch of 5.6 in the Gunks that is so long and sustained at the grade.





(Photo: Liz almost finished with pitch one.)



When you arrive on the GT Ledge, you'll see a set of rap bolts off a ways to climber's left. I'd recommend against belaying from these bolts, as they do not put you in the best position from which to start pitch two. Instead you should build a gear belay in the cliff behind the ledge, just a step or two left from where you top out after pitch one.



Dick describes pitch two as beginning at the first left-facing corner, about 20 feet to the left of where you emerge from pitch one. I think it is actually less than 20 feet, and there are two corners right next to each other. You want the closer, shallower one. I was confused by Dick's instructions the first time I did The Last Will Be First and ended up going a little too far to the left, coming closer to the second pitch of Unholy Wick by mistake. What I actually did was an unnamed variation between the two climbs. Perhaps this was a first ascent? I can call it The Last Will Be Unholy (5.6). I thought my new variation was fun and well-protected.



I realized I was off-route afterwards, when I looked at the topo photo in the back of the guidebook. In this instance the photo is more helpful than the description. I also have a photo of my own that should help you make sure you don't suffer from the same confusion I had the first time around.





(Photo: Going the wrong way on pitch two of The Last Will Be First (5.6). The actual route is the yellow line on the far right. Click on the photo to enlarge and see the captions for the lines approximating the correct positions of the routes in this part of the cliff.)



In early December when I did the route for the second time I did the correct pitch two. Don't go as far left as I am in the above photo. Instead go up at the first, shallower left-facing corner, heading straight up about ten or fifteen feet thenheading diagonally upleft to the break in the little overhang.





(Photo: Looking down the correct pitch two of The Last Will Be First, from just above the crux overhang.)



The second pitch is not as sustained as pitch one. Itfeatures face climbing up and left to a small crux overhang that is cleared at the notch. The pro is good but it's a little spaced as you head left from the corner to the overhang. Great pro is available at the crux.



Once above the overhang the climb joins Ken's Blind Hole (5.6) to the finish. Straight up a shallow dihedral to a fun, easy traverse beneath overhangs to the right along a big horizontal. This leads to an exit at the top at a set of belay/rappel bolts.





(Photo: Liz at the finishing traverse on pitch two.)



While it isn't as sustained as the first pitch, pitch two offers good variety: face climbing, then a small overhang, then an entertaining traverse. Definitely well worth doing, and a fitting finish to a really nice climb.

More Balloons

The Gold Country

The Gold Country, originally uploaded by ParsecTraveller.

Yesterday we went on a day trip to the foothills of Yosemite National Park. I had heard that there were some wildflowers out....

...there were.

Hillsides and mountains were covered in sheets of California poppies and popcorn flowers. Some of the mountainsides were literally completely orange with only the occasional tree to break the flowers. It was a truly incredible day.

I took this photo on a very steep hillside in the Merced River canyon near Briceburg.

Smooth Sailing on Mt Rainier

The good news, is that we have NO news. Other than a spate of warm weather (i.e. HOT WEATHER,) things remain consistantly quiet on the mountain.

Climbers have been successfully reaching the summit via the "standard routes." Most teams that are in good shape are doing so quite easily and w/o incident. There is an extensive Emmon's trip report here. We're keeping the "current climbing conditions" as up-to-date as possible, with new reports on Ptarmigan Ridge and Russell Cliffs.

As an aside, the wildflowers in the meadows are fabulous. This image is from Eric Hamel of the NPS.

Trail running, The Laurel Highlands

One of the red efts I find regularly on the LHHT - Route 31 shelters

My blogging has been slow since February of this year, actually nonexistent. Here's a little to fill in my gap... Ice season was pretty much a bust, but ski season was unbelievable. The Laurel Highlands got dumped on with an abundance of natural snow this past winter. Laura and I spent a great deal of time skiing at Seven Springs in their award winning, Terrain Parks. This type of skiing is well known for producing an abundance of injuries to its participants. Here's a couple of skiing pics...

Railslide - The Streets @ Seven Springs

Light pole bonk over the gap - The Streets @ Seven Springs

My injuries included (but weren't limited to) a broken thumb, Injured (most likely broken) ribs. A bruised hip (which prohibited any running until about 5 weeks ago) and a second injured shoulder that has severely restricted my climbing. Unlike last season, I'm slowly trying to rehab it back to health. For now, I can barely dead hang on it. On a positive note, my injured shoulder from last season can now support free hanging body weight. The path back to stronger climbing might be slow and long, but climbing less challenging routes will produce an abundance of fun in the meantime. Throughout the spring Laura and I spent a fair number of days at various local crags climbing, doing trail work, etc. Bouldering has seemed to be our most focused style this year.




With my hip feeling better, I've recently been working my legs back into running condition. For the first couple weeks, I'd been testing my hip and seeing if limitations existed. I started with short, slow, road runs not much longer than 4 miles. Usually a rest day or two between runs. I felt good, with a only a couple days where my hip showed any signs of discontent. After two weeks back, the hip pain seemed to disappear completely. I quickly started stacking on the miles and feeling positive that longer pain free miles in the woods lay ahead.

Trusty footwear, Altra Lone Peaks and Powersox get my thumbs up!

This past week I managed to log 83 miles of running. All of them on the Laurel Highlands Hiking Trail. For those unfamiliar with this trail it's a 70 mile hiking trail that starts in Ohiopyle State Park and follows the crest of Laurel Ridge north to Seward. It's a unique trail due to the fact that it has numbered, concrete markers at each mile along its entirety (a great feature for pacing and location). Built as a backpacking trail in the 70's it was designed to be covered over a week long period. Adirondack style camp shelters with additional tent camping areas are located approximately 10 miles apart along the trail. This distance makes for easy hikes between shelters. Note: (reservations must be made in advance to stay in the shelter areas overnight). While designed as a backpacking trail, the LHHT is an amazing trail for runners. The whole trail is completely runnable single track that flows over the mountains through amazing scenery. Hardwood forests, rock outcrops, streams, lakes, and wildlife are the normal backdrop along this trail. I feel quite lucky to live and have grown up a short distance from the Rt. 31 trailhead (middle) of the trail. Starting from home allows easy access to either end of the trail. I must admit that I do spend the majority of my time on the southern half of the trail enjoying the larger elevation changes. Along with the LHHT, there's plenty of other great trails in our neck of the woods. Roaring Run Natural Area, Ohiopyle State Park and The North Woods are some of my other favorite trails to run.

Typical mile marker along the LHHT

Yesterday I completed my first half trail run since last year. Laura dropped me off at 31 parking lot and I went south passing a record (for me) 106 trail users along the way. Outside of the Laurel Ultra race day, I've never seen that many trail users on those sections. I stopped to chat with some of them. Here's just a few that I recall... I got a "nice beard" shout-out from a group of resting backpackers while crossing county line road. I met three trail runners from the Virginia Happy Trails Running Club enjoying an out and back run from the route 31 trailhead to Grindle Ridge Shelters. They were up for "Stills in the Hills" whiskey and music event at Seven Springs and decided to run a bit before the festivities. I met a nice younger couple that had their chocolate lab with them near route 653. They were heading in to Grindle Ridge shelters for the night. He was an experienced packer, but this was her first trip. She was smiling as she explained of her new pack and gear required to make the trip. Her excitement was quite infectious as I recalled how much I enjoy new "toys" as well.

Seven Springs Mountain Resort, the highest point on the LHHT

I was met by Laura sporting the mobile aid station at Maple summit parking lot. She provided some love and a water fill before the last stretch into Ohiopyle. Our plan was for her to park in Ohiopyle and start hiking north until we met. That way we'd get to enjoy a little trail time together. Ohiopyle was packed due to the beer and gear festival being held Saturday night. Please note this was the second booze and bluegrass festival along the trail... All kinds of partying going on in the Laurel Highlands! Laura decided to park up at King Mountain trail head and avoid the congestion. Laura was sore from previous runs this week and decided to carry a large backpack to remove the temptation of running. While she hiked north, I managed to float the flatter miles from Maple Summit down to milepost 8 to begin the "hilly" section of the LHHT. As I ran by the 8 mile marker, missing paint on the number 8 had me do a double take out of confusion. This quick glance over my shoulder was enough for me to snag a toe and go airborne, I tried to recover, but my efforts were futile. Head first into the woods Ughhh, I landed with a thud! Quickly I sprung back up and moving again checking for any blood or pains. Slightly dazed, but unscathed. Yep, got my attention and milepost 8 was still 8, not an imaginary 9?!?!? I proceeded to bomb down "heart attack hill" more alert to my footing as a stumble like minutes earlier would surely produce a less funny story.

The view after ascending from Bidwell

I cruised along finally meeting my sweetie just before milepost 3 I was heading uphill and she was coming down. I slowed to a hike at this point and we enjoyed the last several miles hiking back to the car together. We stopped at the 2.5 mile overlook for a few minutes enjoying what we usually pass by at a brisk pace. The additional 1400' of elevation gain at the end hiking up to the trail head produced more heavy breathing and I officially stopped my watch at 6:26:55. Quite a bit slower than my personal best for this run, but still a respectable time given my "casual" approach. I'll wait a little while and do this run again and see how much I can improve on this time.



Upon reaching the car we unpacked the mobile aid station and set up our chairs. Laura had packed a primo after trail picnic for us. We proceeded to kick back, eat turkey sammies, and drink chocolate milk while listening to the sweet sound of live bluegrass music coming from the festival below. What a great end to another day on the LHHT.

Laura and the mobile aid station setup at the end of the day

Father of Eva Rupert :: Is it John or Adam?

Online trees are certainly a “mixed bag” when it comes to reliable information but sometimes you find a gem that provides a clue or lead to follow-up on. Such was the case with the WorldConnect database of another descendant of Conrad and Eva/Eve (Rupert) Yarian. Her parents were given as John and Barbara Rupert and it had a source for her baptism - the Lower Bermudian Church in Adams County, Pennsylvania.



From her modern gravemarker in Unity Brick Church Cemetery, Columbiana County, Ohio we know that Eve was born on December 21, 1786. In addition, the 1850 census gives her age as 64, and in 1860 she is 75 years old. In both census records (Unity Township, Columbiana County) her birthplace is given as Pennsylvania.





Photo taken September 19, .. by Becky Wiseman

A resource I had found in the early days of my research (forgotten but recently reviewed) was a short typewritten manuscript titled “Some Descendants of Mathais Jurian” (compiled by Miss Cecil M. Smith, Hollis, New York, no date) It has two slightly conflicting dates for Eve's birth. On page 6 her birth is given as December 24, 1786 while on the next page it is given as December 21, 1786. It also states that Eve was born in born York County, Pennsylvania. (Keep in mind that in 1800, Adams County was formed from part of York.)



A search of the Library Catalog showed that the 1943 typescript “Church record of the Reformed & Lutheran congregation at Bermudian, Latimore Township, Adams County, Pennsylvania, 1745-1864” by William John Hinke was available on microfilm.





The last entry on page 21 shows [Infantes] Eva b. Dec 21, 1786 bapt. --------, 1787[Parents] Hannes Rubbert and Barbara, [Testes] John Adam Rubbert and Margaret



Having looked for these people “out there” on the internet recently, I've found a lot of conflicting information. It seems some researchers think that John Adam Rupert and John Rupert are one and the same person. Of course, without further research into Pennsylvania records I can't say conclusively that this Hannes Rubbert (John) with wife Barbara and John Adam Ruppert with wife Margaret shown here in Adams County, Pennsylvania are the same individuals who lived in Columbiana County, Ohio. But I can say that Hannes and John Adam are definitely two separate individuals!





The first entry on page 22 is the birth of Johannes born Nov. 9, 1786 to Johannes Adam Ruppert and Margaretha with witnesses Hannes Ruppert and Barbara.



The fifth entry on that page (the last entry on the scan) is the birth of Anna Catharina born Febr. 23, 1789, bap. Apr. 13, 1789 with parents Adam Rubbert and Margaretha and witnesses Henrich Flliker and Christina.



Other family trees on the net (from some of the researchers who don't subscribe to the premise that John and Adam are the same person) show four brothers - Adam, John, Martin and Michael Rupert - with unknown parents. The first three reportedly all ended up in Columbiana County, Ohio at the about the same time.





This record is from page 71 of the Bermudian Church Records showing the birth of a son Johannes on Jan. 29, 1780 bapt. on May 14, 1780 to Martin Rupert and Elisabeth with witnesses being Peter Arnold and Margret. Is Martin one of the four brothers?





On page 73 we have the birth of Jacob on June 1, 1782 bapt. June 23, 1782 with parents Johannes Ruppert and Barbara and witnesses Georg Hermann and Apollonia.





On page 74 of the Bermudian Church Records is the birth of Salome on Nov. 5, 1782 and bapt. in 1783. Her parents were Johannes Ruppert and Barbara with witnesses being Felix Thiel and Elisabeth. As a side note, this record was on a page with births for both 1782 and 1783. It is highly unlikely that Salome was born in November 1782 if Jacob was born in June of the same year. This is a transcription of the church book so the record could have been copied incorrectly or the church cleric could have inadvertently written the wrong year.





As a final “exhibit” from the Bermudian Church Records is page 101 listing the “Communicants, 18th Sunday after Trinity, 1787.” In the first column at number 23 is Johannes Rubbert, number 24 is Barbara, wf. In the second column is number 30, Adam Rubbert.



Among other sources that I reviewed on microfilm (No. 317346) at the Family History Library was “Wills of Columbiana, Mahoning and Trumbull counties” compiled by Henry R. Baldwin, no publication date. I didn't find a will listed for John Rupert but did find an abstract for that of Adam Rupert.





This is a snapshot taken with the camera. The record refers to Book 10 page 376 with a year of 1838. Heirs of Adam Rupert were his wife Margaret, sons John and Adam, daughters Catherine married John Sheets, Margaret married Adolph Saschtebergen, Mary married John Snoke (Snook), Elizabeth married Henry Sentzenisen. Grandchildren (Sentzenhisen) May, John, Daniel, Adam, Jacob, Samuel, Benjamin, Margaret, Sitter, Eliza, Ester, Henry, Lewis. Executors were John Sheets and Adam Rupert. Witnesses were William Chain and Solomon Greenamyer.



Note that Adam's wife is Margaret and there is a son John and daughter Catherine, corresponding with the Bermudian Church records.



Armed with this information and hoping to find something to help verify that John Rupert was the father of Eve, I began looking at land records for Columbiana County, Ohio.