Week 9 Matt Dooley SWS Mountain Guides

7-19-11
My week begins with an exciting trip with 33 kids from all over the states on Mt. Shasta. I have a group of 8 girls who's ages are from 15-18. These girls are mostly from the south so altitude is going to be a problem. Today we are going to 50-50 at 9600 feet to set up base camp. Good news the marian has melted out enough so TIM and i will not have to dig the tents in. saves a lot of time and energy. Also, note to future self. this is a crazy trip, but make sure you check all tent bags to make sure they have fly, body and poles, don't go off of weight. We have one tent at base camp with no poles. We are lucky this is a big group and there are extra spots available in tents. I teach my very first ice axe/ crampon clinic today all by myself. covered the basics and went over everything pretty fast but i felt like everyone in the group understands and everyone can self arrest and self belay which is the biggest thing. Put the girls into bed at 7:30pm. Tim and i talk about my role for tomorrow and snow conditions.

7-20-11
summit day. Wake up at 2am. breakfast is ready for the girls at 2:45am. I have to put all the girls crampons and harnesses on. Sweet southern bells are very needy this morning. Tim has me stay at base camp to take another groups campers down the hill to Horse Camp. 2 bad cases of altitude sickness. Tim decides to short rope right out of camp to make it easier on the girls. Tim is wise and this allowed the girls to be dragged along at a slow pace to begin the process of truly waking up. As i am walking down to Horse Camp with these girls, one from Ohio and the other from Mississippi they begin to feel better. One sprains her ankle in her boot so the trip becomes even more slow. They are troopers! Tough, tough girls. I drop them off at Horse Camp to some of there camp directors who stayed there over night. Time for me to go back up the hill and possibly still summit today... its going to be a very long day if I have to go up the mountain above base camp.
Once i get back to base camp Tim is there and tells me to take a quick nap to recharge and than when i wake up we will pack camp and split. This is music to my ears! One of our girls is in another group going for the summit, the rest are at base camp due to altitude. Tim took the girls up to 12,400 feet and they were done. Watched the sun come up and headed down. One brave girl says she will take all of the sag bags down, i feel she will soon regret this.
Down to Bunny Flat at 4:00pm and i have to wait around for other groups to get back so i can collect gear and make sure if anything is missing we give JH a bill. Back at SWS office at 5:30 put stuff away and get the hell out of dodge.

7-21-11
organize back room to make sure all the gear is labeled and put in the proper place. I detailed the back room as the climbing season is winding down pretty fast now. Looks spic and spam. One tent (my group) that didn't have the poles i now have to either find poles or make and chop a set of poles to fit to make due. I am a lucky dog today as i was able to find a set of poles, they are supper stiff but will work for this tent. set up tent outside to ensure poles will work. Tim K arrived so I was able to install a shower curtain, towel hooks, and entry way strip to cover the tile/carpet seem.

7-25-11
Start to go over every single tent in the inventory (about 30) making sure there are no holes and all poles are in working condition. Clean back room and organize helmets and ice axes.

7-26-11
more tents, and brought my screw gun down to put a few holes in the tile to mount the all important toilet paper dispenser. Put one more coating of tile sealer on the floor. I am getting very excited that i only have one more week to go.

Week 8 Matt Dooley SWS Mountain Guides

7-12-11
Today the bathroom is complete and ready to be used to its full potential! I finished installing all of the small detail work like the shower controls and various knobs.

7-14-11
packed bags and duffel's for trip preparation for a trip I will be going on with Crit tomorrow. New tents arrived today from BD. Squall "E" & "F" put guide lines on and labeled body, fly, and stuff sack accordingly. Grocery store run to make food for trip. Today was the first time I was fully able to see how everything will effect a trip, and it will be my trip with Crit. Detailed prep work for food and to make sure we calculate the correct amount of fuel to bring up is crucial. Fuel is a big catch 22, if you don't bring enough you will not be able to melt snow down for water and cook food, if you bring too much well you just have to carry extra weight, and no one like extra weight! Mountain guides are ounce counters. The saying goes ounces leads to pounds when it comes to shaving undesired weight off the pack.

7-15-11
meet clients at office to go over packing and do a pack check of what the appropriate clothing should be. Climb to 50/50. (9,600 feet) 50/50 being about the halfway point to summit. Camp on snow. Melt water, Now is the time i am glad i spent the detailed prep work for the trip for food. Tonight's meal mountain style burritos chosen by myself. The meal was a success! clients really enjoyed it. put clients in bed early, talk with Crit about the upcoming summit day.

7-16-11
On Shasta, ice axe/crampon clinic. easy day.

7-17-11
breakfast. melt water. Crampon/ice axe clinic with other various knowledge from Crit with a question and answer period. dinner and bed time to summit tomorrow. clients are reasonably self sufficient but shouting time like we have 2 minutes till we are rolling is a great tool.7-16-11
wake up 2:00 am/ get moving on breakfast melt water for ascent. get moving and going at 3:15am with headlamps up the mountain. make it to Helen at 4am. Crit short ropes clients in to him. i decide to 'free ranger' it for the day. clients don't have this option. make red banks just after sun up (12,600 feet). continue up short hill to misery hill, than summit hill. On top of summit at 10:15-10:30am. take a few pictures and get the hell off to a sheltered area. winds today are a consistent 50ish+ miles per hour gusts. I am thankful for good gear, but face, and hands are almost numb even with good gear. part of being a mountain guide. Now the descent... Back at office at around 4:30pm. long day but this is typical of a summit day.

Crit has taught me a lot of great things on this trip. It takes someone who does this day in and day out to teach me the newbie all of the hidden tricks of the trade. Dealing with clients is the hardest part for me. the hard skills like climbing and crampon technique i feel i have down well enough, the soft skills is a learning process i need to improve on.

7-18-11
back at the office. Prep JH Ranch trip with Tim Peterson. 33 kids will be going up the mountain tomorrow, this is a crazy group to deal with. I will be back on the mountain tomorrow this time for a two day trip.

Week 5 Matt Dooley SWS Mountain Guides

6-21-11
Made a recycle run with Brady today. Are awesome sponsor RECHARGE electrolyte sports drink is most responsible for this, and I am most thankful for it. I got on top of the roof for a little annual maintenance. Cleaned gutters by hand and took the blower to make the roof look cleaned off and flush all of the fine dust and leaves i missed out by hand. Side walks needed blown off too. The front herbal garden needed watered and i pulled some weeds that made the front of the building look very unattractive. The client is so judgmental, the best possible first impression is what will land you the tip at the end of the trip along with hard work. MSR high altitude stoves gutted and gone over to ensure cleanliness and functionality. Bought insect spray today for spider control when i come back to work after my days off

6-24-11
New Adventure Medical Kits (AMK) arrived in mail, printed off injury form to put inside and put in medical list. Also a new BD Storm tent arrived in the mail today. Cut new guidelines, labeled body, fly and stuff sack. Put guidelines on tent with special knots. Cleaned house, vacuumed entire house, trash, bathroom cleaned, dishes, recycle in back trash bin. Put names and email addresses in constant contact for Tim to send out information on future SWS seminars. Prepped gear and filled all empty MSR fuel bottles. Copied list of upcoming event on calender with trip name, lead guides, assistant guides to send to Tim and Dave to confirm. Washed 2 Shasta short ropes to make clean and to make them last longer, also checked for any torn areas in the sheath.

6-25-11
Car decal removal from Dave's company car. Decals are on the way. Water front plants and pull a few weeds really fast. Clean up guide house.

6-27-11
Decals arrived, clean glass really good and put on back windows of Dave's car. Turned out great and this was a fun project for me. More constant contact information to be inserted on the computer for clients. Prepped the JH Ranch trip with ice axe's, helmets, and beaners for youth and camera men. Met with JH Ranch crew with Dave to go over kids packs and equipment to tell them yea, or nea on what to bring on the trip. Made sure all medical paperwork was completed and signed correctly with minors parents signatures as well. Washed 4 ropes, hang dry, and coil and hang up to organize in the back room.

Week One, SWS, Matt Dooley

Week at SWS Mountain Guides was a success! The learning curve is steep, repairs on equipment is constant coming in from the guides trips. Tents take forever to repair. SWS ordered lots of new equipment and gear this week, i had the honor of labeling with red tape and using a Dremal tool to carve name and size into ice axes and back country shovels. When i first came to SWS the gear room was a mess, just within the first week I have been able to organize the room and equipment better. The techniques that the on staff professionals know is teaching me a lot of time saving skills for his job and teaching me what to do when I get out on the mountain. So far i am having a great time here. I feel appreciated and i am starting to fire right back with the intern jokes. I even picked up a new nick name, Hazmatt. 6 groups are heading out so when they come back there will be a ton of gear to look over and repair. I was able to help Tim with a crampon and ice axe clinic on saturday. Once again his was a steep learning curve but Tim is a great teacher and took me aside and even put me in charge of some drills for self arresting. This is literly the tip of the ice burg for mountaineering basics. I have to spend some time in the snow on my own to learn the required skills before i can possibly shadow a summit attempt on the mountain. Without basic to somewhat knowledgable skills my life and others would be in danger on the mountain. Brady a lead guide was out on a trip and came back and said the low tempature with wind chill was (-15) out. Wear your puffy, and your parka this week, a storm is a coming. This is Hazmatt signing out for now.