Mission Outdoors Listening Session

Check out the Mission Outdoors report on the Sierra Club conference we attended last weekend.

http://sierraclub.typepad.com/military/2012/02/washington-state-leadership-development-workshop.html

Rock Climbing at Edgeworks in Tacoma

Join us at Edgeworks tomorrow night!

Military Night5-10pm, 4th Friday of each month
Edgeworks salutes our active military with a night of climbing just for you! Day passes are $9 with a valid Military ID.

Military Mornings6-10am, First Friday AND Third Thursday of each month
If you’ve got a Military I.D. or know someone who does, join us for Military Mornings. Join us for reduced day passes, which include FREE gear rental. We'll also have an early-morning belay class!.
Day Pass: $15 (includes Rentals)
Intro to Climbing Class: $25 (includes Rrentals & Day Pass)

http://edgeworksclimbing.com/]

Wounded Warrior Project and Hound Summit Team Hiking Series

The Hound Summit Team is proud to announce a new partnership with the Wounded Warrior Program. This summer, we will be partnering with their Northwest program in offering a Wounded Warrior hiking series in the Pacific Northwest. The series will take place in some of the best spots in the Cascades, and we will work towards our end goal of a four day hike in the Enchantments.

Dates:

2 June Mount Si (Snoqualmie Area)

30 June Pratt Lake (Alpine Lakes)

15 July Camp Muir (Mt Rainier)

17-20 North Cascades multi-Sport Trip

9 September Emerald Meadows (Mt Rainier)

Wounded Warrior Alumni please contact Heather Timins at HTimins@woundedwarriorproject.org , if you are a member of the JBLM Warrior Transition Battalion, please contact louis.r.mcranaghan@us.army.mil , for all other interested hikers, supporters, or for general inquiries, please contact the HST at info@houndsummitteam.org .

Hound Summit Team 2012 Wounded Warrior Climbing Series

The Hound Summit Team is proud to announce our 2012 Wounded Warrior Climbing Series. We will be climbing some of the best peaks Washington has to offer, between May and September of this year. While we will be adding more climbs this summer for our core team, these climbs are open to HST Alumni, Wounded Warriors, and Veterans alike. HST Alumni and WWP Hiking Alumni will receive priority on all climbs except for the Mount Baker WWC.  Support climbers are always welcome. Please contact us if you are interested in participating as slots will go fast.

This is only the start. We have more big events in the works that will be announced soon!

Mount Adams Memorial Day Climb 25-28 May

Mount Rainier HST Alumni Wounded Warrior Climb 16-18 June

Mount Baker Wounded Warrior Climb 27-30 July

Mount Olympus Climb 10-13 August

Mount Stewart Climb 22-23 September

Each climb will have a  resource page on our website as we get closer to the season. For more information, contact us or see http://www.summitpost.org/ for mountain resources.

If you are a member of the JBLM Warrior Transition Brigade, you will be required to obtain medical clearance from the WTB prior to training / climbing. If you are a Wounded Warrior signing up through the WWP, you may have to be cleared by a medical professional prior to climbing.

Granite Mountain Training Climb

On Saturday, February 4th, Mike Pickerel and Joshua Brandon teamed up to do a  day training climb on Granite Mountain near Snoqualmie Pass. No new powder and at Crystal, combined with gorgeous weather and moderate to low avalanche conditions were the perfect recipe for a winter training climb. We set out with warm temps and under a blue sky up the hiker's trail from the Granite Mountain trail head. We were both pretty pumped to back on the mountain again, especially in February. After about an hour, we left the trail near the second couloir we crossed, which had seen some signs of recent avalanche'ing after the recent storms,  and pushed up the mountain. After popping out of the treeline, the winds kicked in hard with 50 mph gusts, but with a clear day and good snow conditions, we decided to push for the summit. With the wind, ice, and recent snows, the top of the mountain, usually a summer time hot spot for hiker's and sight-seers, mimicked much higher vertical conditions.  This provided us with a great opportunity for conditioning and to work on our technique. Once we crested the summit ridge, we were treated with amazing views of the surrounding mountain ranges, but with the wind letting us know who was boss, we tagged the top and immediately headed down. We grabbed a few landscape shots while huddled next to the lookout, but we were far more interested in getting out of the wind and getting some warm coffee in us. After our four hour movement up and back, we finally dipped below the tree-line for a much needed break with coffee and snickers. We stripped our crampons off, glissaded down as far as we could, and finished the day with a cold beer at the trail head.

View to the East from the summit.

View to the North East of the summit. 

Outdoor Research Vert Fest

Sierra Club/Military Family Outdoors Listening Session

 From February 16th - 18th, members of the HST will be participating in the Sierra Club/Military Family Outdoors Listening Session at Islandwood, just outside of Seattle. They need "our ideas, our passion, oour experiences, and oour thoughts on what the ideal outdoors program and outdoors leadership training would like for the military and veteran community."

For more information or to sign up, follow the links below.

http://sierraclub.typepad.com/military/2012/01/what-do-veterans-and-service-members-want-outside.html

http://www.sierraclub.org/outings/training/forms/listening-session-application.asp

Rock Wall and Rescure Rope Training

Mike and Joshua will be at the Mcveigh Gym rock wall on JBLM on Friday at 1500. In addition to bouldering / climbing, we will go over a rescue technique.

Website Update

Checkout the website update. Stay tuned for our 2012 climbing series and several special announcements.