Scramble on up: Expert skills and conditioning required for this challenging, sometimes scary sport

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March 5, 1998

Scramble on up: Expert skills and conditioning required for this challenging, sometimes scary sport

By KAREN SYKES
SPECIAL TO THE POST-INTELLIGENCER

Hikers who hunger for adventure beyond the trail don't need to take up technical climbing to high mountaintops.

They can turn instead to "scrambling," an off-trail activity more challenging than hiking but not as difficult as climbing.

For experienced hikers only, it calls on acquired skills such as rock- and snow-climbing and backcountry navigation. But it usually doesn't require ropes, harnesses and other technical gear.

Right up front, you must understand that scrambling carries some risk. Knowledge of mountainous terrain is absolutely necessary. It's strongly recommended that you take a class in scrambling, such as the one offered by The Mountaineers, before attempting this endeavor.

By the time I took The Mountaineers scrambling course, I already had a background in hiking and backpacking and wanted more of a challenge.

Scrambling provided that. But it has become an increasingly popular activity, to the dismay of wilderness purists. What were once solitary summits are now sometimes as crowded as bus stops. Hikers and scramblers have beaten way-trails to many summits over the years.

Scramblers wanting a pure wilderness experience have to look farther, drive farther, and hike farther than in the past to get away from crowds. Yet the hunger for wilderness gnaws at some of us and drives us farther into the backcountry. We're grateful for the thick brush that keeps out the hordes.

Scrambling has its own vocabulary.

When a scrambler refers to a route as "interesting," it implies it is dangerous or perhaps impossible.

When rock "lays back," it means that a rock angle that appears steep from a distance is less so when seen up close.

Lane Peak is like that. From afar it looks like a sheer wall, but as you near it you see it is much more friendly and generous, with hand and footholds.

A "walk-up" is a route that is easy and doesn't involve intense scrambling skills. It may be merely a hike on a rough path. Brush-beating is a often necessary sacrifice.

If scramblers say something is "exposed," they mean a fall could result in injury.

When you scramble, you will learn to stay off fragile terrain and -- one hopes -- you won't leave route flags behind.

When you scramble a popular, accessible peak such as Mount Persis near Gold Bar or Vesper Peak near Silverton, expect company. You might as well stay on the established path rather than create a new one.

Weather and terrain can turn a hike into a scramble or a scramble into a climb, but much of scrambling is subjective. One person's climb is another's scramble.

Take Del Campo, for instance. Some scramblers refer to it as a "walk-up," while others think it should be left to technical climbers.

Alta, on the other hand, is often perceived as a hike -- an obvious trail goes all the way to the gentle summit.

Mount Pilchuck is considered a hike in summer, but in April it's a snow scramble, since ice-ax skills and the ability to glissade -- correctly -- are required.

Many people think they know how to glissade, which is a controlled slide over snow. I've watched people glissading down Mount Pilchuck tumbling like rag dolls, arms and legs flailing, ice axes stabbing at empty air.

Sometimes things go wrong no matter how well-trained and experienced you may be: It is a wise mountaineer who summons the courage to turn around when necessary.

One of the more dangerous aspects of scrambling is coming back down after an ascent. Climbing down is genuinely more dangerous than climbing up, and a majority of mishaps take place on this leg, when people are tired or cannot easily see their foot and handholds.

Also, if you do a lot of scrambling, sooner or later you may run out of time, light or energy and be forced to bivouac.

Being in good shape is not enough to make you a good scrambler. You have to be a team player and this may not come easily to scramblers, who can be stubborn individualists.