Days in Alaska – NOLS Mountaineering Course Journal (Preparation)在阿拉斯加的日子 – NOLS Mountaineering 課程經歷（前置作業）

Early afternoon on July 14th, I arrived at Anchorage. After checking in the hotel room, it started to rain. I didn’t feel quite well because I had a complicated flight schedule. In between, I stopped at three different airports and caught a cold from a random passenger. I made myself a hot bath and ate a good meal for dinner. “Everything seems fine, and I only have a sore throat,” I comforted myself. In fact, that was a big lie; I knew this cold was going to cost me. (Lesson learned: Take good care of yourself all the time. Keep in good health before a demanding trip.)

The rain never stopped, as the sunlight never really went away. The next morning, a school bus took us 11 students to Palmer, AK where NOLS Alaska branch is located. The instructors, Ben, Nate and Shawn welcomed us in suits. We soon started our orientation, and we exchanged our expectations for instructors, classmates and the expedition itself.

Gear Check and Preparation

The instructors checked with us to make sure we had brought proper personal gear or whether we needed to rent some. For this course, we were not allowed to bring any down items, such as down booties and sleeping bags. Given the terrain and weather, even if we tried our best to waterproof those items they would get wet eventually, and down loses its insulation power when it’s wet.

I had to rent a backpack and a pair of plastic boots. The backpack was huge, 110 liters in volume. To fit the backpack, they first asked me to tighten the hip belt at the proper location, and they stood in back of me and pulled the backpack very hard downwards. I should feel most of the weight on my hips and not on my shoulders. However, there was one thing both the gear-issuing person and I ignored: I pulled the hip belt almost all the way to the end. Doing this kind of trip, you lose weight and your waist line shrinks. You need a buffer on the hip belt. (Lesson learned: The length of a hip belt should be sufficient when you put on all your layers, and it should still be tighten-able when you lose weight.)

To fit the plastic boots, they emphasized that feeling a little loose is good. That way, the possibility of having blisters is minimized and the shins do not feel too much pressure. Shawn did a demo to show how loose the boots should be. She put her boots and gaiters on, and without undoing the shoelaces, she could pull the boots off her feet. For more information regarding fitting your boots, please read Beginner Backpack Workshop – Boots.

We used a piece of webbing and tied a water knot around the back panel of our backpack to reinforce the pack loop. When we travel on a snow-covered glacier, if somebody falls into a crevasse, it is much easier for him to climb up if he unbuckles his backpack. The only place the backpack attaches to the rope is the pack loop, which might not be strong enough given the weight we carry, and that is why we reinforce it with a piece of webbing.

We also cut two insoles out of an insulating foam pad. Therefore when we arrive at camp, we can pull out the inner boots of our plastic boots and give them a chance to dry. We then put the insoles and synthetic booties in the plastic shells to serve as camp shoes. We also insulated our bowls with the foam and duct tape, so that the food would not get cold too quickly on snow camps.

For socks, we each prepared five pairs. When we traveled, we usually wore two pairs and we kept one pair of dry socks inside the sleeping bag so that our feet would be dry at least for eight hours everyday. Furthermore, we used heavy-duty trash bags to waterproof the sleeping bag stuff sack and the clothes bag.

Here is a list of the personal gear I carried:

Footwear: Plastic boots, 5 pairs of socks, fleece insulated booties, gaiters, crampons, snowshoes.

Upperbody: Sports bra, Long-sleeve base layer, fleece vest, softshell jacket, synthetic insulated jacket, rain jacket.

Lowerbody: Four underwear, base layer pants, softshell pants, rain pants.

Head and Hands: Baseball hat, windstopper hat, balaclava, polypropylene glove liners, fleece gloves, Gore-tex gloves, primaloft mittens, mitten shells.

Sleeping gear: Sleeping bag, closed-cell sleeping pad, self-inflating sleeping pad, compression stuff sack (for sleeping bag).

Misc: Backpack, two bandannas, sunglasses, goggles, bowl, spork, chopsticks, two one-liter water bottles, lip balm, sunscreen, notebook and pencils, toothbrush, toothpaste, comb, tampons, hand sanitizer, watch, lighters, camera, headlamp, extra batteries, multi-tool, transceiver.

Climbing Gear: Harness, ice axe, two cordalettes (6-foot, and 12-foot), two non-locking carabiners, two locking carabiners, webbing for chest harness.

Group Gear:
Climbing ice axes, helmets, climbing ropes, climbing hardware (pickets, ice screws etc), tents, fuel, stoves, cooking gear, water treatment, snow shovels, avalanche probe, snow saw, repair kit, foot kit, maps, compass, radio, satellite phone, first aid kits.

Pack Packing

NOLS instructors use ABC to teach pack packing: Accessibility, Balance, and Compactness. Accessibility suggests people to keep frequently used items on top or in the side pockets, for example, sunscreen, water bottles, snacks, extra warm layers, rain gear etc. Balance requires people to wisely distribute the weight inside the backpack. It is advised to pack heavy items in the middle and close into the body, so that the stronger and larger muscle groups are those which support the heavy, dense load. Compactness advises people to reduce the space between items so that when we hike, we don’t feel stuff moving in the pack. Tips for accomplishing this include using small items to fill up the space and taking advantage of the compression straps of your pack. A well packed backpack should be able to stand on its own.

For example, this is typically how I pack my backpack during this trip:

I start with folding the deflated sleeping pad and setting it at the back of the backpack while putting the sleeping bag to the bottom. Then I stuff the rain fly of the tent into the backpack, filling up the space at the bottom of the backpack left by the sleeping bag. After that, I squeeze in a fuel bottle and then the entire food bag. The fuel bottle is below all the food in case it leaks. Before I place the food bag in the backpack, I put some food in my bowl and some food in the frying pan to minimize space waste. I put my bag of clothes on top of the food bag, and then fill up small space with the insulated insoles, rain gear and other small items. Finally I put crampons and harness with carabiners and cordalettes on top. In the brain of the backpack, I have the foot kit, snacks, and a hat. Outside the backpack, I strap a pair of snowshoes, a closed-cell sleeping pad and my ice axe. I tie two bandannas on the side compression straps, and one water bottle in each side packet.

Putting on a backpack

Our backpacks are heavy so it is extremely important to put it on correctly so that we do not hurt ourselves. Before leaving for the glacier, I had a chance to weight my pack, and it was 65 lbs. If I had not followed the procedures, I would never be able to put my pack on. Even though I followed the steps, putting on the backpack was still a major workout; many times I had to ask my teammates to help me.

Here are the steps to put on a backpack:

1. Place the backpack flat on the ground, the front of the pack facing down.
2. Bend one knee (say right knee) as if you are doing a lunge with that leg, and place the other leg properly so that it will support the weight and maintain your balance.
3. Drag the backpack towards you and pull up the lower half or one-third of the backpack on top of your right upper leg.
4. Grab the pack loop with your left hand and the shoulder strap (the one on your left) with your right hand. Draw the backpack in with both hands so that the backpack stands on your right upper leg.
5. Pass your right arm through the shoulder strap and settle the weight on your right shoulder and let go of the pack loop.
6. Put your left arm through the other shoulder strap. Stand up and tighten the hip belt and adjust all the straps.

Reverse the steps to put the backpack down.

Rations

We prepared all the food for the entire 28-day expedition before we left, and packed away four days of food with us. In total we had 3 re-rations: a 6-day re-ration, a 13-day and a 5-day re-ration.

We bagged the food into mostly 1-pound bags. The food which we had fell into these categories: breakfast, snacks, dinner, drink, and spices. I remembered I was shocked when I had to make 40 bags of cocoa (34 1-pound bags, and 6 half-pound ones). However, I was even more shocked when I heard that we had over 800 pounds of food in total. In average, a person consumes 2 to 2.5 pounds of food every day.

七月十四日，下午約莫兩三點，我抵達Anchorage。在旅館櫃臺辦好相關手續之後，陰沈的天空也等不住，開始下起濛濛細雨。我感覺身體有些不適，大概是因為這趟旅途停留的飛機場太多，不知道何時何處從哪一個陌生人處，惹上了感冒病毒。洗了個熱水澡，吃了頓豐盛的晚餐，我安慰自己說：「好像沒這麼嚴重嘛！只是輕微的喉嚨痛罷了。」唉，自己都知道這是個天大的謊言，心知肚明這小感冒會給我帶來大麻煩。（教訓：無時無刻都要好好照顧自己，保持身體的最佳狀態，尤其在邁進漫長且艱辛的旅途之前。）

雨連綿地下著，沒有停過，好比陽光從來沒有遁去。隔天清早，NOLS用台亮黃色的school bus，將我們一行11位學員，接到位於Palmer, AK的NOLS阿拉斯加分部。三位指導員，Ben、Nate和Shawn襯衫西裝筆挺地迎接我們，很快地，新生訓練展開，個人抒發自我對指導員、其他學員、以及課程本身的期望，還有對自己的期許。

裝備準備及檢查

指導員一個接一個地，與學員討論個人所攜帶的裝備，是否恰當，需不需要租用額外的裝備。這個課程，不允許學員攜帶任何羽毛製品，像是羽毛睡袋、營地鞋等等。因為所要行走的路線，加上所要面對的氣候，就算我們很努力地做好防水措施，它們終究還是會受潮變濕的，而羽毛製品一濕了就失去了保暖功能。

我需要租用大背和一雙plastic boots。該backpack的容量超大，有110升。試背的時候，他們要求我繫緊腰帶，然後站在我身後，用力將大背往下拉，確定我大部分是下半身受力而不是肩膀受力。不過當時我和裝備人員都忽略了一件事，我的腰帶幾乎拉到底了，在這類的登山活動中，體力消耗極大，大部分的人都會掉好幾公斤，腰線也會變得苗條，需要在腰帶上預留空間。（教訓：腰帶長度的範圍，需得在將所攜帶的衣物都穿上，或是瘦了好幾公斤的情況下，都要能夠繫緊才行。）

試穿plastic boots的時候，指導員特別強調，行走的時候需要有些許鬆鬆（loose）的感覺。如此可把水泡產生的機率降到最低，同時鞋帶不要綁太緊，以免行走間給予小腿脛骨太大的壓力。Shawn示範鞋子應該鬆弛的程度，她將鞋子穿上、綁腿綁好，抬起腳一拉，鞋子連綁腿都卸下了。更多試穿登山鞋的資訊，請參照：「Backpacking 入門講座 – 登山鞋篇」

我們使用綁帶（webbing）來強化背包的提帶（pack loop）。在冰河行走的時候，如果掉進冰河上的裂縫（crevasse），卸下背包，才更容易爬出，而背包與行走時所用繩索連接的部分，就只在pack loop的地方，所以我們使用一條webbing在背包後面打上一個water knot來強化之。

接下來使用隔熱墊（insulating foam pad）沿著腳型剪下兩塊鞋底（insoles），如此在營地的時候，可以將plastic boots中內層的inner boots拉出，讓其有機會呼吸以及乾燥。將該兩塊隔熱鞋底置入plastic boots的塑膠外殼，可供做營地鞋（camp shoes）使用。我們同時也用該隔熱墊配合大力膠帶（duct tape），為食用時所用的碗，做好隔熱措施，如此在雪地的時候，食物才不會冷卻太快。

每個人約莫各帶了五雙襪子，行走的時候，通常穿著兩雙，兩雙備用，一雙總是置放在睡袋之中，睡覺的時候換上，如此，至少每天有八小時雙腳是乾燥的。另外，我們使用垃圾袋特別為放置睡袋以及衣物的袋子，做了防水準備。

以下是我攜帶的個人裝備（由於有些裝備不知對應的中文詞彙，以下裝備列表全以英文表示）：

Footwear: Plastic boots, 5 pairs of socks, fleece insulated booties, gaiters, crampons, snowshoes.

Upperbody: Sports bra, Long-sleeve base layer, fleece vest, softshell jacket, synthetic insulated jacket, rain jacket.

Lowerbody: Four underwear, base layer pants, softshell pants, rain pants.

Head and Hands: Baseball hat, windstopper hat, balaclava, polypropylene glove liners, fleece gloves, Gore-tex gloves, primaloft mittens, mitten shells.

Sleeping gear: Sleeping bag, closed-cell sleeping pad, self-inflating sleeping pad, compression stuff sack (for sleeping bag).

Misc: Backpack, two bandannas, sunglasses, goggles, bowl, spork, chopsticks, two one-liter water bottles, lip balm, sunscreen, notebook and pencils, toothbrush, toothpaste, comb, tampons, hand sanitizer, watch, lighters, camera, headlamp, extra batteries, multi-tool, transceiver.

Climbing Gear: Harness, ice axe, two cordalettes (6-foot, and 12-foot), two non-locking carabiners, two locking carabiners, webbing for chest harness.

Group Gear:
Climbing ice axes, helmets, climbing ropes, climbing hardware (pickets, ice screws etc), tents, fuel, stoves, cooking gear, water treatment, snow shovels, avalanche probe, snow saw, repair kit, foot kit, maps, compass, radio, satellite phone, first aid kits.

背包打包

NOLS以ABC原則來指導學員打包：Accessibility（易取）、Balance（平衡）以及Compactness（緊密）。易取原則建議打包者，將常用的物品置放在背包上部，或是側邊口袋，要使用的時候，才不會手忙腳亂，可以輕易取出。這些物品像是保暖衣物、防曬油、水壺、雨具等等。平衡原則提醒打包者，注意背包中重量的分配，不要一邊輕一邊重。另外較重的物品應該置放在中央且靠近身體處，讓身體有力的大肌肉群，為主要支撐該些重量的地方。緊密原則則希望打包者，減少空間浪費，行走時不會感覺背包中的東西移來移去。要做到這原則，可以利用小物件將零碎的空間填滿，同時需好好利用背包的compression straps。打包完美的背包需能夠自行站立。

舉例來說，以下是我每天例行的打包公事：

首先我將我的充氣睡墊消氣之後，三折貼緊背包背部置入，同時將睡袋壓進背包底部。之後塞入帳棚的雨布，塞入雨布時使用其填滿背包底部、沒有被睡袋佔用的空間。之後，放進一罐燃料，再置放食物袋。燃料需在所有的食物下方，以防萬一行走時燃料外洩。置放食物袋之前，需得先整理食物袋，比如說將一些食物放進碗中，另一些放進鍋具中，以減少空間的浪費。接著將衣物袋放在食物袋的上方，用一些體積小或是柔軟的東西，像是隔熱鞋墊、雨褲等，填進一些零碎的空間。最後在頂端置放行進時可能會使用的東西，像是冰爪、攀登用具、保暖衣物、雨衣等。背包的頂袋中，我放入行進糧、帽子、以及為防止水泡產生的膠布等。背包外則打上雪鞋（snowshoes）、冰斧、closed-cell睡墊，綁上兩條四方巾，在側邊口袋中置放水壺。

背上大背

因為背包有相當的重量，依照標準步驟背上背包，也變成相當重要的一件事，使用這些步驟，可以預防背背包時可能發生的肌肉傷害。在離開之前，我有機會秤一秤我背負的重量，大約是65英磅，如果我不依照該些步驟，我是沒有辦法將背包放到背上的。不過，就算我按部就班，將背包放到背上也是挺累人的，有時候我還是要求同伴助我一臂之力。

以下是置放背包的步驟：

1. 讓背包躺平，正面朝下。
2. 一腿屈膝跨大弓箭步（假設是右腿以方便以下說明），另一腿置放的地方需得支撐重量，幫助身子維持平衡。
3. 雙手將背包拉近，將著將背包下部約三分之一到二分之一的體積，拉到右大腿上。
4. 左手握住pack loop，右手拉住面對背包左邊的肩帶，雙手使力，讓背包垂直站在右大腿上。
5. 將右手臂穿過肩帶，以右肩承受背包的重量，放開左手。
6. 將左手臂穿過另一肩帶，站起，繫緊腰帶，並調整背包。

放下大背時則依照相反順序。

食物及補給

在出發之前，我們必須將全部28天所要食用的物品全部打點好，同時並帶走四天的食物。之後，我們總共有三次補給，各送進六天、十三天以及五天的食物。

我們將食物秤重分裝進塑膠袋中，大部分都是一磅重的分裝，少許是半磅重的分裝。基本上食物分為以下大類：早餐、行進糧、晚餐、飲品、以及調味品。我記得當時我看到我必須分裝37磅的可可的時候，心裡是蠻受驚嚇的。不過當我知道我們總共有超過800磅的食物時，那驚嚇就不算什麼了。平均來說，一個人每天消耗2到2.5磅重的食物。