Glacier National Park and Fiddlebacks. I'd like your opinion.

D.H.

D.H.

Joined
Jul 8, 2009
Messages
312
This summer I'll be spending my vacation in Glacier National Park.

I'm going to drive my two door 2008 Honda Civic to get there. Then, I'm going to put on a backpack and use my own two feet to ambulate in the out of doors.

Weather and time permitting, I'm going to use the Pinnacle Wall Goat Trail to travel from Ptarmigan Tunnel to Ahern Pass. All joking and sarcasm aside, I am truly and sincerely very excited about this. I've wanted to hike this route for years. Check it out:

http://images.summitpost.org/original/179867.jpg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gnMYdyq4fkw

http://tinyurl.com/pbxfrog

Yeah, so...resume joking.

Anyway, I'm trying to go as lean and mean as possible. So I'll probably take, like, 19 Fiddlebacks all told. But I'm only gonna take one on the goat trail. 'Cause it's rugged up there and I don't want to carry any more weight than necessary. But...

I might need to slice shortbread & salami. I might have to slaughter mountain goats that refuse to get off the trail (they're a surly lot). Also, I might be hungover and forget something like my ice axe - if this is case I might need to use my Fiddleback to self-arrest.

So, I'll probably take my 16" machete. Makes sense, right?

What do y'all think? Please provide as much detail as possible when giving your opions, as well as past experience, for your reason/choice. As always, pictures are greatly appreciated.
 
necrolicious said:
TIL I am not a mountaineer... enjoy your cliff walk of doom.
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Doom? Man, I am so looking forward to this.

I really hope it happens. I've been gimped up in physical therapy with a herniated disc for a while. Should be good to go by the summer.

If I make it up there, I'll take an Esquire or something small and take photos of it perched precariously on doom-y rocks.

Can I have a free Fiddleback if someone videos me taking out a wayward goat with it while on the hike?

Oh... Or maybe we can set an over/under. If I fall, the Forge gets to re-sell my knives. If I make it, [insert prize here].
 
Oooooh, exposure! That looks fun! I didn't see many spots in that video where self-arrest would even be an option though. Does it get into any class 4?
I've never backpacked with a fiddle, but used to always take my ESEE 6 and a multitool. My 12" Machete only weighs 2.3oz more than the ESEE, and Dylan's H3 is actually a half ounce lighter than the ESEE and will be a much better chopper. Still waiting on the shoulder to heal a little more before I can get some play time with them though. I've never gone ultralight when backpacking, usually taking too much but I like to be comfortable and have extras so a little more weight is fine with me. I don't really have enough fiddlebacks to have much advice to offer though. Don't forget your Tenkara gear!

 
My Leuku has handled everything between short-bread and mountain goats. But, neither short-bread nor mountain goat. How important is the short-bread and mountain goat in the scale of short-bread to mountain goats?
 
twrhnd1 said:
Oooooh, exposure! That looks fun! I didn't see many spots in that video where self-arrest would even be an option though. Does it get into any class 4?
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Yeah, there isn't anything technical about this hike. It's all about exposure.

I guess there're big stretches of class 4. What you're doing is no harder than walking on a sidewalk, but if you fall, you're done.

You can't protect these climbs. Not even if you wanted to. It's all rotten shale, won't take gear.

The tricky part seems to be the decent to Iceberg Lake:

"Ptarmigan Traverse with descent through Iceberg Notch. Of all the hikes I’ve taken in the park, I consider this my favorite, the most scenic and most thrilling. It involves hiking to Ptarmigan Tunnel, leaving the trail at the tunnel and climbing on the ridgeline above it to the north where it meets a narrow goat trail that hangs in the cliffs for some four miles to Ahern Pass, where a snowfield plugs the pass and must be carefully negotiated (preferably with ice axe and crampons). Then it is a 700 foot ascent to the Iceberg Notch on the Garden Wall between Iceberg Peak and the B-7 Pillar. It is 2,000 foot straight down to Iceberg Lake on cliffs and ledges, and finally the trail and the 6 miles back to the trailhead. I was accompanied by Mark Hertenstein and Bill Labunetz of Great Falls. Hertenstein was our able route finder. Views all the way are exceptional. The goat trail hangs high above the Helen Lake Basin a couple of thousand feet below. We could watch mountain goats playing on the trail ahead of us at various points, and in the cliffs above us. We counted about 30 goats along the traverse. There are tremendous views of Mounts Merritt and Ipasha with their outstanding glaciers. I wish I could find a better word than “thrilling” to describe how it felt to negotiate this tiny trail, knowing that a slip could send you plunging thousands of feet over the cliffs. The sight of Iceberg Lake far below you from the notch is unsettling as well when you realize that’s your destination. The most frightening part of the trip for me was crossing the snowfield at Ahern Pass. I did it with an ice axe, but recommend having crampons as well for safety reasons. It took me 45 minutes to cross this field, post holing with the axe all the way. I think a slip on this field without proper self arrest would be fatal."

And:

"From Ahern Pass (and early in the summer you'll want both ice axe and crampons to ascend the snow field to the saddle—later in the summer you'll probably still want crampons; we did it late in July of a dry year, and were glad to have them) the ascent is 600' up to Iceberg Notch, which gives a rather precipituous view of the almost 1600' vertical climb down the other side to Iceberg Lake. I remember rather innocently asking, "where's the way down?" (I mean, for crying out loud, standing on the notch and peering down at the lake, you couldn't even see the way; it was too steep!) The answer, all the while gesturing down ("down" seems to be a key word here) to the lake, "that way." Very funny. But no ropes needed in good weather (actually, we didn't take ropes with us, because this entire outing is NOT something to do in inclement weather: don't even consider it!), but in several areas on the descent it helps having others along to assist with foot/hand placement, and in all honesty, once into the descent it wasn't as bad—quite—as that first impression made it out to be. From Iceberg Lake it is a nice trail stroll five miles back to the Swiftcurrent Campground. Total round trip is sixteen miles; I don't know which of them are Edwards' "twelve." It doesn't matter. A day spent doing the goat trail from the Ptarmigan Tunnel to Ahern Pass will add immeasurably, even profoundly, to the sum of your mountaineering life, and—to put it simply—is not something to be missed."

http://www.summitpost.org/glacier-national-park-mt/170953#chapter_2

Here's a picture of the decent to the lake:

http://photos1.blogger.com/img/201/6908/1024/101_0430.jpg

Honestly, I'd rather do it when there's snow on the ground. Wear crampons, take an ice axe. Walking on that shale and scree looks like it's slow going.

And I was just spoofing that Overlanding thread. I know what to take. (As little as possible.)

But my previous experience in Glacier leads me to believe that the goats are shank-able. They get stupid close. And if you eat dehydrated backpacking meals for long enough, you will consider it.
 
Sometimes that shark he looks right into ya. Right into your eyes. And, you know, the thing about a shark... he's got lifeless eyes. Black eyes. Like a doll's eyes. When he comes at ya, doesn't seem to be living... until he bites ya, and those black eyes roll over white and then... ah then you hear that terrible high-pitched screamin'.
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I think he's onto something...
 
So... One question
If you fall with a knife in hand and cut the boys off, the screams echo through the canyons like the castrated goat you are... And no one films it... Did it really happen :confused:

Back to my point. What are your current options for Fiddlebacks? Cause carrying anything else would be downright silly.

Production Hiking Buddy would be a great one to have for the light travel parts. Andy said that he's wanting 4 production models for Blade 2015 which is the first weekend of June. The HB is one in the works.

Oh, about the goat thing, what if you just wound it? Now you've got a pissed off goat on his terrain. That could get ugly. So yeah, take pictures of that for sure. Love seeing pictures of angry goats.

Just my two cents.
 
D.H. said:
This summer I'll be spending my vacation in Glacier National Park.


Anyway, I'm trying to go as lean and mean as possible. 'Cause it's rugged up there and I don't want to carry any more weight than necessary. But...
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As a part-time backpacker, the questions are: (1) If I didn't have it, could I get by without it. (Leave it at home). What is the smallest, lightest model that will do it? So, the only real answer in the FBF lineup is the Tapered Tang Runt. However, you could shave a few more pack ounces and go with a Vic Classic and be able to do things the runt can't like tweeze a tick, pick your teeth, file your toenails, and still be able to slice the cheese and salami.

If you don't want to go light, and want to look gentlemanly, the Esquire is a nice small blade that doesn't weigh too much. Bonafide could probably whip you up a nice, light sheath to keep the weight in check. For reference, my box-elder burl patch knife in a Joufu sheath comes in at 5.15 ounces, which is a ton in backpacking weights for something that you will only use once or twice a day and can be replaced with a smaller folding knife at about 1.6 oz for a Vic Cadet.... Now, the memories that can be stored in the handle of the Fiddleback are much greater than those that can fit in a SAK.

AT2014188-XL.jpg
 
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