Plast youths conquer challenges at winter mountaineering camp near Lake Placid (03/10/02)

Plast youths conquer challenges at winter mountaineering camp near Lake Placid

by Andrew Olesnycky

LAKE PLACID, N.Y. - A burning cold crept into Pavlo Jarymowycz's outstretched arms. Four metal spikes, none of which lodged more than a few inches into the ice, provided the only friction that kept him stuck to the 40-foot frozen waterfall.

Little by little, Mr. Jarymowycz climbed the face, swinging his tools into the ice, then advancing his feet as he pulled up with his arms. But 30 feet up and facing the crux of the climb, his body told him that they had had enough.

"I think I'm done!" he yelled to his belayer, the sound muffled by the collar of his jacket, which partially covered his mouth to keep the lower half of his face from freezing.

He sat back on the rope to be lowered, but had attracted too much attention. The nine other campers and seven counselors of Zymovyi Mandrivnyi Tabir (ZMT), Plast's winter mountaineering camp, were now hollering words of encouragement, insisting that he continue to the top.

Mr. Jarymowycz realized that with this audience cheering him on, getting down would be harder than continuing forward. Reluctantly, he shook out his arms to get his blood flowing and dug his tools into the ice, showing his friends that he wasn't giving up.

With what little energy he had left in his frozen arms, he pulled himself to the top, move after move, never hurrying, never slowing down. Reaching the top for Mr. Jarymowycz was as much of a relief as it was a triumph; and as he was lowered, a smile barely broke through the exhaustion on his face.

Mr. Jarymowycz's climb was a metaphor for ZMT: at times arduous and painfully cold, but in the end extremely gratifying.

On December 26-31, 2001, the fifth annual ZMT, organized by the Lisovi Chorty fraternity of the Plast Ukrainian Scouting Organization, took place in Adirondack State Park near Lake Placid, N.Y. The 6-million-acre park is the biggest in the contiguous United States and boasts 43 mountains over 4,000 feet. It offered the camp an unparalleled playground for teaching winter hiking and mountaineering.

The participants, age 15 and up, hailed from New Jersey, New York and Rhode Island, as well as Hamilton and Toronto, Ontario.

By day two, the 10 campers and seven counselors had hiked eight miles in sub-zero temperatures, skied cross-country at an Olympic training center and climbed a frozen waterfall. In the evenings, the counselors taught the requisite skills for the next day's events, giving lessons on wilderness first aid, winter camping techniques, cross-country skiing and ice climbing.

"I have a lot of faith in the counselors," Mr. Jarymowycz explained, "They've been doing this for a long time and really know what they're doing."

Four of the seven counselors had three or more years of experience at ZMT, where they learned the many skills associated with winter mountaineering, as well as attained an intimate familiarity with the terrain.

New to the camp this year were two observers from the Ukrainian Youth Association (SUM), Myroslav Baran and Matthew Bochnewycz, who came to scout out a place for a future SUM camp and who served as instructors for cross-country skiing.

"The camp gets more professional every year," Deanna Yurchuk, the camp's leader, said. "This has been my fifth ZMT, and with each year I am impressed with how much more is accomplished because of more experienced instructors and better equipment."

This was the first year that ZMT's ice climbing outing was set up with the help of an outside professional guide service, which outfitted every camper with excellent climbing gear and provided a guide to ensure safety.

On the third day, the scouts donned their fully loaded backpacks for a multiple-day hike further into the wilderness. ZMT's home base was moved from Weizel Trails Cabin, which had access to amenities like water and electricity, to Camp Peggy O'Brien, a tiny, primitive lodge a day's hike from any trailhead. From Peggy O'Brien, the group rose at 4 a.m. the next morning for a summit attempt of the 4,736-foot Gothics Mountain, the 10th highest mountain in Adirondack Park, and widely considered to be the area's most challenging hike.

It was completely dark when the group took its first steps on the Ore Bed Trail at 5 a.m. The Ore Bed would take them all the way to the summit, more than 3,000 feet of elevation gained in a few short hours.

During the 2000 ZMT, the scouts had climbed nearby Mount Marcy, New York's highest peak. If some of the returning campers had thought that Gothics would be a step down from the more renowned Marcy, they inevitably learned that the steep and technical faces of Gothics were different from the endless slog up Marcy's gentler slope.

After the three-mile approach to the mountain's base, the Ore Bed Trail shoots straight up the west face of Gothics under the cover of trees, gaining more than 1,000 vertical feet in less than a mile. To keep from sliding off the steep face, the expedition leader, counselor Andriy Kolos, kicked steps into the deep snow, and every subsequent hiker followed the footprints, forming a giant staircase up the mountain.

The group took a short rest before ascending above the tree line, where the winds could reach 40 miles per hour on an average day. The high winds blow the snow off the exposed rock near the summit, depositing some of it in deep snowdrifts, through which the group had to navigate.

It took the scouts nearly an hour to fight up half a mile of rock, ice and snow to reach the summit. The peak itself was a thin ridge no more than 50 feet wide, with winds so high the group took no more than a few minutes to congratulate each other and snap a few pictures before retreating to a lower elevation.

Although the summit of Gothics was more harsh than spectacular, with barely enough visibility to see the adjacent mountains, most of the campers recalled it as their favorite part of ZMT.

Ms. Yurchuk said she would like to see ZMT someday change locations so campers can explore more terrain outside Adirondack Park. More than half of the camp's participants this year had taken part in previous years, and six had been involved with ZMT for two years or more.

"In the future, we'd like to change locations to New Hampshire's White Mountains or even somewhere out west," Ms. Yurchuk said. "With so many people returning year after year, we'd like to go somewhere where we can experience a whole new mountain range. However, the beauty of Adirondack Park keeps luring us back."

Wherever ZMT takes place next year, it will be sure to attract its regular devotees. Every year, the regulars come into camp with the anticipation of a child opening up a Christmas present, wondering what peaks they will climb, how far they can possibly push themselves. But what makes ZMT different from other Plast camps is the relationships the scouts create in helping each other through physically demanding and uncomfortable situations.

"ZMT is great because it's different every year, but you can always expect to have a good time," Mr. Jarymowycz said. "The same people also show up every winter, so the more you go, the more you want to go back to be with your friends."

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