FULL PACKER DATELINE NEWS RELEASE – 11/21/06 – 10:35am: Capitanious, Charter Member and Founder of the Full Packers announced this morning during a mid-morning press conference, that he has been selected as member of a Mt. Rainier 2007 climbing team. He will join 11 other climbers on a July 7 - 12, 2007 on a six-day expedition skills seminar on Mt. Rainier outside Seattle, Washington.

The Expedition Skills Seminar-Emmons Glacier, is a six-day program with technical mountaineering training offered throughout the climb of the Emmons-Winthrop Glacier to the summit of Rainier. An intensive classroom day and an Emmons-specific Mountaineering Day School in the field prepare us for climbing and additional training on the upper mountain. This ESS-Emmons was designed to prepare climbers for guided ascents of McKinley and Aconcagua, or for leading your own adventures to other peaks like Hood, Baker and Shasta. Demonstration and practice of modern snow and ice/glacier climbing including: self and team ice-axe arrest, cramponing (basic and advanced), belaying, rappelling, roped glacier travel, route finding, anchors, crevasse rescue and technical (high angle) ice climbing are all included.

A little about the mountain:

"Mount Rainier is a composite volcano in Pierce County, Washington, located 54 miles (87 km) southeast of Seattle, Washington, in the United States. It is the highest peak in the Cascade Range, with a topographical summit of 14,411 feet (4,392 m). The mountain and the surrounding area comprise Mount Rainier National Park. The mountain is mostly covered by snow and glaciers, but heat from the volcano keeps areas of the crater rim on its summit cone mostly free of snow and ice. The geothermal heat has also caused the formation of glacier caves in the twin summit craters.

Mount Rainier was originally known as Talol or Tahoma (not to be confused with Tacoma), from the Puyallup meaning "mother of waters". It has a topographic prominence of 13,211 feet (4,026 m), greater than that of K2. It can be seen prominently to the south from most of the Seattle Metropolitan Area. On clear days, it can also be seen from as far away as Portland, Oregon. Because of its scenic dominance, Seattle/Tacoma-area residents often refer to it simply as "the Mountain."

Mountain climbing on Mount Rainier is difficult. It includes climbing on the largest glaciers in the U.S. south of Alaska and most climbers require two to three days to reach the summit, with weather and conditioning being the most common reasons for failure. Climbing teams require experience in glacier travel, self-rescue, and wilderness travel. About 8,000 - 13,000 people attempt the climb each year, about 90% via routes from Camp Muir on the southwest flank. Most of the rest ascend Emmons Glacier via Camp Schurman on the northeast. About half of the attempts are successful. About two to three mountaineering deaths each year occur due to rock and ice fall, avalanche, falls, and hypothermia associated with severe weather." -- Wikipedia

Ammunitions expert Rocketman has written to this reporter to set the FP Blog straight. According to Rocketman, there is no such thing as an AK57 he writes:

“CAPT. Your blog report is nice. And it will be nice to have a shoot off but, there is no such gun as a AK57.. It's a AK47. It stands for automatic Kalisnakov1947. It's for the inventor and the make automatic. And the year it was produced 1947.Rocketman the expert of automatic killing devices.”

We here at the Full Packer Report would like to appoligize to Mr. Rocketman and Mr. Kalisnakouv.

With the coming of Thanksgiving and colder weather, thoughts of the woods and snowy paths begin to fester within this Full Packers’ consciousness. Its time to clean our barrels and load up on ammo; its time to get out there and bombard the country side with the crack of 22’s, 30/30’s, and AK57’s.

Wishing you all a wonderful Thanksgiving Holiday.

Cap!