Alaska Adventures by Trond

Eklutna High Ridge Traverse

2011-09-18T11:05:00.001-08:00

September 18th, 2011
24 miles, 7 true summits, 10,000 vertical feet

I had been saving this ridge hike for a fall day when the higher mountains had already recevied their termination dust. September 18th arose with clear skies and calm winds. Perfect! As the day wore on, I experienced some varied weather - snow flurries and wind - but nothing to prevent me from finishing this great ridge.

I started out from the Eklutna trailhead around 8:20 am and finished at 8:40 pm, so just over 12 hours to finish the roundtrip. The ridge-traverse involves 7 true summits (prominence of at least 500 ft) and a number of lesser peaks. The true peaks are:

Bright Peak (5875 ft)
Bleak Peak (5430 ft)
Yudikench Peak (5732 ft)
Peak 5450 (5450 ft)
Peak 5285 (5285 ft)
Salt Peak (5455 ft)
Pepper Peak (5450 ft)

I started in the Eklutna lake-side trail and then headed up the Eklutna overlook trail. From there it was back-country travel until I descended from Pepper peak back to the Eklutna trailhaed. Some easy scrambling and scree was involved, but most of the ridge traverse is over gradual terrain and on sheep trails.

Especially Bright peak was a pleasant surprise. I decided to climb the southwest ridge. This was a fun ridge with great views overlooking the tundra below. The ridge ended with a gully and exit crack leading to the summit ridge. I didn't know if the exit crack was passable until I was about 50 yards away. It turned out to be a fun little scramble.

Route outline of the Eklutna High Ridge Traverse.

Bright peak with southwest ridge in the center.

Bright peak southwest ridge and gully.

Bright peak exit crack.

Hunter Creek drainage.

Massive rams on Bright peak.

Bold peak seen from Pepper peak late in the afternoon.

Finishing in the dark.

Western panorama from Yudikench peak with the Eklutna ridge traverse continuing to the left, the Pioneer ridge to the right, and Goat Creek in the center.

Eastern panorama from Peak 5285 showing the ridge leading back towards Yudikench peak (left). Bright peak is in the in center and Bold peak on the right.

Eastern panorama from Pepper Peak showing the entire ridge system leading back towards Bold peak in the distance. Eklutna lake shows to the right.

Crow Peak

2011-08-28T15:02:00.066-08:00

Crow Peak, Chugach State Park, August 28th, 2011

5953 feet, 5 hrs roundtrip from the Crow Pass trailhead

On August 28th I climbed Crow Peak via the Crow glacier and the Crow Peak South ridge. The hike and scramble included all the ingredients necessary for a great hike and scramble: a nice trail approach, some tundra, moraine and scree hiking, glacier and snow travel, and a non-technical but challenging summit ridge requiring a bit of route finding.

View of the new forest service cabin at Crow Pass (3500 ft elevation) next to Crystal Lake.

Crystal Lake at Crow pass with Crow Peak in the background.

Eastern view from the tow of the Crow Glacier with Goat Mnt (right) and Raven Peak (left) in the background.

The intimidating Northwest face of Magpie Peak as seen from the pass between Magpie and Crow peaks.

Crystal Lake and Crow Pass seen from the start of the summit ridge. The summit ridge started from the pass between Magpie and Crow peaks at about 5100 ft.

Looking up the summit ridge from the beginning of the ridge.

The summit ridge comprised several sections like this where a traverse seemed easier.

The upper scree gully leading to the Crow Peak summit. Not difficult, just very loose scree.

Northern panorama from Crow Peak. Along the left bottom is Clear glacier. From left to right are Camp Robber, Gray Jay, Delgga and Paradise peaks that I climbed earlier in the summer. In the center is the Eagle River valley drainage. On the right hand side are the Raven glacier, Raven Peak and Goat Mnt, and Crow pass with Crystal lake.

Summit portrait.

Self portrait on the Crow glacier.

North & Eastward panorama looking down the Crow Glacier. Crow peak on the left.

Blueberry Hill

2011-08-16T10:22:00.007-08:00

Blueberry Hill (4530 ft)
Chugach National Forrest
5 hrs 40 min roundtrip, August 16, 2011

Tuesday, August 16th, provided a single nice day sandwiched between a lot of rainy days. I decided to knock off from work early and go for a climb. Initially, I had planned to climb Crow Peak, but as it was still fogged in I diverted my attention to Blueberry Hill at the end of Turnagain Arm.

I had tried Blueberry Hill once before this year (May 28th). On that attempt I had to trn around some 3-400 yards shy of the summit due to bad snow conditions (corniced summit ridge).

The lower parts of this mountain provides ample bushwhacking (typical for this part of the Chugach) with lots of Devil's Club. However, if you are lucky you'll find a path through the hemlocks that is not too bad. Most likely you'll find some of both. The map below shows what I believe is the best route for this "hill".

You know you are on the Blueberry Hill ridge proper once you get to the communication repeater. From here the ridge flattens (for a while) and provides some of the nicest ridge-tundra hiking anywhere in the Chugach.

The Blueberry Hill summit ridge looking back at the false summit. Placer Valley is seen on the left side of the picture.

Looking West out the Turnagain Arm and Cook Inlet. Penguin Ridge is in the center of the picture.

Another view along the summit ridge. The summit ridge provided fun scrambling over and around a number of false summits and gendarmes.

Looking Northeast from the summit towards the 20-mile glacier terminal lake and Carmen Lake.

Summit ridge rocks.

Blueberry Hill in the late evening seen from the communication repeater.

Panorama from Northeast to Southeast. 20-mile lake and Carmen lake on the left. Boggs and Begich peaks in the middle. 20-mile river, Portage river and Placer River on the right. The Blueberry Hill false summit is on the far right. Turnagain Pass can be seen on the very far right side of the picture (Blueberry Hill is a very impressive mountain seen from Turnagain Pass).

Bird & Nest Peak Combo

2011-07-09T20:08:00.008-08:00

Bird Peak (5505 ft) and Nest Peak (5030 ft)

July 9th, 2011

Roundtrip 15 miles, 8500 ft vertical, 10 hours

I have been wanting to climb Bird Peak for a long time. It is a beautiful pyramid that can be glimpsed as one drives Eastbound along the Turnagain Arm. Very few people visit Bird Peak because of its perception as a very tough peak. In "50 Hikes in Alaska's Chugach State Park", the Bird Peak hike is described as the most challenging, listing the roundtrip time to 12-16 hours. However, a fit hiker can usually cut such time estimates in half.

July 9th turned out to be a perfect day for Bird Peak. The cloud ceiling was at 5500 ft which precluded climbing anything higher. And the overcast and cool conditions made hiking through tall grass much more bearable. The Bird Peak hike actually turned out to be quite nice. It did not involve any real bush-whacking, only a couple of miles of high-grass bashing. And although the upper part of Bird Peak is steep and scrambly, it is not technical. The worst part of the hike was actually to reconnect with the game trail that would take me back though the tall grass to the trail head.

Nest Peak is Bird Peak's neighbor to the West. It is a simple walk-up with some beautiful tundra hiking along the top ridge. With a bit of energy left, I decided to detour on my return from climbing Bird Peak to also bag Nest Peak. The detour added about 2500 vertical feet and 2 1/2 hours to the total roundtrip. The Nest Peak detour was well worth it. The Bird-Nest route is shown in the Topo map below.

Bird Peak (in the background) seen from the Nest Peak southern ridge at about 2600 ft. Point 4800 is in the front right side of the picture. The route to Bird Peak goes up and over point 4800.

Closer view of the Bird Peak Southwast face. The route goes up the right hand side screen slope and then follows the ridge to the summit.

Looking back down at point 4800 from the Bird Peak summit.

Bird Peak summit cairn.

Point 4800. Turnagain Arm in the background.

Grassy slopes at 2600 ft on the Nest Peak southern ridge. Bird ridge and Turnagain Arm in the distance.

East to South panorama of Bird Peak (left hand side), Pengiun valley, Penguin ridge, and Penguin Peak (right hand side).

Paradise Valley Climbs

2011-06-24T15:16:00.032-08:00

Paradise Peak (5477 feet) and Delgga Mountain (5510 feet)

June 23, 2011

9 hours roundtrip

After missing out on some earlier opportunities, I decided to play hookie and take advantage of the nice weather. So far this summer, my climbing had amounted to a number of nice climbs but no new summits due to weather, snow conditions and technical difficulties.

On June 23rd I went from the Crow Pass trailhead above Girdwood into the Raven Creek and Paradise Valley drainages to climb Paradise peak and Delgga Mountain as shown on the map below.

Paradise peak is a simple walkup. On Delgga, I decided to climb the East ridge proper and had to to some low level 5 scrambling with lots of exposure. On the way down I used some southfacing scree couloirs to assist my descent.

Crow Pass with Raven Glacier and Rook Mnt in the background

Panorama from Paradise peak looking Northwest

Panorama from Paradise peak looking Southeast

Panorama from Delgga Mnt looking West into North Fork Ship Creek and Camp Creek drainages

Paradise Peak (5477 feet) from Delgga Mnt

Delgga Mnt (5510 feet) from Paradise Peak

Panorama from Crow Pass overlooking Raven glacier, Summit Mnt and Rook Mnt.

Nancy Lakes Cruising

2011-03-27T17:40:00.019-08:00

Having tested the conditions around Nancy Lakes (just off the Parks Highway North of Wasilla) the previous weekend, I decided to go for a longer skate ski on the snow-machine trails around the Nancy Lakes State Park area on Sunday, March 27th, 2011.

The total trip, outlined below, was just over 30 miles. Skiing on the snow machine trails works great and there are not that many snow machiners this time of the year.

I skied the Nancy Lakes Parkway from the winter access at mp 2.2 to the end of the road at mp 6.6, then followed the summer trail to Red Shirt Lake. From there I skied across Red Shirt Lake, Cow lake, West and East Butterfly Lakes, Bucklet Lake #1, Candlestick Lake, Echo Ponds Nos 1, 2 & 3, Lynx Lake, Little Frazer Lake, Charr Lake, Owl Lake, James Lake, Chicken Lake, Big & Little Noluck Lakes, and Tanaina Lake, before finishing back along the Nancy Lakes Parkway to the trailhead.

Skiing the lakes area can definitely be recommended. Especially this time of the year when most of the snow machiners have gone home. It is almost like crust skiing. And there are almost endless trails in the area.

Looking South across Red Shirt Lake. Superb skiing.

Connector trail to Big Lake trail system South of Cow Lake. Most of the trails are very wide and great for skating. Some of the Nancy Lakes portages are single track which makes for a nice change. Perhaps some day we could do the Oosik Classic ski race here!

Indian to Arctic

2011-03-26T23:00:00.037-08:00

On the spur of the moment and with a good weather forecast, Per Arne and I decided on Friday evening to ski the Arctic to Indian trail the next day. To simplify the logistics, Per Arne started at the Arctic (North) end and I skied from the Indian (South) end. We met at the middle and exchanged car keys.

I have done the Arctic to Indian traverse many times before, but always as touring with a group of people. This time I decided to make it a workout. Going fairly light but with back-country skies, I used 3:45 on the roughly 20 mile traverse. Rode Multigrade wax gave good grip all the way except the last hills up to the Arctic Valley trailhead. A blue-bell day, about 25 degrees F at the start, and 2 inches of fresh powder at the pass made it a fantastic traverse.

Map of the Arctic to Indian traverse

Looking up Indian valley early in the morning. The mountain in the mist is Avalanche Peak.

View of Turnagain Arm from high in the Indian Valley.

Powerline Pass with Homocide Peak on the left and Avalanche Peak on the right. One of my favorite crust-ski gully is the right-hand gully leading down from the low-point on Powerline Pass.

Halfway across I met up with Per Arne for a brief rest stop and exchange of car-keys.

Bolivia September 2010

2010-09-15T12:53:00.141-08:00

Condoriri to Huayna Potosi Trek & Volcan Sajama Climb

I had wanted to return to Bolivia ever since we climbed Illimani in 1998. When Geir Ulstein suggested we climb Bolivia's highest mountain, Volcan Sajama, I was quick to concur. I spent three days acclimatising in Peru before meeting up with Geir in La Paz. We then continued the acclimatization with three days of trekking from Condoriri to Huayna Potosi in the Cordillera Real. Then, after two days of rest in La Paz, we headed West to the Sajama National Park for our main objective. Unfortunately, I picked up some stomach bug in La Paz and never made it higher than 5700 m (18700 ft) on Sajama. Geir did much better and successfully summitted Sajama on a 10 hour long summit day. Lots of penitentes made it a long summit day.

This first picture shows a panorama of the Eastern part of the Cordillera Real rising above the Altiplano with Ancohuma and Illampu on the left and the Condoriri group on the right. We would trek up to the Condoriri basecamp and then head West to Refugio Huayna Potosi over three days of great trekking at elevations between 14700 and 16700 ft.

Trailhead at the small village of Tuni, elevation 14740 ft.

Lots of Alpacas and Llamas, and they weren't particularly shy.

Aren't they cute!

Condoriri (18530 ft, 5648 m) makes an impressive backdrop on the first day of trekking.

The Condoriri group at sunset with basecamp in the foreground. This area has lots of great trekking, camping and climbing. I will have to return someday to spend some more time here.

Condoriri summit pyramid. The normal route follows the facing ridge.

Glacier with normal route leading to Pequeno Alpamayo (5370 m, 17620 ft)

Panorama looking back at the Condoriri group from the West.

Locals enjoying the scenery.

Between Condiriri and Huyana Potosi we crossed 3 valleys and 4 passes (up to about 5100 m, 16700 ft). This shot shows the arid conditions climbing out of one of these major valleys.

Lunch at an abandoned farm house along the way.

Second night camp-site at sunset. Wide open and beautiful. As soon as the sun sets it gets very cold. Luckily it didn't blow too much while we were there.

The three day trek ended at the Huaya Potosi refugio.

Huyana Potosi (19996 ft, 6094 m) - the normal route goes up the scree slopes and glacier in center and the accesses the right hand ridge. Look closely and you can make out parts of the trail up the normal route.

Geir (right) and Dr. Hugo (Dr. Hugo Berrios Martin is the founder of Refugio Huayna Potosi).

Illimani (6492 m, 21300 ft) in the sunset as seen from downtown La Paz

Volcan Sajama rises above the desert. Sajama is Bolivia's highest mountain at 6530 m (21424 ft). It was the main objective of our trip.

Impressive volcano even though a lot of the ice-shield has melted.

Volcan Sajama seen from the town of Sajama.

Hiking in to basecamp with Pomerape (6222 m) and Parinacota (6132 m) in the background. These fine volcanoes straddle the Bolivia-Chile border.

Sajama in the sunset as seen from basecamp.

Heading up the very loose screen towards highcamp.

Highcamp on Sajama at about 5500 m (18050 ft).

The slopes leading to the canaleta and the glacier edge.

Geir returning after successful summit attempt.

Heading back out with Sajama in the background.

Waiting for transportation. From here we headed down to the village of Sajama for hot food and a beer.

Heading back to La Paz the next day. The Sajama National Park is basically a desert.

Returning to La Paz with its congested traffic and pollution. Huayna Potosi can be seen rising over the smog of El Alto outside La Paz.

Ram Valley - Pleasant and Not So Pleasant Peaks

2010-09-04T21:53:00.000-08:00

Ram Valley and Falling Water Valley

The Prudhoe Bay road provides easy access to the Ram Valley and Falling Water Valley in the Eagle River drainage. Summer 2010 was perfect for completing all the peaks along the Eagle River north of the Ram Valley. These include Peak 5331, Mt Significant (5456 ft), Peak 5320, Pleasant Mountain (6463 ft), Raina Peak (6798 ft) and Peeking Mountain (6925 ft). Of these, Pleasant Mountain was by far the least pleasant of the group with terrible scree and sketchy scrambling.

I had noticed these nice ridges above Eagle River last fall when I climbed Mt Significant. The weather earlier this summer had not been conducive to climbing the higher of these peaks. Low cloud cover and poor visibility forced me to stay low, and come August, I had only climbed the 5000-footers in this drainage. But then a couple of nice days in early fall allowed us to visit the more interesting 6000-footers.

August 8th, Adam Lewis and I headed up Ram Valley to climb Pleasant Mountain. The clouds broke apart just long enough for us to see the summit and where to go. Why anybody named this Pleasant Mountain is beyond me. The upper part of the mountain is bad scree and involves sketchy scrambling without any protection. On the way back down, we studied the Raina Peak and Peeking Mountain route. These two mountains promised to be more pleasant than the mountain we had just climbed.

So when the weather once again offered another great Alaska day for climbing on September 3, Toby Schwoerer, Adam and I headed up Ram valley with the intention of climbing Raina and Peeking. And even though the clouds swirled around us on the summits, we enjoyed fantastic hiking and climbing on these two peaks. Raina and Peeking are real pleasures compared to Pleasant Mt. Just over 6 hours roundtrip made for a great late summer outing. We were three happy climbers heading back to town. At least we had gotten our addiction satisfied for a little while. Unfortunately, I had brought a camera with dead batteries - the other guys brought no cameras at all - so this blog-post uses some photos I took earlier in the summer.

This first photo is from June 2010 from the ridge leading to Mt Significant. In the near background is Peak 5320. Directly over the top of my head is Peeking Mt. and to my right is Raina Peak (the middle summit of Raina being the tallest).

Typical climbing conditions this year. Lots of fog and clouds obscuring the summits. Here are Raina (left) and Peeking (right) as seen from the summit of Pleasant.

Ram Valley with Mt Pleasant in the background.

Upper reaches of Ram Valley. Bombardment pass is left center. Korohusk peak (7030 ft) is sticking its summit into the clouds.

Looking down onto the Ram Valley rock glacier with Cumulus Mt (5830 ft) in the background.

From the summit of Mt Pleasant looking East into the headwaters of Peters Creek. Bellicose Peak (7640 ft) hiding in the clouds (left side of picture).

Coming down the gully from Pleasant Mt. The scree was good for coming down but really hard work to get up.

Successfully down. Our tracks are clearly visible in the lower scree gully.

Adam with Raina Peak in the background. Raina and Peeking turned out to much more pleasant than Mt Pleasant itself. The ridge between Raina and Peeking is non-technical and has a decent trail leading to the summit of Peeking. There is only one short section descending from Raina to the saddle between Raina and Peeking that is a little scrambly, otherwise it is a simple walk-up.

Panorama of the upper Ram Valley. Pleasant Mt. on the left, Korohusk in the middle and Cumulus on the left.

Hope we still get some good clminging days before the snow start flying.

Cheers,
Trond

Hurdygurdy

2010-07-05T20:35:00.000-08:00

Hurdygurdy (5965 ft) July 5th, 2010

So what is a Hurdygurdy anyway? For us peakbaggers in Alaska, Hurdygurdy is a peak in the South Fork Eagle River drainage, part of the peaks named after musical instruments and terms. I found just the right weather window on July 5th to fit in an 8 hour roundtrip to climb Hurdygurdy.

Approach to Hurdygurdy in the South Fork Eagle River valley above Eagle lake.

Gorgeous hidden valley leading to Hurdygurdy ridge.

Rock bands protecting the upper part of Hurdygurdy (people smarter than me should continue to the ridge and follow the ridge rather than trying to breach the rock bands ... I ended up doing some sketchy scrambling and snow gullies without proper tools or protection).

Upper Hurdygurdy from false peak to the West of Hurdygurdy.

Cantata, Calliope, and Flute glacier (right to left) from Hurdygurdy summit.

Eagle peak from Hurdygurdy summit.

Eastward looking panorama from Hurdygurdy. Left to right: Eagle peak, Organ Mt, Flute glacier, Calliope, Cantana and Triangle peaks.

Turnagain Pass Crust Ski

2010-05-15T13:39:00.000-08:00

May 8th, 2010.
Crust ski at Turnagain Pass: Lyons Creek, Center Ridge, Tincan Creek

I started from the Turnagain Pass trailhead at 8:30 and skied for 3 hours up Lyons Creek, over Center Ridge, and up Tincan Creek before returning to the starting point at about 11:30. The conditions were fantastic, although the snow above 3000 feet in the Tincan drainage still hadn't converted to corn snow. In fact, it was 4 inches of powder with a slight windslab on top. Given the avalanche conditions, I didn't go the last half hour up to the Spencer Glacier lookout point at the top of Tincan Valley. But most amazing was that I didn't meet or see anybody except a wolverine until about 11 o'clock when a couple of groups low in the Tincan Valley.

Heading up Lyons Creek. Avalanche paths from daytime avalanches are aplenty.

Ptarmigans are abundant in this little visited valley.

The upper reaches of Lyons Creek. Notice the flowing appearance of the snow; a result of high daytime temperatures and rapid melting.

Looking down the Lyons Creek drainage with Center Ridge just to the right of Lyons Creek.

Lyons Creek panorama.

After having crossed Center Ridge, Tincan Valley flats were inviting for crust cruising and the temperatures were warm enough for t-shirt and shorts.

Looking up Tincan Valley from just above timberline on Center Ridge.

Upper Tincan Valley panorama. The mountain in the center is Tincan Peak. The mountain raising off to the right is Kickstep Mountain. The Spencer glacier lookout point is just left of the sun on the ridgeline.

Back at the trailhead at 11:30. Still plenty of snow for a few more weeks of skiing.

Spencer Glacier

2010-04-26T22:23:00.001-08:00

Spencer Glacier Crust Ski - April 10th, 2010

The crust ski season has been somewhat spotty so far this year. I've had one good trip - Spencer Glacier round-trip from Portage Valley on April 10th - that's it. This is a fabulous ski for anybody energetic enough to venture this far up the Placer river valley; and well worth it as the pictures can testify.

While I am waiting on the crust ski season to materialize, I have been putting in the miles at Hillside and Kincaid. With prime conditions all season (November - April), I have skied more than 100 days and logged more than 2500 km on skis this season. A very good ski season indeed!

First picture shows the approach to the Spencer glacier with the terminal lake in the foreground.

Amazing ice formations and ice caves at the toe of the Spencer glacier.

Nobody said self-portraits were easy!

Panorama looking West from the Spencer Glacier terminus.

Talkeetna - Oosik - March 2010

2010-03-21T11:52:00.001-08:00

Oosik weekend in Talkeetna, March 20-21, 2010

Last race of the season was in perfect weather and with a great setting. Along parts of the 52 km course we had unrestricted views of the triplets; Mts. Foraker, Hunter and McKinley.

With race season over, let the spring skiing begin!

Mexico Lindo

2009-11-14T11:55:00.002-09:00

Iztaccíhuatl (5230 m, 17,159 feet) and Pico de Orizaba (5636 m, 18,491 feet), Mexico, November 2009 with adventure companion Geir Ulstein, Nov. 4-14, 2009

With a few vacation days left in the bank and some travel lust left in my legs, Geir and I decided to meet in Mexico City for 10 days of trekking and sightseeing. As usual, Geir was using the opportunity to scout new trip possibilities for his adventure travel company (EcoExpeditions). I think I am safe in saying that this trip itinerary will show up as one of his trip offerings very soon.

I was a little skeptical of Mexico City, having heard a lot of negative propaganda about the conditions in Mexico's capitol. The trip was a positive surprise from start to finish. The city was not all that polluted, traffic wasn't that bad, we never felt threatened, the weather was fabulous, and the food was great. And Izta (Iztaccíhuatl) and Pico de Orizaba,the 8th and 3rd highest summits in north America, were more intersting (and challenging) than we had envisioned.

Panorama of Popo (Popocatepetl, 5410 m or 17,749 ft) in the sunris.


Before embarking on the trekking part of the itinerary, we visited the pyramids at Teotihuacan. This picture shows the Temple of the Sun.	From Teotihuacan, we went straight to the Popo-Itza National Park to prepare for the ascent of Izta. We stayed at the climbers refugio close to La Hoya. this picture shows sunrise from La Hoya towards Pico de Orizaba.


Popocatepetl in the sunrise.	Izta in the early morning. Iztaccíhuatl translates as White Woman or Sleeping Woman. Each part of the mountain are named after the woman's body parts; the feet (left in this picture), the knees (center of pic), belly, breast (summit) and head.


Heading up towards Izta high camp on a day hike	Lunch at Izta "high camp" (about 4700 m)


Popo from Izta at daybreak. We started from La Hoya at 3 am and summited around 8 am.	Popo from high on the first "Knee" on Izta


Izta's shadow in the sunrise from high on the first "Knee"	Summit ridge on Izta


Popo from Izta's summit. Popo provided some incredible back-drops to an already beautiful climb.	Guide Javier and Geir on the summit of Izta.


Trond on Izta's summit.	Izta's "glacier" between the summit (Izta's Breast) and Izta's Belly.

Heading back across Izta's belly.

Panorama of Popo from Izta summit


Pico de Orizaba from the lowlands	The fairly new Piedra Grande refugio on Orizaba. The refigio is at roughly 4200 m. From here the summit is a long 1400 m (4600 feet) away.


On the first day at Orizaba we went for a day hike from the refugio up to the main high camp. This pic shows the moraine along trail below Orizaba.	Lunch break in high camp (ca 4700 m) during acclimatization hike


Foggy return from "high camp". We observed this weather pattern every day in the mountains here. Beautiful weather before noon, foggy and cloudy after noon.	Early morning start for Orizaba summit day. We started at about 2 am and summited around 7:30 am. Compared to Izta, the climb up Orizaba was quite cold (-10 C, 14 F), and both Geir and I thought we would freeze our toes. Fortunately, no permanent damage was incurred.


Sunrise high on Orizaba's snowfield. The climb is straight forward. Towards the top, the slope may approach 40 degrees, but the snow provided good crampooning.	Orizaba's shadow stretching out towards Mexico City


Javier and Geor on the crater rim	Orizaba's crater. The crater is the deepest I have seen, must be 200-300 feet deep. Very impressive.


Orizaba summit.	Orizaba summit from the crater rim.


Popo, Izta & La Malinche (4430 m, 14,534 ft, 24th highest in North America) from Orizaba	Heading back down the upper Orizaba snowfield.


Orizaba's "glacier".	Heading down.

A last view of Orizaba.

Panorama from Orizaba summit. Sierra Negra (4580 m, 15,026 ft, 19th highest in North America) can be seen below to the left.

Panorama of Orizaba summit. Popo, Izta and La Malinche below to the right.


Mexico City national theater.	Zocalo, main cathedral in Mexico City.


City-scape in Zona Rosa, Mexico City	Photo exhibition along La Reforma, one ov the main avenues in Mexico City.


Mexico's Independence statue.	"Wall Street" - Mexico City's stock exchange.

The Wrestler. The anthropological museum in Mexico City is a fantastic collection
of artifacts. For anybody interested in Mexican history, this is a MUST.

True Summit & Berg Peak in "the Berries"

2009-10-19T22:53:00.001-08:00

Alyaska True Summit and Berg Peak, October 18th, 2009
Start/finish: Kern Creek on Seward Highway
Highpoints: True Summit 4423 ft and Berg Peak 3917 ft

A long fall with continued high pressure has provided some great hiking and climbing conditions in the Western Chugach mountains in September and October. After an early squall of termination dust in September I climbed Bramble Knoll on September 26th. This 3264 ft "hill" along the Seward highweay is too steep for hiking but to flat for climbing. With an average grade around 45 degrees and ample bush-whacking, Bramble Knoll lives up to its name and is a challenge in itself. But the views from the summit are exquisite. The first panorama below shows the Bramble views from West to East. I decided to come back to these hills as soon as the conditions were favorable. The chance would come sooner than expected. The termination dust melted and provided superb conditions in mid-October. On October 18th I found time to try True Summit (of Alyeska) and Berg Peak. Starting from the Seward highway after 12 pm I knew that I would have to hustle to make the whole circuit before dark. I didn't quite manage. I finished at 7:30 pm after bush-whacking in the dark for the last hour or so. Every time I visit these mountains I am reminded how tough the bush-whacking can be, but also how superb the ridges and peaks are ... well worth the struggle and hard work!

Panorama from Bramble Knoll (3264 ft). Left to right are Turnagain Arm, Penguin Ridge, Kern Ridge, True Summit, Berg Peak, Highbush, Lowbush and Blueberry Hill.


Map cutout of "the Berries" ... mountain group East of Girdwood with names such as Lingon, Blueberry, and Highbush. Short red loop indicates my trip on Bramble Knoll on Sept. 26th. Longer red loop is trip to True Summit and Berg Peak on Oct. 19th.	Kern Ridge towards True Summit.


Bauman Bump with Girdwood in the background	Winner Creek drainage and Northern part of the Berries (Kinnikinnick and Lingon mnts).


Berg Peak seen from True Summit. The route up the facing ridge was at times quite exposed and tricky, especially with frozen conditions whenever I got forced out on the North side.	Kern Ridge and Turnagain Arm as seen from high on True Summit


Highbush with Lingon in the background (to the left)	Blueberry Hill

Self portrait

Panorama from Kern ridge looking North towards (Alyeska) True Summit.

Panorama from Berg Peak looking Northeast. Left to right in the panorama are Lingon Mnt, Highbush, Lowbush, and Bluberry Hill. Certainly a lot of great hiking and climbing still to be had in this mountain group.

Eklutna Lakeside Trail

2009-09-20T13:22:00.053-08:00

Eklutna Lakeside Trail, September 20th, 2009

Cast: Susanne, Thorsten, Trond

25 miles bike trip on nice gravel trails and roads along the Eklutna Lake


Thorsten and Susanne on the trail next to Eklutna lake	Trond and Thorsten with Bold Peak hiding in the clouds in the background


Eklutna lake with the Mitre in the background.	Eklutna River with Bashful Peak (8005 feet) in the background.


Along the Eklutna Lakeside trail.	Heading towards the Serenity Falls cabin.


Eklutna Lake in fall colors. The Fireweed is already dead which means that winter is not far off.	Lunch in the Serenity Falls cabin. No trip is complete without Norwegian Caviar and Freia Milk Chocolate.

Penguin Ridge Hike

2009-09-19T12:57:00.000-08:00

Penguin Ridge from Bird to Girdwood, September 19th, 2009
Cast: Frank, Danny, Trond
Distance 14 miles, vertical gain 9000 feet traversing Penguin Peak, King Point, Adelie Point, Crested Peak, Chinstrap Peak and Gentoo Peak.

The old tower at about 3400 feet on Penguin Peak
Frank and Danny scrambling down a blocky section near King Pt.

Danny enjoying the scrambling.

Frank enjoying the scrambling.

Most of the hike was along the tundra on beautiful and gradual ridges

Near Adelie Pt looking out the Turnagain Arm towards the West

Plenty of mountain goats on this ridge. We must have seen 20 goats spread out all along the ridge. The goats are fairly shy, so getting close enough for a good picture is difficult.

Halfway along the ridge is the remains of a surveyors camp with lots of cable, snow fences and trash.

NE to SE panorama with Adelie Point in the center. From NE to SE are Pkea 5030, Bird Peak (partially in the clouds), Peak 4740, Gentoo peak (center distance), and Adelie Point.

NE to SE panorama taken from the summit of Gentoo Peak. On the left hand side is Raggedtop Mnt, in the center are Girdwood, Alyaska skiarea and Alyaska True Summit, and on the right hand side is the inner parts of Turnagain Arm and the areas around Portage and Placer Valleys.

Gentoo-California Ridge Hike

2009-08-30T11:05:00.006-08:00

Girdwood-Gentoo-California Peak Ridge
August 30th, 2009
Mark Stevenson, Adam Lewis, Trond Jensen

On Sunday, August 30th, Mark, Adam and I tried to climb California Peak via the Southeast ridge and also the South ridge. On both routes we found ourselves cliffed out and decided to return the same way we had come (i.e. over Gentoo Peak, 4196 ft). The obvious route up to the saddle between California peak and Rubbletop Peak and then up the northeast ridge of California was left for some other time.

At the outset, Mark proves to be a real tree hugger.

No real Alaska adventure without some real bush-whacking.

Actually, there is now a very decent trail from the Califonia Creek trailhead up to the tundra below Gentoo peak. Presumably, this trail has been made by people hiking the Penguin ridge from Gentoo to Penguin Peak.

View from Gentoo Peak towards California Peak (left hand side of picture). The ridge traverses to sub-summits before terminating in the California Peak East ridge (our main objective of the day).

Along the way we saw several Mountain Goats such as this guy.

Eastward looking panorama from the summit of Gentoo. Left to right is Raggedtop Peak (5215 ft), Girdwood valley and Mt. Alyaska (4423 ft), and Turnagain Arm. In the background are the peaks of Prince William Sound.

Westward looking panorama from the summit of Gentoo. Left to rigth is Turnagain Arm, Penguin Ridge, Peak 4740, Bird Peak (pronounced summit pyramid in the ridght center of the picture, 5505 ft), California Peak (4974 ft), and Rubbletop Peak (4987 ft).

Markha Valley & Stok Kangri, Ladakh, Northern Inda

2009-07-31T22:46:00.082-08:00

Markha Valley and Stok Kangri
Ladakh, Jammu & Kashmir, India, July 16-30th, 2009
Geir Ulstein and Trond Jensen

Geir and I flew to Leh in mid-July to do a bit of trekking, climbing (Stok Kangri, 6,137 m or 20,200 feet) and sightseeing. Leh is the capitol of Ladakh which is part of Jammu and Kashmir in Northern India. Geir had planned it all as a scouting trip for his EcoExpeditions adventure travel company and I was more than happy to support his efforts. Leh is situated in the rain-shadow of the Himalayas and has a desert climate. Flying in, we crossed snow and glacier covered peaks and landed in extremely arid Leh at ~10000 ft amongst brown hills.
Ladakh is called little Tibet and the entire area is very much influenced by buddhist culture, both past and present. In and around Leh there were temples, gompas and old fortresses from ages past.

Typical street in Leh.

Gompa and old fortress above Leh.

Leh city-scape. Not much room for new housing.

Leh with Stok Kangri in the background. Stok valley can be seen on the left side of the picture.

Shanti Stupa in Leh.

Thiksey Gompa south of Leh.

Munks calling for prayer at Thiksey Gompa.

Indus valley. The Indus river provides water for irrigation in and around Leh. If it hadn't been for the Indus, there would be no agriculture in the area.

Every temple and gompa has their own buddha statue, some very impressive. This one as 12 m (36 feet tall) and is gold plated.

Shey castle south of Leh.

Stupas near one of Dalai Lama's summer houses.

Start of our Markha valley trek at Zingchan (11240 ft). The Markha Valley trek is usually done in about 8 days. Because of our compressed vacation schedule we decided to do the trek in 5 days by doing a few double-leg days.

Scenery between Rumbak and Yarutse before heading up to the Ganda La on the second day of the trek.

Geir approaching Ganda La (15960 ft).

A lone rose-bush in the otherwise very arid landscape.

One the way from Ganda La to Skyu (second camp) we descended an incredible deep and steep valley. With the sun beating down in the middle of the day, it must have been a 100 degrees. Combined with the altitude, the temperature and bright sun gave me a most intense headache.

The next morning we started out before 7 am to beat the heat of the day. The first few hours from Skyu to Markha were quite pleasant.

The hiking was mostly on good trails along valley bottoms, but once in a while, the river forced us up the valley sides on steep and intersting trails.

Inhabitation in the Markha valley. A few hundred people live in houses like this along the 50 mile long valley.

Mani wall and stupa along the Markha valley trail.

Markha gompa.

Markha valley agriculture. Mostly the valley was very arid, but a few places people make a living farming the land.

Old fortress in Markha valley.

Above Markha we had to make two river crossings, both short but somewhat challenging. On the second crossing, we learned to put the camera in a plastic bag in the backpack before crossing just in case.

Another mani wall along the trail. Just apile of rocks, right?

Actually, most of the "rocks" have intricate engraving of the Buddist prayer, Buddha sketches, or other Buddhist symbolism.

More "rocks" on the mani wall.

Another fortress overlooking the Markha trail. Nobody seemed to know the age of these old, abandoned fortresses or their history.

Trail above Markha on the way towards Nimaling.

High country trekking close to the Nimaling camp-site.

Nimaling camp-site (15620 feet) located on a wide plain below Kang Yatse (about 6400 m, 21650 feet), the highest peak in the Ladakh range.

After Nimaling we ascended Gongmaru La (16920 ft) and then headed down an amazing canyon to Chang Sumdo (12250 ft). From there we transferred by car to Stok Village.

Heading down the narrow canyon towards Chang Sumdo.

Geology above Chang Sumdo.

Heading up from Stok Village (11850 ft) to Stok Kangri basecamp (~16020 ft). Easy hiking and ascent all the way to basecamp.

We decided to skip high camp and make our summit attempt from a more comfortable basecamp. This would make for a longer summit day, but we felt good and well acclimatized. On July 25th we made an early morning start (3:30 am) for our summit attempt. We had already been up at 12:30 am but decided to go back to sleep for a couple of hours. The weather was unsettled and it had been raining and snowing on and off for the last couple of days. When we woke at 2:30 am, some stars were out and we decided to give it a try.

Heading up towards Stok glacier in the early morning.

Sunrise.

Summit ridge of Stok Kangri. We had been climbing in the fog for most of the morning, but on the summit ridge we lucked out with some fine views toward the Northwest.

Stok Kangri summit ridge with a view towards Nun and Kun and the higher peaks of the Karakoram.

The Stok Kangri climb is generally very straight forward, but because of fresh snow and slick rocks we decided to rope up on the last couple hundred feet.

Stok Kangri summit at 9 am.

Stok Kangri viewed from the Stok glacier at sunrise.

After trekking and climbing we had signed up for a "jeep"tour from Leh to Manali. The trip took us over 3 very high passes, including TaglangLa (17882 feet) which is the second highest driveable pass in the world.

We were now heading south and into the monsoon rains. The roads were deteriorating. The Ladakh region is supplied by lorries (small trucks) carrying everything from clothing and food to gasoline. Driving south towards Manali along this only road connecting Leh to the south, it felt like we were swimming upstream against a continuous stream of lorries. It took 15 hours driving time from Leh to Manali. We stopped overnight in a small place outside of Keylong.

Lorry traffic. Uphill traffic always has the right-of-way on these roads.

Finally ... Manali (the Aspen of India). Ski-area and lots of hotels and tourist attractions.

One of the pleasures of this kind of trip is the local food and of course the abundance of fresh fruit.

The next day our flight to Delhi was cancelled due to monsoon storms, so we ended up spending another 15 hours in a car to get to Delhi and make our international connections. But it was all part of the great experience.

I highly recommend Leh and Ladakh to anybody who likes trekking, Buddhist culture and Indian food.

Calliope July 2009

2009-07-05T22:38:00.006-08:00

Calliope Mnt 6810 ft
July 5th, 2009

On a lovely and warm July 4th, I headed up South Fork Eagle River with an eye on climbing either Eagle Peak or Calliope Mnt, depending on conditions. The weather was holding and the snow on Calliope looked to be in good shape, so I decided on trying Calliope the next morning.

Ptarmigan 'mama' leadnig me away from her chicks.
South Fork Eagle River above Eagle Lake. Eagle Peak (6955 ft) is the prominent peak in the background.
Dall sheep on the tundra.
Lower reaches of valley between Cantata Peak (6410 ft) and Calliope
Hanging valley leading to Calliope-Cantata col.
At Calliope-Cantata col looking WNW. Triangle Peak (5455 ft) is rounded peak on left.
Looking back down hanging valley between Cantata and Calliope.
Calliope summit shot with Eagle Peak in the background.
Looking NW down the South Fork Eagle River drainage. Cantata Peak is on the right.
The ~40 degree snowfield leading back down to the Calliope-Cantata col. The snow was fairly soft and I was uneasy about slush avalanches so I only spent a minimal 10 minutes on the summit. On the East face of Calliope I actually set of a couple of smaller slush slides so I wanted to head back down and across the snowfield before it got too warm.
Looking back up at the Calliope WNW face snowfield. The rounte follows the ridge from the Calliope-Cantata col to the snowfield directly below the rock island. I went straight up and around the rock island to the summit ridge (~800 feet vertical on the snow) to minimize my exposure.
The Calliope WNW face.
Upper reaches of South Fork Eagle River looking down towards Eagle Lake.
The waterfalls of South Fork Eagle River leading down from Flute Glacier.
Eagle Lake with Eagle Peak in the distance.
Cantata (center left), Calliope (center) and Triangle (center right) peaks bracketed by the lush South Fork Eage River valley.
Panorama from the Calliope summit frmo NW to SE. Foreground peaks from left to right are Cantata (6410), Eagle (6955), Polar Bear (6614), Organ (6980) and Flute (6610). Many more of the Eagle River valley and high Chugach peaks are visible in the distance.

Tincan Crust Ski (Hurra for 17. mai)

2009-05-17T13:31:00.011-08:00

Tincan Valley Crust Ski, May 17th, 2009
with Adam Verrier

Despite being tired after skiing Center ridge and Tincan valley yesterday, I couldn't resist an encore today. Adam Verrier and I headed to Turnagain Pass early Sunday, May 17th, for one more day of crust skiing. Yesterday, I headed up Lyon Creek and up onto Center Ridge. This involved a bit of alder bush-whacking, so today we decided to access the valley from the Tincan pullout about 1 mile north of the Turnagain Pass. We started at 7:30 am and skied until about 11 am. The crust held up quite well the whole time, even down low by the main road.

I had for a while been eyeing the saddle between Tincan Peak and Kickstep Mountain and today we got all the way up to the saddle and had a great view of Placer Valley and Spencer Glacier. The weather was so nice that we sat around for half an hour in t-shirts - there was not a breath of wind. Even for Alaska it is uncommen to have this nice and warm weather at 4000 ft at 9:30 in the morning on May 17th.

The skiing back down the valley provided varied crust skiing, from fairly icy conditions up high to awsome corn snow lower in the valley. What a way to spend May 17th (Norwegian Independence Day)!

This first photo is of Turnagain Pass on May 16th after skiing Center Ridge and Tincan Valley (about 10 am). The snow is disappearing fast and the alders made for interesting bush-whacking to access Center Ridge.
Adam traversing off of the Tincan ridge into the Tincan Valley.

Any doubts about the snow depth in the Tinan Valley on May 17th? Here it must be 10 ft!

Heading up the upper Tincan Valley.

Adam showing great skate form, both uphill ...

and downhill (making slalom turns on hard crust with old skate skis with severly rounded edges is a little different than normal downhill skiing).

Heading up towards the Placer Vewlley overlook.

Adam on the last pitch. Tincan Peak in the background.

On the Placer Valley overlook. On the east-facing slopes there was no snow at all.

Spencer Glacier across the Placer Valley.

Looking back the Tincan Valley. The upper parts of the decent was quite steep (30-40 degrees) and a little icy ... a challenge on skate skies with a bum knee (I recently tore the MCL and miniscus in my left knee ... but I couldn't let that stop me from enjoying this great spring skiing).

Adam coming down from the Placer Valley overlook back into the Tincan Valley.

Tincan Valley and Tincan Peak (~4300 ft).

Adam carving turns on perfect corn snow.

Eastward looking panorama overlooking Placer Valley and the Spencer glacier.

Spencer Glacier Crust Ski

2009-05-02T16:59:00.001-08:00

Spencer Glacier Crust Ski, May 2nd, 2009
Round trip Portage to Spencer Glacier, ~24 miles
7:30 - 10:30 am.

Another cold and clear night prompted another crust ski up the Placer Valley. This would be my fourth time up the Placer Valley this spring. On previous occasions I has either started too late or had to return early (stupid work commitments). This time I was determined to start early and try to make it to the Spencer Glacier before the crust started breaking down. 30 degrees and clear skies at the starting point indicated that it would be a great day for crust skiing.

Pulling my skis out of the car at the little known access point for late spring Placer Valley crust skiing, I am surprised to see Rachel Steer pull up with the same plan as me. We both enjoyed the superb crust conditions all the way to the Spencer glacier. Especially on the way back down the Placer Valley did we catch some awesome corn snow as the top layer of the crust was just starting to melt.

Spencer Glacier seen across the lake at the terminus of the glacier. Observe the icebergs frozen into the lake ice.
We could safely skate across the lake and all the way up to the toe of the glacier.

Interesting ice-formations at the toe of the glacier.

Rachel catching some rays.
Looking back across the lake at the broken up terminus of the glacier.

Crust skiing past icebergs.

Great corn snow on the return down the Placer Valley.

We got back to the trail head around 10:30 am, just as the crust was starting to break down. It was quite warm - it must have been in the low 50's already.

Panorama across the terminus of the Spencer Glacier.

Early Bird Special

2009-04-28T16:31:00.013-08:00

Placer Valley Crust Ski, April 28th, 2009

With the encouraging weather forecast I decided to get up at 5:30 am and try the crust skiing at Portage. I skied on relatively good crust for about two hours and was off the snow before 9:30 am when the snow was starting to melt. Some sloughs are starting to open, and the snow is starting to get sun-cupped - otherwise very good crust skiing. And there is no sign on ash-fall from Mt Redoubt. Up on the Skookum glacier I started punching thought he crust already at 8:30. It seems that it froze harder on the valley bottom than up on the glacier.

Looking up the Placer valley. Skookum valley is the first left hand valley entering the Placer valley.
Looking down the Placer valley towards the Turnagain arm. The prominent mountain in the center of this photo is Blueberry hill.
Skookum Valley.

The prominent peak at the head of Skookum Glacier is Carpathian Peak (5856 ft).

Sunrise on the Skookum Glacier.

The Skookum Glacier.

Looking down the Skookum valley from the toe of the Skookum glacier.

Southern panorama showing Skookum valley on the left and Placer valley on the right. The pronounced saddle on the far ridge (in the middle on the photo) leads over to Center Creek. The highpoints on the ridge on the right include Kickstep Mountain and Tincan Peak (popular back-country skiing peaks accessed from the Turnagain Pass.

Powerline Crust Skiing April 2009

2009-04-21T11:21:00.003-08:00

Powerline Valley Crust Ski, April 21st, 2009

On this Tuesday moring I headed out for the first real crust ski of the year. The conditions in the Powerline Valley are quite decent considering the less than average snowpack, Redoubt volcanic ash, and recent wind events.

This panorama shows the Powerline Valley looking West. The photo is taken from above Green Lake. In the center is Peak 4630 and right of that is the East face of Ptarmigan. Anchorage can be seen in the far distance at the right hand side of the panorama.

Redoubt volcanic ash seen here along the South Fork of the Campbell Creek.
More volcanic ash. Recent wind event had concentrated the ash in low spots. The skiing was quite decent as long as one stayed away from these ash-traps.

The Ptarmigans were out in force this morning.

The Ptarmigan Peak S-Couloir.

Oosik - March 2009

2009-03-21T17:55:00.007-08:00

The Oosik Classic ~50 km Classic Ski Race
Talkeetna, March 21st, 2009

Even though I had a torn MCL and messed up miniscus from my accident on the Arctic to Indian traverse a week ago, I decided to try the Oosik classic anyway. In my 7 years in Alaska, I have never missed an Oosik. And since the race was hald on the rivers and marshes North of Talkeetna (much of the race was actually on the Chulitna river) it was very flat and conducive to double-poling so I wouldn't have to use my bad leg much.

We had a blue bell day with views of Mt. McKinley, Foraker and the Alaska Range from much of the course as you can see. It was so nice that after the race I headed back out on the course with my camera to capture a few pictures.
Oosik King Trond Flagstad with Oosik Prince Vebjoern.
Mt McKinley.

Hunter and Mt McKinley seen from the race course.

Foraker, Hunter and Mt McKinley

Mt Redoubt

2009-03-16T17:50:00.005-08:00

Mt Redoubt erupted 19 times in 18 days. This is a picture of Mt Redoubt from Anchorage taken just days before it blew the first time. The clearly visible steam plume in this picture rises to about 15000 ft. Since this photo was taken, Mt Redoubt has been cloaked in clouds and ash and we have not been able to "enjoy" the spectacle.

Photo by Susanne Kruse.

I was skiing when the ash was coming down. It only lasted 10 minutes. My skis went from pretty fast to extremely slow in a few minutes. That's all it took for a thin layer of ash to cover everything. Fortunately, we only got a dusting. But it was enough to turn the fresh snow gray. Here is a shot of my tire-tracks in the driveway upon returning home.

After this, the snow will melt very fast because of the increased heat absorption of the darker surface of the snow.

Arctic to Indian - March 2009

2009-03-14T17:53:00.005-08:00

Arctic to Indian - 16.5 miles
March 14th, 2009

The Arctic to Indian traverse crosses the Chugach State Park East of Anchorage. It is a 16.5 miles mellow ski from Arctic Valley North of Anchorage through the woods of the Ship Creek drainage and over the Indian Pass to the Indian Valley on the Turnagain Arm South of Anchorage.

I joined Chris, Danielle, Mitch, Colleen, Sarah, Erin and Lee for the traverse on a beautiful March day with soft powder and great conditions.

The group skiing up along the Ship Creek
Rest stop along the Ship Creek.

Chris showing the fine art of Beaver house skiing.

Lee talking a tumble while trying out a short-cut.

The upper part of South Fork Ship Creek looking North.

On the Indian Pass looking South towards the Indian Valley

And then on one of the fun downhills about 2.5 miles from the trailhead, I overestimated the strength of my recently operated knee and my current skiing abilities. An "emergency" stop ended in a wipeout and wrenched knee. Good thing my friends had an avalanche probe and plenty of duct-tape. With this splint I managed to ski out under my own power; otherwise we may have had to call for a rescue.

My doctor tells me it is a partially torn and separated MCL (Medial Collateral Ligament) and ruptured miniscus. So now I will be suffering for my stupidity for the next couple of months or so. I hope surgery will not be necessary!

Hillside Skiing

2008-12-15T22:35:00.005-09:00

Lots of great snow in Anchorage this fall where we have been skiing since October. These shots were taken on December 14th. This first shot is from the Hillside lighted loops just at sunset.

Sunset over Far North Bicentennial Park
The top of Spencer loop, the best ski trail in Anchorage.

Skiing at Hatcher Pass

2008-11-14T20:02:00.004-09:00

October and November found us skiing at Hatcher Pass.

Early snow in the mountains and little snow in town necessitated driving to Hatcher Pass every weekend. But who is complaining when the conditions are like this!

Independence Mine ski trails.

Patrick Stinson showing good form.

Beyond Magnificent

2008-10-05T15:00:00.007-08:00

Snowslog up Mt. Magnificent and Beyond
High point: ~4800 ft
Sunday, Oct 5th, 2008

Mt. Magnificent, Mt. Significant and Peak 5331 are part of the ridges and peaks immediately north of Eagle River and have beckoned me every time I drive north from Anchorage. Early October I persuaded Amy to come with me to try to climb all three peaks in a day. I had estimated it would take us 8-10 hours for all three peaks from the Mile High Saddle trailhead. What I didn't expect was 2 feet snow above 4500 feet and a lot more coming down while we were out. After climbing Mt. Magnificent, we made it to the ridge junction between Peak 5331 and Mt. Significant where we decided to turn around so that we would make it back to the car before dark. These two summits will have to beckon me for another year.

Amy at the Mile High Saddle (which has an altitude of about 2300 feet). Not much snow at this point.

The bull moose were hanging out in the high country today. This one was a 12x12. We saw two other large bull moose heading over a 4000 foot high pass East of Mt. Magnificent, obviously heading for the cover at lower altitude in the Eagle River valley.

Traversing up from Mile High Saddle, we started getting into more and more snow. The valley below us (at about 2500 feet) didn't have much snow on the way up. On the way down, everything was covered in an additional 4-6 inches of new snow.

The Mt. Magnificent ridge looking back towards Eagle River.

Here is Amy traversing towards the summit of Mt. Magnificent. What is an easy hike and scramble in the summer is made trecherous by snow covered and icy rocks. Being unable to discern the quality of the surface underneath the snow made us traverse with ice-axes even though the terrain was only about 40 degrees. Even then we had some scary episodes where the ice ax would loose purchase on slick-rock.

Amy coming up the ridge leading to the intersection with the ridge from Peak 5331.

Turnaraound point at ~4800 feet. Peak 5331 can be seen in the background. With 1-2 feet of snow, out progress had slowed to a crawl. We would have used another 1 1/2 hour from here to the summit of Significant. With deteriorating weather, we decided to turn around and head back. What took 5 1/2 hours up took almost 4 hours back down. We made it to the car just as daylight was disappearing.

Trond looking down the ridge we came up. Mt. Magnificent can be seen far below of the ridge to the right.

Mt. Maynard

2008-09-28T16:23:00.000-08:00

Mt. Maynard, Chugach Mountains, Whittier.
September 28th, 2008
Highpoint: 4050 feet

On one of the best climbing days of the fall, I headed to Whittier to climb Mt Maynard. This is the prominent mountain that hosts the tunnel from Portage to Whittier. I accessed the mountain from the Whittier side, hiking up to Portage Pass and then up the Southeast face and up the South ridge to the summit. The trickiest part of this climb was the 60 degree slopes up the Southeast face (actually coming down was a lot worse than going up) and involved alder-belaying and down-climbing wet moss using the ice-ax for protection and brake. The summit ridge is very broken up (boulders with lots of hidden holes) but is not steep or technical. The summit provides glorious views in all directions.

View of Portage Galcier and Portage Lake from bench above Portage Pass.
View of Whittier and Passage Canal from about 2500 foot elevation on Mt Maynard.
Looking South across moonlandscape at about 3000 foot elevation on Mt. Maynard
Self-portrait with false summit of Mt Maynard in the background
Looking South along the summit ridge with the Kenai Mountains in the distance
The summit ridge was fairly narrow and snow-covered holes between boulders made it extra fun. The West face glacier with Portage Lake in the background
The final part of the summit ridge with the true summit being the far one.
Passage canal and Prince William Sound in the sunset.
Bard Peak (center) , Shakespare Shoulder (left) and the Whittier Glacier in the background.
Shakespare Shoulder (3517 feet) and Bard Peak (~3800 feet) are on my list for next year.

Looking North towards Learnard Mt (?) in the sunset.
This being late September, the days are getting much shorter. I failed to take that fully into account and ended up hiking out in the dark.
Northern panorama from the summit of Mt Maynard. Learnard glacier and Mt. Learnard make up the forground and the high Chugach mountains can be seen in the background.
Southern panorama from the summit of Mt Maynard. The Kenai mountains and the Harding Icefield are prominent in the center with the most prominent summit being Carpathian peak which sits at the head of the Portage glacier.

East Twin

2008-09-20T13:59:00.001-08:00

East Twin Attempt, Eklutna, Chugach Mnts, September 20th, 2008
Highpoint: ~5100 feet

East Twin has been on my list for a long time. But it has always had to take the back-seat to other peaks deeper in the Chugach. So I usually don't get around to it until it is too late in the year. The same happened this year, but I thought I would give it a go on September 20th anyway even though we already had snow down to ~4000 feet. WIth only trail running shoes and ski-poles I decided to turn around at ~5100 feet. But I gained valueable information about the peak and will have to come back later with ice ax and crampons or wait until summer. But it is definitely a worthwhile peak and from now on will be higher on my priority list.

Beautiful fall colors looking over Eklutna lake from about the 2000 foot level on the Twin Peaks trail.
Looking up towards East Twin (5873 feet) and the snowline at about 4000 feet)
Not much snow, just enough to make it interesting. Winter is definitely coming.
My route and highpoint on East Twin this day. One learning from this trip is that I need to drop into the main couloir lower on the mountain.
East (right) and West Twin peaks.

Fall colors below the Twin Peaks. Twin Peaks creek.
Parting shot of the Twin Peaks.
The Twin Peaks trail in fall shroud.

Denali Road Trip

2008-09-14T14:24:00.001-08:00

Denali Road Lottery, September 12-14, 2008
Cast: Claudia Rivera, Jose Salas, Thorsten Eiben, Susanne Kruse & Trond Jensen

Claudia and Jose had won a permit in the Denali Park Road Lottery and were kind enough to invite Thorsten, Susanne and me along for a weekend in Denali National Park. All the way up from Anchorage (and all the way back down) is was pouring down. But on the North side of the Alaska Range it was surprisingly nice fall weather, and we were treated to views of wildlife (brown bears, moose, caribou, Dall sheep, fox, etc), fall colors, the Alaska Range and Mt. McKinley.

Broad Pass already showing termination dust down to the 4000 foot level.
Thorsten and Susanne on our short friday hike up the Tripple Lakes trail.
Mount Brooks (11940 ft) in the Alaska range (neighbor to Mt. McKinley).
Mt. Brooks and the lower part of Mt. McKinley from Wonder Lake.

Another shot of the K2 look-alike Mt. Brooks. I'd like to climb this mountain some day.
A view of the Alaska Range over the McKinley River and the terminus of the Muldrow glacier.
Another shot across the McKinley river bar.
Denali - "the great one". The north summit is clearly visible in the middle of the photo while the slightly higher south summit is partially obscured by clouds.
Susanne and Thorsten on our Sunday hike up to Healy Pt.

Trond with Mt. Healy in the background.
Claudia and Jose bundled up in the windy and chilly September wind. Mt. Healy is the highpoint on the background horizon.
Fall colors looking NW into the Hines Creek drainage (start of Denali National Park).
Alaska range seen across the McKinley River bar from the Denali Park Highway. Mount Mather is seen on the left, Mt Brooks in the center and Mt. McKinley to the right.

Vista Peak

2008-09-07T14:00:00.003-08:00

Vista Peak, September 7th, 2008
Highpoint: 5070 feet

A rainy Sunday in September I decided to do some ridge hiking out of Eagle River (from Mt. Baldy trailhead). I was lucky with the weather as the rain held off for the entire 5 hours I was out. I made it to Vista Peak and may have continued to Peak 5331 if the weather had looked more promising. Peak 5331 will have to wait for another day. The ridges in this area are phenomenal for hiking and running. To top it off, the blueberries were ripe and the fall colors were awesome.

Panorama from Vista Peak looking SE to NW with Mt Magnificant on the left, then Blacktail Rocks Peak, Roundtop Peak, Pt. 4360, and the Peters Creek drainage on the right.
Vista Peak seen form the West.
Roundtop Peak from the SE.
Peak 5331 with Mt Significant behind.

A local family of Dall Sheep.
Another local.
Fall colors on Blacktail Rocks Peak.
Fall colors looking into Ptarmigan Valley with the Knik Arm in the background.

Helihiking in the Talkeetnas

2008-09-06T12:52:00.007-08:00

Helihiking in the Talkeetna Mountains North of Hatcher Pass
September 6th, 2008, with Kimball Forrest
Highpoint: Peak 5409

I am not one to turn down an opportunity to flightsee Alaska, so when Kimball called to see if I wanted to fly up North to go hiking I quickly cancelled all other plans for the day. Our orignial plan was to fly up to the headwaters of the Skwentna river where we had seen some beautiful terrain a week ago. But cloudy weather to the West made us change the flight plan to a more northerly route where the weather appeared to be much better. 45 minutes of flying found us searching for a flat spot to land on the tundra. From there we went hiking and scrambling for 3 hours on ridges overlooking the Kashwitna River drainage. We got back to the helicopter just in time as the flog was setting in. With a small opening in the fog we managed to escape and get back to Anchorage in due time.

Fall colors in the Talkeetna mountains north of Hather Pass.
Ridges and peaks perfect for hiking and scrambling.
The only local inhabitant we ran into.

Lots of large boulder fields to scamble across
One of Kimball's favorite hobbies ... rolling large boulders off of ridges.
The Talkeetna mountains. Beautiful ridge for running and hiking. Mostly the ridges are made up of scree and lichen, although some places require a little bit of scrambling. Kimball power hiking the scree slopes.

Pretty soon we found ourselves on a somewhat sketchy ridge with loose boulders and lots of potential for getting hurt.
One of the day's high points (~5200 ft elevation). We got cliffed out and I didn't want the pilot to get hurt so we decided we had seen enough. The summit on the left background is at about 5400 feet elevation.
Mt McKinley barely visible in the rising fog.
Perfect timing. When we got back to the helicopter, the fog was setting in. We quickly changed and headed out so that we wouldn't have to spend the night up there. An hour later we were drinking beer in Anchorage!

Hatcher Pass - Bald Mountain

2008-09-01T10:12:00.003-08:00

Hatcher Pass - Bald Mnt, September 1st, 2008
Highpoint: Bald Mountain, elevation 4902 feet.

On a cold and rainy Sunday (seems like there were a lot of them this summer) I headed North to Hatcher Pass and sunshine. I had to collect orienteering controls that had been left out since last year's mountain-O. Hatcher Pass had blue skies and ripe blue-berries. I decided to add Bald Mountain to the day's itinerary.

Jose Salas at one of the orienteering controls, September 2007.

I started from the Hatcher Pass road, about 2 miles West of the summit and headed up the tundra towards the Bald Mountain ridge. The route is shown below.

The weather to the South was dark and rainy ....
while to the North it was blue skies and sunshine.
Looking up towards Bald Mnt ridge across a beaver pond.
Mount McKinley to the North (~120 miles away).
Looking down the Grubstake Gulch where mining activities are still going strong.

Bald Mountain (elev. 4902 feet)
Fall colors on the tundra.
Panorama from the Bald Mnt ridge looking north.

Helihiking in the Teocallis

2008-08-30T13:16:00.000-08:00

Helihiking in the Teocallis (Alaska Range)
August 30th, 2008

On one of the best days of the 2008 summer, I flew with Kimball Forrest in his helicopter from Anchorage to the Kichatna Mountains in the Eastern part of the Alaska Range with a return around the Tordrillo mountians. The photos attempt to portray the phenomenal vistas and nature seen in this part of Alaska.

Departure from Merrill Field on August 30th, 2008, under a clear blue sky.
First landing was on the Tatina river to check out John Spencer's old sheep hunting cabin.
Not much left of the cabin though. Heavy snows must have been too much for the small log cabin.
Checking out the insides ... anything to salvage?

Not much of value here. The cabin must have collapsed recently tough, because there was no sign of leaks or animals using the cabin as shelter. Even the nails looked like the had been pounded in yesterday.
The Tatina river - a fairly significant glacial river. This would probably make a decent pack rafting river.
The Tatina river looking upriver towards the Tatina glacier.
The toe of the Tatina glacier with a terminal lake as the headwaters of the Tatina river.
The Tatina glacier and some of the Kichatna spires. This is a climbers paradise with a multitude of 2-3000 foot granite walls. In general, the weather was great the whole day, but the Kichatnas seemed to create their own weather. When drizzle and rain turned to snow around 4500-5000 feet, Kimball decided to turn the helicopter around before we experienced any icing. The lower 2/3rds of the Cathedral Spire can be seen in the distance.

The Earl river leading up towards Simpson pass (where we came across after having had a look at the spires from the Caldwell glacier on the South side).
Tatina river looking West and downriver.
Small alpine lake (at about 27-2800 feet elevation) and the Jones river valley. We hiked up the nearest right hand side ridge to Peak 6150 (just outside the right hand side of the picture). This true peak appears to be the highest point in this part of the Teocalli mountains.
Kimball heading out through the fall colored alpine foliage.
Hiking up the ridge towards Peak 6150.

Halfway up the ridge consisting mostly of slabby and dangerously sharp scree.
So what is this picture all about? Notice the wavy patterns in the scree. This shows how scree is not always stationary, but oftentimes has a tendency to "flow" downhill.
On our return, we flew through Rainy Pass and then up the Skwentna river valley with the Tordrillo mountains on our left (East side). This picture looks South and upstream the Skwentna river.
Headwaters of the Nagishlamina river is the Harpoon glacier. In the distance is peak 11068 which is just south of Mount Torbert (highest peak in the Tordrillos at 11472 feet).
Toe of the Pothole glacier looking South towards the Neacola mountains.

Toe of the Pothole glacier looking East towards 10000 foot peaks in the Tordrillos.
Chakachamna lake and the Neacola mountains.
The Tordillos from the south. Unfortunately, Mount Spurr was hiding in the clouds when we passed by.
Home, Sweet Home.
Thanks Kimball, for an awsome day in and above the Alaska Range!

Cantata Peak

2008-08-24T12:50:00.005-08:00

Cantata Peak, South Fork Eagle River, Chugach Mountains
August 24th, 2008
Highpoint: Cantata Peak (6391 feet elevation)

Amy Hinkle and I had planned to climb Eagle Peak on August 23rd and 24th. But I chickened out because of poor weather on the 23rd. Instead, we opted to climb Cantata Peak on the 24th. We used 10:30 roundtrip from the South Fork Eagle River trailhead. It took about 6 hours up (including about half an hour wasted on route-finding in the fog) and 4:30 hours down. We started out in beautiful weather, but most of the climb was donein thick fog, until right below the summit where we got some awsome views of the surrounding Chugach Peaks.

Cantata Peak south face as seen from Triangle Peak (October 2006). The route on Cantata follows the left hand ridge until about ~1000 feet below the summit where it traverses the south face and accesses the summit via one of the obvious scree gullies. Crossing the boulder field below the old cabin between Symphony and Eagle lakes.
Ascending the ridge above Symphony Lake (left) and Eagle Lake (right).
Soon we entered the fairy tale world (read "fog"). I got some great views of my own shadow in the clouds below us (Brocken Spectre) .

Amy at the notch where we started traversing the South Face
Heading up the gully towards the summit
Trond on the summit with Calliope Peak in the background
Coming back off the summit. The scree was the typical Chugach crud.
Heading back down the ridge. The ridge is the most enjoyable part of the climb.

Overlooking the tarn at the toe of the Calliope glacier with Calliope Peak rising in the background.
Tear lines (cracks) in the tundra. It appears that the soil is sliding downhill at a rate that causes cracks to appear.
More cracks in the tundra with the Symphony Tarns in the background. This piece of real estate looks to be heading over a cliff real soon. I have seen more of these cracks this summer than all other summers in Alaska combined. Is this a sign of permafrost thawing out?
Summit panorama (North to East to South) with Eagle Peak to the left of Amy, Calliope in the center and Triangle peak at the very right.

The Hottest Week of Summer

2008-08-12T15:31:00.021-08:00

Nome Bike Trip August 2008

On August 7th I flew to Nome for 5 days of mountain biking along the Nome-Teller "highway" on the Seward Peninsula in Western Alaska with the Inupiat village of Teller as the goal of the trip (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teller,_Alaska). I logged a total of 173 miles in 18'40" over 5 days in the best weather imaginable. An ascent of Grand Singatook (3870 feet) was also included in the schedule. The weather was clear and sunny every day (except with some sea fog thrown in the last day) and the temperatures ranged from ~40 degrees at night to ~65 degrees during the day.

I could camp pretty much anywhere on the tundra, although the tundra is not as flat as it seems at first glance. Also, finding a spot away from standing water and with some breeze alleviated the mosquito situation somewhat. Finding good water was not a problem and a part of the time I would drink the water right out of the mountain streams.

The road conditions where variable but mostly quite good. I encountered everything from hardpacked smooth dirt surface (almost like blacktop) to pebbly crap that slowed me down to 2 mph.

Ready to start from Nome. Everything was packed into 2 panniers at the back of my mountain bike.

Air America.

The terrain consisted mostly of long rolling hills, 2 miles up, then 2 miles down into the next drainage.
Camp on the first night with Grand Singatook in the background. Notice the mosquito net ... and I am usually not bothered much by mosquitos ...
Not much wildlife to see on this trip. A spider, quite a few ptarmigans, and some ducks. But no musk-ox, reindeer, caribou, bears or other. What's happened to the wildlife up here?
On the summit of Grand Singatook. It was actually a more strenuous climb than I had envisioned and it took me amost 2 hours from camp to the summit. Half of the climbing was through huge boulder fields with unstable boulders ... oh, what fun!
On the summit of Grand Singatook .... remnants of a cold war listening stations

The view to the West from Singatook towards Wolley Lagoon.
Part of the climb was through dessert like terrain with great granite boulders.
McAdams Creek.
Mining barge by Sullivan Camp along the Gold Run Creek.
Second day camp site overlooking Teller, Grantley Harbor and Port Clarence.

City of Teller.
A one road town, if you can call it that.
Political campaigns make it to the bush.
The usual display of mechanical art.
Point Teller.

Teller Commercial ... like most other businesses in Teller ... "Gone Fishing" permanently.
Main street Teller.
Salmon drying racks.
Typical vistas and road conditions along the Nome-Teller highway.
Little (on the left) and Grand Singatook.

Woolley Lagoon fishing camp.
Third day camp. I was going to camp on the beach by the Bering Sea, but was unable to get across the lagoon to the ocean side. This was still a neat camp-site with the sound of the Bering sea crashing against the beach all night.
Evening ...
and sunset over Woolley Lagoon. And the sunset was at 11:45 pm.
Not much wildlife was seen on this trip. But this little feller (an Arctic Loon) visited my camp on the fourth day.

Along with four days of great weather came the sea fog. But there was blue sky landwards, and as soon as I got 4-5 miles inland, the fog was gone. Notice the road surface here ... loose, fist-size pebbles and rocks ... "interesting" to bike on with panniers on the back of the bike to make it heavier and less responsive.
Road markers set up by the natives ... they are obviously used to heavy fog in this area. The road to Woolley Lagoon had one of these markers about every 100 yards.
The sockeye run in the Sinuk River was some of the strongest I've seen. Myriads of nice looking sockeyes going up towards the Glacial Lake (original name, I know).
And this is why we shouldn't drive our 4 wheel drive vehicles on the tundra ... any other questions?
Panorama from Grand Singatook looking North.

Girl's Camp

2008-07-17T13:22:00.022-08:00

Girl's Camp July 4th-15th, 2008

Dunja and Beate from Germany visited Alaska in July 2008 and for 12 days I joined them on a roundtrip of Southcentral Alaska. As the photos show, we visited a score of glaciers, camped in some awsome spots, did a lot of hiking, kayaked, and otherwise had a lot of fun. Enjoy the pics.

Dunja (left) and Beate (right) on the Matanuska Glacier with Mt Wickersham in the background.
Dunja playing on the ice.
Waterfall climbing in the summertime anyone?
Beate, Trond & Dunja on the Mat glacier looking down the glacier towards NW.
Gulkana river with mining debris (2 miles below the toe of the Gulkana glacier).
Rope bridge across on of the Gulkana river tributaries (no ... we did not use the four-wheelers in the background).
Toe of the Gulkana glacier with river coming out through 6 foot hole in ice.

You're looking at the Gulkana glacier. Not much of a glacier down low ... mostly gravel covered ice.
Camp along the Gulkana river bed below the glacier.
Gulkana river camp.
Root glacier (Kennicott).

Ice features on the Root glacier.
Ice climbing on the Root glacier. The root glacier (like the Matanuska glacier) offers excellent opportunities for walking and easy grade ice climbing for anybody.
Dunja cheering after "topping out" on one of the vertical steps.
Impressive and grand landscape on the Root glacier.
The Grand Canyon? No, just a 18" rivulet on the Root glacier.

Water fall on the Root glacier. I tried climbing this with a single axe, but got instantly drenched and lost heart.
Beate and Dunja with the little water-fall in the background.
Kennecott mines.
Camp along the Kennicott river.
Best campsite in the world? Donoho peak in the middle back-ground and the Blackburn massif in the center-left background.

Old cable car tower leading up to the Bonanze mine.
On the way up to the Bonanza mine.
THe Bonanza mine in dillapidated condition.
A lot of scrap iron laying around.
Blue and green minerals show evidence of high copper concentrations

Copper rich rock in abundance.
Worthington glacier in the mist with Girls Peak on the left (foremost peak on the left)
On the water taxi from Whittier to Culross Island
Kayaking in the Culross Passage
Calm waters in the bay with our campsite on the South end of Culross Island

The mosquitos and "white-socks" (small black flies) were extremely bad at this campsite and this time in July
Dunja showing proper food storage for camping in Alaska
Trond kayaking the Culross Passage
Hiking up the Exit Glacier trail to the Harding icefield
The Harding Icefield ... very impressive!

Ring around the sun ... lots of ice crystals in the atmosphere ... predictor of upcoming precipitation (and we did get rain that night and the next day).
Phenomenal lunch spot overlooking the Resurrection river far below.
The "tour-guide"
True Prince William Sound bush-whacking on our way up the Ridge Trail in the Katchemak bay area.
The bush-whacking was all worth it ... here a beautiful view of the Grewingk glacier

On the way down we crossed the path of a large black bear ... we kick him out a little later.
Camp by the Grewingk glacier terminus. Bagels anyone?
Artwork or laundry?
Camp at Grewingk glacier.

Turnagain Pass Skiing, June 2008

2008-06-21T21:04:00.010-08:00

June 21st, 2008

On a rainy June 21st, 2008, in Anchorage, the web-cams for Portage and Whittier showed almost clear skies and nice weather. Adam Verrier and I decided to load up our AT gear and head down to Turnagain Pass for a mid-summer AT ski of Tincan. Driving down there the weather improved steadily, and by the time we got to Turnagain Pass it was all sunshine and shorts-weather. Amazingly, only one other group of people had taken advantage of this great opportunity. We skied in shorts all the way to the summit and have the sun-burns to prove it. The snow was a little slow, but well compacted, and on the steeper slopes the skiing was actually quite good.

Revisited on June 29th, 2008

Adam and I again went down to Turnagain Pass on a rainy Anchorage Sunday, June 29th, for another perfect day on Tincan. This time we skied the North face (Todd's Run) on near perfect corn snow. Wow! Pictures added at the bottom.

Tincan seen from the parking area at the top on Turnagain Pass
Adam and I about halfway up Tincan
Myself with Lyons Creek and Tincan Creek in the background. And for all you Tincan fans out there ... the actual Tincan Peak is not the one we typically ski on but rather the prominent peak at the head of Tincan Creek (in a line directly above my left ski tip).
Lyons Creek
Myself and ...
Adam soaking up some rays atop of Tincan
Pretty good skiing on compacted summer snow coming down from Tincan
Panorama from Tincan looking West and North towards the Turnagain Arm

We revisited Turnagain Arm on June 29th, 2008, for another round of great skiing. This time we decided to go all the way to the summit and ski down the North face (Todd's run). The conditions turned out to be optimal on the North side.

Bushwhacking our way up onto the Tincan ridge.
Heading up towards the summit
The last part up to the summit was easier to scramble than to skin-up
Adam enjoying the view of Tincan Creek with today's summit in the background (note: this is not the true summit of Tincan).
Adam on the North face.
Near perfect conditions on Todd's run.And bush-whacking back out to the road!

Penguin Peak June 15th 2008

2008-06-15T18:32:00.012-08:00

Penguin Peak (4305 feet) in the Chugach Mountains along the Turnagain Arm. Hiked up and skied down (to around 800 ft elevation) on June 15th, 2008.

Penguin Peak on a clear day (back in 2006) as seen from Indianhouse Mountain across Bird Ridge.
Today was not a clear day (thick fog above the old radio tower) but the snow was good from the summit all the way down to about 800 feet elevation (a continuous snow decent of 3500 feet on June 15th!).
The snow was firm enough to hike straight up on running shoes (much easier than skinning).
Looking down the avalanche shute (to be skied on the way down).
The old radio tower in the fog.
On the summit (not much to see).
Better watch where you step around here (huge, unstable cornices).
Looking down the summit ridge ... visibility of about 30 feet made skiing difficult. Avalanche prone snow which felt and flowed like concrete made it even more fun.
At the bottom of the avalanche shute (~800 feet elevation).

Turnagain Pass Crust Ski May 2008

2008-05-28T10:51:00.002-08:00

Turnagain Pass Crust Ski

May 26th and 27th, 2008

Lyons Creek, Center Ridge and Tincan Creek

with Tim Miller, Chrissy May and Trond Flagstad

Trond Flagstad and I headed up Lyons Creek at 9 am on Memorial Day, 2008, with Chrissy May and Tim Miller whom we ran into at the parking lot. The day before I caught up with Tim Miller half way up Lyons Creek. Both days, we had the entire area to ourselves. Amazing that no more people are out enjoying this paradise. Temperatures overnight had been in the low 30's and the crust had set up perfectly. We had good crust skiing until almost noon.

Trond Flagstad, Tim Miller and Chrissy May heading up Lyons Creek

Trond Flagstad granny-skating up a steep section

Tim Miller and myself heading up the upper Lyons Creek drainage ...

.... for a promise of perfect S-turns

Upper Tincan Valley

On top of Center Ridge

Enjoying the rays on Center Ridge

Tincan Valley on the left, Center Ridge middle and Lyons Creek on the right.

Portage Lake April 2008

2008-04-23T15:36:00.001-08:00

Portage Lake Crust Ski, April 22nd and 23rd, 2008

A couple of warm days & cold, clear nights set up perfect crust ski conditions on Portage Lake and Portage Pass.

Panorama looking across Portage Lake towards Portage Glacier

The beautiful town of Whittier and Passage Canal from Portage Pass

Self portrait
The toe of Portage glacier
more Portage Glacier
still more Portage Glacier
Sunrise over Portage Lake

Small human being in big surroundings
Fellow morning enthusiast
Of course he wasn't too happy about me disturbing his play time
Toe of Portage Glacier

Twenty-Mile River September 2007

2007-09-16T13:21:00.004-08:00

Kayak Trip on Twenty-Mile River September 2007

After knee surgery on July 10th I had been sitting and lying (mostly lying) around for more than two months in rehab. By September I was going stir-crazy not being able to do anything besides stationary bike and rehab training. Kayaking offered the only outlet at this point. After a few easy trips on local lakes I headed out to Twenty Mile River on a bright September 16th. The Twenty Mile River flows at about 3 mph and being able to average 5-6 mph in the kayak I can make it up the river at 2-3 mph speed. What took 2 1/2 hours to kayak up took only 50 minutes to come back down. This is a great upper body workout ... and fun too.

The flacid lower part of 20-mile river and the nice vistas

Some places the river picks up speed, and I have to output a bit more enrgy to get up!

Fall colors are starting ... already on September 16th

Observe the double (triple) chin ... the result of laying around for over 2 months.

Mt Bona May 2007

2007-05-27T09:50:00.005-08:00

Mount Bona, Wrangell-St. Elias Mountains, Alaska (May 2007 )
with Toby Schwoerer, Scott Gatchell and Adam Verrier

Mt Bona, at 16431 ft, is the fourth highest mountain in the USA

We flew in to the Klutlan glacier on May 19th and established base camp at ~10000 ft. Becasue of very nice weather, we decided to move up the mountain as quickly as possible due to the infamous storms in this area. On day 2, Toby and I carried supplies to 13000 ft and returned to base while the others had to deal with altitude symptoms. On day 3, we picked up our cash at 13000 ft and moved camp to about ~13500 ft. Day 4 was still good for climbing but with some high clouds and increasing winds. We decided to try to summit on day 4 becasue we felt a storm was coming in. Toby and I summited while Scott and Adam had to turn around at ~15000 ft. The summit climb was extremely windy and cold. Day 5 we were stuck in high camp due to a 24 snow storm. On day 6, in sted of attempting Mt. Churchill, we decided to move back down to base camp because a couple of the team members were suffering from cold and altitude effects. That same evening we flew back out to civilization.

Adam, Scott and Toby hanging out at the Chitina airstrip.

Still waiting ... we waited from 6 am until 4 pm on a perfact day for flying and we almost thought we'd have to stay another night in Chitna when our flight finally showed up.

University Peak

Lower part on Mt Bona. The route goes up to the left of the ice fall in the center of the photo
Drop-off at the Klutlan glacier

Basecamp on the Klutlan at about 10,000 feet

Toby carving some tele-turns after making a cache dump at 13,000 feet

The cast ... Toby ...

... Adam ...

... Scott ...

... and Trond.

Well fortified basecamp on the Klutlan

Ready to move up to high camp at 13,500. The view is down the Klutlan glacier

View towards the Northeast

Heading up towards high camp

Ready for Mt Bona summit attempt from high camp at 13,500 feet

Heading across the Churchill/Bona plateau towards Mt Bona

At the base of the summit pyramid we stash skies and donn crampons. Adam and Scott decide to turn around due to cold and fatigue. Toby and I decide to push on.

Trond heading up towards the summit in strong wind

Toby on the false summit
We made it.

Tele-Toby coming back down towards high camp in perfect powder.

More Tele-Toby

Storm day in high-camp

What's for dinner?

Toby and Scott in snowcave we dug at high camp to get out of the wind and snow

Returning to basecamp

Mt Churchill's beautiful summit ridge

Wrangell mountains panorama

Girdwood to Glen Alps - April 2007

2007-04-29T13:01:00.006-08:00

Girdwood to Glen Alps - April 2007 with Frode Lillefjell

After several good weeks of crust skiing, Frode and I decided to try to ski from Girdwood to Glen Alps over Crow Pass, Paradise Pass and Ship Pass. Although the weather was gorgeous, we had quite variable conditions, making a 6 hour trip into a 10 hour struggle.

Early morning start (6 am) from the Crow Creek Mine road in Girdwood. Heading up to Crow Pass was very tricky this morning. The snow had frozer rock solid over-night and Frode and I had to front point up long, exposed 30 degree slopes on our skate boots.
Looking into the Eagle River drainign from Crow Pass. Paradise valley is the first valley to the left in front of the triangular mountain
Raven glacier
Good crust heading down along the Raver Creek Paradise Valley
Heading up towards Paradise Pass
On Paradise Pass looking East
On Paradise Pass looking west into the North Fork Ship Creek drainage

Frode on Paradise Pass Coming down off of Paradise Pass in 2 feet of powder (avalanche conditions!)
Not exactly crust skiing at the upper end of North Fork Ship Creek (this photo is taken just above Grizzly Bear lake)
Looking back towards Paradise Pass

Lower in the North Fork Ship Creek we caught up with three hungry brown bears. Fortunately, they didn't like our shouting and let us pass unharmed.

No more photes from this trip. The last four hours of the trip I bonked harder than ever before and even thinking of taking photos were out of the question. We finished at the Glen Alps trailhead around 4:30 pm after walking though sloppy mush the last few hours. The trip took much longer than expected and the crust did not hold up very good. Also adding to the time it took was the fact that several miles coming up the South Fork of Ship Creek there was no snow at all and we had to carry our skies. If I ever do this trip again it will be in the other direction ... that should improve the crust conditions significantly and make the descent from Crow Pass much safer in soft snow.

Three Passes - April 2007

2007-04-21T13:15:00.002-08:00

April 21st 2007 the conditions were finally good enough for a ski trip I have wanted to do for a long time, namely to ski from Glen Alps around the Avalanche Peak by crossing over Powerline Pass, Indian Pass and Ship Pass. Even with near perfect conditions, the SE face of Avalanche Peak was exposed and not entirely safe (but no avalanches today). The whole loop took 4 hours in total.

Powerline Pass seen from the East. The gully in the center of the photo was perfect for a skate-ski descent.

Homocide Peak
Looking across the Indian valley towards the real Bird Ridge Overlook
Self-portrait with Homocide Peak in the background
On Indian Creek Pass looking south
On Indian Creek Pass looking north

Mt Williwaw from the southeast
South Fork Ship Creek
Upon returning to the Powerline Valley I caught up with half a dusin APU skiers led by Frode Lillefjell. They had tried the same trip as I did but in the opposite direction. They got cliffed out on the southeast face of Avalanche peak and had to retrace their steps.
Parting shot of Denali and Foraker from Glen Alps.

Triangle Peak - October 2006

2006-10-14T14:17:00.000-08:00

Triangle Peak, Chugach Mountains
Climbed October 14, 2006

5 1/2 hour roundtrip from South Fork Eagle River trailhead.

Cantata Peak from West

Calliope Mnt South face

On Triangle Peak summit looking Southeast

On Triangle Peak summit looking South

Looking down Triangle's NW ridge

Triangle Peak SW ridge (right hand ridge)

North Fork Eagle River towards the West

North Fork Eagle River towards the West; Mt McKinley in the distance

View from the West: Triangle Peak to the right, Calliope to the left

Parting shot of Cantata (left), Calliope (center) and Triangle (right)