Helihiking in the Talkeetnas

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

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

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

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.