Crow Peak

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.

Eklutna Lakeside Trail

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

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

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).

Calliope July 2009

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.