Eklutna High Ridge Traverse

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.

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.

East Twin

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.

Bashful Peak, August 2005

Bashful Peak (8005 feet), August 7th, 2005

Toby Schwoerer, Zach Violett, Rob Whitney and myself headed up to the Eklutna (~900 feet elevation) to attempt a fast ascent of Bashful Peak. We used ~12 hours roundtrip (and would have gone under 12 hours if Rob hadn't collided on his mountain bike with an illegal motor bike on the return along the Eklutna lake. Compared to Bold peak, Bashful is a much more serious undertaking. It starts up the Stiver's gully like the Bold Peak climb, but right before you enter the Stiver's Gully proper you head right and out of the gully to a small and indestinct trail leading up through the alders towards Bashful. Once through the alders and across the moraines, we split into two teams to see which would be fastest. Rob and Zach went down a creek bed to access the Bashful ridge through a grass slope at about 3000 feet. Toby and I thought it would be faster to head straight up the side of Bashful with an idea to join the ridge at about 5500 feet. Boy, were we wrong. We ended up ascending horribly loose scree and near vertical Chugach crud while Zach and Rob were sitting and waiting (and laughing at us) on the ridge.


Rob and Zach hanging out at 5500 feet awaiting Toby and me struggling up the loose scree.
The bottom of Chickenshit gully. Zach, our most experienzed rock climber, went up the gully and secured our rope to the horn at the top of the gully to help our ascent up the gully. The rope is not really necessary ... it almost makes it more dangerous as mit tends to knock loose rock and scree on the person climbing below.
Bashful summit ridge above the Chickenshit gully.
Chugach mountains to the East ...
with a close up of Marcus Baker (the highest mnt in the Chugach at 13176 feet) where I had another sort of experience in April 2005 (see other post).
Another Eastward view (with the North ridge of Baleful Peak coming into the picture at the right hand side). The prominent peak in the left foreground is Mt Hunter (7549 feet).
Baleful Peak (the second highest peak in the Western Chugach (7990 feet). The "standard" route follows the left hand side (North) ridge line
The summit team: Rob, Toby and Zach, ...
and the guy who carried the rope!
Bashful summit ridge towards the top of the Chickenshit gully.
Toby writing in the summit register.
Zach rapelling the Chickenshit gully. On our way down we followed the ridge all the way back to ~3000 feet for an easy exit. Even though this involved regaining about 500 feet elevation to the moraine it was certainly the most pleasant way of getting off the mountain.

Bold Peak, August 2004

Bold Peak (7522 feet), August 22nd, 2004

I headed up to the Eklutna trailhead (~900 feet elevation) one perfect early fall day to bike in and then hike up Bold peak by myself. I used about 6 hours roundtrip (1 hour biking in, 4 hours up and down the mountain, and 1 hour biking back out). Bold peak is a nice, easy scramble once you find the right gully system (Stiver's gully).

Part way up Stiver's looking down towards East Fork, Eklutna River.
Looking up the Stiver's Gully.
Local fauna.
Eklutna lake towards the West from high on the summit ridge.
Another shot of the Eklutna lake (from the summit) showing the Eklutna river entering the lake and also the small aircraft landing strip at the East end of the lake.
View looking into the East Fork Eklutna River and beyond.
Eklutna glacier and view towards the South.
Bashful (highest summit in the Western Chugach at 8005 feet).
Another shot of Bashful (perhaps I will have to come back here next year!). The standard route follows the rigth hand ridge line.
Looking down the scree field from the summit ridge ... hard to ascend, easy to descend.
Part of the boulder field leading up the the pass below Bold Peak is actually a scree covered glacier remnant.
The Mitre and Ovis Peaks in front of the Eklutna Glacier
Looking down the upper part of the Stiver's gully.