Indian Pass Peaks - 10 Aug 2012

Indian Pass Peaks (Bidarka, 3835 ft; The Wing, 4985 ft, Shaman's Dome, 4010 ft)
August 11th, 2012, with Ian and Jen.
19 miles (30 kms), 7900 total vertical (2415 m), 10.5 hrs round trip.

I had (as usual) big plans for the day and hoped to summit 5 peaks in the Indian Pass area on this gorgeous Saturday.  But distances are deceiving and we "only" managed to summit three peaks.  This area offers some great tundra travel.  We didn't see anybody all day.  It is amazing to have this entire area to ourselves.

We started from the Indian Valley trailhead and bush-whacked up the trail to Indian Pass.  The trail is not much travelled and thus very overgrown this time of the year.  From the Indian Pass we headed up the easy ridge to the Bidarka Peak (3835 ft) and then descended to a little tarn North of Bidarka were we had an early lunch.  After lunch we crossed the ridge between the Beak (4730 ft) and the Wing (4985 ft) and traversed towards the col between the Wing and Bird's Eye Peak (4970 ft).  But the West ridge of Bird's Eye Peak seemed too technical for running shoes and shorts, so we cancelled our plan for Bird's Eye and headed back up to the summit of the Wing.  After the Wing we had hoped to traverse directly North to the Tail Feather Peak (4960 ft), but this ridge was also much too technical so we decided to head back West and bag Shaman's Dome (4010 ft) before returning via the col between Bidarka and Bird Ridge Overlook ("Bidarka" Pass).  After an hour of serious bushwhacking we were back on the Indian Valley trail and another hour of bush-whacking down the Indian Valley trail put us back where we started 10.5 hours earlier.

Water stop at the Indian Pass before heading up Bidarka.

Jen and Ian on Bidarka with Turnagain Arm in the background.

Bird's Eye Peak.

The Wing

The Beak (left) and Bird Ridge Overlook from high on the Wing

Summit ridge of the Wing.

Jen and Ian on the Wing

Trond on the Wing with Tail Feather Peak in the background.

Decadent.  Jen and Ian enjoying a brewski on the Wing with Bird's Eye Peak in the background.

Summit of Shaman's Dome.  In the background are Ptarmigan (left), the Wedge, and the Ramp)

The Sail seen from Shaman's Dome.

Tail Feather (left) and the Wing (right).  We descended the left-hand-side ridge from the Wing.  An interesting ridge; 30-40 degrees ridge with lots of loose gravel on friable Chugach crud.

The Beak (left) and Bird Ridge Overlook seen from Shaman's Dome.  Our return was via the pass ("Bidarka" Pass) between Bird Ridge Overlook and Bidarka seen as the low point on the right hand side of the photo.

On "Bidarka" Pass.

Eastward panorama from the Wing.  Left to right are Bird's Eye Peak (4970 ft), Esbay Peak (4050 ft), Bird Peak (5505 ft), Nest Peak (5030 ft), and Penguin Ridge.

Northward panorama from "Bidarka" Pass.  Left to right are Shaman's Dome, the Wing, and the Beak.

The Beak

The Beak (4730 ft), Chugach National Park, July 20th, 2012
27 km (17 miles), 2620 m (8590 ft) total elevation gain.  8 hours roundtrip.

So far, it's been a summer with few opportunities for peak-bagging.  It seems like the few nice days we've had have been  mid-week while the weekends have been socked in.  Finally, on Friday, July 20th, I got away to climb The Beak (4730 ft) from the Bird Ridge.

The route follows the Bird Ridge and then traverses counterclockwise around The Beak to attain the north ridge.  All other routes seem to include some level of rock-climbing the Chugach crud.  The North ridge is an easy grass ridge to the summit ridge where I had to descend about 100 ft to the East off of the very narrow summit ridge before gaining the summit proper.

Bird Ridge Overlook (4625 ft) left and The Beak (4730 ft) right.

The Beak.  My route traversed from left to right in front of the peak to gain the right side col.  I then traversed around back on sheep trails at the 4200 ft level until I got to the North ridge which provided easy access to the summit ridge.

Looking back at the Bird Ridge Overlook and Turnagain Arm from the summit of The Beak.

Three peaks directly North of the Beak, namely Shamans Dome (far left) at 4010ft, The Wing (center) at 4930 ft and the Tail Feather Peak (slightly right of center) at 4960 ft.

Bird's Eye Peak (4970 ft)

Self porttrait at the summit of The Beak.

Northern panorama from The Beak.  From left to right are Mnt Williwaw, Koktoya, East and West Tenaina, Temptation, Shaman's Dome, The Wing, Tail Feather Peak, Bird's Eye Peak.  Behind Bird's Eye Peak are the Triangle, Concerto, Calliope, Eagle, Organ and Polar Bear peaks with Mnt Yukla in the far distance.