Turnagain Pass Crust Ski June 2012

A short post to show that we are still skiing in Alaska on June 2nd.  On this fine day, Brad Cruz and I headed to Turnagain Pass early.  We skied near perfect crust until 10 am when it started getting punchy.

Center Ridge looking East.

Brad heading up Center Ridge.

Trond heading up Center Ridge.  It doesn't get much better than this. (Photo courtesy Brad Cruz)

 

Upper Tincan Valley.

Tincan Valley (left), Kickstep Mnt, Tincan Peak, Center Ridge (center), Lyon Creek (right)

Turnagain Pass hillsides can be a good place for picking "fiddle heads" this time of the year. Brad filled his small'ish backpack with fiddle heads in about 5 minutes on our way up to Center Ridge. Spring thaw "Ostrich plume" fern shoots, when tightly curled and flat - sided like a fiddle head make a tasty, crunchy salad ingredient. Rub off the brown furry parts with your thumbs, rinse clean with cold water, and blanch the shoots 3-4 minutes in briskly boiling salted water. Rinse in cold water and they're ready to eat. Or freeze them for later in the summer. (Photo courtesy Brad Cruz). For more details, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fiddle_head

Peru, May 13th - 30th, 2012

Peru trip, May 2012.

The trip started from Cusco with a 3 day acclimatization trek around Nevado Salcantay with the obligatory stop at Macchu Picchu.  We then headed to the Arequipa to climb El Misti, Ampato and Coropuna.  Rest day activities included viewing condors at the Colca Canyon and pre-Inca petroglyphs at Toro Muerto in the Majes Valley.
Nevado Salcantay (6271 m/20574 ft) seen from the Salcantay pass (4640 m/15220ft) (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salcantay)

Early morning view of Macchu Picchu before the turist hordes arive (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macchu_Picchu)

On May 20th, Geir Ulstein and I summited El Misti (5822 m/19101 ft), a prominent volcano outside Arequipa.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/El_Misti

The crater of El Misti, 400 m across, 250 m deep.

The inner fumarole of El Misti, colored yellow-green by sulphur deposits.  The air had a disinct smell of sulphur.

We summited Ampato (6288 m/20630 ft)/on Wednesday, 5/23.  4:20 from camp to summit, 3:10 on the return.  What a great climb! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ampato 

We started out from camp (~5150 m) at 4:20 am and summited (6288 m) at 8:40 am.  Heading up the slope of Ampato below the glacier.  Large avalance cones winessed of large snowfalls this season.  The climb is technically straight forward, with maximum steepness of around 50 degrees.  We oly roped up for the summit plateau (possible crevasses) and the final summit slope (avalanche prone).

Eastward panorama from Ampato summit.   

Westward panorama from Ampato summit (courtesy Geir Ulstein).

Panorama of Ampato crater rim and summit from "summit plateau".

After Ampato and a rest day in Culca Valley, Geir headed back to Norway and I headed to Coropuna (6425 m/21079 ft), my last objetive on this trip. Coropuna is massive and the tallest in the Arequipa area. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coropuna

Coropuna has three true summits, the highest being 6425 m as seen on the left side in the panorama below.  The high camp is situated on the plateau to the left of the West Ridge (left hand side of photo) and the route heads up the left hand side skyline ridge.  The climb is technically straightforward, averaging about 45 degress and has a long summit plateau that must be crossed before getting to the summit proper.

Coropuna high camp at 5570 m.

After a very cold and windy night, we postponed our summit day departure until 8 am.  Like the previous day, the wind died around 10 am, and we had a successful and "enjoyable" climb. We summited around noon (4 hrs 10 min from high camp to summit).  Another 2 hours and we were back in high camp packing up and heading down to the Majes Valley for Calamari and fresh water Camarones.

Portage Lake - Burns Glacier 02 May 2012

Portage Lake - Burns Glacier 02 May 2012
Brad Cruz & Trond Jensen
28 km, 2:30

An early morning crust ski with bomber crust and blue sky, but severly cold and windy at the top of the Burns glacier.  I had to be really careful not to get blown off of the pass and into the Blackstone Bay 2300 ft below.

Portage Lake with Mount Maynard in the center; Portage Pass right of center.

GPS track acoss Portage Lake and up the Burns Glacier.

An obligatory stop at the toe of the Portage Glacier.

One feels small when presented with the Portage Glacier.

Heading up the Burns Glacier towards the confluence of the Burns and the Whittier glaciers.

The view down the Burns Glacier on the return trip.

The access to the Burns Glacier is not difficult.  Steep in parts, but no crevasses or ice-falls to negotiate, only bomber crust.

Looking out over the Blackstone Bay with the Willard Island in the center, viewed Eastward from the top of the Burns Glacier.  The mountains beyod the Blackstone Bay form the Western part of the Prince William Sound.

Placer Valley - Spencer Glacier
26 April 2012
42 kms, 2:40

The weather and crust conditions were beckoning, but the question was: could I fit in a 42 km ski and a 2 hr drive and still make it to my 10 am meeting at the office?  I decided to give it a try.

I left Anchorage at 5:20 am and started skiing at 6:20.  I made the turnaround on Spencer glacier at 7:45 and was back at the car at 9:10.  Guess what ... I was 10 minutes late for my meeting.  But it was well worth it.

Panorama looking west from the Spencer Glacier

Route from Portage Valley, up Placer Valley and up onto Spencer Glacier.

Kickstep and Tincan Mountains at the Head of Placer Valley

Skookum Glacier and Carpathian Peak

Nice crust conditions above the confluence with Skookum

Crust was so solid this morning that I ventured about a km onto the glacier (with nothing but skate skies for safety)

Bergs in the Spencer Glacier terminal lake.

Twenty Mile - Upper Carmen Creek

Twenty Mile Valley, Carmen Lake and Upper Carmen Valley

Trond Flagstad and Trond Jensen

April 13th, 2012

53 kms, 5 hours.

Twenty Mile Valley

GPS track of our route in to Upper Carmen Creek from the Seward Highway.  The strech from kms 5 to 8 was slow going along the west bank of the Twenty Mile River.  Otherwise, the skiing was a good mix of open areas and alder forrest.  Carmen Lake and the Upper Carmen Creek offered the best skiing.

Not all the way was easy going.  3-4 places along the Twenty Mile River we would have to take skis off and hike along the bank.

Twenty Mile river crossing on last remnant of winter ice.

Flats between Twenty Mile and Glacier  Rivers.  Blueberry Hill in the Background (see http://trondsalaskaadventures.blogspot.com/2011/08/blueberry-hill.html)

Looking West across Carmen Lake

Carmen Pass.  On the other side of the pass it drops steeply down to Billings Creek and Passage Canal East of Whittier.

Upper reaches of Upper Carmen valley.  Carmen Glacier?

Carmen Lake

Carmen Creek below Carmen Lake

Lots of wildlife in Twenty mile - moose, bald eagles and trumpeter swans.

Lower couple of miles in the lower Twenty Mile valley.

Panorama looking West down the Upper Carmen Valley.