Summer is here! Well... officially it's still spring but right now it's as hot as it gets around here so we're calling it summer anyways. Things are a little hectic right now as we try and figure out whether we like winter or summer more... monday we run, tuesday we ski, wednesday we bike, thursday we hike... and this weekend we float.

Koven - who turns 6 months old this week - has been restricted to short dog walks and serious play time -- but yesterday was amazing so after work I decided to introduce him to the Chugach. We took it easy and hiked up McHugh stopping often to throw snowballs and enjoy the view. Shorts and a t-shirt all we wore all evening. It doesn't get much better than this.

More pix after the jump.  [Read More... ]

More pix after the jump...  [Read More... ]

Spring… it means something different for everyone.  For my mother in Virginia it means peas and corn sprouting after a short winter; for grumpy Anchorites unwilling to venture higher than 1500' it means mud and muck and 22 trips to the car wash to keep that shine.  For me it means the annual Chugach migration into valleys and up couloirs I’ve never climbed or skied.

After a long overcast spell a sunny April day appeared and Eric rallied Dan, Pat, Todd and I to Ram Valley where we ventured up and into Falling Water Creek to try Raina’s North Couloir.  The beautiful North face of Rainia has 3 striking lines that  range in difficultly from (climbers) left to right.  The far left (NE) couloir is a long moderately difficult couloir that drops right from the ridge where you top out when climbing the normal route up the South slopes.  The middle (N) couloir is a striking direct line that splits the face in two.  On the right side of the face is a beautiful thin couloir that is more of a climb then ski and would require a couple roped pitches and some screws / pins (at least for me).  [Read More... ]

Mt. Elliot, located on the ridge east of Wolverine, is one of the few peaks in the front range I hadn't hiked up yet.  So when Yvonne managed to drag me away from fishing for a day we headed out for a nice afternoon jaunt. We brought Ranger and his buddy Lucy (Eric and Julie's dog).

We hiked up and over the ball field, stopping a couple times to talk to friends who were out enjoying the day, and then dropped down past Black Lake to the shores of Williwaw Lake.  We then tromped up a southern gully to the ridge, turned right and scrambled to the summit.    The summit is the farthest bump East of Wolverine which makes it out of the way for a pretty insignificant peak unless you're running out of fresh peaks to climb.  [Read More... ]

The signs did not bode well. First of all the forecast was for clearing skies by mid morning - however the entire drive up into the South Fork of Eagle River was in a thick fog bank where we could see 200' at the most. And then 45 minutes into the hike we were faced with a creek crossing. The creek was 6' wide and about thigh deep. I decided I could jump 6' with a running start if I wasn't wearing a pack; so I took my pack off and gently lobbed it across the creek. It gently soared across the creek... landing in a patch of alder that bent slowly giving it a soft landing. But the alders stiffened against the strain and began to return to their natural shape - and my pack lifted with them. The pack bounced back towards me. In slow motion it lifted and sprang into the air and landed on another patch of alder. It then catapulted again, hanging ever so briefly above the waters... then it rolled into the creek.

I had always been told that a full pack floats. "If you ever get swept off your feet during a river crossing... clutch your pack. It will float," a climbing partner (who had been swept off his feet) once told me. I had never tested the theory but now in front of me my pack was floating down the creek bobbing along gently like a misshapen raft. I stood dumbfounded for an instant then sprang into action. I ran downstream for about 25' - then I dove into the water - the water coming up to mid thigh. My pack floated into me, I grabbed it, and then clambered out of the creek. I was soaked to the bone and my pack was drenched. There was no sun. It was 9am. The signs did not bode well.

Our plan was to climb Flute Peak. Flute Peak sits 10 miles from the South Fork trailhead at the very head of the Flute Glacier. The route consists of a glacier crossing, steep snow and a final rock pitch. There were 3 of us - Eric, Yvonne and I. All of us had tried it once before. Eric had actually made it to the rock pitch last spring before backing off unwilling to solo the final step. Yvonne and I had "tried" it last year; but our efforts had ended early when we ascended the wrong approach gully. We instead hiked up Ewe Peak, not willing to out the effort into additional route finding. Ideally one would climb Flute Peak as an overnight trip - taking time to leisurely hike up to the glacier on day 1 and then climb and hike out on day 2. However - we opted to try it in a day. So in we tromped... me soaking wet and the clouds thick and soupy.  [Read More... ]

For years I've been eyeing the couloirs that snake directly up the north face of Bear Point (the wall above Mirror Lake on the Glenn Highway). There are 2 very obvious lines - a direct couloir that drops straight off the summit for almost 3000' and a twisty turny line that ascend though rock bands and tops out just east of the summit. This year the couloirs have been melting out and thin ribbons of ice have been appearing, making them quite appealing!

After eyeing them for a couple weeks I talked Bryce and Yvonne into heading up there to check them out. We opted to go for the obvious northwest direct couloir, not knowing what the other would entail. So we left one car at the Peter's Creek trailhead, parked another car at the scout camp and started the tromp up through the woods.

The approach was quite easy this time of year; there was a little devils club to deal with but little snow and in less than an hour we had reached the base of the couloir and started up. The bottom portion had mounds of debris from a season's worth of slides, but everything was quite stable so we headed up.

About 500' up we finally encountered the ice; a thin ribbon snaking uphill. We had hauled ropes, screws, pins and pickets so dug out the ropes and Bryce headed up. Unfortunately the ice only last about 25' - and then it was back to snow. Bryce set a belay and brought up Yvonne while I soloed up ahead and began booting up the couloir. Above the ice, Yvonne unroped and then we all set off.

The rest of the couloir was straightforward; essentially you climb close to 2500' of snow that averages 45-50 degrees while you twist and turn up a very narrow gully with steep rock walls on either side. It took us about 3 hours to reach the top.   [Read More... ]

Peak 3 season is in full swing here on Hillside. For those who don't know what Peak 3 season is; It's that time of year where every day at 3pm the schoolteachers start calling you and saying "Want to go ski Peak 3? Want to go ski Peak 3?" If you can avoid them you'll get in another hour of work before the 8-4'ers start calling and saying "Want to go ski Peak 3? Want to go ski Peak 3?" If you can say no again - then you get another hour of work in before the 9-5'ers start calling. Usually I cave in to one of the above... and last week Peak 3 was really good!

The trek up Peak 3 usually involves 25+ people of all shapes and sizes headed uphill on everything from alpine gear to dusty tele skis. Last Friday I was huffing my way uphill chasing Todd with a backpack of water bottles (trying to get in shape for spring shovel season) when a guy and girl blitzed past me on scaled skis with Dynafits. I reached the top just as they prepared to ski down and briefly overheard that Ptarmigan's north couloir was in shape.

So... the next morning Yvonne and I awoke to cloudy skies and after hemming and hawing we decided to go give Ptarmigan a shot. Yvonne had been wanting to ski the couloir for a while, and even though I gave her the "the run is freakin' scary" lecture she was amped to go. A few phone calls rounded up Dan and Eric and we set off at noon.

Eric made it about half way in before he realized his bronchitis was still acting up, so he veered off and headed up Peak 3 while Dan, Yvonne and I continued on.

We reached the base in about 1 1/2 hours and then headed up. The snow was pretty much perfect; crunchy Styrofoam down low that soon turned into shin deep powder. The neck of the couloir - which last year had been almost ice - was in perfect shape and we continued uphill quite pleased with the snowpack. As the kept going - and as the snowpack continued to get deeper yet stay stable - my (and Yvonne's) anxiety of the run evaporated and we booted up the entire run in 1 1/2 hours.   [Read More... ]

On Sunday March 15^th I headed up Rabbit Valley with Dan, Eric, Todd and Pat. The winds were howling on the ridge lines and once again, prospects did not look good!

We skied back the base of Ptarmigan, sat around discussing options and then headed up. The normal gully coming off Ptarmigan Pass was in good shape - but as we got higher the snow turned to hard pack - and eventually ice.

As it got steeper the snow got worse - and lots of grumbling could be heard from the skiers who had come to ski powder based on my glowing review from the previous day on Peak 4. After a while it got ridiculous and we all regrouped and commenced our usual discussion about where to go and what to do - a discussion which usually last for 15 minutes and 9 times out of 10 ends with no decision. This time no one really could say whether they wanted to go up or down - and after some more indecisive remarks I told Eric to head on up. He took this to heart - and set off at his usual breakneck speed - and before anyone could voice a differing opinion he had set a boot track half way up the West Face.

The "skiers" followed grumbling about the conditions but I assured them the South face would ski just fine. And so we climbed - skis on back, whippet in hand, and boot deep firm styrofoam all the way to the ridge.  [Read More... ]

High pressure and fresh snow makes the front range quite inviting so Yvonne and I opted to stay near town for the weekend and go ski in Rabbit Valley for a day.

On Saturday, March 14th we slept in, ate a lazy breakfast and then headed up Rabbit Valley for a morning ski. We reached the parking lot in a total fog bank and then skied up valley in zero visibility. Prospects did not look good, but we continued on - luckily finding a skin track that lead up towards Peak 4 - at least that's what we thought!

We continued on - at times being able to see all of 100 feet - then it began to get brighter... and brighter... until suddenly we popped above the clouds into beautiful March sunshine.

We booted up to the ridge, looked down at Anchorage and the cloud bank - and then dropped into a beautiful bowl of hard pack snow dusted with 4 inches of low density powder with clouds below our feet.

4 hours (and 2000') after leaving the front door we were back home and soaking in the hot tub!   [Read More... ]

I spent a long weekend skiing in Thompson Pass with Todd, Peter and Amy. We stayed at Matt Kinney's awesome place (Thompson Pass Mountain Chalet). We had relatively decent weather and conditions and were able to ski every day.

We drove down on friday afternoon. On Saturday we headed out and skied Gully 1 with Matt. The skiing was decent but it was howling wind and around 0 so after one run we scurried back to the chalet to put on more layers and eat something hot. After lunch Todd headed back up to the pass to kite-ski while Peter, Amy and I headed own into Valdez to ski Benzene Alley. The skiing next to the water was quite spectacular but the snowmachiners were out in force and we were continually buzzed. Everyone was very nice (no one tried to run us over a-la Hatchers Pass) - but being around a dozen snowmachines buzzing downhill at 50 mph when you're out for an afternoon ski above the blue water is a downer.  [Read More... ]