Summer in Alaska is for family visitors.  Some years no one shows up… Other years they show up in mass – a week here, a week there.  Sometimes 2 weeks. Sometimes 3 weeks… sometimes more.  Not that I’m complaining… when family visits it’s a chance to show them how you live.  And how you live might mean a long rafting trip in torrential rain, a lazy day floating the Kenai without any sign of fish or a brutal slog through dense brush in the middle of Chugach State Park. And even if that summer visitor isn’t ready for what you’re about to give them (like endless fishing in torrential rains) – it really doesn’t matter.  We’ve got all of 3 months to pack in a summer (even if that summer is 35 degrees and raining) and the summer visitor is along for the ride whether they like it or not!

So when my brother Charlie and his wife, Liz, showed up we automatically piled them back into the truck and forced them to drive 5 hours north towards the eastern Alaskan Range where we spent 5 days fishing and floating the Gulkana River.  [Read More... ]

Birch turning - Upper River Fall 2008

Lingering snow - Upper River Spring 2010

Images from two floats down the Chulitna River - Fall 2008 and Spring 2010.  [Read More... ]

Full writeup coming soon.... meanwhile here's a preview:

Spring climbing came once again... and once again I started trolling for partners. Many options and many ideas were voiced but Yvonne and I finally announced we were going to the Alaska Range; to the Ruth Gorge. Everyone wants to go to the Ruth - and suddenly Yvonne and I had 2 other partners (Bryce Stath and Austin Thayer) to share camp and contacts with.

I hadn't been to the Alaska Range since 2004; I hadn't been to the Ruth since 2002 when I skied a bunch and attempted the Moose's Tooth. Driving into Talkeetna I glanced at the familiar sights - we ate an awesome breakfast at the Roadhouse, we chatted with friends at the NPS building and then we dumped our gear outside of Talkeetna Air Taxi and went inside to hand them our hard earned cash ("What? TAT isn't an Alaska Airlines mileage partner?!").

Around 2pm Paul Roderick piled us all into his Turbo Otter. Riding in a Turbo Otter is an experience and I was psyched! In the Alaska air taxi world it's the equivalent of flying first class in an airbus. You don't have to squeeze in a seat more suited for sled dogs rather than people with a pack on your lap. The Otter is so roomy I almost expected a hipster Talkeetna hottie to walk through serving peanuts and Alaskan Amber (TAT take note). The plane took off without a whine and we drifted towards the mountains with hardly a bump.

After flying into areas I've never been before for the past few years, the flight into the Ruth was calm and familiar. We drifted over Petersville Road, Peter's Hills and soon we flew up the turbulent moraine of the Ruth Glacier and before I knew it, we were banking past Mt. Johnson and coming in for a landing.  [Read More... ]

On May 14th Yvonne and I woke up early and by 7am were skiing up the Casner Glacier in the Deltas en route to the upper glacier to attempt a few peaks. We hauled 7 days of food and fuel, skis, sleds, crevasse gear and a few pickets and screws for the larger peaks. The Deltas are the eastern most region of the Alaska Range. In spring / summer it takes about 5 1//2 hours to reach the parking area from Anchorage - in winter it's a little closer to 7 or 8 hours depending on the ice and snow. Weather had been a tad on the warm side so we made sure to get an early start in order to minimize the trail breaking with large sleds.

We had spectacular weather - deep blue skis with not a cloud to be seen. At the head of the valley loomed an amphitheater or peaks in the 8000-9000' range. The ski in was excellent. The first 2 miles were relatively straight forward with only one section where we had to hike - leaving our sleds at the toe of the glacier and ascend the mud and rock encrusted glacier to reach the easy slopes above.   [Read More... ]

I know I know. Call me clique - call me unoriginal, uncreative, unadventurous, boring, standard whatever... I 'm back. I 've been here four times now - yet I am still awed by the presence of the Cassin and Denali's summit as it appears hulking above our heads while we dig in for the night. Snow falls, the temperature rises just above freezing - the familiar pitter patter of sleet on a glacier. Communal dinners in the tent, Roger Robinson (who organized my rescue almost 6 years ago to the day) grasping my hand his deep voice "Oh great - that's great - I see you have a team from Anchorage... No - it's not too early for that route but it has been warm - Good luck!" His tan face, lines etched deep from season after season on Denali's slopes, breaks into a smile then grows serious as he remembers Jeff, my partner who died as a result of a fall on Denali in 1998.

After our trip into the Ruth Gorge Jeff young flew back to Anchorage while Brad and I flew to the Kahiltna and started up the West Buttress of Denali.  The following are entries from my journal from May 30^th - June 6^th.

Brad Horning, Jeff Young and I flew into the Ruth in the hopes of first climbing the Moose's Tooth and then skiing up the West Fork of the Ruth Glacier, ascending Ruth Gap and then descending down the other side to reach the Kahiltna Glacier and ultimately Denali Base Camp. There Jeff would fly out and Brad and I would continue up the West Buttress of Denali. We had a lot of trouble getting information about Ruth Gap - but knowing that it had been done twice before we decided to give it a shot. Before we flew in we told our pilot what our goal was - but that if we were unable to get over the Gap we'd return to the original landing strip. The following are entries from my journal from May 30^th - June 6^th.  [Read More... ]