Ptarmigan Peak is located at the head of Powerline Pass which is 5 miles from the Glen Alps trailhead. The south face is a huge scree slope, the west ridge a beautiful scramble and the north face a classic snow route that is 2000' of 30-50 degree snow. The route is a test piece ski couloir for experienced skiers - or a perfect beginner route for aspiring mountaineers. I've climbed it 7 times in all conditions from roped up with snow pickets and ice screws in February to solo with Pharaoh in June.

On July 9th 2006 I took my brother and nephew up Ptarmigan Couloir. My nephew had never climbed a snow route before (and never even worn crampons!). My brother had done a few moderate snow routes but had never used two ice axes or pickets. They were both pretty stoked!

We simul climbed the entire route with pickets and a couple small cams. In the middle of the route I let my brother lead for a few hundred feet but he burned through the pickets like there was no tomorrow so he only got to lead for a little while. We started the route in a dense cloud and summited in beautiful blue skies!   [Read More... ]

On Memorial Day (May 28th), Yvonne and I hiked  in and climbed Koktoya in a day.  We left our house around 11 and by 11:30 were at the trailhead.  We had just pulled up and turned off the truck when I looked up to see a black bear and cub staring right at us.  We froze and she casually turned and disappeared into the woods.  After a couple of minutes we nervously got out of the truck and looked around to see if she was still around.  Satisfied that she had left the trail I dug out the packs while Yvonne rifled though the truck until she found the bear spray which she tucked into an exposed back pocket of her pack.

We shouldered our packs and started hiking talking loudly and shouting "Hey Bear" every other step.  We had gone about 200 yards when we turned a corner and I looked uphill to see mama black bear and three cubs meandering up the hill not 50 feet from us.  We immediately jogged down the trail yelling at the top of my lungs.  When we saw she wasn't coming after us I crept back uphill a little way to get a better look.  Mama bear saw me and stood up to give me a look over so I turned and high tailed it up the trail!

Eager to put some miles between us and the bear we put our heads down and started booting up the trail, making good time and hiking the 8 1/2 miles to Koktoya Pass in about 4 hours.  Steve Ghruhn says the view from the col south of Koktoya has the prettiest view in Chugach State Park so we eagerly trudged up to the col where we were greeting to an amazing view of the Western Chugach.   We lingered for a while checking out the sights and then turned and began scrambling up the south ridge.  [Read More... ]

Charlie Sassara left an email last Thursday: "Want to try a route this Saturday? Call me." I read it slowly and then called, trying to figure out what the best excuse would be to not go. "I can't," I told him. "We just bought a house. I'm out of shape. My exercise has consisted of moving boxes and caulking." I tried to sound weak, even upping the pitch to elevate my whiny voice. "I'm just not in shape to go climbing."

"Ahh come on..." Charlie responded. "You've got a real job now. You've got a mortgage. The rest of your life is going to be like this. Get off the fucking couch and go climbing with me."

I started to protest; after all me going climbing with Charlie means I would have to secretly pack ascenders. I stammered.. it was hard to argue with his logic. So I said yes.

So come Saturday Charlie and I trudged into the North face of the Wedge. After some discussion about options Charlie chose to ascend a series of gullies and dihedrals on a buttress just left of the couloir that drops from ridge right at obvious bend of the peak (climbers left of the rock routes).   [Read More... ]

Spring is here and with it came a good snow pack and perfect snow for front range skiing. On Sunday Charlie T. and I climbed the West Ridge of Ptarmigan from the Rabbit Valley side. The route up was great - with freshly kicked steps from a party just ahead of us. We climbed both summits and stared down the north couloir; conditions were perfect. I then skied the west face - dropping down one of the couloirs in perfect shin deep powder.

I got home that afternoon and began thinking about the north couloir. The fresh stable snow beckoned so I called Todd and we made a plan. And then yesterday at 12:30 we set out and skied down Powerline pass to the base of the route. En-route we passed two climbers who had just climbed the route. They told us the snow as a little hard down low - but nice up high.

By 2:30 we were at the base of the route and skinning up. The snow quickly grew hard so we clipped on our ski crampons and continued up. However it got steeper and the snow harder so we soon pulled the skis and started booting. We had left our crampons at home thinking the snow would be soft; and thus the lower portion of the route went slowly as we carefully booted up the ice hard snow with our boots barely biting in at times.

Ptarmigan couloir is one of my favorite local routes. I had climbed it seven times previously with many good friends including Jeff Munroe, Brad Horning, my bother Charlie, my brother John and nephew Matt, Yvonne - and of course with Pharaoh back in his tough dog days. Yesterday was my eighth and Todd's first time up the couloir. Todd had skied the route once before but never climbed it. So it was a first for both of us.   [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... ]

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... ]

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... ]

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... ]

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... ]