We reached the base of the final ridge at 11:30 where we stopped and ate lunch. The weather which had started out decent, had continued to deteriorate and our views diminished to the point where we could barely see Calliope to our south. We chatted for a while and decided to keep going until it became too poor to see or climb.

We began the final ridge section by first climbing up a series of gullies and ramps. The route is pretty straight forward but you are forced to hunt around a bit to find the easiest path. At times large rock walls blocked our progress and we were forced to traverse left and right in search of an easier passage.   [Read More... ]

Thursday was Yvonne's birthday so we had a party; a bunch of people came over and we cooked up a bunch of salmon and made halibut tacos. As usual halfway through the night talk turned to where to go for the weekend. The weather looked good and we were itching to go out so Yvonne bailed on work for Friday. Later in the evening Eric stopped by and casually mentioned that J.T. and Tony were headed up Polar Bear for the weekend. J.T. is in the top 3 on my 'who to call for conditions and beta in the Chugach' list (along with Wayne and Steve who were both at our party) so our ears pricked up. Polar Bear? It's high on the list and if J.T. and Tony are heading up there then conditions are probably good. Besides, I figured, if our timing is right then we should be able to jump right into their tracks and boot up to the summit. Wayne and Steve concurred that it would be a good time to try it and Steve opted to join us so we planned to pack up in the morning and hike in Friday afternoon.

The next day we packed up and by 2 pm Yvonne, Steve and I were hiking up the Eagle River trail. Our packs were obscenely heavy for an overnight trip. Yvonne and I both had our winter (-20) bags plus we hauled a stove, pan, tent, bivy sacks, ice axe, ice tools, crampons, snowshoes, pickets, ice screws, rock and glacier gear, a 60 m rope, tennis shoes (to cross the river in) and leather mountaineering boots. Despite the load we made good time and within 2 hours we shed our pants and donned tennis shoes for the Eagle River crossing.  [Read More... ]

The forecast called for clouds and isolated showers; not ideal conditions given that isolated showers usually have a way of finding me, but I wanted to get out so I studied the maps and my photos. I finally decided to give the North Face of Eagle Peak a try. My reasoning was that 2 weeks ago north facing slopes were still powder and south facing slopes were isothermal - whereas a week ago south facing slopes had turned rotten. I was hoping for isothermal conditions on north facing aspects - but I knew we couldn't go if the sun was shining due to avalanche hazards. After much thought I figured the clouds would shade the route giving us the rare opportunity to ascend the route in spring conditions.

So I rounded up a team who all bit on the first cast: Dan, Eric, Bryce and Yvonne and at 5:30am on Saturday we met and were soon driving. We dropped off a car at the South Fork of Eagle river (thinking we might have to traverse the peak to avoid late afternoon avalanche conditions) and then drove to the Eagle River Nature Center and were hiking by 7am.

The North Face of Eagle Peak towers 6500' above the nature center with a prominent gash straight up the North face. There's a little viewfinder sitting right outside the center and we trained it on the route and checked it out while trying not to think about how steep it looked...then started down the trail.

We followed the regular Crow Pass trail to Echo Bend, then changed out of our long pants and began wading across Eagle River. The water was only thigh deep and soon we were across and thrashing through dense devil's club in search of game trails that might take us up to the hanging valley between Eagle and Hurdy Gurdy.  [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... ]