Update 2/5/2021 This post is getting a ton of traffic so I’ll post what I posted elsewhere here since people have said it’s poignant… Update 2/3/2021 On Feb. 2nd 2021 three climbers were caught in an avalanche on this route and died. 54-year-old Tom Devine of Chugiak, Alaska, 43-year-old Matthew Nyman of Colorado Springs, Colorado, […]  [ 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 […]  [ Read More ]

JT passed along info that Korohusk was in good shape, so on Saturday Yvonne, Bryce, Charlie and I headed up Eagle River to give it a try. The initial four miles went by in no time and soon we had reached the turn off point and were headed uphill. As usual the start required a […]  [ 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 […]  [ 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 […]  [ Read More ]

On Saturday we pack leather boots, a half rope and a handful of cams, slings and biners just in case. By 9:15 we’ve parked in the small pull-out and are marching up and down the road looking into the woods with the dim hope that perhaps, somewhere, there is a trail. After a couple false […]  [ Read More ]

On Labor Day weekend Yvonne and I climbed East Twin (5863′). I had previously tried this peak a total of three times; each time I barely made it to the base before turning around for a myriad of reasons. On Saturday. September 2nd Yvonne and I left town in rain and drove to Eklutna. It […]  [ Read More ]

Edit July 2025: On Saturday, June 28 2025 there was an accident  on where a climber suffered a severe head injury due to a falling rock and a MEDEVAC was requested by helicopter from the Alaska Air National Guard. An HH-60 Pavehawk from the Alaska Air National Guard arrived on scene, performed a hoist rescue […]  [ Read More ]

On Friday night June 16th Wayne Todd called us and invited us on an attempt of the North Face of Pioneer. Wayne figured that since there was more snow than usual this summer, what is usually a March – May route was doable and safe this late in the year. For years I had lusted […]  [ Read More ]

On March 27th Yvonne and I climbed the E. face / East couloir of Indianhouse Mountain. The route was very straightforward and fun. It began with a nice hike that was free of snow up through the brush on faint game trails until we reached a bump on the south ridge at around 3000′. We […]  [ Read More ]

On March 4th, 2006 I climbed the northeast ridge of King Mountain with Thai and Jody. King Mountain sits on the south side of the Matanuska River just south of Chickaloon and features an impressively steep and accessible north face that is a great late winter climb. The summit of King is 5809′ and you […]  [ Read More ]

Saturday, October 17th, 2005 was our first time out on skis since the previous April. There is powder north of Anchorage – but instead we opted for a traverse since we still have a little bit of light. So on Sunday we rounded up a group of friends and drove south to Girdwood where we […]  [ Read More ]

On Saturday July 7th Yvonne, Steve Gruhn and I hiked in to try Mt. Rumble in Chugach State Park. We knew it could potentially be a very very long day so we hauled bivy sacks and some extra clothes. We were at the trailhead at 7:30 and started hiking. 3 hours, 2500′ and 5 miles […]  [ Read More ]