Chitna Basin refers to the area in the Talkeetna Mountains that is bordered by Caribou Creek to the north, Chitna  Creek to the east, Hicks Creek to the south and Boulder Creek to the west. It is a high alpine zone with elevations ranging from 4500’ to 7000’. There is  little vegetation and the mountains […]  [ Read More ]

November 2019 Update In November 2019 DNR approved this permit. You can read the entire permit here and an ADN article about the approval here. It should come at no surprise that DNR permitted this.  DNR has a history of siding with motorized users and commercial operations in the Mat-Su area.  During the Knik River […]  [ Read More ]

For the 4th of July we packed up the kids, rafts and dogs and headed north to Talkeetna to float the Susitna River from Gold Creek to Talkeetna. This stretch of river is 40 miles of mellow class I with nice gravel bars and islands for camping and an easy take out that’s within 1 mile of where you leave your vehicle. The best part? You approach by train. And not just any train – but the last true flag-stop train in America.  [ Read More ]

The Southwest face of Triplemint begins with a rock gully that leads to a grass sidewalk. From this point on it's a series of grass sidewalks connected by short 3rd class sections of rock. Exposed, but never difficult, the grass sidewalks require a certain level of trust as we tiptoe across mud, tundra and lichen to short sections of solid, but wet, rock.  [ Read More ]

2001 was a long time ago. I spent 30 days that spring on the Ruth Glacier and Denali. At 14 camp on Denali’s West Buttress we camped next to Dave Johnston, his wife, Cari Sayre, and their son Galen. Dave and Cari planned on taking their son, age 11, to the summit which would make […]  [ Read More ]

We set out to tour the valley around Pinnacle with the hopes of skiing something interesting. Checking out conditions on the approach we noted two large natural releases that had occurred sometime midweek on the SW face of Marmot and the occasional crown in steeper terrain that appeared to be have either released during or shortly after the most recent storm cycle. Taking the obvious signs into account we then studied the tracks on pretty much every aspect and angle and noted that had minimal releasing other than occasional sluffing.  [ Read More ]

Pete & Amy inside the ping pong ball. Sun, snow and stability in Hatcher. Three things that never happen in those mountains north of town that I tend to write off just about every winter. I love Hatcher in the summer- cragging, trekking, crumbling granite ridges – good clean alpine fun. But Hatcher in the […]  [ Read More ]

Fall. No not the pretty colors and crisp cool nights. Fall where you’re plummeting through the air and a world of pain is inevitably in your near future. I hate falling. In 21 years of climbing I have fallen exactly 6 times and every single one of those falls is a vivid memory. Of course […]  [ Read More ]

Former Anchorite Austin Thayer was visiting and the weather forecast looked halfway decent so we met up early and drove up to Hatcher in the hopes of getting in some climbing before the rains came back. Ignoring the puddles we pushed up Archangel road and were roped up and starting up the first pitch of […]  [ Read More ]

A sunny day in Hatcher Pass is a rarity… a sunny day in late August in Hatcher Pass is about as close to divine providence as you can get so we took advantage of it. Jake Gano and I met up at 7:30 and drove to the pass. We were racked up and had started […]  [ Read More ]

Those who know me know that I tend to be pretty down on Alaska cragging. Cragging in Alaska is pretty poor. The Seward highway consists of loose choss on road cut above an endless stream of cars honking and running into each other. I’ve always been told that Puriton has high quality rock – but […]  [ Read More ]

It’s another one of those summers. The forecast gave us one good day and then the rains were supposed to come back. Not enough time for an overnighter for weekend warriors but enough time for a day trip- or rather a 3/4 day trip. So we packed up the rope and rack and headed north […]  [ Read More ]

Note – Spring 2013 Lots of people are searching for this page so they can get more information about the traverse. Please be aware that since implementation of the new Hatcher Pass Management Plan there has been an unprecedented level of illegal snowmachine access occurring at the Snowbird Glacier and throughout the Glacier High Peaks […]  [ Read More ]

The earth buzzes by below us; rolling hills turn to spires, caribou tracks up ridge lines, blue ice overflowing tight river drainages. The creeks flow past – Caribou, Divide, Boulder. The mighty Chickaloon calm, frozen in time the meandering blue ice locked until Spring (who hovers just around the corner) descends. And suddenly we are […]  [ Read More ]

Saturday. I float the Upper Kenai in my tiny Dory and thoroughly enjoy the say. It feels like summer; the sun is shining brightly and the salmon are rolling underneath my boat – I even manage to catch a couple. The Upper Kenai is pretty calm for such a nice day. Everyone sits around in […]  [ Read More ]

On Sunday Eric Parsons, Dan Boccia, Yvonne & I climbed the Southwest Ridge Granite Peak (6729′). We left town at 7:30 am and by 8:30 were driving in circles in the maze of 4WD trails that are at the base of Granite. Dan’s excellent driving technique through mud, over rocks and across ditches had Eric […]  [ Read More ]

On May 16th 2003, Todd Kelsey and I flew into the upper Chickaloon drainage with Dave of Grasshopper Aviation out of the Wasilla airport. We got to the airport to find out that fog was sitting over the landing zone so we sat around in Dave’s office while he regaled us with tales of plane […]  [ Read More ]

I left Anchorage friday night around 8pm and got to the Mint trailhead around 9pm. It was wet and miserable — the rain coming down like crazy and the trail muddy and nasty (which makes all the trees hanging over the trail soak you to the bone). Pharaoh and I started hiking and within minutes […]  [ Read More ]