Tetons

The Tetons

Paula on Baxter's pinnacle

Paula and I spent about 10 days around Wyoming and Montana climbing and hiking.  We climbed Baxter's pinnacle and the Exum ridge on the Grand Teton.  The Wind River mountains were amazing but wouldn't let us climb due to unsettled weather.  We will be back!

The Exum ridge follows the prominent sun/shade line to the top

Leading the crux pitch on the lower Exum

Paula on the summit 13,770 ft.

Paula on the rappel to get off the summit

Denali Work

Denali shadow from 17,200 ft. 5:00am

on the summit


South ridge, East Kahiltna peak


First pitch, mini-moonflower

The mountaineering season was a blur as usual this year. I had barely enough time in Talkeetna to clean up from one trip before I started packing for the next one. The field time was exceptional. I was able to explore some new places including East Kahiltna peak, the Mini-moonflower, Ruth Gorge, and the Pika glacier. My Denali patrol was able to summit in excellent weather, and all medicals and rescues I worked on went smoothly . You can't ask for more than that. Some photos from the trips can be found at:

picasaweb.google.com/alaskabackcountry/morework



Middle Troll, Pika glacier


Rafting out the Tokositna river from the Pika to Talkeetna

A week at basecamp for Rigging for Rescue training made for a great start to the season.  We had good weather, great field training, and awesome company with the PJs.

Some funky layers in the snowpack including Mt. Redoubt ash and some persistent facets visible with this column failure.

Cold clear

Our weeks of negative temps produced the inevitable surface hoar on the snowpack. I found this crystal growing underneath a rock just above Virgin Creek in Girdwood. It had the humidity from the creek to assist its growth. It's probably among the largest I've ever seen.

Early season skiing

Lots of exciting snow conditions to start off the ski season. Alyeska has enjoyed the second snowiest November on record, allowing unprecedented early openings for much of our terrain. Regionwide snow stability has been suspect for awhile with lots of avalanches failing on October snow layers. It produced some large avalanches at the ski area and keeps us on our toes. The skiing has been fantastic and I can't wait for more snow!


Alyeska boundary line, with avy crown on the closed side.


Rob skiing off Magnum, midday twilight in December.

Long live Fred Bull

For all the amazing things I've done with Fred over the years, this is one of the few pictures I have of him. He never did like posing for pictures. Most of the time all my energy was spent just trying to keep up. This day sticks out in my mind as a typical Fred Bull day. Skiing laps on Silvertip peak, adding up to something close to 10,000 vertical feet. He set nearly all of the skin track and I still couldn't maintain his pace.

Fred will always be an inspiration. He will be missed.

New Zealand rafting

Architect creek swing bridge

Paula and I just returned to Alaska after a 2 month trip out of state. Here are some pictures from some of the highlights. We spent about 3 weeks in California. From California I went to Whistler for a week of avalanche lectures at the International Snow Science Conference, then met up with Paula in New Zealand.

New Zealand was sweet as! Heaps of tramping, packrafting, climbing, fishing, mountains, rivers, and sheep. We had a great time exploring both islands.

More pictures can be found at

www.picasaweb.google.com/alaskabackcountry

Most of these pictures are from a hike up the Copland track. We had no information about it besides one photo from another Alaskan friend. This hike and float was incredible. The trail goes up from the West Coast on the south island through lush rainforest up to high alpine zones. It feels like a bizarre combination of Kauai and Alaska, with a beautiful turquoise river down the middle of the valley. We only hiked as far as the Welcome Flat hut (accomodation for 31 people), soaked in the hot springs and hiked and floated out the following day. The river has a steep canyon section between Architect creek and Welcome Flat that is solid class V or harder. It might be worth a look by an experienced and well prepared group. From our put-in at Architect creek below the canyon we encountered a bouldery, pool-drop character creek. We portaged 3 different rapids sections that looked class 3+. Without proper river clothing and rescue gear we didn’t feel like risking a swim in the harder sections. Scouting and portaging was very easy along the sides. There were no sweepers encountered. We floated about 10 km of river back to the car. This region gets enormous amounts of precip, and the river levels have large and frequent changes. Highly recommended trip for anyone headed down there. We finished off the day with a hike to a beach with penguins.


Copland river

We did more in New Zealand than just raft. Other highlights include: hiking the Kepler track, skiing on Mt. Ruapehu, black water rafting the Waitomo caves, and lots of 5 star tramping.


Kepler Track


Whakapapa Ski Field


Rees River