Two hours up the Glenn Highway from Anchorage lies the terminus of the 27-mile Matanuska Glacier. The ice is only a short 15 minute walk from the car-park and 15 minutes beyond that lies a fantastic Dali-esque playground for the Summer ice climber.
A few eager beavers arrived on Friday night intent on "drinking it blue." Our efforts were rewarded and at the crack of noon, we marched into the blue ice under blue skies. Throughout the day, our numbers grew. Top ropes were quickly set on the shores of a glacial lake. These routes ranged from beginner to slightly over-vertical.
Ice Beach
Obstacle Course
(use the pre-set axes for hand holds without moving any)
More Advanced Routes Higher Up
Beautiful Walk Back to Camp
After a full day of climbing, the real fun began. Dean had managed to rally about 30 folks, 10 bottles of liquor, 2 kegs, and 1 miniature doberman to the campsite closest to the ice. Good food, good friends, good beer, good times. It doesn't get dark this time of year, and the sky began to get brighter by 3 and it was blue by 4. OK, one more....
Day 2 found the number of motivated climbers severely diminished, severely. I counted myself amongst the fallen and after a few hours lounging under a blazing sun, I too joined the exodus. The drive South featured a tense battle between sleep and alertness. This conflict was punctuated with brief moments of swerving and terror. However, alertness eventually won the day with the help of a popular Austrian-based energy drink.
High on sugar and "gawd-knows-what", I decided it would be a fantastic idea to make the short detour to Hatcher Pass for a quick ski. The weather at the Pass was cold and rainy, a sharp contrast from just a few hours ago. Despite ESPN radio's proclamations of "can't miss" and "epic battle", I ascended into the grey. Cue the lousy weather black and white photos:
April Bowl
Not Bad for 2 Broken Boots
It was by far the toughest rally of the year. Sure the conditions were awful, and there was a driving rain, and the cold wind stung my sun burnt face, and aggressive dehydration dominated my soul, and where was I going with this? Shoot, I can't remember.
- U.K.
north fork of teton creek with table moutain in the backround
snow field north slope of table mountain
co-worker and skiing bud j-freeze
still 20 foot tall cornice on table mountain ridge line in august
top of the run
dartmoth culior to the right of the teton its on the list for next year
- Salty Pete
McKenna zooms out towards the lower apron. The line we skied is right above her. Straight to the top, rather steeply.
High in the Castle Apron. About to fully enjoy the untracked apron as it slowly gets less steep.
Silas took the fast way out. But hey we were renting this line today so it was all ours!
Many boyz came out of the wood work for the special occasion. A perfect highboy celebration. Blue skies warm and a great vibe. 
Beater, Orange Hat, and Hollywood. Last ones on highboy 2011! I was shocked, the sun was just setting, and everyone was gone. The hard work of maintaining a bromance really paid off as we got to enjoy one last romantic 2011 Alta sunset alone, together.
Fresh from Haines turns Dan Curran, lost control and crashed half of highboy on the way down. Even losing his saftey orange hat in the process. Luckily he made it out mostly ok from that.
I'm not sure why I wanted to do Deseret Peak, and I am not even sure where the idea came from to do it. But there we were in the middle of May biking up 4 miles of access road thats closed in the winter. My friend Carolyn and her dog Kona came along for the ride. Deseret Peak is one rift over to the west from Salt Lake.
We ditched the bikes and put skins on and skinned all the way to the summit. The peak is "just right there". It was, but it didn't get any closer for a long time. It took about 2 hours from here (after biking 2 hours) just to get under the mountain, then we had to traverse it to the left and hike up some chutes to gain the peak.
Way up into Deseret, the infamous Twin Couloirs show themselves as one of only a few ways to the cliffed out summit. The weather was warm, and avalanches were ripping down the steep sun exposed face. Quite the scene. The couloirs were safe enough so we continued on.
The summit! The great basin and salt flats in the distance. Epic approach 4 miles by bike and 6 or 5 miles by skis and 6 hours and 6,000 vertical later we summited. Kona the dog killed it and did laps around the peak while i took a serious break. 
The skiing was great off the summit. Kind of a unique setting with the salt flats and vast empty spaces only 40 minutes from downtown Salt Lake. 
Great Salt Lake and Antelope Island under my skis. The adventure was super fun, we skied all the way back to the bikes and the bikes made the last 4 miles amazing. Flying down an empty road, having just skied a remote peak was quite an awesome feeling. 
This shot is from Duncans Ridge. The big peak in the back is the Devils Bedstead.
The Pioneer Yurt is a 24 ’ diameter yurt that sleeps up to 16 people and has all the comforts you have come to expect from a cozy SVT backcountry hut: full kitchen, bunks with pads, wood and propane stoves, lanterns, library, and a great wood fired Sauna!
If you come in the spring expect water crossings and wet heavy snow in the low elevations on your trek up to the Yurt. 
We called this peak No Name because on the maps we had it didn't have a name.
Mckenna getting the first track down the Comma Couloir down Cobb.
Axel carving his name in Cobb mountain.
Back on the deck of the Pio Yurt just chilling.
I think this was one moring when we had pancakes. We had cake coma and had to take naps before going out to tour.
Realy nice and open space for our crew of seven.
Steph skiing back to the Yurt after a little jump session. 
Hyndman Peak, the highest in the range at 12009 feet, was on the list.
