Isolation Traverse

So here in Washington we also benefited from La Nina. And in the first week of June skiable snow still reached down to just under 3000 ft. I was fortunate enough to head up to Cascade Pass with three promising recruits to the PNW division of the Skier Boyz franchise.

The terrain was awesome and we managed to keep things nice and light -- 7 days worth of food, shelter, fuel and gear into 35L packs. Long days and great weather, with only a little stretch of low vis in the middle, made for a fun trip. We took our time heading North from Cascade Pass towards Eldorado and eventually pushing all the way to Diablo and the car that held the precious celebratory barley soda-pops. With two layover days there was plenty of time to get some turns in. After dinner corn skiing and some steeps in between. Check out the full trip report and pictures taken by both myself and Jason Hummel at:

http://www.outdoorresearchverticulture.com/2011/08/isolation-traverse/

Additional images of Jason's can be seen at:

http://rvision.daydreamlabs.com/user/32916428@N02/set/72157626936171248?page=1&per_page=150&size=small

I'm already fired up about the coming season and reuniting with Boyz (and Girlz) in AK, Utah, and anywhere else we might bring together big turns and deep snow (and maybe a little brown liquor).

~GB6K

Bleak and Bright Peaks: August 12

The Chugach State Park lies entirely in the municipality of Anchorage. It's over 500,000 acres and contains 50+ glaciers. There are also 86 peaks over 5,000' which may not sound very high, but remember you can also windsurf the Pacific Ocean in this park.

Bleak Peak (5,430') and Bright Peak (5,745') are best approached from the Eklutna Lake Trailhead (900'). I opted to bike the 5 flat miles along the lake to the Bold Ridge trail. (0:25). After a quick-ish transition, it was time to head up the Bold Ridge Trail: an old, steep double-track with frequent switchbacks.

Berry alert!

• 2,100': watermelon berries aplenty
• 3,000' - 3,500': killer blueberries / crowberries

I left the Bold Ridge trail at 3,000' and traversed west crossing Sdaylent and Bold Creek. Elevation preservation was pointless through the deep but soft brush. After crossing the second creek, I pointed it up the SW ridge of Bleak. The directisimo was crushing but it got the job done quickly. (3:50)

The ridge between Bleak and Bright appeared techy so I descended to the pass between Bleak / Bright, dropped down to 4,500' (on the lake side of the ridge), and traversed into a steep South Facing scree gully. The gully was exhausting due to extremely loose gravel, scree, and mud. After gaining the ridge, loose scree mud gravel continued to aggravate right up to the summit. (5:10) The views more than made up for the effort.

Bold Peak from Bright

Marcus Baker and the Knik Glacier from Bright

More Chugach Gnarl

Bright is further back than I had expected. The easiest way back to the Bold Ridge trail is to follow the gentle ridge towards Bold Peak. Game trails make for quick travel. At Hunter Creek Pass, descend into the valley under Bold's huge North Face. Conveniently located springs provide much needed cool water.

Reenergized and rehydrated, I was able to pick up the pace. Eventually a thin trailed appeared which gradually thickened and before long I was on the Bold Ridge trail again. Blueberries were best at 3,000'-3,500', but in a few weeks the eating will be good up to 4,500'. The hike/bike out was uneventful and I was back in the lot 8:30 after leaving.

View of the Upper Route

Two more CSP peaks down. Hopefully the weather holds and I can get a few more before the snow flies.

- William Blake (a meek accountant)

table mountain august

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

2 badass un movable objects

Ptarmigan Couloir: August 4

It was one of those "come Hell or high water days." Common sense and weather forecasts be damned. I wanted my August and today was going to be the day. The destination is that most august of couloirs: Ptarmigan, a.k.a. the "S", a.k.a. the North drainage of Ptarmigan Peak.

In past years ('09 & '10), this has been my go to August ski. I knew what I was getting into so expectations were low. A strong wind head wind made for an exhausting peddle up the drainage. Intense gusts grabbed my skis and tried to wrest me from the saddle. Squirrelly. Once under the shot, I hucked my bike into a bush, upgraded my footwear to approach shoes, and started up the slick mud and loose scree.

Before

80 minutes after leaving the car-pack, it was time to upgrade again to AT boots and clamp-ons. The snow was softer then in previous years and there was less of it. Anchorage was in the midst of a 4 day rain storm which had tenderized the snow into manky mess, but the going was quick. After about 1,000' vert my journey had come to an abrupt end.

click here for video

Cruxed Out

The bad news was I couldn't go any higher, the good news: schuss time! Ledge: kicked in; boots clicked in. The temp and the pitch were both around 40°. The driving rain made one seem higher and other lower. But in spite of the weather and snow conditions, I was having multiple funs.

Looking Down

The turns were nice and carvy, but littered with rocks. I worked the slarve hard. Several times a strong uphill gust would align perfectly with my turn to send my spray rocketing into my face. It felt like someone was whipping rock salt into my face, but faceshots is faceshots even if they draw blood.

The Aftermath

(Went Left at the "Y" to where it Goes Black)

It was over all too soon or not soon enough. Hung jury on that one. Descending the scree/mud was much easier than the ascent, and the head-wind that fought me the entire ride was now a great ally. The ride was swift and chilly, but with the beer in site, a grin slowly appeared and worked its way into a disturbing cackle.

"Master! Master, you have driven him to the brink of insanity!"

And a swift back-hand instantly wiped that idiotic smirk off WAC's face.

- Rhett Butler

Alaska Fishing in July

The call came in: Crusty Sal was driving to the peninsula for a fishing rendezvous with Halibut Barbie. Hell yeah, I want in! The plan was to dip-net the Kenai River and be back by midnight. The 3-hour commute passed quickly, and Crusty and I picked up Halibut at the Safeway in Kenai. When dealing with Halibut Barbie remember this: no plan is absolute. So, it came as no surprise when after 20 minutes of dip-netting / swimming, HB was had devised a better plan: fly fishing with the Meyer Boys. We weren't having much luck dip-netting, so it was easy to pack it in and move the junk show upriver.

Crusty Sal Channeling her Inner Brad Pitt at Midnight

The new location and technique did not improve our luck and it was time to make the long drive home. Then Halibut gave us the hard sell: "How'd ya like to go commercial fishing tomorrow with my brother, Cap'n Fancy Pants. He could use a few extra deck-hands." I quickly called into work to let the bossman know that I wouldn't be showing up as expected 6 hours hence.

We awoke to to blue skies, warm temps, and calm seas. The weather could not have been any nicer. Milli Vanilli and Technotronic provided the perfect soundtrack as we motored down the Kenai River and into the Cook Inlet. Cap'n Fancy Pants had a spot in mind and we sped towards the mark. Once there, we quickly developed a nice routine: set the net, crank the music, snacks, cribbage, jump into the ocean, dance, sun bathe, and then haul in the salmons. Naps were also snuck in as needed. Commercial fishing is fun!

Halibut Barbie "Freeing" the Sockeye

Mountain Volcano Iliamna in the Background

Cap'n Fancy Pants and a Rogue Sand Shark

We fished between Nikiski and Clam Gulch and the Neacola and Chigmit Mountains were in full view. Glaciers, aretes, and couloirs, oh my! It gets a man to thinking about Old Man Winter and his adrenaline dispensary. But on a day like this, it's tough to contemplate winter for long. Today is for swimming, and flip flops, and no shirts, and thanking the pagan gods of the sea for filling my freezer.

- Salty Pete

Closing Day Alta / Deseret Peak

CLOSING DAY ALTA!

Ahhhh the Highboyz Party! A celebratory last day of lift serviced Alta skiing. 730" + into the season was more reason to be excited. I happened to be at the top of Collins lift early in the morning dressed in my best, a purple gore tex one piece and harness. When I saw Dylan, Lars, McKenna, and Silas also were wearing harnesses and had a rope it seemed only fitting I say whats up?! 30 minutes later I changed from my Olin Mark IV's to my touring skis and was skinning to the top of Sugarloaf peak to catch the gang.

After zipping across the backside of Devils Castle we stood on top of the Castle Couloir. A steeper drop in to a 50 degree zig zag seemed to bore Lars so we climbed higher and towards East Castle. From there Lars went to scope a line (on tele skis) that I was unsure that I should be even looking at let alone skiing, but hey we had harnesses. Lars disapeared over the edge, saying "it goes, but it gets technical down here"

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!

Dylan Went Big

We got back to reality of the ski area, to hit a few more laps and started partying. It was the closing day after all.

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.

DESERET PEAK!!!!!

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.

Dropping in on one of the Twin Couloirs. Here the snow was good, further down was a debris chunk fest but not for long. 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.

Ptarmigan Tarn Snowfield: July 3

While most of us have already packed up the skis for the year, there are 2 AK locals who just got Day 1 of the 10/11 season. No, this isn't some Southern hemisphere brain teaser. Nor is it due to injury or laziness or some other transgression.

Daisy, a.k.a. Noodler II, and Finn got their 1st turns of the season and of their lives over this long holiday weekend. This was despite a low snow year and bears abound.

Finn (age: 249 days) and Touring Partner Daisy (age: 266 days)

Daisy and Finn are starting "the game" early. And like so many of our friends, they made DB Noodler carry their equipment. Not content with the free equipment haul, Daisy and Finn insisted that their respective handlers physically carry them to this high snow field. The young princess sussed the mountainside from the back of her NooNoo, and signaled when an acceptable slope came into view.

Daisy Dropping In....

The young schussers were unable to verbalize a proper conditions report, but as the video demonstrates: it was the best ski day of Daisy's life.

Todd's: July 3

On a recent trip to Seward, I noticed Todd's on Tincan Ridge was looking surprisingly good. Sunday would be judgment day and at the crack of noon, I was off.

Todd's from the Highway

Roadside snow is long gone, so I had mentally prepared for a punishing bushwhack. But lo, what light through yonder window breaks? A trail. ¡No mierda!

Caution!

The summer trail avoids all bushwhacking and generally follows the winter skinner until reaching the tundra. I was able to skirt the snow fields until the final ridge to Tincan Common. Even then, the snow hiking was short lived. After a leisurely 2-hour walk, I was looking down Todd's. My feet were shocked when they were shoved unceremoniously into their dark plastic dungeons. But that was their problem, not mine.

Still Plenty of Snow Up High

The snow was soft and tempted me to let 'em run. I attempted to oblige, but large sun-cups dictated a more conservative strategy. The snow was fun and super carvy when speeds were in the reasonable range. After a quick 1,700' vert, the Atomics lunged into a trademarked high-speed tundra docking. Now was the time for leniency for the poor feet. Your sentence is hereby commuted to time served.

Arty Black & White Photos Mean Crap Weather

The snow is good and may hang on for worthwhile turns for another week or two. The trail is in great shape and Todd's provides to perfect redemption to being skunked on the Russian.

- Sylvain Chomet

Mid-June Anchorage Snow Report

Of course you can always go higher or deeper into the park, but decent turns can still be found close to town.

Blue skies and a late start on Saturday meant the Glen Alps trailhead would be packed. A chance encounter with the Noodler provided for fine conversation until a legal spot opened up. With ski gear, ax, and clamp-ons loaded onto to my back, the goat rodeo was underway.

Chugach State Park Style Bike Rack

Ptarmigan Couloir lies in wait roughly 3 miles up the Power Line trail. As of Saturday AM, the continuous snow began 300-400' off the deck with 2,000' of skiing pushing towards the ridge. 2-4" of soft summer goodness sat atop a firm base throughout the entire run. A good slide slip push was enough to motivate the surface mank to ooze down several pre-existing runnels. The bottom 1/3 is melting quick; however, the top 2/3 is in it for the long haul.

Opted for the Hanging Dog Leg Off the Ridge

(click here for scale - climber 90% to the ridge)

Sunday did not look promising but the OCD man that lives in my head demanded that the quest for 100 end today. Wild Bill and I decided to go for the forbidden fruit of McVeigh Creek. Again 2-3" of summer soft on carvable firm. Nike #1 was good for 1,000 vert while Nike #2 yielded a continuous 800 if you include the half-dozen tundra jump turns. We contemplated hitting #2 again, but there were a couple Passenger 57 Black Ale home brews stashed in the creek eagerly awaiting our return.

Wild Bill on the Lookout for Skiable Snow

Surfing the "Wave" in Nike #2

- John Cutter

Thank you OCD man for keeping track!

Days: 100

Back Country Days: 94

Solo Days: 45

Vert: 52 miles

P.S.: Foraker from 23,000': June 17, 2011