Hardwear Sessions

First, I headed to Valdez in April for some skiing and ski-guide training. A highlight was the unexpected heli landing on top of Ice Palace, a beautiful remote and not often skied peak. We learned that even our ski guide instructor has to work hard to make on-sight downhill guiding safe, smooth, and fun. There began a two night excursion with lots of fun descents and great people. After many days of excellent ski mountaineering, sled practice, crevasse rescues, and sleeping in snow caves, it was hard to say goodbye when our trip ended. Erica will hopefully be a core ski buddy- she will be at the top of the list for my next ski expedition. Ben handed off some great tunes and corrupted me with Californication episodes. Mark's solid friendship will hopefully help me get to sunny New Mexico for some climbing. Hopefully, I'll be seeing Greg and Mark in the Idaho-Wyoming vortex. This spot is a mecca that I have just begun to explore.

After Valdez, I ventured to Talkeetna where some fortunate last-minute work popped up. Alaska Mountaineering School hired me to take two brothers: Mark and Steve for a twelve day climbing adventure in Little Switzerland. We flew in after a storm deposited two feet of fresh snow and large cornices on all the North and East facing ridges. We quickly reviewed essential mountaineering skills: traveling roped on a glacier, digging pits, crevasse rescue, and anchor building. But the weather was too good so we set to climbing some of the safer classic routes in the area. I realized that I had a great team on my rope on the third day as we were approaching the summit of Little Arapile. We were situated just below a difficult rocky section. I asked them if they wanted to get gnarly and do some mixed climbing or if they wanted to head up the easier snow to the left. Mark looked at both options and just nodded his head towards the rock. So we went. And they sent. We managed to all crawl on top of the tiny block of a summit and revel in the fabulous views of the Alaska Range before heading over to the Plunger for another radical ascent that day. Again, Mark and Steve, despite my doubts were eager to try a pitch of 5.9 rock in their plastic mountaineering boots- and we all sent! This set the mood for the trip, and we had many more excellent summits: Italy's Boot, The Lost Marsupial, and the Hobbits Footstool. This is in addition to building some excellent emergency shelters and sending lots of overhanging seracs. We had just enough bad weather to truly appreciate all the great weather. The views took our breath away and instigated devious planning for future adventures. Mt. Russel, anyone?