Mountaineering Trip of a Lifetime

My Summer Mountaineering Trip

Well friends, I am a bit behind.  As I write about the warmest day in southcentral Alaska this year, 77F, we have just survived an arctic blast that dropped temps into the single digits.  At the end of June, I took a 9-day mountaineering trip as a member of the Mountaineering Club of Alaska (MCA) - http://mtnclubak.org/.  This is an awesome organization and the membership is only $15.  If you ever visit Alaska, check out this club and consider joining a mountaineering trip or find a local club.

Warning, this is a long post with almost 50 pictures.

I will start with some introductions:
Greg is our expert mountaineer who created the concept of this trip as a teaching trip. He is the Huts Chairman of the MCA who supports his mountaineering hobby by working as a dentist.
Matt is our second teacher who is pursuing is real career in outdoor leadership after serving in the military.
Jason works in environmental science as a consultant and kept us informed on the flora and some fauna.
Anna competed on the US rowing team and was between jobs while hanging out in Alaska.  She subsquently moved to the best state in the Union, the one with 56 14,000 ft mountains for those of you who might have been slightly misguided.



Day 1: June 23 - Hiking 9 miles in
We began our trip meeting part of the group in Anchorage, then picking up the rest in Palmer and driving to the trailhead.  While we staged one car at the exit location, the rest of us worked on packing gear.  We carried a minimal amount of clothing to leave space for food and tools.  Pictured here are Anna, myself and Jason.  (Photo taken by Greg).

Unfortunately, I did not get to weight my pack, but I am confident it exceeded 70 pounds on day one between gear and food.  I had to attach my sleeping bag, old style snowshoes, crampons, ice axe, hiking pole and helmet to the outside of the pack.  The colorful thing above the snowshoes is a homemade camera case.  I cut up a foam role and built the case around the camera, then taped it together with electric tape.  It worked reasonably well using the camera strap as a sling, but I learned the hard way the value of having all of year gear strapped securely to your body or pack.  I have created a beta version of the camera case that now has a hip belt.

We started at an elevation just above 2000 feet and then followed a moderate trail about 9 miles, then went about 2000 feet up to reach the Mint Hut.  About four miles in, we stopped for lunch on the trail.  If you look just past the heads and gear, you will see that the trail was flooded. From left to right: Jason, Anna, Matt, and Greg.

This is where things started getting rough.  About three miles, I had worn a decent bit of skin off both my heels and patched them up with mole skin.  Then around mile six, my feet took a few dunks in the flooded trails near the beaver dam.  In addition to that, I was carrying 70 pounds on the warmest day in southcentral Alaska.  Now, I don't think that 77F is hot, but I will tell you that carrying 70 pounds on your back in a valley under direct sun is hot.  As much as I hydrated at every opportunity, I promptly sweat it out on the trail.  (Photo by Greg)

Home sweet, mountain home!  This is the Mint Hut, one of seven in the MCA system of huts.  Membership is required to use the huts, which are fantastic.  We spent three nights at the Mint Hut and used it as base for several activities.






Day 2:  June 24 - How to fall training

This was not a camera friendly activity day.  We started from the hut and hiked a few hundred feet to find a good slope for falling.  We began with a bit of snow travel basics: how to use an ice axe, how to turn, team communication and positioning.  Then we went into self-arrest work otherwise known as how stop your self in a fall.  Basically, you slam the pick into the snow with your dominant hand on the adze and leverage it into the mountain with your non-dominant hand.  At rest, you pound, both toes into the snow until you have a solid stop.  We started out simple: sliding down the mountain feet first, head down.  Just slam the axe into the snow and arrest.  Then we proceeded to feet first, head up.  Just twist, slam, arrest.  Then things got a bit tougher.  Head first, head down.  From there plant the axe to the side, which rotates your feet down, twist, slam, arrest.  This took a few seconds to accomplish and then it got really tough: head first, head up.  This is what a climber would face if one fell backwards off the mountain.  First, you have to roll onto your stomach, plant the pick, rotate to feet first, then arrest.  Even in terrain chosen for training, it is a bit disconcerting to slide head first down a mountain on your back.  After working on the tough skills, we proceeded to the easy: glacading.  Glacading is quite simple: plant your butt on the ground, keep your torso upright, slide down using an ice axe or ski pole as your rudder and brake.

Day 3: June 25 - Crampon training and ice climbing

If you see this burly mountaineer coming toward you, just calm him down with a history question!  Take a loot at the snowshoes, they are the old sherpa style as I had none of my own and these are what the club had to lend out.  I had a rough start using these snowshoes.  I didn't get the claw into the snow at first and did a lot of sliding backwards.  Thankfully, the ice axe and pole kept me on my feet, protecting both my bum and my pride.  On the left is Will, who started his hike in the early a.m. to join us just for day 3 as an additional ice climbing instructor.  (Photo by Matt)

 

This is the value of working hard to climb high, amazing eye level views of the mountains and bird's eye views of the valleys below. The valley floor is visible for most of the nine miles that our group hiked on the first day.

This a snow covered lake on a mountain glacier, a beautiful sight to see in person.

This is the Mint Glacier where I learned to climb ice.  Matt and Will set up a climbing course, while Greg taught Anna, Jason and I how to use crampons.  Due to the teeth, you must remember to walk carefully and keep your ankles apart to avoid ripping your pants.  It is also crucial to keep the points perpendicular to the plane of ice, which can be a bit challenging on one's ankles and calves when the slope begins to exceed 45 degrees.  There are several different methods of positing the feet including  12 o'clock with a 9/3 o'clock, duck wadding, and a french climbing technique.  Seriously, walking has not been this much fun since I was probably two, which I don't remember.

Here is the climbing course.  Unfortunately, I didn't get any pictures of me climbing on this pitch.  The key to ice climbing is to be patient and rely on your quadriceps as opposed to the bicep/tricep combination of the your arms.  Most of your weight is supported on the front teeth of the crampons slammed into the ice with a bit on the ice tools.  Using ice tools is a finesse skill, because if you hurl them into the ice, it is a lot harder to get them out.  On the first climb, I used both ice tools, then on the second, I relied only on my crampons using gloved hands simply to keep my body steady.   As the waterfalls freeze, I am looking forward to more ice climbing opportunities.

I think Matt was amused at the artistic work that went into taking care of my feet each day.  As you can see, I cut a pair of holes for the different blisters and shaped the mole skin to fit around my ankle. Then I had to tape the setup in place. I did this everyday to prevent any exacerbation of the original injury from day 1. (Photo by Matt)

At the end of the day, we practiced some self-rescue climbing in preparation for glacier travel on the next day. We attached a rope to a hook on the second floor of the Mint Hut and proceeded to use our prussiks to climb up the rope.  My harness is attached to the rope, same as it would be while traveling across a glacier.  Then I have a set of Texas prussiks (red and black rope) that supports my feet and is attached to the main rope.  The purple webbing is a chest harness which is attached to my climbing harness and also a chest prussik (solid red).  A prussik knot is a special knot that grips the main rope when force is applied downward (the large bearded body).  The knot can be thumbed just loose enough to slide up the rope.  So in the case of a fall I would stand on the leg (Texas Prussiks)  and slide the chest prussik upward with the foot prussiks support my entire weight.  Then I sit back putting all my weight on the chest prussik, while I slide the foot prussiks up.  This would allow me to begin climbing out of a crevasse about 8-9 inches at a time while the team worked to rescue me as well.



Day 4: June 26 - Over the gap, onto glacier and to the Bomber Hut we go!

Yes, we are wearing sunglasses on a day without any visible sun.  Although it seems silly, the UV rays reflect off of the snow like crazy at high altitudes in the land of high latitude.  (As an aside, I need sun glasses just to drive in Anchorage today because the sun is so low and bright).  After 3 nights at the Mint Hut, read 8 less meals to carry, we packed up and prepared to climb backdoor gap and drop onto the Penny Royal glacier. From left to right: Matt, Jason, Me, Anna. (Photo by Greg)

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I think this was the toughest part of the trip.  We ascended over 1000 feet in roughly half a mile, but the snow was very firm making it hard to get solid footing.  I got so warm that I took off one shirt, rolled up my sleeves and vented my pants.  It was close to freezing outside and I was doing everything possible to remove clothing. I felt a great sense of accomplishment once I got out of the snow and onto the rock. (Photo by Jason)

Well, this is awkward.  I don't know exactly why, but I am not sure if I have ever seen a more awkward look my face.  This is the summit of backdoor gap where we took our lunch break.  Just in case you are curious about my mountaineering necklace, it is a whistle with a lighter taped to it.  In case of an fall, avalanche, emergency, each of us had a way to make a lot of noise or create heat.  I advise that everyone add this to their outdoor gear. (Photo by Greg)

After lunch, we ropped up to cross the Penny Royal Glacier, which was covered with snow.  Each person puts on their climbing harness, same thing as used for rock climbing or ice climbing.  We are each connect to the root via a butterfly knot and locking caribiner.  The leader is constantly probing the ground with an ice axe before stepping on that portion of the glacier.  The goal is to keep just a bit of slack in the rope so that if anyone falls the closest climber dives in the opposite direction into a self-arrest position.  Then the rest of the team proceeds to setup a rescue if the fallen climber cannot simply climb out.  This picture was taken after we crossed the portion of the glacier most likely to have crevasses (large cracks).  From left to right: Jason, me, Anna, Matt. (Photo by Greg)

 This is the pond at Bomber Hut.  After the hike, the clouds lifted and we enjoyed views once again.









Day 5: June 27 - Rest

Our team was exhausted after the climb over backdoor gap and the weather on day five did not look particularly favorable for crossing another glacier.  So, we simply decided to chill out for the day.  Matt and I were up first and we started decorating the honey bear as a climber.  Matt created the athletic tape harness, while I fashioned a set of string prussiks.

Then I added a matchbook ice axe and a cliff bar pack.  Our honey bear was re-named Danger Bear, becoming the official mascot of our trip.

Always take a book!  I packed a hardback for my reading.  I made it about a third of the way through Prof. Neely's latest book on Lincoln and the Constitution.  Later in the day, we did a little bit of work to clean up the hut removing old wood and attaching hooks into the corrugated metal siding. (Photo by Matt)







Day 6 - June 28: Crevasse Rescue on the Glacier in the Rain

I served as navigator for this day which started with picking our way through a boulder filled valley and the climbing up the snow (see right).  Once we reached the glacier, we ropped up.  In clear weather, the navigator is put in the back to keep the team in line, but in poor weather, the navigator takes the crevasse-bait position.  Thus I proceeded forwarded slowly probbing the ground with my ice axe and periodically checking the compass.  Thankfully we did not fall, into the glacier and we hit the bomber wreck spot on. (Photo by Jason)

Bomber Glacier is so named after a B-29 that crashed here in the cold war era.  The crew thought the plane was close to Anchorage and began descending until the pilot saw the mountain peaks, but sadly he could not pull up in time.  About half of the crew perished. The Boy Scouts recently palced a marker in honor of the event.  In the picture, Matt is repatriating a piece of the wreckage that some one took and left in on of the huts.

After lunch on ice (literally), we went to work practicing crevasse rescue by setting up 3:1, 5:1 and 9:1 (double 3:1's) systems.  This is wear pulleys and mechanical physics comes into play to save lives.  On the first round, Greg and Matt demonstrated how to set up the system, then Jason, Anna and I did set it up on the second round. As we were tying knots, setting anchors and pulling Greg (fallen climber) around, it began raining.  Rain on ice is very cold.  We had to move our feet constantly or stand on our sleeping pads to keep out feet warm.  In this picture, the anchor has been set below the picture and an additional rope with a pulley has been sent down to the fallen climber.  An additional pulley has been attached to the system and prussiks have been set to prevent the climber from falling further when the system is reset.  Anna is on the left, Jason is managing the prussiks, Greg is the fallen climber and I am the mule (the guy who pulls you out).  (Photo by Matt)

This is our team on the edge a hill as we depart the Bomber glacier.  The rain passed, but it was still a very cloudy day.  From left: Jason, Anna, myself and Greg.  (Photo by Matt)









Day 7: June 29 - Half-day hike to the lake

We awoke this to beautiful clear blue skies and full mountain sun light.  Consequently, we took our time that morning enjoying the views while making breakfast, cleaning up and pack slower than usual.  It was such a gift from God to enjoy these views after five days that were predominantly overcast.

My claim to fame!  This picture is now apart of the MCA 2013 Calender as the month of August.  Cost is $13 if anyone would like a copy, let me know. As I walked out of the Bomber Hut that morning and planted my foot, the last board on the step gave way.  I found a piece of spare wood, sawed it to the proper length and nailed it in place to repair the front step.  This picture won 3rd place for people shots in the MCA calender.  (Photo by Greg) 

As we left the Bomber Hut and headed toward Snowbird Lake, we had one stream to cross, which had a good bit of water due to the abundance of sunlight that day.  Jason got across first and snapped this picture of the group.  From front to back: Greg, Matt, Anna, me. (Photo by Jason)

Impromptu mountain waterfall!  We saw several of these waterfalls as we passed through one valley and made a left turn into another valley.

Group picture!  No, Greg is not small, just kneeling.  Again, we had the glacier glasses (Greg and Matt) and sunglasses  (me and Jason) out for eye protection.  From left: Greg, me, Anna, Matt, Jason.

We reached the lake in the mid-afternoon, dropped our gear and pitched tents.  I decided to take a bath in the lake, still 80% covered with ice as you will see shortly.  I waded into the lake via one of the streams draining from the waterfall above slowly descending into the 32.0000001 degree water.  As my body screamed ABORT, ABORT, GET OUT NOW, I kept going and then ducked my head under.  Nothing ever felt so cold!

This is our cook station created by tying a tarp to our various hiking poles and creating guy lines with rocks and string.  From left: me, Jason, Greg, Anna.  (Photo by Matt)

Although we did not see nor expect any bears, we stored our food to prevent animals from attaining it.  Instead of caching our food by burying it in the snow, Jason did a bit of bouldering and we stored it on top of the rocks. 

Evening entertainment including sunning and rock bowling.  Once the sun dropped past the mountains (about 6:30 p.m.) we were stuck in a shadow, which was cold, even though sunset was about midnight (1 wk after longest day of the year).  So without much else to do, we called it an early night and headed for the tents. From left: Matt, Anna, Jason. 





Day 8: Jun 30 - Rappelling, Rock Climbing, and the Snowbird Hut

Our crew doubled in size this day.  Our friend Austin, who is 17, hiked in with his dad and sister to teach us rock climbing and Will joined as once again as well.  We climbed up the waterfall above the lake to set up for rappelling and then climbing.  I enjoy rappelling a quite bit.  As long is the rope is secure with a good anchor attached to some BFR's (Big Freaking Rocks), you can self belay using a chest-prussik.  It is as simple as sticking your butt down and out and then walking backwards down the rock.

This is two of three climbs that our leaders set up for the group.  The first climb followed the cracks to the left of the rock jutting out from the corner.  However, this rock proved to be very flaky so we switched to climbing along the rough on the far right of the picture.  (My apologies for the pictures that appear washed out.  We had bright reflected light rather than direct sunlight so that created a white color in the picture that matches the website background).

 I find rock climbing more difficulit than ice climbing.  Only a few climbers have my build.  This is a sport where it helps to be a string bean rather than a bear.  I was not able to reach the top of either pitch but got about 3/4 of the way up each time.  I also took one swinging fall, which turned out to be a lot of fun.  I hit the rock face squarely with my back and shoulders easily distributing the impact. (Photo by Jason)

After rock climbing, we descended back down to the lake, packed up and hike back up the waterfall to head toward the snowbird hut.  Along the way I stepped in the snow a bit to close to the rock creating a gash on my left leg that proceeded to bleed as if aorta had been severed.  At least it made for a nice scar to create a constant visual reminder of this awesome trip!  (Photo by Jason)

Ah, the view!  One of the best things about outhouses in the wilderness are the views (see my Brooks Camp post for another example).














This is Snowbird Lake from the ledge of the mountain. 


 

Snowbird Glacier and its Nunatak.  Nunatak is an Eskimo word for a mountain peak sticking out of the snow and ice.

This is the American Alpine Club's (http://americanalpineclub.org/) Snowbird Hut.  Note the rock piling foundations that hold the structure in place while elevating it off of the frozen ground.

Every trip has its dirty laundry.  You just don't have space nor would you wish to carry the extra weight to have a change of new clothes each day.  The most important things, socks, must be kept dry.  By this point in the trip, we were all very familiar with the funk and kept on enjoying the trip anyways.












Day 9: July 1 - Down and out

Starting the last day of such a great adventure was a dissapointment as you can see from the picture.  I an the process of creating a figure eight knot to attach to the rope for crossing the glacier.  With addition of two people (the other two stayed), we split into two rope teams of three, I was on the second team.  Greg decided to give us one more lesson in crevasse rescue and took a dive near the end of the glacier.  So my team, moved forward and proceeded to set an anchor, pass down a pulley and then pull the "fallen" climber up.   After we excepted the glacier, we had some very nice glacading until we reached snowless ridges. (Photo by Matt)

Yes, consumption of peanut butter is exciting, although I would understand if you found this picture scary.  We took a quick lunch near the remains of the old Snowbird mine before we dropped down below the clouds and back onto a trail a wide as road.  In the mid afternoon we reached the trail head and made a stop at the Taco Bell in Palmer around 4p.  I couldn't tell if other customers were more surprised by our smell or Anna's height (she is 6'1").  I think it was height as opposed to the smell, because its Alaska and people are use to seeing others randomly wonder in from the wilderness.
From left: Greg, me, Jason (Photo by Matt)

Here is a partial map of the trip.  We began at the Mint trail head which is off the map and then followed the path (right side) to the Mint Hut.  ON day four, we left Mint Hut and proceeded over Backdoor Gap and across Penny Royal Glacier to the Bomber Hut.  On day six, we made a trip from Bomber Hut to the Bomber Glacier and back.  Then on day seven we followed the path to the Snowbird Lake. We moved up from the lake to the hut on day eight and then followed the trail to the Reed Lakes trail head (off the map) on day 9.  All told, I think this trip was about 25 miles.  It was certainly an adventure of a lifetime.

Congratulations for surviving this blog post!

To the Artic and Back

Yes, this is a job, my job!

Hello family and friends!  It has been a very busy couple of months since I last wrote.  In the meantime I have been hiking, climbing, and rappelling in Alaska followed by a trip south to get my library, visit my family and watch my friend get married.  Upon returning to Alaska, I hosted  a friend who was stuck here due to car trouble and just this morning my put  studded tires on my bike as the snow stuck yesterday. (it melted this morning though).

In the second week of June, I left Anchorage to make a site visit to the Bering Land Bridge National Preserve (http://www.nps.gov/bela/index.htm ) for work.  Essentially I became a photo journalist as my task included hiking around a hot springs and taking photographs to record the scenery and structures.  Those photos will become part of a National Register of Historic Places nomination. I got a window seat on the flight out of Anchorage and made good use of the zoom lens.

This picture shows where I spend most of my time in Anchorage.  (Open the picture in a new window to get a good idea of where I live and work).  Start with the yellow building in the picture, then move down through the white tents to the red tent.  From that red tent, trace the line of the tent right until you have moved across the street to the second building (the middle of the three buildings before you hit the parking deck).  That’s my building, Turnagain Arms.  The picture is a bit fuzzy, but one of the windows closest to the parking lot with the tents is me.  I live across the street from the Hilton with a wonderful  alley view of a beautiful green dumpster (hey, at least it’s not pink!)  Go back to the yellow building, now move just left to the blue building and then kitty-cornered (left/up) to the large parking deck.  Top/left of the parking deck is a medium size building with blue windows, the regional office of the Alaska NPS, where I work.  I have a five block walk, which is quite nice. Also note the mudflats on the far right and the bike trail, which is the road barely visible and just left of the mud.

On June 10^th and the Kotzebue Sound was still iced in.  The ice was flowing north of Kotzebue, but the sound still had ice on my departure and probably didn’t clear out until the last week of the month.  “Summer” is very short in the arctic.

Although this picture is hazy, I think you can make out the runway which is  ¾ normal length.  I was on a 737 and as you can see the runway is surrounded by water, no room for errors here!

Upon landing in Kotzebue, I got a ride about a mile over to my dorm and then spent the afternoon exploring Kotz, which has 4 long streets (about 1.5 miles).  I found a church for an evening service and it turned out they were having a cookout on the beach.  Yes, I got to have church on the beach in the arctic!

Fire suppression, arctic style!

 This is a map of the northwest parklands in Alaska.  Kotz, is in the circle in the middle of the map and serves as the headquarters for these parks except for the Bering Land Bridge National Preserve whose headquarters are down in Nome (lower left hand corner).  The arctic circle (66’ 30”) runs across the very top of the Seward Peninsula (piece on lower pointing directly toward Russia, only about 60 miles away).  So, I spent most of the week just south of the arctic circle, but still well within the 10C isotherm, which is a more meaningful climate measurement.  (Avg summer high reaches 10C/50F – meaning that only a top parts of the soil actually thaw).

This is one of the two prop planes that we took from Kotz down to Serpentine Hot Springs, about an hour long flight.

This is another shot of the Kotzebue Sound, near the cape.  Note the village of Deering.  Some of these residents will travel south, generally in the middle of the winter, to the hot springs.

Runway approach at Serpentine Hot Springs.  The 1000 foot runway was bladed  in near the end of World War II.  The bunkhouse and bathhouse are visible on the left along with Hot Springs Creek.  This view shows the northwest end of the territory that I hiked across Monday through Friday.  

This is the bathhouse at Serpentine Hot Springs, which was built in the 1970s.  The boiling temperatures of the water produce steam which is easily visible for a few miles in various directions.  The tors, diabase sill outcroppings, are visible in the background.  The hot springs, tors and general landscape (but not the buildings) combine to form a place called Iyat (pronounced Eye-yacht), which has been and still is sacred to the native Inupiat peoples.

This picture, looking southwest gives a good indication of part of Iyat which is being nominated as a Traditional Cultural Property (TCP).  A TCP is a place to which a group of people ascribes important rituals, practices or traditions that continues to hold that importance whether the rituals, practices or traditions still occur today.  While  historic preservationists tend to associate TCP’s with ethnic minorities, this need not be the case.  A neighborhood swimming pool, ballpark or just about any community space could qualify.

If you have ever wondered where your remote weather data comes from, here is one example on the Bering Land Bridge.  The closest settlements of people are almost 100 miles away.

Arctic tundra is a bit different than alpine tundra, which is what I am most familiar with growing up in the Rocky Mountains (for those of you on the other side of the Mississippi, you don’t have any local tundra).  While alpine tundra is typically flat and firm, arctic tundra is not.  It is comprised of layers of mosses and muskeg.  This picture shows a muskeg.  Imagine a giant mushroom like object with grass growing out of it.  Now consider what would happen if you attempted to step on top of this.  I found the the muskeg would frequently roll, while a couple of my lighter companions had an easier time walking across it.

 

If you choose not to walk on the muskeg, then you get to deal with the squishy mosses.  I quickly learned to walk with my toes pointed down so that when the mosses sucked my foot in, my heel was not planted.  The moss/muskeg combination seems to be most prevalent at altitudes under 800 feet.  Yes, you read that correctly, arctic tundra is found at an altitude less than 1000 feet.  However, I have learned that high latitude mimics high altitude.  It is my opinion that in the Anchorage area, 3,000 feet  feels a lot like 10,000 feet in the Rockies.  I am not quite so sure of an approximation on the Seward Peninsula, because my elevation never exceeded 1400 feet (except in an airplane).

Breathtaking, just breathtaking.

 Our team!  Naturally, you are familiar with dashing mountain man historian on the left.  To right is Mike, who is the archaeologist for the WEAR parks, Tina who was on internship through the Student Conservation Association (and a fellow Penn Stater – yup, we have such an alumni network that we cross paths in northwest Alaska) and Hannah, who is currently a student-archaeologist and will join the NPS full time after graduation.  In addition to my documentary work, Mike and Hannah preformed archaeology field work and site checks.

A final shot of Iyat from the air as we left.  Over five days, we hiked about 30 miles over the ridge lines to the left and right of the hot springs as well as the first line of tors in the distant background and a series of bluffs just below the foreground.  Yes, this is a job!

Here is a clearer picture of the Kotz runway taken from the front seat of a cessna.

Welcome to main street Kotzebue, Alaska.  I think this was third street.  Kotz does not appear different from small rural towns, except that all of the houses are elevated three-five feet above the ground because of the permafrost.  That, and an occasional polar bear might stop by to visit.

The Alaskan Range from on high.  My flight back, the segment from Nome to Anchorage, over the mountains was amazing.  These peaks are a part of the range that includes Denali, elevation 20,320.  The large patches of snow are most certainly glaciers. Although there were two and a half months of melting still to come, most of these peaks will never be snow free.