Another Great Day

Figuring we may get a break in the weather I headed up to Tincan again today and skinned to the same spot as yesterday. It had snowed another 10 inches over night and stayed cold so the snow was great. The north face of Tincan avalanched today, a sign of the lingering weak layer formed earlier in the year. As the year progresses and snowpack matures and heals, I will head back to some of the larger peaks and faces in the pass, but for now, Tincan is a nice, relatively safe slope to ride. I met some great guys on the way down today and I inluded a photo of Justin and his dog. No kidding, dogs probably outnumbered people today on Tincan, it looked like hard work.
Cheers,
josh

Pie

Sunday night I did something that no single, 26 year old male who has a week off at a time should do; I baked a pie. I inherited a load of rhubarb and raspberries from my mom, so this fall I cut a load of rhubarb and picked bowl after bowl of raspberries and stuck them in the freezer for a slow Sunday. Alas, that Sunday came. I found a simple recipe online and baked a Raspberry/Rhubarb pie that actually wasn't that bad. In an attempt to prove that men can actually bake a marginally aesthetically pleasing pie, I took a few pictures. Next time I will attempt my own crust. For the record, my mom bakes an amazing rhubarb pie that I will have a hard time matching; this is a start......

Big snow at Tincan

I started Hiking around 11:30

And got back to the car around 3:00


Today, despite not finding anyone to go with, I cruised up to Turnagain and hiked Tincan. It was clear overhead at my house when i left, and by the time i got to Tern Lake it was a complete whiteout. Everyone was pumped for the snow at Tincan parking lot and it was a great day to be up there. I hiked about three quarters of it today due to avalanche hazards and rode a great line through the trees to the skiers right of the parking lot. There was waist deep snow all the way down. I didn't take my camera up because it would have been soaked by the time i got back to the car, but I did take some photo's to show you how much snow there was today. I have included a photo that shows where Tincan is in the pass and if you look for "Tincan Common" on the photo, that is usually where we hike to. The Chugach National Forest's Avalanche Center web site is here. It is a great website for weather cams when driving through the pass, checking avalanche conditions and it's recently been remodeled so it's now super user friendly.
cheers,
josh

Tincan

Turnagain Arm from the top of Tincan

Skin Removal

Today Jordan and I met at Turnagain pass lot and skinned up Tincan mountain. Jordan recently got an A/T set up similair to mine and he is taking every free day to get used to it. Rondonee or A/T is sort of a cross between telemarking and downhill skiing. With A/T gear you can use skins and free your heel on the hike up, and then lock your heel down and alpine ski down. The light was marginal, but we did get a little sun here and there. We started hiking around noon and were the last ones on the mountain by our descent at 3:30. We had a blast and it was great to be back in the mountains. I really love these pictures and I think that the mountain shots are some of the best I have captured yet. I have been learning a lot about the camera with the help of Erik (many, many phone calls at odd hours) and the D-90 is super rewarding and worth every cent.

cheers!

josh

Obsession

I apologize for a blank week of posts. While i haven't been posting, I have been taking photographs. This Redoubt climb has been weighing on my mind lately and it seems to be all i can think about. Tyler Johnson emailed me tonight as he happened to be in town for a meeting and we met up at kaladi brothers to discuss Redoubt. Tyler and two others summited redoubt two summers ago. Their trip was unique in that they crossed the inlet in a zodiac and climbed beach to summit and back, skinning all the way up, and skiing back down. Tyler had great pointers and some good pictures. We are still piecing together the group that will head over in May and so far it is a great group. These photo's were taken throughout this last week and the daylight ones were taken today. We are due for some snow this weekend and hopefully soon after the skis will be on the airplane for the winter.
cheers,

Jordan's Surprise

Jordan's girlfriend Barb had been planning a surprise party for him down at my place on friday, so that day, I met up with the traveling party goers at the skyline parking lot and the the men went up skyline while the ladies went back into town to get ready for the evening. We had great weather on skyline with a little snow on the top ridge. That evening we came back to a spaghetti dinner and a great evening with new and old friends alike. I snagged a pretty good cold yesterday so i have been laying low, thinking of heading up to the pass tomorrow if i'm feeling better and the weather holds.
hope all is well,

Wax 'em up

Had a pretty domestic day gettin ready for winter, cleaned the garage, swept the floor, waxed the sticks. Got a quote for a bathroom renovation and new flooring yesterday. The bathroom is going to look really nice after the remodel. Robert Batson came over and said that the bathroom actually looks pretty good (I was worried about some mold issues) and suggested a few things that will really spruce it up. Looking at new flooring, new toilet, new sink and light fixtures and possibly some new tile for the shower. Big plans that could come to fruition after Turnaround out at tesoro this spring with some sweet overtime cash. Enjoy these pictures taken with the new camera and Picasa editing!Cheers

The Russell Incident

First View of Russell

Base Camp, Russell on the left

Tail Ski Issues
Duct Tape repair, that's a lot of duct tape.....
The Otter in the hangar as it looked the day we flew back to Talkeetna from Mt. Russell

Our Mount Russell trip had a lot of firsts for everyone on the trip (unfortunately for some). This trip marked the first guided climb on Mt. Russell (seventh expedition ever). Also, probably the first time a multi-million dollar DeHavilland Otter Wiped out a tail ski and rear end on the upper Yentna glacier. These pictures show the mountain on our flight in, and also the aftermath of our landing on the glacier. The deep snow, combined with a weak bungee cord affixing the front of the tail ski to the aircraft allowed the tail ski to catch sideways and rotate up and around into the fuselage of the aircraft. Paul (owner of TAT) was our pilot and he did a great job of recovering and dealing with the scenario. Another pilot/mechanic flew in in a Cessna 185, repaired the Otter while Paul flew back to Talkeetna in the 185 and Paul flew back in and flew the Otter out after repair. Unfortunately I didn't get a picture of the mechanic who fixed the plane, but the plane she fly's for TAT is known as "Foxy" because her 185 has an "F" in the N number, and also cause she's a babe who can fix airplanes in the middle of the Alaska range with duct tape.

Cheers,

josh

Alaska Mountaineering School

Russell Base Camp

High camp

Talkeetna Air Taxi's Turbine Otter.

AMS's Garage (Gear Check)

Hey guys, as the snow falls i keep thinking back to our great climbs this summer. I can't say enough great things about Alaska Mountaineering School. Colby and Caitlin have put together a great set of people who really do a great job of developing an appreciation and respect for the wilderness and mountains of alaska. Their guides are top notch and do an amazing job of teaching while climbing. I have included more pictures of our Russell climb this spring and will be posting more as the winter rolls on. Setting my clocks back as I speak,

cheers,

josh