Alasdair

Thanks for the comments guys. Hey Chad, Yea it was great to see you up there brief as it was. I am off to Red Rocks for five weeks and then back for a bit before Alaska, so maybe we can squeeze in a Trout Creek trip between. Gene, The photo after the Cassin is not labeled because I dont really know where it is. I need to sit down with one of the pilots from K2 and get his input on it. If I had to guess i would think its one of the ridges on the East side of Hunter. Maybe unclimbed. The plane crash photo is not actually a crash although I remember the crash you are talking about. I bet its the same plane. It was shot last year. This time he was loaded a little heavy on a soft runway and decided to abort at the last minute. The funny thing about that is I know one of the people in the photo and it was the day after his 40th birthday. He had to walk back up Heartbreak Hill not feeling so good due to consumption the night before.

Since it is time to start thinking about what to climb in the Alaska Range I thought I would post up some of my photos from a series that I shot over the last 5 years of trips to the range. This group of photos were shot from numerous flights over the range. I dont feel like this series of photos is finished yet, so another photo trip is planned for this year. If there is anyone planning any Alaska Range Ridge ascents this year and would like some photos I have some specific shots I am looking for to finish this series up. Enjoy Alaska Range Photos

This is going to be a great event! Here is a sneak peak at some more of the photos I will be showing. http://alasdairturner.blogspot.com/2009/12/alaska-range-from-air-black-and-white.html Hope to see you all there.

Gene, I dont know if your in Seattle, but if so you can find almost any tool you need at Hardwicks Hardware in the U district. They will have the drill bit.

I have the following for sale. Payment by paypal and I will ship or come by my house in greenlake. 2 Metolius red #4 four cam units 1 Metolius orange #3 TCU 1 Metolius Grey #00 tcu 1 DMM purple cam $25 each All the cams are in good shape they work great and have not been used a great deal. That does not mean they are new, but they still have a ton of life in them. 6 BD ovals in good shape $20 for the lot 1 snow peak titanium stove. Works great. I broke the original gas control so I put a new one on it. Does not look perfect but it also does not effect the way it works. $30 3 belay devices ATC type $5

Dont sweat it too much. Unless the core is showing then its fine. There was some research done a few years ago where they walked on ropes with crampons and then drop tested them and found no measurable strength difference. The points push fibers aside rather than cut them.

There is pretty good serac climbing right now.

I know nothing about Josh and his experience, but the colman demming is not in bad shape at all. There was a ton of snow last year and it is all still around in the areas that it needs to be. There were no crevasse issues at all last week. The parts of the route that are usually a problem are not this year. The two issues on the route right now are getting on to the glacier, which can be easily bypassed with a 1/4 mile walk to the far right hand side of the glacier from hogsback camp, and the roman wall. The roman wall is melted out. It is icy and there is a lot of rock fall hazard on it right now. A traverse from the col to the crater and then going up there is a likely better option than going up from the ridge. Also the north ridge was climbed two weeks ago. It was not totally strait forward but it was doable.

That is a glacial moraine. Or it certainly looks like one. This feature can be seen at the base of any glacier that has receded. A good place to see a feature just like that is from near the Harrison camp on the north side of Mt. Baker. At the terminus of the Colman Glacier the ground looks the same. Although the Pasayten does not have many glaciers now, it would have plenty not too long ago on a geological time frame. The ripple effect tends to form when the ice melts underneath the rock which is what happens at a terminal moraine. In addition the area above the trees on the upper left of the photo is a glacial carved slope.

I climbed the NW Face of Forbidden last weekend. We did not drop off of the West ridge col but went around the mountain via Boston and Forbidden glaciers instead. It was a very enjoyable way of going. Boston Basin was full our first night so we just dropped over Sharkfin Col. I have a trip report here: http://alasdairturner.blogspot.com/

Ive got it. Dont have a way to scan it though. If you want to borrow it I live in Phinney Ridge. YOu are welcome to come by and get it tonight.

yes a single works fine.

http://alasdairturner.blogspot.com/

If so shoot me an email. I got some pretty cool photos of you guys from the NW Ridge. alasdairturner at hotmail dot com.

I will be doing an art showing at the Phinney Art Walk on the 8th and 9th of May. Most of the photos in the show will be alpine related black and whites. If you have not been to the Phinney Art Walk, give it a go. I will be showing at Space-A Design Collective located at 76th and Greenwood. Stop by say hello and then walk down to Prost! and get a beer. Hope to see lots of people out. More Photos at: www.alasdairturner.com Blog: http://alasdairturner.blogspot.com/

Never taken skis myself, but there is some good skiing on Denali. Motorcycle Hill Skiing two years ago. http://alasdairturner.com/index_files/Page404.htm

Honestly anyone who climbs a lot will not spend much time at exit 38. It kind of sucks. There are a other better places near seattle like index and exit 32. Squamish and smith and levenworth are all weekend trips.

Hey Mike, here are a few you are welcome to use. Mike you should find yourself a photo editor for the cover shot. The photo needs to technically perfect (perfect focus, no noise, good lighting, no visible trademarks etc.) in addition to being a good shot for your needs. You should be able to find someone who would be willing to review photos who can look for some of the technical details of the photo.

That was shot from the summit of Crosson. There is a 30 x 40 of that hanging in the Denali Images gallery in Talkeetna. So next time your up there stop in and have a look.

Here you guys go. Just put up my web site. It is very basic right now, but it works. I have a bunch of photos from the last several years on there. www.alasdairturner.com

Hey right on. Looks like you guys had a great time. It was good to see you guys. Me and my partner were the two heading down Him-ott col when you guys were comming up. Thanks for being patient with the rocks. We had a long day, so hanging out at the top of that gully would have made it that much longer. I like the photos. Very nice.

I would double Inspiration peak. It is easy to find no routefinding issues. I think waynes suggestion for N buttress of terror is a bit optimistic. Did this in three days a couple of weeks ago and I have the approach pretty much dialed.

Climbed route yesterday. Route is in really good shape. reached the ice pitches via the normal way on the right of the buttress. Looks like some people have gone via the left of the buttress but this will just add more time and is not necessary. As far as route beta goes. Go strait up. There is a small traverese on the summit to avoid a HUGE shrund which is worth walking to the edge of to look into since it is big enough to fit many houses into. To exit the ridge to the summit dogleg very slightly right (20 meters) and go strait up the steep wall to the summit plateau. The route is in icy shape where it should be, and perfect hard snow where it should be. I used bomber ice screw belays on the ice pitches and single ice axe belays above that with solid picket placements for running pro.

Huh? Just take the trail the whole way in. No need to cross any snow bridges on the approach.

I just got a mail from a birders mailing list and there is an active peregrine nest at the deception crags very close to climbs. I have not been up there so I do not know exactly where it is. The DNR has been up there and has confirmed it. If anyone knows exactly where this is please add it to this thread. If you are planning on going to this area please look first for the nest and do not climb near it. If I am up there I will try to locate it and put a sign near the routes. This is a very popular area for all user groups not just climbers so keep in mind climbing near the nest will not make the climbing community look good.