wfinley

In todays news....

Anyone know the story behind this?

http://www.cascadeclimbers.com/threadz/showflat.php/Cat/0/Number/505924/an/0/page/1#505924

The exact same thing happened to us (mid July '01)! We climbed Pigeon horsin' along section that were covered with 6 inches of rime ice. Next day we headed up the Kain route in tshirts.

Climb: S face of Triangle and SW Ridge of White Princess attempt Date of Climb: 5/14-5/19 Trip Report: http://couloirgraphics.com/images/misc/AKR_Deltas/index.htm Gear Notes: glacier stuff and skis. We didn't bring enough food and fuel... but this is normal for me. Approach Notes: Snow was rotten. We were 2 weeks too late. Oh well....

In today's news ...

No... but apparently he's the only one to set up multiple cameras, film the endeavor and then send out a press release.

Funnny... but Patagonia has become a huge corporation and they're not going to release a PR and film a stunt without some sort of reasoning behind it. If Pataginia wants to use this to challenge the NPS's environmental values it's one thing. If they want to use the stunt to sell tshirts it's another.

8 pages in and I finally have decided to add my $.02. In the part year I have increasingly become aware of the various Patagonia ad campaigns featuring Dean Potter. Mostly the various photos of Potter slacklining. Last summer in Anchorage we experienced a good ol' fashioned bolt war. It began with a young kid bolting a series of boulders to rig a slackline. This in turn progressed to include (1) a bolted slackline over Reed Creek in Hatcher Pass State Park, (2) a bolted slackline next to Eagle River in Chugach State Park and (3) a bolted slackline over 6 mile Creek in Chugach National Forest. All of these were next to established trails. The summer culminated with a series of retro bolted routes and finally the retro bolting of a popular 4 pitch 5.4 route that has been an established gear climb for over 20 years. Eventually all of the bolts mentioned above were chopped and nasty scars left all over the place. While I do not put the blame on Patagonia and Potter I will say that I believe Patagonia's endorsement of Potter's activities were an incentive in spurring these young climbers into feeling a need to leave their mark and place bolts - especially In the cases of rigging bolted highlines. I'm not sure what Patagonia Is trying to prove by endorsing Potter and his antics. When Patagonia sends out 1+ million catalogs with photos of Potter slack lining I cringe and wonder what will be bolted next. Regarding the free solo with cameras rolling… I can't help but wonder what Patagonia’s ulterior motives are.

I forsee some homeland security funding going to Camp Muir to protect American cliimbers from robot smart bombs. It is a well known fact that the Iranians and North Koreans want to dominate the alpine world and will do anything to get ahead.

I must admit... normally I am pretty bummed when I read about a SKI descent of a route that I haven't climbed and would consider challenging. On the other hand -- F**KIN AWESOME!

I'd say it's a little late for a snow route up Bard. Wait a month and you'll be able to do it on dry rock.

Explorer is the furthest west peak on the ridge S of the road to Portage. Here's the beta: After you pass the 5 Fingers parking area continue on until you see where the powerlines come out to the road near the glacier. Hike up here -- staying in the powerline swath to avoid excessive bush whacking. Ascend the wide ave chute (staying climbers R) up to the upper glacier. Once on the upper glacier continue S and E towards the ridge coming off of the summit (which will be to the E of the glacier). Beware of possible aves caused by cornice failures. Once you get up high, trade your skis for boots and continue up the ridge to the summit. Conditions vary depending on year. There's not much snow on the Kenai this year so the cornices won't be too bad. Carry a couple pickets though b/c the cornices have been known to break.

Juding by the late activity in this forum tis the season for Alaska stoke! After hibernating in the cabin, drinking heavily and beating our wives for 6 dark months of winter, we're finally waking up and venturing outside. Below is a TR from a glorified camping trip I went on a few weeks ago: On April 14th Wayne, Carrie, Yvonne and I left the parking lot at Portage Lake at 10:30 am and skied across Portage Lake. It was one of those rare days in Portage: perfectly calm, clear and not a cloud in the sky. We were laden with heavy pack - 6 days of food and fuel, climbing gear, glacier travel gear, skis and sleds. Our original intention was to ski out onto the Ithmus Icefield (just south of Whittier, AK) and attempt Carpathian and possibly Isthmus. It took us about an hour to get across the lake and then we worked our way up to the toe of the Bard Glacier. At the base of the glacier we toyed with the idea of roping up, but we had all been there before and were comfortable with the conditions. So up we went - taking turns breaking trail and slowly working our way up the glacier. It was relatively fast going, the snow having a firm crust on it - but as we got higher the snow began to get deeper and less consolidated. Heading up the Burns Glacier Looking up the Burns Glacier Around 12:30 we reached the base of the S fork of the Burns glacier and stopped to put on jackets and rope up. Then up we went, twisting our way through an icefall and then ascending a steep headwall to gain an upper plateau which we continued up. The snow was deep - even with skied the trench was almost calf deep. The first person with the sled had an especially hard time as the sled would inevitably turn on it's side and get dragged along at a 45 degree angle. Heading up the Upper Burns We climbed around 2,000' up from the Bard to a level area just at the edge of the Concordia Glacier and encountered high winds. After conversing with everyone we opted to descend 200' to a more secluded spot and set up camp for the night at 3,200'. Carrie heading up the Upper Burns - the pass to Whittier is in the background Upper Burns with the Chugach Range to the North We quickly dug a deep pit, erected our tents and crawled inside, cooked dinner, melted 4 quarts of water and promptly passed out. In total we skied around 7 miles and climbed approximately 3,000'. Not such a big day... but our packs and sleds were killing us! At 4 am Yvonne and I woke to a totally buried tent. My tent, which is hardly large enough for 2 people was reduced to half its size by a crushing weight of snow on either side of us. Yvonne called the first round of shovel duty and literally had to tunnel out of the vestibule. Outside everything was buried and she had to hunt for a while to find the shovel. She then proceeded to dig us out and an hour later crawled back in the tent exhausted. At 7 am we woke again to a fully buried tent and I crawled out and began shoveling. I dug us out and then Wayne and I stomped two large trenches around the camp permitter (to catch the drifting snow), beefed up the walled with our sleds and climbed back into the tents. We discussed moving, but the high winds didn't make us to keen to continue. What the tent looked like in the morning Mid morning, after yet another turn at shovel duty, we all piled in a tent and discussed our options. With the unconsolidated snow and high winds climbing was out of the question due to high avalanche danger - so after looking at maps and discussing various possibilities we opted to instead attempt a traverse of the Ishtmus Icefield. From our present camp we would cross the Spencer, ascend a pass East of Isthmus and then ski South down to Ptarmigan valley and out Paradise to the Seward Highway. We had previously mapped out the trip and knew it to be a total of 55 miles and Wayne had actually already programmed the route into his GPS. However - we opted to wait out the weather for a day in the hopes that tomorrow would bring lesser winds and in the hopes the the wind would turn the deep unconsolidated powder into wind blown sastrugi snow. So back in the tents we went to spend a day reading, sleeping and shoveling. Around 4 pm the winds died down and the day became quite enjoyable. Temperatures dropped and the night was crisp and clear. We set the alarms for 6 am and fell asleep. At 6 am we were up and cooking breakfast and by 9 am we had broken down camp and were skiing up glacier to the pass. The day was partly cloudy but quite beautiful with Prince William Sound to our East and the rugged ice clad Chugach to our south. It took less than an hour to reach the pass where to our surprise we encountered a party of 6 descending. The had started at Blackstone Bay (after getting dropped off by boat), skied up the Blackstone Glacier to the Spencer and were now headed for Whittier. Looking NE with Prince William Sound in the distance. Wayne and Carrie headed up towards the Pass This photo is (somewhat) related -- this is looking up at the toe of the Concordia Glacier - the glacier in the forground in the picture above. This photo was taken in Blackstone Bay a few summers ago. At the top of the pass the wind picked up and it began to gently snow. We then set off and quickly skied 5 miles downhill to the confluence of the Blackstone and Spencer Glaciers. Carpathian Peak loomed to our West and we skied past looking enviously at the South Ridge. Once we reached the confluence we turned due south and began trudging uphill towards the pass. Isthmus and her beautiful north ridge drifted in and out of clouds but after less than an hour we were in a total fog and the snow was beginning to pick up. We skied for two hours fully navigated by GPS and after reaching "Point 17" that had been programmed in, we dug in for the night. We had a feeling we were in for a long night so we dug deep and and plowed two deep trenches around the camp perimeter. We then melted water, cooked dinner and passed out to the gentle sound of snow falling on the tent. At 2 am we awoke to the now familiar feeling of a collapsing tent. It was my turn for early morning shovel duty so I dressed and crawled out the the tent. This time we were smart and had cached the shovels inside the vestibule. I grabbed a shovel and then began tunneling my way out of the tent. Outside it was ferocious: the wind was howling and snow was swirling around everywhere. The tent was almost fully covered so I went to work. An hour later I had excavated the tent and moved on to re-dig the perimeter trenches. After 80 minutes of continual shoveling I crawled back into the tent fully exhausted and soaked. At 6 am the tent was once again fully buried, so Yvonne dressed and shoveled her way out of the tent. An hour later she crawled back in, also exhausted and soaked. The snow was very wet and heavy and everytime someone stepped outside they immediately got soaked. I sat up as she climbed back in so I could brush the snow off her back and give her room to remove her soaked clothes. The storm showed no signs of letting up so we decided, based on our low supply of food and fuel, that to not attempt the traverse and instead opted to take a weather day and try and get all the way out the next day. So we passed the day taking turns shoveling every few hours. At 5 pm the storm abated and the sun came out for 45 minutes. We quickly moved everything outside and hung it up in the sun in the hopes of at least partially drying our gear. However - the sun was quickly replaced by clouds and more snow so back in the tent we piled. Just before bed I dug a huge trench around the tent in the hopes of collecting the snow so we wouldn't have to get out in the middle of the night and shovel. We cooked and once again fell asleep to the sound of snow. The view we had for 45 minutes Wayne at Camp II At 5:30 we were awake and cooking breakfast. It was still cloudy and snowing but there were no winds and it looked like the clouds could potentially burn off. We broke down camp and by 8:15 were skiing down glacier. The clouds were thick and it began snowing heavily so we relied fully on the GPS to get us back to our first campsite. Going down glacier was fast going - but then we had 5 miles of slow steady uphill plodding to reach the Spencer / Burns pass. Yvonne and I slowly plodded along breaking trail while Wayne and Carrie skied behind us - occasionally shouting left or right to keep us going in the right direction. We plodded along for hours - stopping every now and then to make sure both rope teams were close enough to hear each other so directions could be shouted back and forth. Leaving Camp II in a full whiteout What we saw coming out! At 3 pm we made the pass and began skiing downhill. We skirted far left to avoid the icefall on the Concordia Glacier and then started downhill. Unfortunately we were too far to the West and at one point, Yvonne, who was leading suddenly let out a shout and dove backwards to self arrest - not a mere feat when on skies and hauling a sled and heavy pack. A few feet ahead of her was a gaping crevasse. I belayed her back up to where it was safe and we skied further East to avoid the cracks. At 4 pm we reached our old camp and sat down to eat, drink and rest a bit. We set out again 30 minutes later and began descending in a pure white out. Going down we knew we had to navigate a gentle ramp inbetween two icefalls. After an hour of travel it became apparent we were off route. What should have been a gentle straight forward route had turned into an up and down meander through a serac fall zone and crevasse field. We wandered around aimlessly for close to an hour - and then, to our luck, the clouds began to lift and we suddenly found that we were way too far to glacier left and in the middle of a huge icefall. However - with visibility we were quickly able to find a safe route down and Wayne lead us out of the icefall and back to the gentle ramp we had originally ascended. An hour later we were back on the lower Burns and had unroped and were zipping downhill with the occasional turn. Getting off the glacier proved a little tricky in the soft afternoon snow - but soon we were down and making our way back to Portage Lake. Busting out (at least a couple) turns with a full pack and sled! Dropping off of the Burns Glacier back to Portage Lake We made it back to the car at 9:30 pm - 13 1/2 hours and 20 miles later! Drying off gear in the backyard! Maps are below - a detailed map of our desired route (in reality our GPS track points show us going all over the place) and then an overview.

You should try Explorer Peak. The standard route involves a ski traverse of the glacier then you head up the heavily corniced W ridge to the summit. I've never been on it but I hear it's an excellent route.

Good job Clint! Looks like a really fun route. One question: how was the route similar to Hunter's West Ridge?

You call that the perfect date climb? Where's the fun, the action... the promise of shagging all night long??? Here's the prefect date climb in 20 easy steps: Step 1: Wake up at 4 am... note that it is still dark out and elect to sleep for 1 1/2 hours longer against all better judgment. Take advantage of that 1 1/2 hours to snuggle and snore. Step 2: Start out at 5:30 am freezing cold. Reach base of Koven couloir at 6:30 and start up. Explain that you don't need ropes because it's "4th class". Step 3: Backtrack and flake out the rope to avoid a mutiny. It might be 4th class but that doesn't mean shit to the GF. Step 4: Start up the upper Koven couloir in boots sans crampons. Explain that you don't need crampon's because it's "snow". Step 5: Back track and put on crampons. In retrospect it's freaking cold and the snow is hard as a rock. Step 6: Neglect to point out the rap stations to the GF on the way up because you figure you should be heading back down this couloir looong before dark. Step 7: Wait patiently while the GF puts on full rain gear to ascend the "waterfall" pitch in the rock step above the Koven couloir. Pretend that you didn't get that wet and that things are alright even through you're in the shade and near hypothermic. Step 8: Start up the upper portion of the Koven route sans rope because it's "4th class". Step 9: Backtrack and rope up. Where's that feeling of deju vu coming from? Step 10: Get off route, drag the GF up a squeeze chimney that is NOT 5.3. Step 11: Downclimb. Step 12: Summit at 4pm. Enjoy a conversion with some party from Portland who is doing the Grand Traverse. Pretend you don't hear their laughter when you say you plan to sleep in your tent down on the glacier tonight. Step 13: Stand at the bottom of the 3rd rap and watch your GF drop her ATC. Step 14: Stand at the top of Koven couloir and yell at your GF to find the rap anchors. Step 15: Sheepishly shut your mouth when she tells you to STFU. Step 16: Rap down the Koven couloir in the dark with one ATC. Dodge rockfall and try to tell your GF you're having fun. Step 17: Make the call to rap at 1am. Settle in for a romantic night on ledge the size of buttcheeks. Step 18: Get rudely woken up 15 minutes later to be told that a snow ledge needs to be chopped if you want her to remain happy. Step 19: Snuggle for 4 hours and enjoy a beautiful sunrise together. Step 20: Rap off in the early morning sunshine and waltz back to the tent at 7:30 am. Pretend you don't hear the 'yeah that was really romantic' snide comments.

August is a good month for routes on the N side of the Alaska Range. However it's also the time when the bear are actively foraging for lost climbers to fatten up for winter.

I wish we had known that! We descended the route described in the book. I recall rap stations that were large stacks of loose blocks wrapped with webbing. If we had wanted to we could have knocked the entire rap station down in 3 or 4 kicks. We cursed the book the entire time. Ahhh... good memories!

There are some cheap 400's on eBay.

I can answer some of your questions. I haven't climbed the NW Shoulder - but climbed Syladder on July 11th 2001. It was total step kicking for almost the entire route. It took us 3 hours to reach the base of the route from the parking lot. However - if you're going any later give yourself an extra hour because you'll probably have to do a bit more route finding then we did to gain the glacier. Also - If conditions are good downclimb Skyladder and save yourself alot of pain... the nomal route down is a drag.

PS... here's some data: REPORT TO CONGRESS Analysis of Cost Recovery for High-altitude ... http://www.americanalpineclub.cncdsl.com/docs/SAR_Final_Report_to_Congress.pdf The table below summarizes the mountaineering program costs at Denali NP&P for the last three fiscal years. The bar graph on page five illustrates the volume of all kinds of recreation rescue incidents that occurred nationwide in the Park Service during the year 2000. The pie chart at the bottom of page five illustrates that 13 of the 175 national climbing incidents occurred at Denali NP&P. Denali NP&P Mountaineering Operations Budget FY2000 Mt. McKinley Base Budget Personal services $307,600 Supplies/equipment 150,900 Helicopter 156,800 Climber Services 169,400 Military Support 129,000 NPS & Military SAR 348,000 TOTALS $1,261,700 FY1999 Mt. McKinley Base Budget Personal services $271,200 Supplies/equipment 80,800 Helicopter 222,800 Climber Services 163,000 Military Support 127,700 NPS & Military SAR 218,800 TOTALS $1,084,300 FY1998 Mt. McKinley Base Budget Personal services $253,100 Supplies/equipment 38,900 Helicopter 65,600 Climber Services 159,300 Military Support 126,400 NPS & Military SAR 527,700 TOTALS $1,271,000 Base Budget: personal services costs for mountaineering rangers, administrative support staff, training, Lama high-altitude helicopter cost for mountaineering support not related to rescues, supplies, materials, equipment, utilities, loss-of-life claim payments. 1 MEMORANDUM for the Washington Office and all Field Offices: March 29, 1940, From Arno B. Cammerer, Director, National Park Service Climber services: expenditures of fees collected to help cover cost of providing education services, processing/printing permits, producing mountaineering guides, and producing informational packets for climbers. NPS Search and Rescue: volunteer salaries, premium pay costs for Denali employees during SAR operations, Lama rental and hourly usage costs, emergency supplies Military SAR Support: value of military support during SAR operations Military Support: value of military support for setting up and demobilization of base camps The following explains the cost of the high-altitude helicopter and is not in addition to the above table: High-altitude Helicopter (Lama) Program Funding Source FY2000 Denali Park Base Budget: $156,800 NPS Search and Rescue: 190,000 TOTAL: $346,800 FY1999 Denali Park Base Budget: $222,800 NPS Search and Rescue: 103,200 TOTAL: $326,000 FY1998 Denali Park Base Budget: $ 65,600 NPS Search and Rescue: 206,200 TOTAL: $271,800 Denali Base Budget: minimum contract cost not covered by SAR funding, salary cost for NPS helicopter manager, mountaineering/resource protection support not related to SAR, rental of helicopter pad in Talkeetna NPS Search and Rescue: volunteer salaries, premium pay cost for Denali employees during SAR operations, Lama rental and hourly usage cost during SAR operations, emergency supplies Also... in 2004 1275 climbers attempted Denali and 130 were Alaskans. The other thing I found interesting was on this document: I wonder if expenses for monitoring hunters is considered part of the mountaineering budget since it is conducted by mountaineering staff?

I read sometime back that the helicopters that had previously flown supplies to basecamp had been deployed to Iraq. The Army used to fly supplies to KAH and 14 camp for free as training - but now the NPS is having to fly the supplies in on the Lama - which has lead to a high increases in costs. As for the costs and what they're for see my post below where costs are broken down. I'll agree $500 is steep - but do you really think removing the entire NPS staff from Denali will result in a better experience? An average of 1200 people stomp up the WB every year... the route needs some sort of official presence - without one it would be a nightmare. PS... regarding the post that faster_than_you quoted... I'm just going to say that the ANILCA point is BS. This is the same stupid argument that snowmachiners use so they can drive 60 mph across Denali National Park. Furthermore the fee increase does not target Alaskans - but visitors to Alaska. Argue the point logically since this issue affects climbers and could potentially spread across the country... not using some antiquated argument that reminds the country of how self centered Alaskans are when it comes to Federal money.

In today's paper:

I'll take those mitts! wfinley (a) couloirgraphics.com