[TR] Valdez Alaska- Numerous 3/10/2006

[sitandbefit]

Climb: Valdez Alaska-Numerous

 

Date of Climb: 3/10/2006

 

Trip Report:

I'm from Wyoming so I refrain from posting about routes unless it is a substantial trip (if anyone wants any Cody, Hyalite, or RMNP info, let me know.)

 

However, this last week I went to Valdez, Alaska. I don't climb hard but I love the trips. This completes my tour of the big ice destinations (North American at least). I will piss everyone off from the get-go and proclaim that Cody is still my favorite. Despite Cody being my true love, Valdez is my new secret girlfriend. The ice is huge, everywhere, and approaches don't even require a pack.

 

Day 1: Mark comes down from Bozeman (to Laramie). Cory and I skip class and we all head toward Denver. After a quick stop at My Brother's Bar (next to REI, and even better, next to the Wilderness Exchange). As a side note I will like to say that if you want to find a cool shop in a city first check out the area immediately surrounding REI.

 

Next we go to my older brother's house to scam a ride to the airport. But first we drink every beer in his fridge. Weight limit at the airport: 100 lbs. My checking weight: 98 lbs (packed sans scale). I used a trick I learned here and wore my boots.

 

A quick flight later we land in Anchorage. My friend, and Wyoming ex-pat, Mike picks us up. First stop, some bar. Next stop, every other bar.

 

Day 2: Wake up hung like a horse. Despite this we motivate and head to Four Fingers, near the Portage Glacier. The drive is mind blowing and the views flush the hungover out. There are little pillars of ice on all the roadcuts. Also there are infinite badass ski lines right off the highway.

 

We get to the climb and do a quick lap that amounts to snow burrowing. Still it’s a good warm-up and allows us to dial in our systems.

 

Then we are back to Anchorage to drink 1 million beers at the Moose’s Tooth.

 

Day 3: Get some breakfast at a place that may or may not be called Genny’s. The description we received that it’s a trucker breakfast place with lots of stuffed animals. Mark is an idiot and pictures beanie-baby type stuffed animals. The really dumb thing is that he admitted it, so we all laughed at his expense.

 

After that we meet up with Cory’s bro Nick and head to Valdez in two cars. I saw a mountain that made me nauseous. Alaska is ridiculous.

 

 

We stopped and tried to climb Kid Around the Corner at Caribou Creek. Mike, Mark, and I leave Cory and Nick at the car. Nick claims that he knows where to go. He does not. Clusterfuck #1 has begun.

 

Group #1 makes the 5 minute hike to the climb and heads up the first pitch. 30 minutes later we decide that something must be wrong as Nick and Cory are MIA. We go down and spend some time looking for them. They go on walkabout, only to be found 1 hour later.

First Pitch of Kid Around the Corner

 

Having blown the daylight we continue to Valdez. I see the biggest mountain I have ever seen. All the earlier troubles are forgotten. Valdez is found and the guys at Anydyr Kayaking let us do some couch jockeying for the night. Thanks to them.

 

Day 4: Get up – eat snickers. Climb Horsetail Falls, and something else visible from the road.

Horsetail Falls

 

Seeing Keystone Canyon in the daylight makes me feel dumb for asking about which routes to do. Thanks for not flaming me.

Hung Jury with wild wind bells

 

After climbing we move into the dorms. This is awesome and was set up by Cory, who has family in town. It was $35 a night. The downside is that we were repeatedly warned that we are not allowed to drink in the dorms. Upon arriving in the dorms we drink our faces off, in the dorms.

 

Day 5: Go climbing in Bear Creek Canyon. Climb the first pitch of Raincheck. We had broken into two groups. Nick then clusterfucks on the other side of the climb. So we come down. Also, the wind blew 80 miles an hour this day. Sticks, bits of ice, and leaves were flying up from below and passing me. It was weird.

 

Day 6: Go to Hole in the Wall canyon with Mike and Mark. Cory and Nick decided to go climb somewhere else. The hike in here is great, even when you tack on 2 extra miles by having your head up your ass.

Heading in

 

We then made an attempt on Dire Straights. This is a beautiful pillar. It was brittle and cold and none of us had brought our brass falls. We failed.

Mike on Dire Straights

 

Day 7: Bridalveil Falls. Get there early and freeze our asses off. This is one of the 5 coolest routes I have ever done. On top of that it is a top 10 day for me. Sunny, great climbing, great friends, walkoff. We go to the Prospector Bar to celebrate. Mark meets some girl from Budapest and promptly pawns her off on me. She turns out to be un-fucking-believably boring. Also she will not let me get out of the conversation. I excuse myself to hit the bathroom, flip off Mark, and head for the room.

Bridalveil Falls

 

Mike might be special but he made it to the top

 

Day 8: Back to Hole in the Wall to look around. Mike, Mark, and I are smoked so we convince Cory that he can lead Crystal Visions. He did style the first pitch. Nick turns out the be ADD and inexplicably leads up the other side. Mike gets hypothermia belaying him. I follow the pitch and flip shit when I come upon the anchor. Horrible anchor, he may be my friend’s brother but he is still an idiot. Sorry Cor, but fuck him. Nick is belaying from an ATC directly on the anchor, and he is tethered way below it. There is no way he could have caught anything. I silently set a v-thread, throw the ropes and leave.

 

Cory on his first lead - Crystal Visions

 

That night: St. Patty’s party at the Eagle’s Club. We get loaded, dance with old ladies, and then race home on the ice that passes for streets. Good stuff. Mark decides that he can lead Dire Straights.

 

Day 9: I call Mark’s bluff and get him up at 5:30. We stagger into Dire Straights and Mark fails at the same spot. No biggie. We head for Anchorage, climbing Kid Around the Corner on the way. Great climb, many short steps, lots like the lower pitches on Schoolhouse Creek in Cody.

 

Day 10: Mess around all day. Hit the Title Wave bookstore. Then we eat sushi, get drunk, and then get on the plane.

 

Day 11: Back to Laramie. Sleep for many hours straight.

 

 

 

 

Gear Notes:

Buy Booze in Anchorage, it's much cheaper. Our take: 4 - 30 packs of Bud Light, 1/2 Gallon of Jim Beam, Fifth of Crown, 2 shitty bottles of wine, some leftover Jager

 

 

Approach Notes:

Everything is right next to the highway. The drive from Anchorage is 305 miles. 100 of which is on sheer ice. Also, one has to be careful not to drive off the road while looking at mountains, ice, etc.

 

Edited to fix pictures

 

Matt

Edited March 22, 2006 by sitandbefit

[Alpinfox]

Nice to see some ice pictures from Valdez. I've only been there in the summer.

[mountainmatt]

Sweet stuff man!

[JayB]

Wow. Great story and killer pictures. Thanks for sharing.

 

What month is prime time for Valdez ice? Seems like March might be a pretty good compromise between cold temps and adequate daylight.

[DanielHarro]

Thanks for the stoke material!!! I have done some ice climbing in AK, but I still need to make it to Valdez!! I am glad that you had a good trip!! Not too much snow this winter... Mooses Tooth has some great Pizza!!

[sitandbefit]

March was good to us as far as the ice and sunlight was concerned. The sun is weird there. You never really get warmed by it. It just traverses across the horizon all day, never really getting up there. Like Joe Strummer says "You cast a long shadow."

 

We were hooked up by the weather, other than the ripping wind it was really clear. Good for looking at the batshit crazy mountains that are everywhere.

 

It started snowing the day we left and they ended up getting 3 feet, so we snuck out just in time.

 

Thanks for the nice comments.

 

Matt

[sitandbefit]

One more postscript. We ended up breaking 3 BD picks on the trip. These are the only ones that I have any experience of breaking. I'm rocking the Quarks which I have been using longer and more often then the other guys (1 set of Vipers, and 1 set of Cobras) with no probs whatsoever. I have even disregarded the manufacturers instructions and drytooled a bunch w/o swapping picks. Does anyone else have experience with the BD picks (the lasers) being prone to breaking?

 

Matt

 

ps we also broke a pair of pulsars (the bolt that holds the pick onto the ax) which made for 3 ice tools busted in 1 day.

[freeze]

Glad you had a good time. It has been 40+ degrees here for the last few days. We climbed Greensteps today and things were getting pretty soft when the sun hit it.

 

For some more images of Valdez Ice you can go here.

 

Valdez Ice Images

 

For conditions and route info try

 

Valdez Climbing

 

I have been updating the ice guide this season with some photos

 

Valdez Ice Guide

 

Enjoy!!!

Edited March 26, 2006 by freeze

[nordicpunk]

Matt how did you get to be so cool. If it were scientifically possable I would want to have your babies. Your trip looks badass- I will put up something about Oregon.