AK glacier climbing in August

[baum]

Some friends and I will be up in AK in early August and want to do some glacier climbing. We will probably be in the Chugach Mountains, but possibly in the Talkeetnas or Alaska range, and I have a few questions:

 

1. What should we expect on an AK glacier in early August? Will the snow bridges be mostly gone? If there are some left, will they be unstable? Any other things I should know about?

 

2. I have heard that because of the larger crevasses in AK glaciers, climbers should be spaced farther apart on the rope. What is the standard spacing for a roped glacier team in AK?

 

3. What types of anchors should we bring? Currently, I only have pickets, are these adequate (we will not be doing any ice climbing)?

 

Thanks for the info.

 

-Chris

[ivan]

my experience on the kahiltna -

1) the upper 3 feet of glacier becomes pure snowcone material - most/all bridges gone

2) the cracks are indeed monsterous and its possible on a reasonably spaced party for you both to be in the belly of the beast at the same time - no reason to make exotic lengths, just be sure you leave enough rope in a kiwi coil or other system so you can do crevase rescue w/ a fresh line.

3) picketts oughta be fine - make anchors w/ them and deadmen