Dude it is so summer

     So I had 3 days off and the weather was fab: time to get after it.  The first day wifey, tenant, neighbor and myself shuttled a car to McHugh TH then headed to upper canyon road for a through hike past Rabbit Lake.  Probably one of the most picturesque lakes with a backdrop of the suicides.  The flat descent from there down to McHugh TH was also great and I plan to do a trail run back there this season.  The flowers were blooming, river was gushing, view was amazing, just a good mellow hike.  I saw some eagles, some grouse, sheep and what apparently were three black bears.
     The next day I tried to do a local bike race as I had been itching to hop on the road bike and let loose.  Then I got a flat tire at the farthest out point of the loop, 1.5 laps in, and was unable to repair it due to having wrong valve stem length on my spare combined with incredibly ravenous mosquitoes.  FAIL. Having lost the pack with no hope of recovery and the threat of mosquito-induced anemia knocking at my bloodstream I called it, walked back to the car.  Redemption for the day?
     Having failed in the AM, redemption came from a different bike.  I headed down to the Kenai to bike Johnson pass.  The Hardcore Family was heading back from Seward which allowed us to drop a vehicle at the south TH.  We started at the North.  Weather was great, vegetation green but not overgrown, temps and winds just right.  There were a lot of small flying bugs around the lake at the pass but overall it was great.  The trail has a good balance of what I would call blue-square terrain, but mostly green circle.  We made better time than expected, my legs were on the tired side.  The scenery was awesome.  By the end I appreciated the need for full-suspension and would recommend it.  This bike also had a ride-able malfunction on the ride.....maybe I should have tuned both my bikes this spring? 
     The next morning I woke up and had another great summertime event.  Salmonslayer and I were going to run out the Williwa Lake trail, but after seeing a sow and cub in our way we shot over the ballfield down by Black Lake to Williwa Lakes and took the Lake Trail back without incident.  The weather was perfect, again, with a slight up-valley breeze to cool the run back.  Running in the backcountry is so free, fuel for the tired legs.  Dogs in line, we passed a bull moose uneventfully and dodged a few swampy parts.  I need to run more.
     Then we headed to Campbell Creek for a packraft float with a stop for burgers mid-way.  Having never packrafted I didn't know what to expect but it was great.  Those things can spin on a dime.  We witnessed the carnage of 8+ blow-up rafts in log jams along the way.  Burgers hit the spot.  Sunburned neck/arms and a dip in the stream to cap it off.
     That's not all.  Then I went down just past Bird Point to watch one of the largest boretides of the year.  Some surfers caught it, several did not: you get one shot, make it or break it.  I almost feel bad for those who didn't but not really. 
     Super busy 3 days in terms of energy expenditure, but totally worth it.  The way summer up here should be.  I push responsibility aside and procrastinate because it might rain tomorrow or for the next 3 weeks.  Every time I go out I get new ideas or see new places to go.  I'm not overwhelmed, just fired-up and eager to get after it. 
There is a Johnson Pass mountain bike video on my video page.  see link on the left.


one of the bridge crossings on the way up to Johnson Pass

 

A unique grove of trees overlooking the arm from McHugh



Black Lake, Williwa drainage

cell phone video of the boretide.  





Perfect Post-work ski

Shadow-shot for the ski.

     So as I was staring out at the Chugach Front Range the past two days while working, I was eyeing the Ptarmigan S-Couloir.  I had been running/biking/hiking in the amazing weather and wanted to do my first summer "cooler ski" and given the high temps I knew my time was running out.  Right now we are nearing the summer solstice which allows for dangerously long days if you lose track of time but amazing potential for evening activities.  Therefore after work I got my junk together for an evening solo ski.
     I scoped the Powerline trail a few days ago: bike-able to the base with a few snow patches for sure.  Leaving Glen Alps trailhead at about 2030, my strategy was to bike out to the base of it, boot up, ski down with the sunset on the horizon lighting up the run in alpenglow.  Weather was unseasonably warm, sunny, clear, with a mild breeze on the ascent.  It was shaping up to be perfect.  The slews of tourists were fixed on summiting Flat-top, leaving the rest of the area peacefully quiet on a Sunday evening.
     A short bike and I began to climb.  The breeze alternated between a warm summer one and one that was snow-cooled.  I climbed in the shade, frequently watching the prolonged sunset coat the valley below.  The snow up was soft and almost ankle deep, the mildest of sun crusts here and there.  The last time I did this the lighting was flat, snow was variable, and I skinned all the way out.  Today was much better.
     The top provided amazing views of countless mountains with pinkish white patches running down the sides.  I was still scoping lines for next season.  There were still mosquitos at the top despite the breeze.  My changeover was quick since I had no layers to don.  Shorts, T-shirt, that was all I was wearing while backcountry skiing at 2230 in perfect lighting in the middle of June.  Only in Alaska.

     The run down was perfect.  An easy mountain bike out with an amazing sunset behind the Talkeetnas and the mountain I had just spent 2.5 weeks on.  MMMMM.


View from the bottom. 

View from the top.  Roughly 40degrees and ~2000ft.









Denali on the right horizon.



Post-Denali quickie

     We are back, safe and healthy, from our climbing trip to Denali.  This write-up will be short relative to all that I have to tell.  2.5 weeks worth is a lot to write about but a summary should do and there is plenty of information out there regarding the climb in general so most of this will be personal and random.
     We decided that the four of us would travel best in 2 roped teams of 2.  This worked smoothly for us.  The weather was pretty much perfect.  We had some spotty clouding and precipitation while at 14 camp, but hardly enough to prevent travel, we were just patient and cautious and got some good skiing in while waiting.  The group dynamic and communication couldn't get much better either, likely due to our previous experiences skiing the backcountry together.  We skied until 14 camp and used the traditional crampons from there to summit.
     2 of us summited on June 5 while the third summited the next day pretty much solo.  Our final member made it to 17 camp but was unable to summit due to a prolonged battle with nausea and the subsequent weakness.
     I learned a lot on this trip about myself, climbing, winter camping, the mountain, my climbing partners.  I was surprised that being Americans, we were in the minority.  We met many internationals mostly from Europe and Asia.  The sense of community was strong, and pleasantly so.  We were all there to climb the mountain and the interactions between climbers was refreshing in that information and tips/advice flowed so openly between everyone.  The park rangers were excellent resources.
     Pictures don't do it justice.  It was some of the most breath-taking and awesome places to be with stunning scale and scenery.  One can only appreciate this in real life.  My scale was way off. I was accustomed to the typical 4-5000 ft of vertical in the Chugach but surrounded by 3-4x that going up Denali.  Breathing was much more of a challenge than I anticipated.  I didn't sense it until 11 camp, but it was progressively difficult with elevation gain and still noticeable at 17 despite our length of stay and acclimatization at 14. 
     We saw the record for speed ascent on the West Buttress being broken as we were going up the Headwall by Edward Warren.  We had some pretty good skiing out of 14 camp with a picturesque carpet of clouds below, behemoth mountains jutting up through them, blocks of blue ice the size of buildings on one side and boulders/crevasses on the other.  I'm telling you this is national geographic stuff. 
     I will try to include a link to some photos at a later date.  It was more challenging to take pictures given that my attention was on climbing, breathing, rope management, breathing, taking the next step and carrying a heavy load.  And breathing. 
I lost 13 lbs during the trip. 
I did take a short fall but was able to arrest quickly. 
My total gear weight including ski stuff was 128lbs. 
We met Alex Honnold and shared a plan ride with him and his film crew up in the Ruth Gorge before we flew to Kahiltna base. 

PICS: https://plus.google.com/photos/116759503566424990671/albums/5891395918231480177