Up a (falls)creek, no paddles needed

     This stretch of warm-and-sunny has ushered in summertime conditions with haste.  I wanted to get out today and was originally planning on Bird Ridge as I heard it was clear, but I was impatient while driving along the arm and only made it to Falls Creek before impulsively deciding to go up there instead.  The trail was pretty much dry and clear to the valley where only a few soggy spots remained.  There were also a few snow patches to cross on the way up to South Suicide, but overall easy travelling: I could do it in my minimal running shoes and stay dry with a slight attention to foot placement.
     So the plan was to try and make it to the clearing of alders at the base of the valley, but after seeing the lack of snow up to South Suicide I elected to attempt it.  Physically I wasn't ready but I need to get in running/hiking/climbing shape for the summer and might as well have started today.  It went smoother than I planned although I will likely be more sore than I prefer tomorrow.  I also concluded that skiing is officially done: it looked pretty rotten and too narrow even on the shadier routes, at least for me.
     There were the typical goats hanging out up there, but I didn't see any other major wildlife.  The wildflowers are early blooming, the bees were busy, but the greenery has a long way to go.  The creek itself seemed to be quite full and gushing.  This was puzzling to me after a no-go for packrafting due to low water on South Fork 2 days previous.  Views from the top were great and it was evident that the snow was retreating fast all over the Chugach.

The view from South Suicide of the back of North Suicide. I assume that snowy lines like the one pictured running 11 to 5 are ski-able.  Has this one ever been tried?  Too far out? Terrain trap?

I love to views up the Arm.

Note the amazing blue/green of the lake.

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.  





S. Suicide to Rainbow

     So last night I was planning on skiing the Goathead couloir today, then I saw a pic of someone who had just skied it last night.  I wanted to do something untracked so I started brainstorming.  Something I haven't done that I could do in half a day: another AM appointment in my way but not too bad because it would allow the snow to soften a bit. 
     South Suicide down into Rainbow.  I had been eyeing this slope for awhile now, catching glimpses of it as I drive down the Seward highway.  Access is limited due to private property in Rainbow, but it always has several large and well-covered bowls that should be low-angle enough for me to feel comfortable skiing by myself. 
     I pulled into Falls Creek, not too busy, some trail runners and a possible hiker or two.  I booted the first 30 minutes until there was consistent snow to start skinning.  Then it was on for another couple thousand feet.  Coming out of the alders into the lower portion of the bowls was great: sunny, clear, calm and warm.  The sun was at my back, uncomfortably warming my bum in my black pants.  I ran into to skiers coming out who skied the upper North facing couloir by Falls Lake. They said it was soft and it looked like it.  Someone also skied an impressive line down one of the couloirs in the first cirque to hikers' right.  Steep.
     I took a few pics and noted the skiable couloirs for a buddy who is interested in skiing them but my goal was South Suicide.  Snow was thin on the Falls Creek drainage side, evenly but thinly covered on the Indian creek drainage side, and perfect for my ski down to Rainbow.  I saw a gully off the summit and checked it out: it had rocks near the bottom.  I like uninterupted flow so after a brief summit visit I descended about 200 feet down to a good start point, took one last look and skied it.
     The snow had just become soft enough, good turns, not too steep but enough to be fun.  Super long run distance wise and pretty good (3000)vertical.  I could have kept going but I was getting tired and knew I had to skin up back into the Falls Creek drainage, so I turned around.  After a tired skin back to the ridge, I skied the Falls Creek drainage down to the alders and booted it to the car: too dangerous to ski given the tired legs and crusty/alder-dense conditions.
     I think this would be an excellent powder stash for when the close stuff gets skied out if there is not wind after a dumping.  It is quite a bit of work to get to though.  I noted a number of nearby lines that would be fun to do if one was camping out up in Falls Creek, including the couloirs but also some farther out runs that probably wouldn't be worth the distance for just that run alone.  On another note, the view from the top is spectacular: mountains as far as the eye can see, peak after peak after peak.  It makes me realize how big my little corner of AK is.
    


Looking down Falls Creek at Turnagain Arm

Looking up Falls Creek at South Suicide.  The slope on the left looks nice for another day.

That's North Suicide.  A few lines I can see for future skiing. Tired Lucy.

Rimey summit of South Suicide.  My drop-in point.











camp/ski S ptarmi and N suicide

     So more winter camp/ski trips are filling my schedule now that I am acquiring some gear for an upcoming mountaineering trip.  That gear and my legs both need testing so two buddies and I headed out for an overnighter in the front range.  We headed out from the canyon road trailhead and skinned along the base of peak 2/3/4 and flaketop in perfect weather: sunny, calm, clear and warmish.

     We were shooting for skiing something back near Rabbit Lake and decided to set up camp near the base of Ptarmigan's south face.  We went with the Black Diamond mid as we had another person compared to last outing's Go-lite shangri-la 3 as it offered a bit more room.  After constructing our sleeping ground and wind-break we skinned up Ptarmigan's south face to the bottom of the cliff bands and turned it from there as the sun was getting low and snow was hardening up.  A beautiful sunset run on better-than-expected conditions was the perfect way to conclude the day along with dinner.

      We melted our snow for water and ate dinner then hit the sack.  We were hoping for the forecasted northern lights show like the night before but didn't see anything.  The night was cold, calm and super-bright.  The lights from the city, stars and 1/3 moon reflecting off the snow were enough to make a headlamp unnecessary. 
     Rise and shine we got up whenever it was we got up, ate some breakfast and melted more snow, geared up for the goal of skiing something around Rabbit lake.  I had in mind one of the chutes off the Suicides, North in particular as that aspect had decent snow elsewhere.  After a short and easy skin back to the base we found the S. Suicide gully blown bare but the North one looked promising despite the rock field 2/3 of the way up so we went for it.

     It skied better than it skinned which was nice.  Amazing views out there, especially from Rabbit lake with all those peaks just shooting straight up.  Looking down Rabbit creek(?) valley was a great view of the Alaska Range and Sleeping Lady.  Nothing but breathtaking views in every direction: sunshine, ice flowing, rimey mountain tops, blue-est of blue skies, endless beautiful sastrugi.  The ski down was the cherry on top.
     We had a mellow and easy mostly-downhill skin back to camp, broke it down and skied the remaining ~3 miles back to the trailhead.  Another good outing. 
     My winter camping skills are improving as far as temperature and moisture management.  Still need work on hydration, but on the nutrition front I made huge progress with the help of a Mountainhouse Beef-Stroganoff meal and some home-made burritos.  mmm, mmm.  Good news is I can ski with a large and heavy pack.  The bad news is that the pack is noticably heavy and took it's toll on my legs by day 2.  Good news is I skied something new and after looking around back there I have a ton of ideas for other outings, both day-trips and overnight.

video of this outing:
https://vimeo.com/62133332
recent video i forgot to upload from the twin peaks outing:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X_0ZdxvgwNM