Weekend Warrior

Last weekend was serious fun. Probably the most fun in the history of all weekends. Weekends are like organized events, but with no entrance fee. And the winner is the one who has the most fun. Clear skies and stable powder over last weekend made the competition huge, but I still won. 

Weekend material near Anchorage-Turnagain Pass. 

Good weekends depend on good people. Cathy, Jeff Conaway (our neighbor) and I went to Turnagain last Saturday. We found sun, an inversion for warm +10-degree F temps and off the hook skiing. 

 

Cathy on our first run from Magnum. Jeff calls this run TC. I've never had a TV so Jeff was educating me about the Magnum PI cast. 

Second run, into Goldpan, or is this Superbowl? Sorry Viking...

Jeff a body length ahead of his sluff. Ski fast or get out of the way. 

Across the way another posse of amigos was having a good time. Here's Jeremy Wood taste-testing snow quality. 

We confirmed there is no better place on the planet. 

The next day Cathy and I skied with Paddy Sullivan. He's still riding the granola sticks but that's okay. Anyone who can rip 2,000 vert non-stop on smelly teles is a noble man. It's now also okay, after this day of touring up Spokane Creek and down Bertha Creek, that Paddy swiped our Spanish tenant. Awesome skiing with you Paddy!

"Don't feel any pressure Paddy, but do you mind skiing right now? The light has 20 seconds left! Now! No pressure, but right NOW!" Thanks Paddy!

Now I'm in Mendoza, Argentina hanging in the Alpine Ascents guide apartment with this guy. Dave and I worked together in the Cascades in 2006. He enjoys Turbo Truffles and baristas. Tomorrow I leave for Aconcagua for three weeks with JP from New York. Tonight JP and I drank malbec at Francis Mallmann and agreed that Sarah Palin is...well, anyway, JP and I will have a good trip. 

Come spring I'll be back in the weekend contest. Watch out. 

Late Summer Jaunts

I spent the late summer in Anchorage working on a guidebook and building a greenhouse...living the good life, playing in our backyard. 

 

One lazy morning Cathy and I left Hiland Road hiking toward Girdwood over the Flute Glacier. It was supposed to be a day hike. It became an 8,000-foot, 28-mile day hike--a bit long for a lazy morning. Our hitching home plans backfired when darkness and rain caught us. It was a fun night of snuggling under a pack cover at the Crow Pass cabin. For breakfast we hiked out to the Girdwood Tesoro for Bahama Momma hot dogs. 

To retrieve the Rice Burner a few days later, Cathy and I did an evening run from Arctic Valley over to Hiland Road.  

Did you know that Portage has the thickest shrubbery in Southcentral? I confirmed this on a very sweaty thrash to the ridgeline for a traverse from the first Portage tunnel, over Begich Peak, along the ridge and down to the Portage cutoff. The trip highlight came afterward, when I learned that 64-ounce sodas were only $1.89 at the Girdwood Tesoro. I'm growing quite fond of the Girdwood Tesoro. 

Indianhouse is the steepest summit in the Chugach Front. An interest of mine was traversing the Falls Creek ridgeline, which includes Indianhouse. Here's Tobey, Maddog, Cortney, Sarah and Heidi's Kid Brother on the summit after traversing a portion of that ridgeline from South Suicide. Like Billy Finley, we rappelled the two gendarmes, but Tobey found exposed sheep trails around both gendarmes. 

Jeff Conaway showed Cathy and I Sheep Creek in the Talkeetna Mountains. After a float plane drop off at an alpine lake we hiked down to the river. Here's Cathy inflating her packraft for six hours of floating back to the cars. 

My sister Kate, her friend Kim Keller and Cathy paddling through bergs on Spencer Lake to float the Placer River. This is the ultimate visitor trip combining a train ride, hiking, camping, rock climbing and a float with icebergs. 

"I got this hole on the Kenai. Lot's of fish. We'll go down after work and kill them." Andy Newton told Cathy, Raena and me. But all I caught was a big-lipped sucker fish and a sore bum from all the driving. Good thing we always have fun with Andy and Raena. 

Joe Butler and Ryan Davis ice climbing on the Byron Glacier. 

Local avalanche and mountain guru Kevin Wright climbing Wisdom (5.9) on the Wedge above Anchorage. Kevin showed Cathy and me that Anchorage does have good rock. Thanks for an incredible weekend Kevin!

Eric Parsons tests his bike bags on the Hillside Trails. 

Cathy on the best evening run in Anchorage: the Wedge Sheep trail. 

"Hey guys! Check out all these sweeeeet mountains. Guys? Hey, where'd everybody go?" Dave Bass at the 1957 wreckage of a B-29 Superfortress in the Talkeetna Mountains. Dave and I were midway through a 15-hour stumble-fest that went here and there, over Lynx Peak and back over there. The full day was a strange combination of verging on being crushed by a 50-ton boulder and giggling like teenagers. 

Cathy near the summit of Matanuska Peak on her favorite excursion of our Anchorage summer. We followed the not-so-normal ridgeline from Lazy Mountain to Mat Peak. Near the top we found some steep granite to scramble. The wiffy likes steep granite.  

Dana Maddog Drummond on a 15-hour, 12,000-foot, 27-mile variation of the Thunderbird Traverse. The T-Bird Traverse is any tundra ridge hike that includes Thunderbird Peak in the Western Chugach. Our variation started at Peters Creek and finished at Eklutna. 

Cortney Kitchen on Knoya Point above Anchorage in mid October. Tordrillos out there. 

Alaska paddling strong man Paul Shauer in Bird Creek. Luc Mehl waiting in line. This excursion enhanced my understanding that water is best when frozen. 

 

Are you impressed? You should be! This thing took me a lot of evenings and some weekends. I'm lucky Dad helped me for five days, otherwise I'd still be out there flailing away. Most of the windows are recycled from the Samoan church down the street. Newton hooked me up with the door. I poached the design from Judy across the alley. 

 

In late September I attended the AMGA annual meeting at the Gunks in New York. Cathy met me afterward for some climbing. Here is Cathy on overhanging 5.6+++ jugs on the ultra-classic route High Exposure. Our favorite day at the Gunks was cragging with Markus Jolliff from Joshua Tree who also came for the guide meeting. Great getting to know you Markus!

After cragging we visited Flanagans. There are lots of Flanagans. Here are a few. Cathy with her parents Peg and Mike Flanagan during a rowdy 18 holes at the par three in Rehobeth Beach, Delaware. After touring around the East Coast for several weeks I found the East's finest attribute are Flanagans.  

Back in Anchorage it's stacking up on Airport Heights! 

And it's stacking up in the hills. Jeff Ellis skiing Eddies shrubbery at Turnagain Pass. You know Jeff is Canadian because he's wearing a toque. 

Wos Glacier Rock Climbing

In the pit at the Alaska Rock Gym Kerry Tinzman told us about cragging at the Wosnesenski Glacier near Homer. The rock climbing closer to Anchorage is terrible. The Seward Highways is rated one of the top five worst climbing venues in the US. On the plus side, all rock climbing means a TRIP! We got Wos beta from shitflyclimbing.com and made air and water taxi reservations. 

Our nephew Miles Goritsky joined us. He just graduated from high school in Camas, Washington and needed to get his yayas out with somewhat responsible adults. 

When we arrived at Northwind Aviation in Homer we learned why Kerry knows the Wos. Kerry is dating Jose de Creeft, the Northwind pilot. Kerry flew in with us, giving us the grand tour along the way, pointing out bears and climbs.

We landed a quarter mile from camp.

An alder forest protected us from wind draining off the Iceworm Icefield. This area seems to be a rain shadow from the uglier Prince William Sound weather. Kerry said the winter water ice climbs freeze consistently here. 

Cathy on Womb with a View (5.10a).   

Miles on Sloppy Peach (5.9+++). 

Miles nearing the forceferous overhang. 

After our second day of cragging we walked up to the glacier. We didn't start packrafting down there. Eeep!

Miles is Cathy's sister Karen's son. He has strong Flanagan genes. On the last day of his AK visit we ran and hiked O'Malley Peak above Anchorage. We did a loopy, traversey sort of thing in a few hours. Although it was his first mountain he became more energized the longer we were out and finished sprinting to the parking lot.

Is Miles saying "Ouch!" or "Ahhhh!"?

After climbing we packrafted the Wos River to Kachemak Bay. The National Geographic Trails Illustrated map shows this river as a Fjord and calls it Quiet River or something Outside like that. 

Miles, here's your boat, a paddle and your life preserver. And do you see those big rocks? Steer around them.

If we had more time we'd have butt-boated the side creeks. Miles thought they'd be like a real life Splash Mountain in Disney World. 

On Kachemak Bay, after the five-hour float. 

We camped near Haystack Rock, where the water taxi would pick us up. 

Waiting for Mako's Water Taxi. Bald eagles everywhere, like pigeons in Trafalgar Square.

Back in Homer. Miles is off to Western Washington University this fall to study his long-time interests of writing and history. 

Nordic Ice Skating

To survive winter in Alaska you need a quiver of toys: fat boards, skate skis, classic skis, scaled touring skis, studded mountain bike tires, studded running shoes, gear for ice climbing, gear for the rock gym and growlers for beer on the way home from the rock gym. Recently, our toy of choice has been Nordic ice skates. These are like skate ski bindings mounted on mountaineering pickets. Nordic ice skates give adrenalized adventure to locations where I'd normally be struggling to have a John Muir moment while sitting in a canoe swatting skeeters.

Last December was mean-cold. Early January 2011 brought freezing rain. Mid-January went back to cold. These conditions make diehard skiers cry. But if you have a fat quiver of toys the conditions are dreamy. The lack of snow and cold temps froze lakes and rivers into Zambonied sheets of glass.

Andy Newton, a friend of many fun adventures, joined Cathy and I for a weekend of horizontal ice on the Kenai Peninsula.  

Nordic ice skating gear: blades with skate bindings, skate boots, skate poles, ice picks, 50-foot throw rope, extra clothes in a dry bag and fire starter. One supplier of Nordic ice skating gear is  nordicskater.com. I've heard "caveat emptor." Try AMH in Anchorage first.

Boot covers and heat packs slow the digit freeze-up. Cathy sandwiches her toes between heat packs and adds a third heat pack between her boot and over boot.

Our first skate of the weekend was a ten-mile out and back on the Placer River to near the Spencer Glacier. The Portage area has many skating options including Portage Lake, Placer River, Portage Creek, Twenty-Mile and road-side ponds. 

Temps were minus ten to twenty Fahrenheit, but the sun helped. 

After hitting Kenai Lake, we stayed two nights at the Sunrise Inn in Cooper Landing. Great bar, nice rooms, buffalo burgers and friendly locals. 

Andy sharpening his blades. Buy one from Nordicskater.com. Even better, go to Alaska Nordic Monster Tim Kelley's site to Make Your Own Nordic Skate Sharpening Jig.

Shuffleboard ass-kicking was going on at the Sunrise Inn with fellow skater friends Tony Perelli, Becky King, JT Lindholm and Matt Rafferty. Tony (in the striped hat), who seemed to be doing most of the ass-kicking, told me: "...had a huge nostalgic moment of playing shuffleboard as a kid at a place called 'Boobs Bar' in Wisconsin. For real. My Dad (also a Joe) was a big shuffleboarder at 'Boobs' as well. Guess it runs in the blood."

The thick lake ice howled and moaned and popped during our eight-mile loop on Hidden Lake near Skilak Lake. 

At 4pm we passed Tony, Becky, JT and Matt at the Upper Skilak Lake boat launch. We followed their directions to the outlet of the Kenai River an hour away. Redoubt Volcano (10,197'), the highest mountain in the Aleutian Range, smoulders seventy-five miles away. 

The almighty Neacola Mountains in the Aleutian Range beyond Cathy and Andy. 

Skating back across Skilak Lake at 6pm. 

Jeff Conaway forwarded me this classic Alaska youtube taken by Alaska Corey. Incredible Corey!