I just got back from my first backcountry patrol in Wrangell-St Elias National Park. Brian VonTersch joined me for a week long trip into the Mentasta Mountains. We had planned to try to climb Noyes Mountain and some of the smaller peaks nearby. This plan did not work out so well because the weather was so warm that it completely destroyed the snow pack. The good climbing out there is in the gullies and couloirs but because of the warm weather these were extremely unstable with a lot of wet slides.
We climbed a long ridge with extremely rotten rock until a large rock outcropping stopped us late in the day. We kicked down a few sloughs to clean out a gully of any unstable snow and then down climbed through the gully back down to the glacier. It was a good day with great weather and I'd really like to return to this area under more stable conditions.
The rest of the patrol we spent doing dayhikes and monitoring the boundary of the park. We had some really great views and unbelievable weather. I've added some photos down below of the trip.
Looking north at one of the peaks we tried.
Brian feeling the hate.
I downclimbed this mess, Brian is in the rocks left of center looking for a better way.
Cruising down the tundra above Lost Creek.
A beautiful side canyon we explored.
Enjoying the fine weather!
No comments:
Post a Comment