Lakes and Rivers

I just got back from a patrol with Nate Porter. He came over to volunteer on a week long trip that was supposed to go from Nabesna to Chisana. We were not able to cross the Nabesna River because of really high water. It was by far the biggest river I had ever messed with and the river won quite handily. We changed our plan and instead hiked out to Soda Lake.

Before the trip with Nate I did a fly in trip with a couple of other rangers to Sheep Lake and Grizzly Lake. This area of the park doesn't see much use until hunting season starts but we were disappointed to find garbage and a lot of human impact in the area. The mountains and valleys near these two lakes are just incredible. I'd really like to return to this area at some point.

Final approach onto Sheep Lake.

Looking north across Sheep Lake.

Mount Blackburn in the distance.

This is actually on a small island in the middle of the river, we still had a very long way to go.

Soda Lake

A closer look at Soda Lake, I'm standing on the landslide that formed the lake.

Nate decides volunteering is stupid and his partner is an idiot.

THE BEST JOB

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!

The Next Step

I have finally figured out what I plan to do with myself for the summer of 2009. I have accepted a backcountry ranger position with Wrangell-St Elias National Park. I will be based on the north side of the park in Slana. I should be spending most of my time in the backcountry instead of at a desk. There are possibilities for rafting patrols, backpacking patrols, and mountaineering as well.

Wrangell St Elias National Park is about 13.2 million acres making it the largest National Park in the US, by comparison the country of Switzerland is about 10.2 million acres. I have been out to Wrangell St Elias several times including one Search and Rescue assignment. I'm really excited about this new opportunity and I can't wait to get out there.

I've added a few pictures of the search I worked in Skolai Pass a couple of years ago.

Mexican Dreaming

I should be writing about what an incredible trip Angela and I had to Mexico but I can't. The airline gods once again conspired against me and foiled our plot to flee to warmer climates. A large winter storm shut down the Seattle airport the day that we were supposed to be flying and the airlines were not able to rebook us for at least a week. We decided to cancel our Mexico trip because we would not have had very much time down there, especially considering how much the tickets cost us. We still managed to get out to Virginia to see my folks and Angela's sister, so it wasn't a total loss, but Virginia is not Mexico.

The holidays were really nice in Anchorage. We took advantage of our time here and caught up with friends that I hadn't been able to see since I left for Nepal. The weather cooperated for a few days and we were both able to get out and do a little climbing and skiing. I even talked Angela into skiing up Eagle River to try an ice climb on a bitter cold day when the mercury never rose above zero. It's fair to say that Angela was a tad less psyched about our little outing than I was. She was A LOT less psyched when she broke through the ice. Luckily she did not go all the way in and just her feet got really wet. We made a mad dash for the car before she got too cold.

Thats pretty much what I've been up to lately. I'm living the wonderful life of the unemployed at the moment and trying to spend as much of my free time as possible outside.

Pictures from Nepal

The caption for each picture is below the image. I don't know why the spacing is messed up on some of them.

Kathmandu

The airport at Lukla, this is where we started trekking.

Namche and Kongde Ri.

This was our first view of Mt Everest and Lhotse, Ama Dablam is on the right.

Tengboche Monastery

Island Peak, the route we climbed is around the right side.

Lobuche East, the second peak we climbed.

Ama Dablam at sunrise.

Brian and I on the summit of Island Peak.

Island Peak basecamp, our tent is the only green one.

Everest, Nuptse and the Khumbu Glacier from the summit of Lobuche East.

Our porters descending on Lobuche East.

Brian making friends.

Prayer flags on the way to Thame.

Everest, Lhotse and Makalu from Renjo La.





Ama Dablam

When I asked a passing guide what kind of goat this was he told me a "high mountain goat." It's actually called a thar.

This porter carried all our gear from Namche to Lukla.

Boudhanath, Kathmandu

This is the river we went rafting on for two days.

Riot police tenderly holding hands before they kick the crap out of some protestors.

Kathmandu from Swayambhunath.

Patan Durbar Square

Island Peak Summit

This video is from the summit of Island Peak.

Frustration in Kathmandu

I'm still stuck in Kathmandu but there may be light at the end of the tunnel. I've spent the last several days standing in various lines at various different airline offices being told various different things. I was originally supposed to fly with Thai Airlines back to Bangkok, but because Bangkok is still a mess thats not going to happen. Instead I was told that Thai Airlines would pay for a new ticket for me to a different airline hub, I'm trying for Hong Kong. So I ran all over the place trying to find a flight to Hong Kong, I finally found one on Royal Nepal Airlines and was told to go back to Thai to have them endorse my ticket. I waited at Thai airlines for 4 or 5 hours before I made it up to a ticket agent. The agent takes one look at my ticket and says "I can't do anything with this." A rather loud and protracted shouting match ensued where I very diplomatically explained to the man that it was in his best interest to make the ticket for me, he declined and I loudly voiced my disagreement with his incompetence, to no avail. After this little encounter I walked into a different section of the office, sat down and handed a different agent my paperwork. He took care of my ticket right away, no shouting, cursing or threatening required.

So I have a ticket out to Hong Kong on the 4th of December and then flights on to Taipei and Anchorage on the 5th. So I'm hoping that all that will get worked out and I should be back in Alaska by Friday morning. I'm looking forward to getting back there, it sounds like the snow is already piling up which means I need to get out my skis.