11 Days in Glacier Bay National Park, AK
Posted: Sat Apr 28, 2012 6:29 pm
Though I skied at Alyeska Ski Area near Anchorage in 2008, I felt like I'd never really skied in Alaska.
Now I have.
I flew to Juneau with my friends from Chile - Chopo Diaz and Claudio Vicuña. We had a few days there to make final preparations and then we got in motion. Ferry from Juneau - Haines. Taxi from the ferry terminal to the Haines airport. And within a few minutes we were loading gear into Drake Olsen's ski-equipped Cessna 180, taking off, and heading 50 miles west into what would be our base camp on the Morse Glacier in Glacier Bay National Park.
We had awesome weather. Six days of sun on arrival. Three and a half days of mild storm with intermittent clearing near the end of our stay.
We had awesome snowpack. No avalanches noted anywhere. Err, well if you don't count the wet avalanches on every single south facing slope in the range and numerous cornice falls. But steep north faces were stable, climbable, powder. Absurd.
We had a great crew. Claudio has lots of expedition experience from trips in Chilean Patagonia. He is the photo editor for the Chilean climbing mag Escalando and a great connection if you ever head that way. Chopo had never even camped on snow before but I didn't know that until one of the last days. He was a natural - resourceful, calm, comfortable. He is from Farellones, a mountain town in Chile which is so goddamn cold in the winter I like to joke that it is akin to camping in the snow anyway.
We had an awesome pilot. Drake Olsen's service, Fly Drake fucking rocks. Blasting Jimi Hendrix in the headset while carving turns and pulling zero-g through the coolest mountains I've ever seen was worth the cost for sightseeing along.
We had good skiing.
Haines police report.
Drake.
Camp.
Friends.
First line video framegrab.
Climbing the big one.
Summit view to the Muir Inlet.
Video framegrab.
Time for a toast.
Some of what we skied.
I'm going back.
Now I have.
I flew to Juneau with my friends from Chile - Chopo Diaz and Claudio Vicuña. We had a few days there to make final preparations and then we got in motion. Ferry from Juneau - Haines. Taxi from the ferry terminal to the Haines airport. And within a few minutes we were loading gear into Drake Olsen's ski-equipped Cessna 180, taking off, and heading 50 miles west into what would be our base camp on the Morse Glacier in Glacier Bay National Park.
We had awesome weather. Six days of sun on arrival. Three and a half days of mild storm with intermittent clearing near the end of our stay.
We had awesome snowpack. No avalanches noted anywhere. Err, well if you don't count the wet avalanches on every single south facing slope in the range and numerous cornice falls. But steep north faces were stable, climbable, powder. Absurd.
We had a great crew. Claudio has lots of expedition experience from trips in Chilean Patagonia. He is the photo editor for the Chilean climbing mag Escalando and a great connection if you ever head that way. Chopo had never even camped on snow before but I didn't know that until one of the last days. He was a natural - resourceful, calm, comfortable. He is from Farellones, a mountain town in Chile which is so goddamn cold in the winter I like to joke that it is akin to camping in the snow anyway.
We had an awesome pilot. Drake Olsen's service, Fly Drake fucking rocks. Blasting Jimi Hendrix in the headset while carving turns and pulling zero-g through the coolest mountains I've ever seen was worth the cost for sightseeing along.
We had good skiing.
Haines police report.
Drake.
Camp.
Friends.
First line video framegrab.
Climbing the big one.
Summit view to the Muir Inlet.
Video framegrab.
Time for a toast.
Some of what we skied.
I'm going back.