UNCLASSIFIED ALASKA EXPEDITION 09

“No realli! She was Karving her initials on the møøse with the sharpened end of an interspace tøøthbrush given her by Svenge - her brother-in-law - an Oslo dentist and star of many Norwegian møvies: "The Høt Hands of an Oslo Dentist", "Fillings of Passion", "The Huge Mølars of Horst Nordfink".”

“We apologise for the fault in the subtitles. Those responsible have been sacked.”

“Damn....and I'm not drunk....but what did you say again sir ladimus....”

“Mynd you, møøse bites Kan be pretty nasti...”

“We apologise again for the fault in the subtitles. Those responsible for sacking the people who have just been sacked have been sacked.”

“Those responsible for the sacking have now been sacked.

Dang, Mooseknuckle is brutal.”

“Fling the Cow!”

“Hey Fridge I picked up a MH sprite1 tent for Alaska. How did it work for you last year?”

“Binks had a sprite 1 in his Franklin store at half price.”

“Jackstraw.....workd great , No problems at all.”

“.....until the moose farted and blew the whole dang thing apart.”

“I'll have a yellow, BD Hilight, for a target.”

“Hiker Duane...Nice pick...”

“Thank you Mike, I just don't like the trouble getting the poles in correctly and lined out for the velcro straps. The other model that has the end opening seems to be easier for folks to put their poles into, mine has the short third pole that goes in first. I can hear the jokes now.:) I used it over New Year's in Yosemite at Dewey Point and my solo hike in Oct. there, thru some snow the second day out while doing most of the Sierra High Camp loop.”

“Flights are booked for me and Troy, $659/ticket, 1 bag included.”

“Okay...so far 4 have locked in flight to AK.”

“Last night on the travel channel they had a special on Wrangell St Elias. Many parts of the park remain unexplored and accessible only by bush plane or foot. There is one town in the middle, McCarthey, which is about 8 hours from Anchorage. Tons of stuff to do in the park.”

“McCarthy... Kennecot...and that's where most go. The Northern section is virtually unexplored.”

“"The Northern section is virtually unexplored."

And that's where The Refrigerator is going?”

“Woohoo! Sounds great to me, lead on Fridge.”

“They said the park was four times as big as Yellowstone, and old Yeller is huge.”

“DUB....when you actually watch Kirk fly away for his last drop off ....knowing that what you have in your backpack and what experience you have backpacking etc,.....that's when you will take a deep breath and realize just how big the park is.
Knowing that you enjoy Photagraphy and looking at your past pics....quite good at what you shoot....and a picture paints a thousand words....Alaska will make you seem small......I once read a quote... that a man with a camera seems small in Alaska.
As i treked last year I remember telling myself....
Every turn, every step, every minute that passes ...a different view and a different you.”

“Let me outta here! I was browsing backpacks again during lunch, I don't need another, but was getting stoked to go somewhere bping. All I need is more snow for a trip in the Truckee area. All the snow is hard and or icy with a breakable crust in most places, makes it hard to walk on, even without a pack.”

“Man...I guess I'll have to upgrade my memory collection from 16gb to 32gb...you make me think I'm not gonna have enough memory cards Fridge!”

“I take a 2 G back up and extra batteries .....”

“We could call you 32gbgatorade, Dub.”

“2gb @ 8.1mps means about 160 shots per card, the camera can fire off about 4 shots a second and I always take multiples of anything I shoot, each HDR will be about 9-12 shots. I should be good with about 4gb a day.”

“I'm bringing several 4-gig cards. I'll crank out my 8fps for the time Griz catches Dub.
last edited: 1/22/09 3:35:27 PM”

“I'm sending my wife back to work so we can afford a gym membership.”

“Which means I'll be able to run faster come August ;-)”

“Better get with it, I run a couple miles twice a week now. I'll be sure to stick a sign on your pack that says "bite here".")”

“Dub will show the equalizer he willhave in hand pointed at ole GRIZ....Bang ! Then he may need to borrow more toilet paper....”

“http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,485968,00.html

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — It's been nearly 20 years since Alaska's Mount Redoubt erupted, but that time of tranquility might end.

Recent seismic activity could be a prelude to an eruption, "perhaps within hours to days," said geologists from the Alaska Volcano Observatory.

The 10,197-foot peak sits about 50 miles west of Kenai and 100 miles southwest of Anchorage. It last erupted during a five-month stretch beginning December, 1989.

Recent activity began around 1 a.m. Sunday, then it eased about five hours later.”

“http://www.avo.alaska.edu/volcanoes/volcinfo.php?volcname=Redoubt

Type: StratovolcanoA vent in the surface of the Earth through which magma and associated gases and ash erupt; also, the form or structure (usually conical) that is produced by the ejected material.
Most Recent Activity: November 5, 2008
Seismically Monitored: Yes
Current Color Code: ORANGE
Distance: 103 mi (166 km) from Anchorage
Elevation: 10197 ft (3108 m)
Latitude: 60.4852° N
Longitude: 152.7438° W
Quadrangle: Kenai”

“Whole lotta shakin' goin' on?”

“yo MarkO


I'll be heading to FYAO early in the week....like wednesday...planning to HOTEL it near by....Later”

“out.....”

“Roger, too”

“Alaska Team check your e mail.”

“Backpack: Fording Rivers

Plan by choosing a careful route and a good technique.
Glacial stream currents are swift and cold, and the water level can rise significantly within a few hours, making a slow stream an impassable torrent.
The heavy burden of glacial silt carried in the rivers prevents a clear view of the obstacles along the bottom.
Pick a route through the widest channels or where there are many channels instead of just one.
As water disperses it flows slower and becomes shallower.
Spend time walking up and downstream, or climbing to a high point, in order to find a crossing site suitable for the entire group.
Watch the water's surface while choosing a route, since this may offer the most reliable information about depth and riverbed composition.
Don't cross through standing waves. There the bottom is uneven and water is deep.
Do cross where there are small, closely spaced ripples. There the water is shallow over a smooth bottom.
Keep in mind that glacier-fed rivers are much deeper after the warmest part of the day.
Check your choice by throwing big rocks into the water.
A hollow "ka-thump" sounds in deep water.
If the rock moves downstream before sinking to the bottom, or if submerged rocks can be heard rolling downstream, the current may be too swift to cross at that point.
Finally, always include an option for a retreat back to shore should the crossing become too difficult. Never over commit yourself to one route.
Before you cross, remember:
Seal all essential items, such as dry clothing and sleeping bags, in watertight, plastic bags.
Do not cross barefoot or in socks alone! Shoes protect your feet from rocks, and allow you to hop along with the current.
Release the waist and sternum belts of your pack. Should you fall, you must be able to jettison the pack before it fills up with water and drags you down.
As you cross, remember:
Keep your eyes on the far shore. You may become dizzy if you look down at the water.
Solo crossings are not recommended; however, if you have no other options, cross downstream at an angle using a long, sturdy stick for support.
After you cross: Congratulate yourself! Although an un-bridged river presents many challenges, it is also part of true wilderness hiking.

River Crossings

Glacial Rivers
Wild and silty rivers run from the park's glaciers to its coastlines. These rivers look different and act different than most rivers. Icy cold temperatures, fluctuating levels, changing channels and heavy loads of silt and rock can challenge hikers, boaters and anglers.
Wide Rocky Beds and Braids
Moving glacial ice scours chunks of bedrock and fine rock flour from the mountainsides. These chunks and bits of rock are mixed into glacier ice and then released in its meltwaters. Large rocks drop out of the stream flow immediately. Smaller ones roll away downstream where they lodge in the river's channels, filling them and eventually diverting the river to a new course. Glacial rivers are constantly shifting from one channel to another, forming many braids in a wide rocky bed. These uneven shifting rocks can be difficult for a hiker to negotiate.

Silty Water
Fine rock flour washes downstream with the glacier's meltwater. In Chugach the dominant rock is graywacke which colors the streams a muddy gray-brown. These opaque waters hide the river bottom, making crossing on foot uncertain and navigating a boat difficult.

High Water Happens When It's Hot
Most rivers drop during long hot summers. Glacial rivers rise! Glaciers melt more on hot, sunny days. Close to a glacier, river levels rise dramatically on sunny afternoons and drop during cool early morning hours. Rainstorms also increase glacial melt, as well as add their own runoff to a river. Occasionally, large rainstorms will swell glacial rivers and fill all channels from shore to shore. Evidence of these floods is seen in the piles of driftwood left high and dry on gravel islands.


Low Water Happens When It's Not
When days shorten and temperatures drop, so do the rivers. Visitors will hardly recognize these rivers in the winter. Raging torrents become small shallow streams of clear sparkling water...that is, until they freeze over!
To Cross or Not To Cross
Many trails and routes in Alaska will lead you to unbridged streams and rivers. Because the water can be cold, opaque and subject to quickly changing levels, a few tips can make your stream crossing safer and more comfortable.

Choose your site
At marked ford sites (like those on the Crow Pass Trail), cross directly between the posts on either side. It's the most shallow place. At unmarked sites, cross at the widest and most shallow place. Avoid cutbanks. Test the water depth with a walking stick or by throwing fist-sized stones ahead and listening to the splash.

Choose your time
Glacial rivers swell under hot sun or heavy rains, and are usually lowest during early morning hours (6 a.m.). If a river looks or feels too full to cross, wait. It may drop significantly. Remember, you never have to cross. You can go back the way you came, or sit and wait for help.

Fuel your body
Adequate food and water will help your body create the necessary energy to fight hypothermia.

Loosen pack straps
and undo the waistbelt so you can drop it if you fall. Seal important items (sleeping bag, dry clothes) in plastic.

Dress Properly
The right clothing will keep you safe and a lot more comfortable. Always wear shoes or boots. Cold temperatures can cause numbness and missteps that lead to foot injuries, a disaster in the backcountry. Don't cross in bare legs. Wear quick drying wool or synthetics, but never cotton. Save something warm and dry for the other side, just in case.

Use a good technique
If you are crossing alone, use a stick for extra stability and to explore the bottom. Face the opposite shore or face upstream and cross slowly, letting your feet feel their way. Don't look at the water. Keep your eyes on the far shore to prevent vertigo. Crossing as a group is safer. Stand along the shore in a line, side-by-side, facing the opposite shore. Put the largest and strongest people on the upstream end, and sandwich smaller or weaker people between others. Link arms, or link arms while sharing a stick like a handrail. Enter the water all at the same time, keeping your eyes on the far shore to prevent vertigo.

If you fall,
ditch your gear, and swim. Roll over on your back, point your feet downstream so you can fend off boulders. Keep your feet high-don't get them wedged on the bottom. Flipper with your arms toward shore. As soon as you reach shore, get warm and dry. Hypothermia can be a killer.



Backpack: Highcountry: Hiking on Scree & Talus
If you're used to well-groomed packed dirt trails, the mountains have a surprise waiting for you just above that first rocky rise: Scree - the crumbling stuff that you skid down on - and Talus - the bigger rock rubble (boulders and slabs) that forms a high-altitude obstacle course. Both can be very nerve-racking: Having the ground move beneath your feet.Climbing scree.

Climbing scree is a little like climbing a sand dune: You can work awfully hard and end up in pretty much the same place you started.
But unlike sand on a dune, scree isn't very deep. You can actually kick steps into it and get purchase with the front of your boots. Even so, it's a laborious way to climb.
Another choice is to try to switchback by traversing the slope and gaining a little elevation at a time. This makes the climb less steep.
As you ascend, you'll probably see bigger rock chunks here and there. These can make good footholds, but test them first since they are subject to the same law of gravity that keeps trying to pull you downhill: Climbing scree is a little like climbing a sand dune: You can work awfully hard and end up in pretty much the same place you started.
But unlike sand on a dune, scree isn't very deep. You can actually kick steps into it and get purchase with the front of your boots. Even so, it's a laborious way to climb.
Another choice is to try to switchback by traversing the slope and gaining a little elevation at a time. This makes the climb less steep.
As you ascend, you'll probably see bigger rock chunks here and there. These can make good footholds, but test them first since they are subject to the same law of gravity that keeps trying to pull you downhill: A stable-looking rock could be sitting on an unstable layer of scree that will start to slide just as you put your foot on it.

Hiking on talus.
Talus, otherwise called a boulder field, is made up of big broken rock chunks. Moving on it can be difficult: Big rocks force you to take bigger steps (which is hard on the knees going down and requires strength going up) from one rock to the other. You also need good balance, because all the while the rocks can be moving underfoot.
The key to talus travel, whether you're going uphill or down, is to always look several steps ahead. That way, if a rock starts to shift and throw you off balance, you can simply hop to the next one without taking time to think. Climbing is easier than descending: Going up, you're fighting gravity; but going down, gravity is tugging at your balance and can pull you somewhere you may not want to go. The best way to climb up is to take a diagonal route. Not only is it less strenuous than the straight-up .approach, it's also safer for your hiking partners below you, who could be hit if you dislodge a loose rock.
Going downhill on talus can be frustrating, nerve-racking, and hard on the knees. Beginners usually go one rock at a rime, trying always to stay balanced and in control. Far easier is hopping from rock to rock in a controlled dance with gravity.
To practice, try moving downhill on rocks without your pack. Keeping your knees bent, hop from one to the next. Use a side-to-side motion; it's slower and easier to control. (Side-to-side is easier on the knees, too, than going straight downhill.) Likewise, choose a less steep lateral route whenever possible. Whether you're traveling fast or slow on talus, hiking sticks help: You can use them to take the weight off your knees for big steps, to test the stability of rocks, or to fine-tune your balance on a fast decent. However, if you've got bad knees or a heavy load, or if the descent is simply too frightening to attack head-on, you may have to resort to the tried-and-true and one-step-at-a-time approach.”



A Beginner's Guide to Alpine Mountaineering – Part 2
It is glaciation, cloaking the mountains in snow and ice and splintering the rock into fantastic shapes through the freezing and thawing of water in cracks, that makes Alpine mountains so spectacular, exciting and of a siren beauty. Glaciers are the bodies of permanent snow, hardened by time and pressure into ice, that flow out of the mountains. They are fed by the heavy snowfall of winter and melt in the warm temperatures of summer. When the rate of melt is greater than the natural rate of advance due to gravity, the glacier is said to be retreating.
For 150 years the glaciers of the Alps, and indeed of everywhere except Antarctica, have been retreating, growing steadily smaller and becoming covered with rock or moraine, that falls on to the ice from the surrounding mountainsides. A moraine-covered glacier is in effect a rubbish tip of the mountains, and about as much fun to walk on. As few can fail to be aware, that process has speeded up dramatically in the last 30 years, radically altering many climbs.
Crevasses
Glacier ice is a plastic substance. It is soft enough to flow downhill, but stiff enough to crack open when stressed. Such stress occurs on the outside of a bend, for example, or whenever there is a steepening of the valley floor, or sometimes at the sides, simply because friction is causing the ice to flow slower than in the centre. In all these cases, the glacier will split open to form crevasses. These can be anything from an inch to fifty yards across. The smaller ones are usually the nastiest because less obvious. Glaciologists tell us that crevasses cannot form to a depth greater than 150 ft, but there is scant consolation in that.
In summer, the lower parts of most glaciers, when not covered with moraine, become bare of snow, revealing so called dry ice. Here crevasses are quite without malice and provide useful places to practise ice-climbing and rescue techniques. Higher up the mountain, however, they become masked by snow and a very different proposition. Immediately in front of you a crevasse may be invisible, but to the right or left a faint dimpling of the surface is often discernible, and it may prove to be the continuation of an open hole some distance away. In winter, or after fresh snow, these signs are hidden and great care is needed.
Glaciers are probably at their safest in Spring when there is still a lot of snow about but freeze/thaw is strengthening the bridges. In summer, crevasses are usually safe early in the morning when the snow is frozen hard, but by the afternoon it will have softened, and the bridges will be in a precarious state. As the season goes on, crevasses become increasingly open. By the end of August, glaciers and icefalls which were straightforward ski runs in April can be all but impassable.
It is a good rule always to rope up, even on a well-tracked glacier, unless you know from personal experience that there are no crevasses. Tracks in the snow or other parties wandering about un-roped are no guarantees that the glacier is safe. If hollow, probe it with your axe (easier if you have one of a sensible length, say 55–65 cms, rather than a pterodactyl) or a ski-stick. If your axe goes straight through, or the bridge collapses into the depths, try again elsewhere! It is not unusual to have to weave back and forth across a glacier, crossing or jumping each individual crack at its safest point. Late in the season, the only bridges remaining may be wildly improbably cantilevers of dripping ice. Often they are stronger than they look, but take no chances. Arrange a strong belay and cross on all fours to spread your weight as much as possible. (For constructing snow anchors, see The Handbook of Climbing, Fyffe & Peter.)

Crevasses, what happens when you fall?
Sooner or later, however, you will go through a crevasse whose existence you never suspected. Whether you plunge to the bottom, find yourself dangling at the end of a rope contemplating a bright circle of daylight somewhere above you, or merely feel your legs kicking in space while icicles tinkle far below, will depend entirely on your partner. The key to safe travel on glaciers is a tight rope at all times. Coils held in the hand will only increase the distance of a fall and the difficulty of stopping it. The most effective way of checking a fall is to throw yourself onto the snow in a self-arrest position. Body weight, combined with the friction of the rope biting into the lip, are normally sufficient – but only if there is no slack rope. It all happens very quickly and there are no substitutes for alertness, quick reactions, and a tight rope.
Admittedly, that is easier said than done at the end of a long, tiring day and on a glacier there is definitely safety in numbers. In a party of three or more, 8–10 metres of rope between climbers will suffice, with spare rope carried around the shoulders and tied off. If anyone falls, it will usually be quickest to haul them out from the top, either with a straight heave if there are plenty of hands available, or by improvising a pulley-hoist. However it will often be necessary to drop the victim another end of rope first and arrange this over a rucksack at the lip so that the rope does not bite into the snow.
The more usual, and the more hazardous situation is two climbers roped together. Here, it is always possible that one will drag the other into the same hole. To reduce the chance of this happening, a longer distance between climbers – 12 to 15 metres – is advisable. When climbing as a pair, it is essential that you can both prusik efficiently, since even with the most elaborate improvised hoists it is extremely difficult, and may prove impossible, for one person to hoist another when so much friction is involved. Little gadgets like a Ropeman, a Tibloc or a Petzl pulley can all help, but in general prusik knots or similar but more efficient variations, work quite well enough.
Whatever the temperature on the surface – and the combination of ultra-violet radiation and reflected glare from the snow can be quite literally scorching to skin and eyes without protective cream, lip-salve and dark glasses – the inside of a crevasse is a bitterly cold place. Snow is, moreover, highly abrasive. It is worth always wearing gloves or mitts on snow, and preferably a long-sleeved shirt.
If crevasses are an ever-present danger in summer alpinism, avalanches are perhaps less of a hazard than at other times of the year. The greatest danger is from ice-avalanches. When a glacier flows over a projection or rock hard enough to withstand the crushing, grinding weight of ice above it, be it high up on the side of a mountain or in the flow of a valley, the ice will split open into ice-cliffs or seracs, which are continually collapsing and changing shape as the ice behind presses inexorably forward. The dangers of working through an unstable icefall are usually obvious and when the instability is not great, they can be fun to climb, presenting a series of technical problems to overcome.
Not such an obvious hazard, and easily overlooked, are hanging glaciers poised hundreds, sometimes thousands of feet above. There are many approaches to routes, and even hut walks, that pass beneath such hanging masses of ice. Seracs seem more prone to collapse in the heat of the afternoon when melt water acts as a lubricant within cracks in the ice. Bonatti, on his frequent excursions to the Brenva Face and the Grand Pilier d'Angle on Mont Blanc, both of which are threatened by enormous seracs on the approach, used to carry a thermometer and did not bother to leave the hut unless the temperature at night was well below freezing. That he is still alive seems to justify his caution.
Nonetheless, seracs can and do fall at all times of day and night and at all times of the year; gravity will always have its way in the end. The best policy is always to look above you before stopping for a break, and to accelerate whenever you are in the vicinity of hanging ice, even if you are plodding wearily along much-used descent routes like the Nantillons or Violettes glaciers.
Snow, as opposed to ice, avalanches are less common in summer. Nonetheless, after prolonged bad weather, conditions will always be potentially dangerous for at least 24 hours, especially on lee slopes where windslab can form. Wet snow avalanches can occur almost anywhere in the heat of the afternoon, though fortunately they usually don't. A layer of snow lying on ice becomes so saturated with water that it suddenly slides away with a hiss, even on easy-angled slopes. The depth may not be great, but it will still knock you off your feet, and if there is steep ground below, the result could be fatal. Moral – try to avoid long, open slopes facing south or west in the middle of the afternoon.”

“Planning Alaska 2010 Expedition trip. Totally out of this world. E mail me for more info.
refrigeratorfridge@gmail.com”

“Wrangell-St. Elias is a world unto itself. And that world isn't far removed from the ice ages.
Four mountain ranges meet in Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve. This coastal park, at 20,625 square miles the nation's largest national park. Nine of the country's 16 tallest peaks are here, topped by Mount St. Elias at 18,008 feet. Bagley Ice Field is the continent's largest subpolar ice field, and Malaspina Glacier is larger than Rhode Island.
The park is home to a lot of black and brown bears, caribou, sheep and goats, and the Copper River system adjoining it is one of the richest in salmon. To the southwest is the Chugach National Forest. To the southeast are Tongass National Forest and Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve, as well as Canada's Kluane National Park.”

“Looks like they are getting hit with some of that cold Alaska air too.:)

So where is your '10 trip going? I will have all my gear soon for '09, I'll be ready for another trip, since I will have it all now. I think.”

“Duane, 2010 trip will be in an area estimated to have 1 bear for every 4 miles. A team of 6 using a bear fence. Will need to carry weapons just in case. Location will be given in September.”

“u want to get eaten by a bear is that it? LOL . have a great trip this weekend bro.”

“'10 trip, more bears per mile? Thank you Mike, enjoy your trip, let us know how the fence works.”

“Bear Town wilderness this weekend. Last october when I was there I seen no sign of deer and all signs of Bear. This trip this weekend should land some bears. I hope so.”

“I was playing around with my iPhone and found a link that shows the hostel. Click on the green arrow and then click "Steet view": http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&q=61.219070,-149.874908%20%28Alaska%20Backpackers%20Inn%29

You will then see the Backpacker Inn Hostel and can do a virtual drive around town.

I think you have to have Google Earth on your computer but I'm not sure.”

“Probably need to upgrade to the $20/yr. version...”