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2009/2010
by: Tim
Kelley
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A Few Pictures From Summer Ramblings |
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Last summer I had a really good time road tripping on the Dalton
Highway. I had so much fun that I decided to do it
again this year. Each time I did these trips it was in
conjunction with working on the North Slope. So I would
drive the 850 miles from Anchorage to Deadhorse, with stops
along the way for hiking and peak bagging in the Brooks Range.
Work for a week or two in Prudhoe Bay. And then drive
home, with more stops in the Brooks Range for hiking and peak
bagging. After two trips have I gotten my fill of
exploring off the Dalton Highway? Nope. I'm already
planning what I will do on my next trip up the Dalton Highway. |
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Brand new pavement
leading north out of Coldfoot. The distinctive spire on
Sukapak Mountain's ridge can be seen in the distance. The
Trans-Alaska Pipeline is to the left of the road. |
On Sukapak's ridge,
looking south. |
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360 degree panoramic
shot from the summit of Sukapak Mountain. North is on the
left, with Atigun Pass in the distance. On the right you
can see the Dalton Highway and TAPS heading towards Coldfoot.
In the center you can see the sheep / hiking trail traversing
the slopes up to the summit. |
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Wide open hiking in
the northern Brooks Range. |
View of the Atigun
River valley. South is to the left, the big lake is
Galbraith Lake, the North Slope is in the distance to the north. |
TAPS Pump Station 4. |
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In 2009 I tried to
get up Peak 6902 east of Atigun Pass, but I didn't make it due to
snow conditions. This year I was able to make it to the
summit. |
Summit view. A
nice day above the clouds. The hole in the clouds looks
down into the valley I came up from. |
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"Hey Tim! I
found more caribou antlers. Get over here with your pack!
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More fodder for the
antler chandelier at our cabin. |
Old pipeline anchors |
Hiking near Atigun
Pass. |
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Dalton Highway
"art". Rain drops on road grime. |
Coiled tubing on its
way to Prudhoe Bay. 25 foot reel, 18000 feet of 2.5"
tubing, 80,000 lbs, cost $200,000. |
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An archaeological
relic - a bulldozer track from the 70's when the Haul Road was
made. |
These are pictures
taken on a mountain ridge in the Brooks Range with clouds below
me. What you see is a parhelion or "sun dog" with my
shadow inside it. For more info about sun dogs, click
here. |
This is a "floating
pingo". A pingo is a frost formed hill. This is a
pingo in the distance that is distorted from light diffracting
through cold and warm air cells - a phenomenon which is called
Fata Morgana. |
When parking on the
Dalton Highway to go hiking I put a foam sleeping pad on my
window to protect it from flying rocks. And I make my
vehicle more visible. |
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Some Prince William Sound
shots ... |
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Prince William Sound
hiking. |
You see a lot of
these "earthquake trees" in Southcentral Alaska.
Where coastal land subsided during the 1964 quake, tree roots
ended up in a salinated aquifer which killed and preserved the trees. |
Blackstone Bay |
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A Rare 12 Hours of Sunshine in PWS |
| July 23, 2010:
I think I'm through skiing for the 2009/2010 season (see
previous post), so I'll end this season's pictures with some
recent Prince William Sound peak bagging photos. For the most part, this summer has only offered short,12-24
hour, windows of cloudless weather between storms in PWS. Weather patterns like this challenge you if
you want to peak bag or hike in PWS. You either have to
have to rely on luck or have a system dialed in to take advantage of the
few weather opportunities you are offered. Recently the
weather forecast showed a short clear weather system coming in
from the west. My wife and I headed out by boat 60 miles south
of Whittier to be ready for it. At about 5 in the morning
the clear weather arrived. We headed off on a long
bushwhacking approach to get to the alpine zone and scramble up
a peak that had been on my list for a few years. The
time above the brush was PWS hiking in all its glory. But
soon after we got back to shoreline the weather changed and the
next storm rolled in and our clear weather window ended 12 hours
after it arrived. That's the way it goes with
hiking and peak scrambling in Prince William Sound. Often
if you blink ... the good hiking weather will have come and
gone. |
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The view of our destination the day before. Lots of PWS liquid
sunshine. |
Prince William Sound
is a very wet place. And bushwhacking up to the alpine zone is
usually very wet and slippery ... with lots of bogs, bugs,
bears, boot-sucking mud, butt-sliding gullies and brush bashing. |
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Taking a break from
the 2 1/2 hour uphill bushwhack to the alpine zone, and looking
back to where we started from. |
Bushwhacking up
through the inevitable cliff bands. |
Breaking out above
tree-line ... finally. |
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I use a GPS to track
my bushwhacking route, but I also leave navigational clues -
like arrows in pond mud. |
The start of the
alpine zone. |
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There was an
interesting cirque lake embedded in the peak we were climbing.
It was still snow and ice covered on July 23rd. |
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A nice day to be
ridge rambling in PWS. |
An old goat ponders
the route choice.
(It's hair that a
mountain goat shedded.) |
Almost on the
summit. No poles ... it got a bit steep and they were left
behind. |
On the summit,
checking out the neighborhood. |
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360 degree panoramic
view taken from the summit. |
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The Princeton
Glacier in the background. |
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Heading back down. |
Wow - the bear that
left this footprint was huge! ;-) |
Back at shoreline
you could see the front of the next storm coming in ... |
... and soon Prince
William Sound weather was back to normal. |
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North Ridge of Culross Island - Summer Skiing |
| July 9, 2010:
It's been a normal summer so far in Prince William Sound.
Normal means lots of rain, and very little sun. So when my
wife and I saw that a 24 hour stretch of sun was coming to the
Sound, we headed out to do some hiking and skiing. I had
been thinking that the north ridge of Culross Island would be a
fun late season ski. This ridge gets a huge amount of snow
from ocean storms that move in from the southeast. So
there is often a lot of snow on the north side of Culross Island
late into the summer. I had been to the top of Culross
Island a couple of times before (2006,
2007),
but my wife had never been to the top. So we gave it
a go and ended up having a good time - I hiked and skied,
my wife hiked and ran. On top we could see the next storm
front coming in, so we just squeezed in this trip, with
literally minutes to spare, before the good weather shut down
and some severe, nasty weather engulfed the area. |
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Maps above show
where Culross Island is, and our route. |
Heading up from
Culross Bay. |
Neat shallow lakes
on top of glacial-smoothed bedrock. |
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Switching to skis at
the 700 foot level. |
On the snowfields of
the north ridge. If you expand the picture you can pick
out my wife. Summer snow here is often good for both
skiing and hiking. |
The Diamond
Princess cruise ship heading past Esther Island. The
white dots in the water are commercial fishing boats out
gillnetting salmon. The
Diamond Princess is 965 feet long, handles 1950 passengers,
has 4 anytime dining rooms, 3 pools, a 9 hole golf putting
course, casino and 7 bars. |
My wife hikes the
north ridge, the cruise ship is turning up Port Wells in the
background. |
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As we got higher we
could tell weather was moving in from the south, so we picked up
the pace. |
On the summit.
You can tell by the smoothed rocks that glaciers once ran over
the top of this peak. |
Tough Alaska girl.
Ready to run down the mountain. |
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360 view from the
summit of Culross Island. You can see clear skies to the
north, storm coming in from the south. |
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Let the fun begin! |
Ride 'em like ya
just
stole 'em! |
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Skiing off the
summit, Port Wells in the distance. |
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For PWS summer xc
skiing I use wax-less Fischer Superlight Crown skis (width:
48-44-46 mm) |
Shredding a wind
rib. The snow was great "hero snow" ... corn snow that is
so easy to turn on it makes anyone look like an Alpine skiing
hero. |
Milking and
cherishing every turn - just in case it's the last ski of the
season. |
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On the way out:
It's nearly mid-July. A 100 degree heat wave is cooking
the US east coast. But at 500 feet above sea level in PWS
there is still some ice on the lakes. |
Hiking/ wading out. |
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Time-honored
footgear of Prince William Sound - XtraTuf rubber boots.
Recent news indicates that manufacturing of these boots will
be moved overseas. Sad. |
Back in Whittier.
Modeling the official uniform of the Prince William Sound Summer
Ski Team. |
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Here are a few pictures,
taken a week before, of gold mining remains in the Culross Bay
area. We hiked past this mine on the day we went up the
north ridge of Culross Island. |
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Minke whale |
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A ferry of the
Alaska Marine Highway system. |
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