As of Monday morning, there are 48 registered users in the lower elevations of the Alaska Range. Teams are exploring the Pika, Moose’s Tooth, Buckskin Glacier, and Glacier One. A few teams are in position for different routes on Huntington as well.
Recent reports from across the range indicate two plus feet of snow over the last week. This new snow fell on an old drought layer, creating persistent weak slab problems on all aspects and all observed elevations (up to 9,000’). Human and natural avalanches have been reported across the zone. The headline? Poking into new territory warrants careful observation of your local conditions, and a high degree of suspicion of slopes that have not already slid. Please evaluate carefully when traveling in or under avalanche terrain.
Thanks to Ben Markhart for sharing this snowpit from the Triple Crown Glacier. This illustrates the problem most climber and skiers are currently running into: 1 meter plus of new snow sitting on a thin weak layer.
Basecamp
Joe Reichert and a team of four are currently in Kahiltna Base Camp, setting up the Park Service infrastructure for the season. We are lucky enough to have return volunteer Kirby Senden, as well as North Side employees Ashley Guevara, Luke Walther, and Hannah Wilkins doing lots of shoveling and moving gear around. They may have requested some unsettled weather so that they could stay in Basecamp longer instead of returning to their North Side duties.
Rangers Jake Kayes and Forrest Madsen are also lending a hand in Basecamp. They were scheduled for an Alaska Range patrol, but evaluation of poor weather and poor avalanche conditions convinced them to let things settle while still enjoying some field time. Digging a tent platform deep enough so that it doesn’t melt out in the next two months is always a huge task, so having more hands will be welcome.
A recent view of the North Buttress of Mount Hunter from a nearly empty Basecamp. Thanks to Morgan McGonagle for the photo and conditions report.
West Buttress
At the end of this week, three expeditions will have been briefed and received their permits for their West Buttress climb; the season is still young and the trail will be lonely (and need breaking). That will change next week.Patrol #1 with rangers Scotty Barrier and Joey McBrayer is scheduled to depart on Monday. Weather looks unsettled through the week but we are hopeful they will make it in during the next few days. Scotty and Joey are joined by returning volunteers Joe Grout, Carter Keene, and Andrea Tupy; Dane Setzer will be joining this seasoned crew for his first volunteer patrol (new to volunteering with the Park Service, not new to the West Buttress).
We appreciate this team heading up first; the focus of their patrol will be making it to 14,200’ and establishing camp, another endeavor that entails a lot of digging and a lot of hard work to set up this crucial infrastructure for the season’s operations. Thank you, WB #1!
Alaska Range Patrols
Thanks to volunteer Frank Preston for this view of Mount Russell. Picture is generally representative of the views of the Alaska Range recently.
Galen Dossin returned to town with two volunteers Frank Preston (former climbing ranger) and Dean Einerson (previous volunteer) after an attempt on Mount Russell. Unfortunately, weather prevented them from accomplishing much. The southwest corner of the Park is a beautiful, less frequented area that is worth planning an expedition to. It really takes the brunt of the weather coming out of the Gulf of Alaska, but when the stars align, can offer a really special wilderness mountaineering experience.
The rescue basket in action off of a 2022 rescue from the 16k’ ridge.
View from inside the coast guard rescue basket on a recent short haul training. We often use this basket at higher altitudes on the upper mountain, when conditions are too challenging to land and we don’t have enough power to have a ranger attending a climber that needs rescue