A Traverse of Chugach State Park

Back in 2004, reading the Anchorage Daily News, I came across an article by Jim Saylor, writing about his third and final successful traverse of Chugach State Park. I was inspired by the idea of crossing a 100 miles of Anchorage's backyard wilderness in one push between Knik and Turnagain Arm. I saved the news clipping for later. To my knowledge (let me know if I am wrong), the only other party that undertook this traverse are the Quintessential Runners with Rob DeVelice who did it in 2006, also going north to south like Saylor in 2004. Contrary to Saylor and DeVelice, I planned a route from the South end to the North end, leaving bushwhack sections to the downhills (Camp Creek to Raven Creek, Benign Pass to Eklutna) and maximizing the use of trails (Indian Pass trail, Crow Pass trail, Ram Valley trail, Eklutna Lake trail, Bold Valley trail, Pioneer Peak trail).


This spring, I came across the news clipping again. Darcy's knee improved considerably over the last two years due to a diligent yoga routine. It was time to take on this trip. Due to the weekend warrior dilemma and other trip plans we cut the traverse into two weekends. As soon as we thought the snow was mostly gone, we were joined by Hannah and Kevin, and James and Parke for the first section on June 11/12. For the second part on August 27/28, Darcy and I went on our own.

PART 1: Indian Valley to Eagle River Nature Center - 33miles 8,500ft 2 days (24h)
We used the Indian Pass trail and then went NE to cross two low passes west of Tail Feather Peak cutting across a beautiful bowl below the rugged summit. From there we entered the upper North Fork of Ship Creek, followed a bear trail on the north side of the creek with some knee high brush but no bush whacking. After camping below Grizzly Bear Lake and a visit by a wolverine we post-holed across Moraine Pass into the Camp Creek drainage, crossing Raven Creek on logs above the gorge to finish at the Nature Center via the Crow Pass Trail.

Besides video and map below, see Darcy's blog for pictures.







PART 2: Ram Valley to Pioneer Peak - 31miles 14,400ft 2 days (23h)
We were never fully sure if the planned route would work out, but after a day of rain and wind and one day of pure sun shine we were granted to finish the traverse with spectacular views of the high Chugach, including Mount Marcus Baker and Mount Goode. From Ram Valley we crossed Bombardment Pass, went around Mount Rumble's west side and across another pass west of Benign Peak into the Eklutna drainage. From there we hiked along Eklutna Lake up Bold Valley and across a couple ridges to the Pioneer Peak trail to finish at the trailhead on the Old Glen Highway. Special Thanks goes to Kevin and Hannah who left us their car at the trailhead including some well appreciated home brew. Also thanks to Mary and Todd for keeping an eye on safe returns to home.

Visit Darcy's blog for some additional pictures besides the video and map below.

Dnigi Loop

It's our first anniversary so Darcy and I thought we give the Dnigi Hut a try. Dnigi is Athabascan for moose. The cabin is located in Moose Creek thus the name. The Mountaineering Club of Alaska maintains the hut and use is exclusively for members. You can sign up here. It's about 13 miles from the Little Su valley trailhead via the Mint Hut, Mint Glacier and Grizzly Bear Pass. It's one of the most beautiful huts of the MCA huts in the Talkeetnas, we thought. The glacier crossing is easy without any major crevasses. There are quite a few boulder fields to cross. It took us 7.5 h to do the hike in. On the return, we went down Moose Creek and crossed over a steep scrambly pass south of Nevada Peak at 61d 48.465N 149d 2.503W. We met up with the Mint Hut trail at mile 4. Without detours, the return would have been 12 miles, less elevation and 6.5 h long.

Special thanks to Darcy who secretly carried in a bottle of the finest champagne, given to us as an anniversary present by Patty and Kevin. It didn't even have any effects the next morning and was sure a wonderful addition to the experience.

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Unseren ersten Hochzeitstag feierten wir auf der Dnigi Hütte in den Talkeetna Mountains. Dnigi ist Athabaskanisch und steht für Elch. Die Hütte liegt in einem bezaubernden Tal, dem Moose Creek umrahmt von Gletschern und steilen Bergspitzen. Es sind etwa 21km bis zur Selbstversorgerhütte die vom Alaskanischen Bergverein betrieben wird und für Mitglieder des Vereins benutzt wird. Darcy brachte eine geheime Falsche Champagne mit die wir feierlich köpften.

Honolulu Creek

Mid August Brad Meiklejohn and I went to Honolulu Creek. The Honolulu is a clear stream in the Northern Talkeetna Mountains, and one of the most beautiful and challenging rivers to packraft in Southcentral Alaska. With Brad's local knowledge there was no bush whacking and little route finding despite the low cloud ceiling. The very scenic hike starts at an ATV trail north of the Hurricane Bridge and goes across tundra plateaus with views of the Alaska Range and granite walls of the Talkeetnas. Framed by rugged peaks, we camped at Goat Lake below Honolulu Pass and the next morning put in where a small creek draining Goat Lake joins the Honolulu. The 12 mile paddle feels like Canyon Creek on steroids with many drops and blind corners and small eddies. Especially the first 4 miles of the "upper" canyon, is a solid class IV paddle, followed by 4 miles of class III with the occasional class IV drop. After the put in we paddled for about 15 min then portaged a 9 footer with a narrow slot, probably a class V drop.
Not gauged it is difficult to check whether the 175 mile drive from Anchorage on the Parks Highway is worth it. Once on the bridge crossing the creek, visually check two large boulders on looker's right upriver. If the water touches the bottom of the boulders there is probably approximately 400 cfs of water to float on, enough for the canyon sections and a bit boney for the last 4 miles of rocky boulder gardens. Special Thanks to Brad for suggesting this awesome run. For additional info see Roman's blog.

Aniakchak

The world of the Aniakchak Caldera in southwest Alaska is one of immediate fascination. Over the last 3500 years, more than 40 different eruptions occurred. The caldera formed when the summit of a 7000ft mountain collapsed in a massive eruption, one of the largest in recent geologic time, larger than the eruption of Novarupta. The first white explorers described it as a moon crater in the early 20th century shortly after its most recent eruption in 1931. The caldera covers more than 30 square miles, with a diameter of 7 miles and with a 21 mile long circumference rim. A section of the 3000ft tall rim wall collapsed about 500 years ago creating what's nowadays known as The Gates and giving way to an enormous flood event forming the Aniakchak River. But not only the geology is superlative, equally fascinating is how well nature recovered from the event. The Aniakchak River offers solid class 3 whitewater, sockeye salmon, and hiking opportunities on golf course like tundra. All that and 15 of my friends made this packrafting trip special and one that I may want to repeat. Following the foot steps of Hig and Erin's (groundtruthtrekking) we hiked into the caldera from Port Heiden (daily air service with PenAir) then paddled the funnest parts of the Aniakchak River, and hiked to Kajulik Bay on the Pacific Ocean from where we followed the coast to Chignik Lagoon (daily air service with PenAir).

Estey and Brook hiking "golf course" tundra above Port Heiden.

Estey, Brook, Brad, and JT hiking in the caldera towards Surprise Lake.

An alien landscape formed by moss growing on lava from the most recent eruption in 1931 and the mist from a rainy day.
When the clouds lift the alien landscape can turn into a remarkably lush environment.
This campsite on the SW shore of Surprise Lake offers some protection from the horrendous winds known to have caused complete loss of tents.
This half mile long section of white water is called The Gates and is the first fun to be had on the Aniakchak River. This rapid is easily portaged on the west side of the river. This section of river is probably a 3 plus. We ran it at approximately 600cfs, medium to high flow.
Sockeye for dinner
After The Gates, there are two small canyon sections where the gradient steepens. Two miles above where Hidden Creek joins and in the vicinity of Hidden Creek. Below Hidden Creek, the river gets more flat water (see above). Until Hidden Creek I would rate the river to be a solid class 3 with two to three sections of class 3 plus.
In the vicinity of Albert Johnson Creek, we headed straight south towards the Pacific. The hiking was great especially on some of the super highways created by bears. By the way, we saw more than 20 bears in seven days. The bears dictate your travel across this beautiful landscape.
The hiking in Kajulik Bay at low tide was superb.



Putting in for a paddle along the coast

Evening sun illuminating packrafts and purse seine fishing boats in Chignik Lagoon Hiking in red (75 miles total), paddling in blue (25 miles total), seven camp sites in yellow 




Luc Mehl and Roman Dial also made some nice videos of the trip. 
See below or check out Luc's and Roman's blogs:

Black Rapids Glacier

At the end of April Tory and I had originally planned to ski in the Northern Chugach Range but changed plans due to weather. Tory suggested to go into the Eastern Alaska Range where he had long spotted some great "lines". We were fortunate to have great weather there and a foot of new snow which made skiing above 4000ft amazingly good. We crossed the Delta River with sleds and about 100lbs each. The going was tough along the southern side of the glacier tongue or what's left of it. Just to do three miles took us almost all day. We then returned to the highway via Augustana Creek eleven days later.

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Tory und ich hatten eine zweiwöchige Skitour in der Chugach Range für Ende April geplant doch wegen schlechtem Wetter gingen wir in die östliche Alaska Range, wo Tory schon lange einige Abfahrten gesichtet hatte. Wir hatten dort bestes Wetter und ideale Schneebedingungen mit Pulverschnee über 1000m Höhe. Wir überquerten den Delta River bei Black Rapids und gingen entlang der Gletscherzunge. Die Moränenlandschaft ist nur mit viel Mühe zu durchqueren, demnach sind wir über den Augustana Creek zum Highway zurückgekehrt.

Tory on the summit ridge to reach Peak 7265.

Tory flying a kite on the upper Black Rapids Glacier (above the land slide area) where smooth surface and good wind made for ideal kiting. The peak in the background is Peak 7220 where we skied the visible NW face the day before.

Tory skiing from the "true" summit of Peak 7265 to hit it's north face. In the background, debris of the 2002 land slide that occurred on this peak and covered the entire lower part of the Black Rapids Glacier which since then the glaciers of side valleys have transformed into a moraine moonscape. Note, USGS maps show an elevation of 7265 feet on this peak's West end whereas the higher "true" summit where we skied from is to the East of that point and according to my GPS 7286ft high.

Tory skinning up to the summit of Peak 6750, where we skied an amazing 8 mile loop hitting three North facing couloirs.

Me skiing a line off of the Northeast Ridge of Peak 6350.

View up the Black Rapids Glacier's moraine chaos originating from the

2002 earthquake that caused a large land slide.

Tory enjoying the view from the top of a couloir on Peak 7650's western ridge.

Tory skinning up a couloir on James Peak

Tory on James Peak's West Ridge. In the background to the right the Augustana Glacier.

View up North from the summit of Peak 7265 or what we measured Peak 7286. The three prominent peaks in the background are Mount Shand, Mount Moffit, and Mount McGinnis. Mount Hayes is the white peak in the distance on the left.

Map: blue track is travel in between the four camps, red track are ski mountaineering/ski kiting day trips

Eklutna Traverse

The second Saturday in April, Darcy and I woke up to a beautiful day. It was a good weekend for the Eklutna Traverse, a 30 mile ski trip from Girdwood to Eklutna over icefields. We packed up and caught a ride to the rim of Girdwood Valley thanks to Keith and Deb Essex at Alpine Air. Over the next four hours, we skied down the Eagle Glacier and up the Whiteout Glacier to Hans' Hut, a small A-frame mountaineering hut with one of the best views in the world. We hadn't seen anyone all afternoon, but met John and Nick, skiers from Kodiak, who were heading in the opposite direction. The next day, we skied across the Whiteout and Eklutna Glaciers. Coming off the glacier, we had predominately exposed ice due to recent wind and a low snow year. Thanks to crampons borrowed from John, and an ice screw we came off the glacier fairly easily. What a place we live in. We were able to pull off this trip with about an hour of packing, and a 30 min drive to Girdwood. We skied 30 miles in pure sunshine in a godly place, got a good night sleep, and met terrific friends, Tara and Parke, at the end who picked us up at Eklutna, 25 hours later. Also see Darcy's blog entry.

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Am zweiten Samstag im April, sind Darcy und ich zu einem wunderschönen Tag aufgewacht. Es war ein gutes Wochenende für die Eklutna Traverse, einer 44km langen Gletscherüberquerung von Girdwood zum Eklutna Lake. Mit Hilfe von Keith Essex von Alpine Air gelangten wir mit Hubschrauber an den Eagle Gletscher von wo wir auf Ski in vier Stunden zu einer Skihütte liefen. Dort angekommen trafen wir zwei Tourengeher aus Kodiak die in der entgegengesetzten Richtung unterwegs waren. Am nächsten Tag, ging es über den Whiteout und Eklutna Gletscher in Richtung Eklutna Lake. Der Eklutna Gletscher hat unterhalb von Pichler's Pirch ein paar Spalten und der Abstieg wurde dort auch etwas trickreich. Gut dass ich eine Eisschraube mitgebracht hatte von der wir uns abseilten. Was für ein Wochenende. Wir hatten uns kurzerhand für die Traverse entschieden, hatten innerhalb einer Stunde gepackt, waren in einer halben Stunde in Girdwood, sind 44km mit Panorama skigewandert, und wurden am Ende von unseren Freunden Parke und Tara abgeholt, und das alles in 25 Stunden.
Siehe auch Darcy's blog Bericht.

South Fork Eagle River

There was still now new snow in the mountains around Anchorage at the beginning of April, so Darcy and I decided to ski to Eagle Lake at the base of Eagle Peak in the Chugach. The 14 miles round trip took us five hours on pretty firm wind packed snow.

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Es war Anfang April und es gab immernoch keinen neuen Schnee in den Bergen um Anchorage herum und so entschieden wir uns eine Skitour zum Eagle Lake am Fusse des Eagle Peaks zu machen. Die 14 Meilen (22km) konnten wir bei windgepresstem Schnee in fünf Stunden hinterlegen.

Eagle Lake Ski Tour from Tobias Schwoerer on Vimeo.

Indian to Ship and back

Darcy and I went from Indian to the North Fork of Ship Creek with the intention of making it to Ewe Valley. The recent warm weather and sunshine made for great ski touring but increasingly, the faceted snow turns into an isothermal snowpack.

Indian to Ship Creek Ski Tour from Tobias Schwoerer on Vimeo.

Mount Sanford

Recently, Luc Mehl and Erica Madison invited me to come along skiing Mount Sanford. We used snowmachines to get to the base and then continued the next day on skis to make camp at 11,300ft on the north ramp of Sanford. The following day Luc and I went to the summit and back to high camp to pick up Erica who recovered there from the "flu" which turned out to be a bit of altitude sickness. We then skied back down to the snowmachines which turned out to be a 12,370ft descent. Thanks to Luc and Erica for great company and for organizing this awesome trip. Also special thanks to Erica's dad and David for lending us their snowmachines. Below is Luc's video from the trip.

Katmai

This summer my brother came to visit us. We wanted to do a trip together and Katmai was high on the list to watch bears at Brooks Camp and to explore the Valley of Tenthousand Smokes (VTTS). VTTS is a valley that was filled with ash in 1912 after the largest volcanic eruption by volume (13 cubic km) of the 20th century.
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Diesen Sommer hat uns mein Bruder Stefan besucht und natürlich wollten wir zusammen eine Tour unternehmen. Es ging in den Katmai Nationalpark um in Brooks Camp Bären zu beobachten und im Valley of Tenthousand Smokes (VTTS) zu wandern. Das VTTS ist ein Tal das 1912 durch den größten Vulkanausbruch des 20. Jahrhunderts mit 13 Kubikkilomtern Asche gefüllt wurde. Nach dem Ausbruch hatten sich tausende von Fumarolen (Rauchquellen) gebildet, die durch den Entdecker Robert Griggs dem Tal den heutigen Namen gaben.


Ted the bear fishing for salmon in a whirlpool. Photo by Stefan Schwörer
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Ted, der Bär fischt für Lachs in einem Whirlpool.

The Valley of Tenthousand Smokes


On the way to the USGS research hut which served as our base camp we had to cross the Lethe River. A couple days before, a German hiker died while crossing the treacherous rivers of the valley. Rivers are deep and and somewhat unpredictable due to the unstable ash that they cut their deep trenches through. The crossing shown above is generally known as an "easy jump",
a good way to cross the Lethe we found. We also thought that taking a throw rope as used in whitewater rescue may be a good idea for the river crossings.
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Auf unserem Weg zur USGS Forschungshütte, die für ein paar Tage unser basecamp sein wird, mussten wir den Lethe River überqueren. Ein paar Tage zuvor war ein Landsmann beim Überqueren dieses Flusses (an einer anderen schwierigeren Stelle) umgekommen. Wegen der unstabilen Asche sind die Flüße tief und oft unberechenbar. Die Stelle die im obigen Bild zu sehen ist mit die einfachste Möglichkeit den Lethe zu überqueren.

Pummis all around us, even flying through the air if the winds coming through Katmai Pass from the Gulf of Alaska are blowing hard enough.
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Pummis gibt es überall, selbst in der Luft, wenn es anständig bläst.


The USGS hut peaks out of the fog with Mount Griggs in the background.


In the rather unforgiving moon landscape of the valley, we are glad to be in the hut where we spent quite a few days (and nights) listening to the raging storms outside.
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In der unnachgiebige Mondlandschaft sind wir froh in der Hütte zu sein. Dort haben wir einige Tage und etwas schlaflose Nächte verbracht nur um dem Sturm zuzuhören.


Stef on the descent from Baked Mountain. The anthracite hump in the background is Novarupta, the site of the 1912 eruption.
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Stef beim Abstieg vom Baked Mountain. Der antrazitische Hügel im Hintergrund ist Novarupta, die Stelle der 1912 Eruption.


Stef taking a break at Novarupta with Baked Mountain in the background. Note, the black rock of Baked Mountain which blackened due to the enormous heat of the 1912 eruption which gave this hill its name.
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Stef bei einer Pause in der Nähe von Novarupta mit Baked Mountain im Hintergrund. Das schwarze Gestein des "gebackenen Berges" hatte sich während der 1912 Eruption wegen der enormen Hitze verdunkelt, daher der Name "Baked Mountain".



Knife Creek cuts a deep trench into the ash.

Knife Creek surges once in a while, like the tide, just more frequently. This has also been noted in the log book of the USGS hut.
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Knife Creek hat eine Sprungquelle, wie man im obigen Foto sieht, und wie im Gästebuch der USGS-hütte verzeichnet.

Photo by Stefan Schwörer

On Trident Volcano, Photo by Stefan Schwörer

Morgenstimmung am Mount Griggs


The weather improved but Stef and I had to leave and go back to Brooks Camp. The goggles were pretty useful during sandstorms.
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Das Wetter verbesserte sich aber Stef und ich nehmen Ausreiss. Während einem Sandsturm sind die Skibrillen sehr nützlich.



Mount Mageik

Stef hiking along the deep and narrow gorge of the Lethe River.
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Stef wandert entlang der tiefen und engen Schlucht des Lethe Rivers.

Useful coordinates:

• Lethe River easy crossing: N58 16.787, W155 14.825
  
• USGS research hut: N58 17.613, W155 12.091
• Knife Creek fresh water spring: N58 18.355, W155 09.979
  

Feathercraft packraft review

With special thanks to Goo Vogt I was fortunate to demo the new Feathercraft BayLee I LW packraft. The BayLees proof to be good competition for Alpacka and NRS boats and may provide more incentive for further innovation in the ever expanding packraft market. I personally float in an Alpacka Yak that I bought in 2003. Even though I haven't tested the BayLee I LW in any class 3 or 4 water, I believe it is a great whitewater boat. Below is what I found to be the pros and cons of the Feathercraft BayLee I LW. (Each comment refers to the picture above unless noted.)

Feathercraft's BayLee I LW (left) is uniformly shaped like a kayak which might make it a better whitewater boat. The yellow Alpacka Yak 2003 model (right) is wider at the stern than the bow and shorter than the BayLee I LW which is Feathercraft's smallest packraft. The closest Alpacka boat comparable to the BayLee I LW in length is the Alpacka Llama. Comparing the weight of the Bay Lee I LW with the Llama, the Llama wins easily. Alpacka's Llama has 4.5 lbs while the BayLee I LW has 7.5 pounds (both boats incl. spray skirt). Cause for the weight difference is probably the much tougher fabric used by Feathercraft for floor and tubes.

The Feathercraft (right) comes up higher in the bow and stern compared to the Alpacka Yak 2009 model (left). The Feathercraft also has bigger tubes for more buoyancy.

Feathercraft BayLee I LW (blue boat) and Alpacka Yak 2009 model (red boat).

The stern of the BayLee I LW (above) has a wider shape. Also, see the two inflation valves for the two chambers. Having the two air chambers certainly also makes for a tougher boat. The valves Feathercraft uses, even though they prevent lots of moisture from entering the chambers they are heavier than the open air intakes Alpacka uses. Also, due to the smaller air-intake the BayLee I LW takes longer to blow up with an inflation bag.

The stern of the Alpacka is more arrow-shaped compared to the Feathercraft.

Feathercraft did a superb job in designing a simple seat that is actually super comfortable. If you ever sat in an Alpacka for more than an hour you know what I am talking about. The reason for comfort is the flat pillow design of the BayLee I LW. The seat is also easier to exchange than the Alpacka's due to a simple attachment system (see picture below).

Feathercraft's easy solution to an exchangeable seat.


Unfortunately, Feathercraft's backrest is not satisfactory. The backrest is attached to straps and the attachment points (see thumb above) break easily when entering the raft. The most serious issue however is that the straps create potential for foot entrapment. Aplacka's solution to the backrest is both safer and more elegant. Since the Feathercraft is generally longer, Feathercraft could move the seat more towards the middle of the boat for even better white water abilities.

Feathercraft uses straps to adjust the backrest. The straps however, create high potential for foot entrapment particularly when having to perform a wet exit.

Above is Feathercraft's (black valve) superior mouth valve. If you have a boat like me that Alpacka had made by Feathercraft back in 2003/4 (yes, Feathercraft initially built packrafts for Alpacka) you have probably gotten to appreciate the fact that these valves are less likely to leak. The reason is that they are flexible and you can bend them for blowing into the mouth piece. Above you can see that the valve nicely attaches to the boat fabric in form of a ring. Thus fabric and valve are easily bonded and stay that way because you can bend the valve as shown in the picture above.


Above is Alpacka's 2010 model valve (red valve). You can not bend it which is a problem. If you want to bring the valve to your mouth since it is not flexible in itself you have to pull the valve away from the boat which stresses the glue holding the valve and boat fabric together. As a result, Alpacka often has valves that leak at the attachment point (see arrow above). In other words, since you have to pull it away from the fabric to bring it to your mouth, the valve detaches from the boat fabric at the point of the arrow (above) and thus easily creates a leak.

Feathercraft did a nice job designing this simple spray skirt which actually holds up well against water coming in at your chest and back. Two bungee suspenders are attached to the spray skirt using velcro. Each of the two suspenders has a velcro patch to attach the front end of the bungee-suspender to the part of the sprayskirt that lays on your chest. The back of the suspenders is fixed to the spray skirt at the stern. There is just enough velcro to hold it and not too much to make it too hard to wet exit. Unfortunately, there is still water sitting in the middle of the spray skirt when paddling.


The spray skirt has a velcro exit on the right and a good quality zipper on the left that goes all the way to the bow. I found that the spray skirt could be a bit better attached to the boat. Sometimes packrafters grab the skirt when trying to hold on to their boat. River current and heavy loads can easily detach the skirt from the boat.

Feathercraft's skirt comes up high in the back.

The velcro on the right side of the sprayskirt is two sided. This can be pretty tough to get out of when doing your wet exit. Also the suspenders, even though they nicely keep the sprayskirt high on your torso, it's a bit more difficult to get out of once you are upside down in the water having to wet exit.

The velcro on the skirt's suspenders get stuck underneath the seat. This can create another foot entrapment and is troubling if you get back in you boat after a wet exit and can't find the suspenders to put back on.

Additional room for improvement with the BayLee I LW are the strap plates closest to the middle of the raft. Unfortunately, these strap plates (see arrow above) are exactly attached where a paddler's hand may come closest to the tubes of the raft. When I first used the raft I tore up my finger nails pretty well. If these strap plates could be moved further towards the bow, they could all be used for securing the load.

Spray skirt of the Alpacka Yak 2009 model tied up underneath the load.

Spary skirt of the Feathercraft BayLee I LW wrapped on the right. This design still allows your raft being easily emptied of water. With the ability to open the skirt by zipper, there are no issues with velcro getting worn out as is the case with Alpacka rafts.

Thanks again to Goo Vogt for bayLee I LW demo boat. Goo can be reached at: sotaralaska (at) yahoo (dot) com