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Late Winter Hike and Snowboard - Pioneer Peak
We headed out this morning for a bit of a workout, the aim being to hike to the top of Pioneer Peak and snowboard down, if we made it. Pioneer Peak is a predominant local peak looming over the Matanuska-Susitna Valley with an elevation of 6400 feet at the summit. It's been a good cold winter with plenty of snow, but also plenty of wind, so we weren't sure at all what we'd find on the hike. There was a good chance that there was no trail at all, in which case we knew we would flounder waist-deep in snow for hours without gaining much ground, and have to stop short of the peak. Another option was finding the hike too strenuous in current conditions and bagging it early. We really had hardly a hope of reaching the summit, but we hoped anyway. 
We hit the base at around 7:00am and started hiking before the sun came over the nearby mountains. The trail turned out to have had some recent traffic for part of the way, so we made great time for the first mile while it got lighter outside and eventually the sun colored the skies and gave us a show.
A gnarly birch tree stands sillhouetted.
Temperatures dropped as we gained altitude, and eventually the wind picked up. The hiking went smoothly until about halfway up the peak, where previous traffic had evidently stopped at the landmark picnic table installed by local JROTC members.
After the picnic table, the evidence of prior travel faded into faint tracks that came and went as we moved upward. Snow was inconsistently firm, and we started falling through the surface into deep soft powder. I think somewhere along the way here I got snow on my lens, but it still takes pictures.
As we trudged slowly onward, we happened across a couple ptarmigan.
These guys have some seriously good camoflauge, but not quite good enough to keep from being spotted entirely.
At length, with time ticking away and not showing a whole lot of progress, we decided we'd find some good snow and just start heading back down. The good snow has evidently all blown away though, so all we found was hard-packed slabs with an occasional soft spot to catch us off guard. We hiked to a point about 2/3 the distance to the peak itself and turned back to find Tracy and start boarding down. Here's Richard just before we headed down.
One of the many things I love about Alaska is its vastness. Can you find the plane flying by far below us?
For the bird lovers, here's a Ptarmigan in flight. My first, I think!
And the same Ptarmigan just hanging out.
Ah, finally Tracy catches up to us! She carried the food, so it was an especially happy re-uniting.
Here's a shot of the scenery. I counted six extra special snowballs at the time, but sometimes you just can't tell...
The one on the right looks like it's been into the blueberries!
Ah, finally the action! Richard heads down, bumping roughly over the hardpacked drifts with the whole valley below.
Shortly thereafter he biffed it. :rofl
And one last touch of eye candy, here's Tracy moving carefully downward. This is her third day snowboarding, so she's having a bit of trouble staying on her feet!
We struggled for a couple of hours, battling snowdrifts, powder pits, and especially narrow windy twisty trails through the alders (Man those were fun!!!) and I didn't get a whole lot of pics of that. Suffice to say we're all very tired, but unhurt even with a couple high speed battles with trees. Oh yeah, and there was the one event where I sailed cleanly off a cliff after missing a switchback, only to be caught in the waiting arms of a cliff-side Alder! Seriously... couldn't have happened better in a movie! Richard didn't HAVE a camera though, so that one went unphotographed.
Anyway, hope you enjoyed hiking up an icy mountain in what is still the Alaskan wintertime with us. I'm a bit tired, so if this thread bounces around some in describing the events, I appologize. Now I'm off to bed!
We hit the base at around 7:00am and started hiking before the sun came over the nearby mountains. The trail turned out to have had some recent traffic for part of the way, so we made great time for the first mile while it got lighter outside and eventually the sun colored the skies and gave us a show.
A gnarly birch tree stands sillhouetted.
Temperatures dropped as we gained altitude, and eventually the wind picked up. The hiking went smoothly until about halfway up the peak, where previous traffic had evidently stopped at the landmark picnic table installed by local JROTC members.
After the picnic table, the evidence of prior travel faded into faint tracks that came and went as we moved upward. Snow was inconsistently firm, and we started falling through the surface into deep soft powder. I think somewhere along the way here I got snow on my lens, but it still takes pictures.
As we trudged slowly onward, we happened across a couple ptarmigan.
These guys have some seriously good camoflauge, but not quite good enough to keep from being spotted entirely.
At length, with time ticking away and not showing a whole lot of progress, we decided we'd find some good snow and just start heading back down. The good snow has evidently all blown away though, so all we found was hard-packed slabs with an occasional soft spot to catch us off guard. We hiked to a point about 2/3 the distance to the peak itself and turned back to find Tracy and start boarding down. Here's Richard just before we headed down.
One of the many things I love about Alaska is its vastness. Can you find the plane flying by far below us?
For the bird lovers, here's a Ptarmigan in flight. My first, I think!
And the same Ptarmigan just hanging out.
Ah, finally Tracy catches up to us! She carried the food, so it was an especially happy re-uniting.
Here's a shot of the scenery. I counted six extra special snowballs at the time, but sometimes you just can't tell...
The one on the right looks like it's been into the blueberries!
Ah, finally the action! Richard heads down, bumping roughly over the hardpacked drifts with the whole valley below.
Shortly thereafter he biffed it. :rofl
And one last touch of eye candy, here's Tracy moving carefully downward. This is her third day snowboarding, so she's having a bit of trouble staying on her feet!
We struggled for a couple of hours, battling snowdrifts, powder pits, and especially narrow windy twisty trails through the alders (Man those were fun!!!
) and I didn't get a whole lot of pics of that. Suffice to say we're all very tired, but unhurt even with a couple high speed battles with trees. Oh yeah, and there was the one event where I sailed cleanly off a cliff after missing a switchback, only to be caught in the waiting arms of a cliff-side Alder! Seriously... couldn't have happened better in a movie! Richard didn't HAVE a camera though, so that one went unphotographed.Anyway, hope you enjoyed hiking up an icy mountain in what is still the Alaskan wintertime with us. I'm a bit tired, so if this thread bounces around some in describing the events, I appologize. Now I'm off to bed!
John Borland
www.morffed.com
www.morffed.com
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Comments
Nice set of photos! really interesting to see and the plane gives a lot of perspective on the vastness!
Thanks!