4 Day Climbing Frenzy, Alaska

Since deciding to write a guidebook I feel I have been moving nonstop through the climbing areas of Alaska. Its been a fun adventure that i'm only about 1/3rd through but its seriously time consuming! So I randomly take pictures and find the need to put them all into one big ol' post. So heres this big ol post!

My friend Dane got a weekend he was able to donate to help and get some climbs in so we headed to Ravine Lake for some fun and long climbing. The route which we did was about a 5.10b and was just amazing. The views looking down to the lake and around the valley were incredible. It was a beautiful day full of sun. Dane gets ready for the climb


Then it was off to the races. The rock lingered above us.


The top of the second pitch was a beautiful arete with fun sqeeze moves. I had a chance to stop in the middle and look down toward dane and Ravine Lake off to the distance.


It ended up being a great two days and we got about 16 climbs into the books. I knew I wanted to start getting into Hatcher Pass because there was such a large amount of routes there that I wanted to get to! So I checked in with John and Tracy and we were off to the beauty of the Talkeetna Mountains. We arrived at Midnight and the next morning proved to have beautiful sky's.
Rock? Oh ya..there is a lot of it.


I told John that the most climbs I had done in a day with getting information on them had been 12 so far. I wondered if we could beat it. We wound up climbing 17 routes that day with about 10 hours of climbing. I didn't have much time to take out the camera between rainshowers but John did manage some. I hope he bring his pictures out! While sitting in the tent I did manage some pictures however.
Heres Tracy looking innocent as she goes for the Peanut Butter:


John (coldclimb) checks his mustache while showing off a smuggy strap!


The second day was all fog and mist. Not exactly the best for climbing so we setup a slackline with Ty and Will who showed up.


John steps on and shows us how its done.




And in case we were looking.

Ty got up and psyched himself out for a bit before finally crossing right before he had to take off. The first step is most definitely the hardest.


I even managed to finally get across which was the first time I have fully crossed a highline. Sweet stuff. Gets your heart going for sure!
We hooked the line up on bolts which we put in the pre-existing holes. We then removed the bolts and took them with us that way there is no ugly bolts sitting near the trail. Hopefully this is good for everyone.

Well the sky was blue so there was no time to dilly. I hopped in the car and drove back to anchorage where i called the always great to have around person Shasta. We drove to Portage for some climbing in Byron Glacier Valley and this place is incredible.


The climbing is just left of the rocks in the bottom of the picture. You are climbing on smooth solid rock with this glacier watching you. The view down the valley the other direction is not half bad either!


This is the main climbing area. The slippery side on the left is a climb called Crisco Kid which is the most slippery rock I have ever....EVER climbed on.


Shasta taking a moment to have fun in the river on the walk out.


We drove back into town and decided to climb again the next day with some of her friends. Her friend Kyle showed and we all drove down to Boy Scout Rock for Kyles first time climbing outside. This rock isn't technically very difficult and was a bit hard to photograph but for the sake of the event I got some to post! Good job Kyle!

heres Shasta.


Kyle starts up.


Making the struggle face up and learning to trust her feet.


Almost there!


Ahh and finally a rest spot.


Taking in the views of the Turnagain Arm from the top.


Then it was Shastas turn again. She did her first rope solo and first trad lead on this day. Good job Shasta!


Then we packed it up and drove to Puriton for climbing which we climbed another 10 hours. After that hard few days of work I took some rest days. Which is why I was able to write this! Until Next time!

Enjoy!