ChillyChugach

January Cumulus Mtn (left), with Korohusk peak in the center.  Extremely low snow for a January day! Josh Chelf was all smiles while crushing the bike leg of the TriFlake winter triathlon. Jacob Kirk spent the whole race in plaid - and went on to place third in the individual division! Local running legend Matias Saari - on skis?!   February Tyson Flaharty of Goldstream Sports fresh off his ITI 350 win with a bike still fully loaded with gear.  Interview on my Youtube channel! Beautiful blue ice behind Ptarmigan Peak. James Stull riding in Phoenix, AZ.  We brought Alaska with us - the coldest temps in 125 years! OMG WHAT IS WRONG WITH ZAC'S FACE?!?!  We were driving back from a trailhead in AZ when we first saw this - and nearly crashed the car from laughing so hard.   March March means the return of the sun, and the death of eastward facing ice climbs.  That same beautiful blue ice from February is being sun rotted, but that's OK because

Ridge conditions November 2018.  Point 3920 on left, Indianhouse NW ridge on right.     I 'd attempted this ridge last November, but a late start and general unpreparedness saw me turning back at the first gendarme.  I vowed to return, and almost exactly a year later, I found myself parked at Fall's Creek and hiking up point 3920.  This time, it was 8am, and I had ice tools and a rope. Top of 3920, looking towards Indianhouse.  First gendarme is center left.     R eaching the top of point 3920, I clipped on crampons and took out the tools.  After descending to the ridge proper, I quickly made my way to the top of that first gendarme, encountering light mixed climbing on the way up.  At the top, I surveyed the options.  A rappel was pretty much mandatory from here - downclimbing would have been nutty and I had, after all, lugged 60m of 9.4 all this way...  Maybe I need to invest in a lighter rope ;) Using the tools, cause I had 'em and hooking around was fun.