HUNTER SUMMIT!!!!

Greg, check him and his resume out at: http://www.climbalaska.org/staff.html

CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!!!!


Greg Collins has just successfully guided Mt. Hunter! All the Guided Hunter attempts that I can remember in a loooong time have all had to turn around shy of the summit for a variety of reasons.

Greg said they will be back in camp around 8:00 tonight. Mount Hunter is one of the toughest 14+ thousand foot peaks in the country. It involves steep ice climbing, corniced ridge climbing, lots of difficult traverses on the frontpoints of your crampons, fixed lines, heavy packs in technical terrain and in this case withstanding 70+ mph wind on an exposed alaskan ridge. Greg, Brian, Suzy, and Louise were without a doubt our most exposed AMS group hunkered down for the storm. When I say exposed all I mean is that they were the most exposed to the wind due to being camped on a ridge as opposed to a basin or plateau. I was talking to a seasoned Alaskan Guide on the phone yesterday. I told him that Collins was hanging out on the West Ridge of Hunter in this wind storm the last few days. He said the same thing we all felt around here, If there is any guide out there who can deal with that, it's Collins.

This photo was taken last year from a trip on Huntington that Nate Opp was guiding on the West Face Couloir.

These guys will probably start heading back to base camp tomorrow morning I suspect. Day or two for that, then Greg and Suzy bump over to Mt. Huntington and Brian and Louise will fly back out to Talkeetna.

NICE JOB EVERYBODY.

Sounds like a killer day to be in the mountains.

rfg