And There Was Much Rejoicing

The sun came out today as well as Joe and Andy from their glacier trek. The romantic couple at the Mountain House (who got engaged while there) also returned.

All's well in the world of AMS. A six day mountaineering course begins on Monday.

Blogger Laura

Rain and Fog

We have a couple of groups in the Range that were due out today but it is not flyable yet. We can hope for brighter skies tomorrow. That two day glacier trek will now be three days and the folks who went in for an overnight at the Mountain House will have to cuddle up for another evening around the stove.

The Alaska Range will teach you flexibility if nothing else.

Blogger Laura

AMS Post Office

The one nice day last week allowed all of the gear from the Glacier Ninja trip to come off the glacier. Which means that the ice axes, poles and snowshoes now need to be mailed back to people who are literally all over the world. Yikes! It is really hard to wrap and ice axe for international travel. Thanks to Dusty for his cardboard creations.

Blogger Laura

The Sunny Matanuska Valley

I thought the blog page could use a picture from a sunny day. This was taken of a youth group on a course in early July. The Matanuska Glacier is in the background. We run Glacier Treks and Travel and Crevasse Rescue classes here. It is one of the few glaciers you can drive to. We've got two more Youth courses coming up this week. Although it is only a couple hours from Talkeetna, because it is in a different valley it is often sunny there.

Blogger Laura

Bear Hunters

A black bear ran though the AMS headquarters this morning and the guides chased it off using what happened to be in their hands at the time: paddles and pickets. Watch out for this group!

A few bears have been seen in the downtown area over the last couple of weeks. Make sure all of your garbage and dogfood is put away in a safe and secure place.

Another Rainy Day at AMS

When our guides aren't climbing they read about climbing. Some of them were to fly out this morning on a personal climb but no luck.

Glacier Trek Takes Off

Andy does some last minute packing.

Guide Joe Butler takes Andy out for a 3 day Glacier Trek. They departed on schedule and were dropped off at the Ruth Glacier. Have fun out there on the ice and snow, only 10 miles (as the bird flies) from the top of North America!

They're Back!

Conor getting organized after unexpected five day delay.

Chris does the same (I tried to get a different picture of him but he never got off the phone)

Rachel went for the computer instead of the phone.

The sun came out, the clouds lifted and Joey and team got flown off the Pika Glacier this afternoon. What were they missing most: coffee! They learned how to play hearts, read every book they had, twice. Rachel discovered that she doesn't enjoy being tent bound. It is warm and sunny here and everybody has smiles on there face.

Over the water, baking in the sun even at 8am, the Cuillin Ridge is an awesome sight. Tony and I set off for our traverse of the 11 Munros by boat from Elgol yesterday morning knowing it was going to be a long, hot, dry slog. We were right!

We started very well hydrated but even then we had each drunk 2ltrs of water by the time we got to Coire a'Grunda. A long rest at the spring there was needed with another litre or two to drink and a fill up before we could carry on to Sgurr Alasdair. We met few people on the tops which was a bit of a surprise with the great weather. One group stayed at the loch which looked very inviting.

We managed to keep going but the heat and the continuous technical ground was having an impact so we called it a day in Coire na Banachdich. There is plenty of water not far down this coire and some very nice bivi ledges. Unfortunately it was a terrible night, despite being dry and calm.

In the warm and calm conditions the midges were fierce. You can often count on a gentle breeze on the ridge to keep them away but last night there was nothing. I've never seen so many midges on the Cuillin and due to the heat of the sun it was too hot to get right inside the bivi bags too! Torture. We were very close to quitting the ridge and walking down.

Thankfully we persevered and survived the night. This morning was dry and cloudy so it was much cooler. If it had been like this yesterday we would probably have got further along the ridge yesterday. Sgurr a'Greadaidh is always a favourite of mine and today it was as spectacular as ever.

However with wet weather coming in at noon and a long way to go we decided to go as far as Sgurr a'Mhadaidh and descend by An Dorus. This was a good move since the rain came in early and was very heavy this afternoon. The Cuillin traverse is always an emotional roller-coaster and it was like this for Tony this time. However he is much better prepared for next time when he comes back to complete the traverse with experience of the ridge at its best and the scale of the challenge it presents.

AMS/Patagonia Frontiers/NCC Alaska Returned

Guides Nancy Pfeiffer, Fredrik Norrsell and Gerard Ganey  and Patagonia Frontiers youth group returned to Talkeetna today!    The team has been in the field for 24 days,  they were on a Mountain/Hiking/Rafting expedition.  The trip ended on the Chulitna River.  This group has seen some amazing views and wildlife.  We are sure they will have great stories about the adventure and can't wait to see their photos.

The team had snacks and discovered that even though they were out of the field they still had lots of work to do.   They all pitched in to unload, unpack and clean gear.

Out of the van

Group Photo before unloading gear

Gear waiting to be cleaned and sorted

Cleaning gear

Hanging gear to dry.

They Made it!

Melis, Leighan, and Larry's mountaineering course are eating burgers at the West Rib Pub. They all had smiles on their faces. It's not everyday that you have an excuse to do nothing but hang out in a vast mountain range and no one can do anything about it. All's well that ends well.
Colby

Paul Launched

There's another window and Paul Roderick, owner of Talkeetna Air Taxi just launched. If the window stays open, they should be back at 6pm. Fingers crossed.
Colby

Latest

There was a window, planes almost launched, but it closed up. Standing by for another window.
Colby

6 Day Mountaineering Course Checks-In

AMS instructor, Todd Tumolo just called in from the Coffee Glacier. They have been having fun and did a peak ascent this morning. They will be flying back tomorrow around noon, weather dependent.

Here's are some quotes from the students about their instructors, Melis Coady and Jacob Kayes, on the recent 12-Day Mountaineering Course.

Melis was a complete bad ass, Jake is a budding jedi warrior! ~ Will B.

Both Jake and Melis were incredible. They made the trip from Australia worthwhile. They were very skilled and I have come away from this course much more skilled than before.  ~ Dan K.

We have more mountaineering courses this season and room for people on all of them. Check out our website to learn me.

Students on a 12 Day course on the Pika Glacier

Snow Cave

Nothing beats a cave for bomb proof improvised shelter.

Just got off the phone with Melis. They have a great runway built and Larry was teaching a snow cave class. They have plenty of fuel and food and spirits were high. There are a lot worse places to be stuck than the beautiful Eldridge Glacier, like Newark, NJ airport! As of now the weather is improving, but it is still socked in the mountains. I talked to someone in Palmer and they said it was clear down there which is where most of our weather comes from. Hopefully the good weather is pushing the bad out and they will get picked up soon. We have orange juice, watermelon and cookies waiting for them.

Colby

Melis, Leighan, Larry, and their Mountaineering Course studentsv are still waiting for weather to improve for their pick up on the Eldridge Glacier. Melis called a couple times yesterday saying it was bluebird in the Eldridge. Unfortunately, it was snowing in between Talkeetna and the Eldridge and they couldn't get picked up. We were able to get AMS' intern Dusty into the Ruth Gorge yesterday where he is busy for the next few days painting the Don Sheldon Mountain House. The day is still young and the weather will likely change so we are hoping Melis' crew will get out. For the most up to date flying conditions I call Talkeetna Air Taxi at 907-733-2218. I hear planes flying already!
Colby Coombs

Glacier Ninja Life on the Mountain

Getting to know each other at the 14,000 foot camp....for 10 days.
Not quite the summit (darn that higher piece of rock behind and Mount Foraker to the right.) This is the Edge of the World at the 14,200 camp.
As Belmore Browne says in his failed 1912 expedition: "Heading down was as heartless a piece of work as I have ever know."
All smiles with sunshine, beer and less clothes back at 370 feet elevation.

Despite preparation, training and teamwork, the one thing you can not control is the weather. Well done Glacier Ninjas for returning safely, making new friends and learning new skills.

Meanwhile, Joey and his 12 Day Mountaineering Course awaits pick up on the Pika Glacier. It is most likely not going to happen today.

Blogger Laura

Glacier Ninja's back in Talkeetna

Yesterday the Glacier Ninjia's returned to Talkeetna safe and sound.

It sounds as if the team had quite the time under nearly constant snowstorms. From the 14,200' camp they played it smart, digging avalanche test pits daily and evaluated that the avalanche conditions were far too high for a safe ascent to the 16,200' ridge and above. AMS guides have a great deal of professional avalanche forecasting training, which obviously is a major asset in the mountains, especially during this expedition.

Welcome back and congrats to you all on a great expedition, you all came back to the land of green smiling and happy. Thanks for wrapping up the AMS 2010 Denali expeditions season in good style.

- Caitlin

Another scorching hot day and the last day of biking with Kate and Sue. We went to Ardverikie to ride a loop over the big col and down great single track to Loch Pattack. It's a big ride up with 600m of ascent but the trail is just about all rideable and it goes quite quickly. Mercifully there was a breeze at the col so we had a nice stop for a sandwich.

The run down the other side is a delightful 300m drop in 3.5km. It's a skinny wee bit of single track in a vast ocean of heather and unrideable ground. Today the ground was very dry so the going was good. I have ridden this after rain and it goes but it's a very wet experience.

The long loop back round to Lochan na h'Earba is a fast run on gently down hill double track in a huge landscape. It was so hot today that a wee dip in the loch was essential and even felt warm. So five days of brilliant biking with Sue and Kate in excellent weather. Five different adventures, miles and miles of excellent trails and great riding with none of it at a trail centre. Scotland is a great destination for mountain biking.

15-Day Mountaineering Course: D'Alessio RETURNS!

AMS climbers Keith, Soren, and Jon relax for a quick break on a long trip through the Dutch Gap. Photo Credit: Nick D.

AMS crew departing Little Swiss area onto tundra. Photo Credit: Nick D.

View from Big Arapiles in the Little Swiss area, Alaska. Photo Credit: Nick D.

AMS camps by Granite Glacier/Creek on their hike out from Pika Glacier. Photo Credit: Nick D.

AMS Climber gets some craggin' in Little Swiss- a special treat in Alaska! Photo Credit: Nick D.

Another Course Departs and One Inbound

AMS Guide, Todd Tumolo and Becky King flew on to the Coffee Glacier for a 6- Day Mountaineering Course. Wow! What weather they are having!

Meanwhile; AMS Guide Melis Coady is hiking out of the Pika Glacier with two students on the 15 Day Mountaineering Course. They will be back tomorrow.

We are told that there are northern lights at night and beautiful alpine glow on the mountains in the morning.

Here at AMS we had a influx of guides finishing a round of film crew work for National Geographic.
We took a group photo of all that were on hand.

6 Day Students with Todd and Becky.

The kitchen was a popular place to hang today!

All hands on deck; front row: Rob, Betsy, Tim, Bill, Kirsten, Beth, Laura Larry, Travis
back row: Jeremiah, Tim, Caitlin, Megan, Mike, Josh

Glacier Ninjas vs Yeti

Leighan's West Buttress team has decided to move down the mountain. They had over 87 inches of snow at 14,200 feet from July 12 to July 21, and more in the forecast! Yeti wins this one. This has been an amazing stream of steady moisture, giving us lots of rain here in Talkeetna. The sun has come out and everyone in town is rejoicing to see it. We are happy that our Ninjas are returning safely; they worked hard! They will be back to Talkeetna as soon as the weather permits. Going up is slow, coming down is fast! They will have to break trail in all of that deep snow.

Joey McBrayer and the 12-day Mountaineering Course are still enjoying the Pika Glacier. They have had rain and snow. They will be glad to see the sun, too!

You can almost see the mountains...~Blogger Julia

On paper, the Morvich loop should be a relatively short day. Our Tour of Ben Nevis was about 60km with 1600m of ascent. So the 27km of the Morvich loop should be quite simple. This is not the case! Apart from the first few flowing kilometres the going is tough all the way and it took us a full seven hours in the blistering heat today.

There is a good amount of pushing, udging, tumbling and grunting required on this trail. So much so that you start to query whether the balance of fun vs. effort is leaning the wrong way. Even with National Trust for Scotland doing an excellent job of path maintenance here there is a lot of hard work and little flowing biking to do.

However, if you like sustained, technical single track you know you have found an awesome trail when you reach the Gates of Affric. 550m of descent over many kilometres with continuous interest all the way down makes it about the best descent in Scotland. Well done to Kate and Sue for a great adventure today. It was hard won!

Snowball Fights

Melis called in with a report from the 12-day Mountaineering Course on the Eldridge Glacier. The are having snowball fights! They are getting fresh snow after having rain. They've been having a great time, learning how to build snow shelters, doing some rock climbing. Today they hope to do some ice climbing. She said to let the folks in Florida know that their girl rocks and is having a great time!

The forecast says it's going to keep raining or snowing on them for a while, they are keeping warm and dry and enjoying the beautiful place they are in. There is a chance they will get weathered in beyond their planned fly-out date, we'll keep you posted in case travel plans need to be adjusted. They have tons of food and fuel and could stay out there for a long time if need be. The instructors, Melis, Larry and Leighan, are all experienced Denali guides, in addition to being experienced instructors, and are used to waiting out the weather; they've had lots of practice! They'll keep the group climbing and learning as long as they are out there. The Alaska Range is such a beautiful, magical place, so they'll use any extra time to their advantage.

Here is a link to the weather forecast: http://forecast.weather.gov/MapClick.php?zoneid=AKZ145 They are "west of the Parks Highway".

They plan to move camp tomorrow, which is part of their curriculum. They learn to pack efficiently, how to balance out the weight for comfort and safety, how much gear to put in their sled, etc. They'll be roped up to each other and learn how to set up the rope for their packs and sleds to be linked into the safety system. They learned these basics early on in the course and have been practicing them since before they left AMS Headquarters in Talkeetna. Practice makes perfect!
Cheers from rainy Talkeetna,
Julia

The No Fuss Events Orange Tour of Ben Nevis route is one of my favourite rides. Kate, Sue and I also got to enjoy brilliant weather and views as well. It was a magnificent ride and the Orange 5 29er was the perfect bike for the trail. We started riding at Lundavra and took the West Highland Way to Mammore Lodge. This is where my bike started to let me down. First up was a big explosion of a flat caused by a rip in my tyre sidewall. I patched it but decided to do a quick run down to Kinlochleven to borrow a tyre for the rest of the ride.

I had another pinch flat going down to Loch Eilde Mor. The ride along the loch was great with a nice tail wind and wild scenery. We got to the river crossing in good time and stopped for a sandwich before wading across the shallow water.

The push up to the next beallach is always a bit of a drag but if you let your mind wander and soak up the scenery it goes well enough. As we started riding again my rear mech wrapped in the spokes and snapped off. So another fix was needed with my spare hanger before the run down to the Lairig bothy. This is some of the best riding you'll ever do because it is in about the most remote place you can think of as well as being really good fun biking.

Yet another pinch flat on the long and exhilarating descent past the minister to Leanachan forest before we took the new forest trails and puggy line all the way back to Fort William in blazing sunshine. A fabulous ride. The girls bikes performed faultlessly, mine was more of a challenge. It just goes to show, you really need a few trail side mechanical skills on a ride like this. It's a long walk back pushing a broken bike!