6 Day Mountaineering Course

AMS' April, 6 Day Mountaineering Course Instructor Dustin English called in yesterday from Crown Glacier.  The group has moved from the Pika Glacier to the Crown Glacier.  The students and Insturctors are having a great time.  The weather has been really perfect and the group is learning lots and practicing their new skills.

 Past AMS students and camp relaxing at Pika Basecamp

Cold air swept down over Scotland on Wednesday night so we woke up to a dusting of fresh snow above 700m yesterday morning. Kev, Carl, Ian and I stuck with the plan of going up the Zig-Zags and along Gearr Aonach to Stob Coire nan Lochan, Bidean nam Bian and back down the Lost Valley but we made sure we had ice axes with us. The fresh snow started at the foot of the NE Ridge of Stob Coire nan Lochan and there were patches of old snow on the way up. There was lots of old snow on the N Ridge of Bidean which is still in a very impressive crest for quite a long way. In the colder air this snow had firmed up and plenty of kicking and cutting was required to get up!

Dropping down into the Lost Valley always involves a steep slope at the col but with so much spring snow we were very glad to have the rope again. Another stomper belay and a lower got us all down for another great glissade down to the excellent path in The Lost Valley. This was a brilliant day again, classic Glen Coe mountaineering. It will be cold for a few days so make sure you have your ice axe and crampons with you.

Denali West Buttress - 4/27, Corn

AMS guide, Dan Corn, called in last night.  They rolled into 11K camp yesterday.  His entire group is doing well and everyone is having a good time.  Today, they are taking a rest day and doing some crampon technique practice in and around camp to prepare themselves for tomorrow when they are planning to make a carry around Windy Corner to cache all the the food, fuel and other items that they won't need until they are higher on the mountain.

From 11k onward (until they arrive back at 11K on the return) they will be traveling with crampons on. Snowshoes are no longer needed and will be left in their cache at 11K.  The carry to 13.5K, around the corner, will be their most challenging day yet.  It has super cool views and really feels like you are getting closer to the upper part of the mountain.  As soon as they turn the corner they will have up close views of the whole upper part of Denali.  

Dan said they have been enjoying being the first group on the mountain.  He also said that the trail breaking has not been that bad at all.  The glacier is in really good condition for traveling.  Dan likened the temperatures to late May.  He said he hadn't even put his puffy pants on yet.  Often times on these early season expeditions the teams start a little later in the morning to utilize the warmer temps, so far they have been leaving camp around 8 AM so that they can travel in the shade.

Here is a photo of 11K camp with Motorcycle hill in the background.  

Another group headed into the Alaska Range

Guides, Jed Workman and Jon Shea with Roger, Brian Scott and Jim heading to the Ruth Gorge for lots of fun climbing.

John Evans

Today was going to be the day that John Evans showed up here at AMS to brief and start packing to teach a Mountaineering Course. John never made it to Talkeetna though. Unfortunately he died on April 28th while walking off of a climb in Wales. He was done with the climb and was simply walking down. It appears that he slipped while coming down a slope of grass or heather. He rolled and fell about 100 feet.

John was the epitome of safety, so when we learned of his death a few days ago it took all of us by surprise. We have been getting emails and calls from our and John's friends from all over the world.

We have known John for many years. This was only John's second year officially working as one of our guides, but he has been an honorary AMS guide for much longer. He was always over here hanging with all the guides just about every evening when he was in town. He was very much apart of the mountain climbing and guiding community. We all miss him around here. He taught us all a lot about life, not just about the climbing life. John was a very patient and approachable person. He did not have any ego or attitude about him. Everyone loved working with John. His students were always amazed by him. He was such a wealth of knowledge and after all these years he never lost any of his excitement about it all. We already miss you tons John. We'll teach some extra special haul systems just for you buddy.

Rob

by Megan Baldino
Thursday, April 30, 2009

ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- A well-known and well-liked mountaineer and rescue guide in Alaska is dead after a tragic accident in the United Kingdom.

John Evans, 54, spent years guiding on Denali -- summiting the mountain 14 times -- and was also a para-rescueman with the U.S. Air Force in Alaska.

Evans, a member of the Ogwan Valley Mountain Rescue Organisation in North Wales since 1973, was killed in Lanberis Pass on Tuesday while descending after completing a climb with his partner Lynne.

The group reports he fell 100 feet and suffered serious head injuries. Rescuers and his team made extensive efforts to save his life Tuesday night.

As a retired para-rescueman with the Air Force, it was the PJs who introduced Evans to the big mountains of Alaska.

From the British Broadcasting Corporation to Internet sites around the world, word of Evans' death hit the international climbing community hard.

His friends remember a man who was as careful as anyone.

"(He was) very accomplished, and he used to climb all over the place and all over the world," said Gary Bocard, who had been friends with Evans for nearly 20 years.

Bocard met Evans climbing Denali.

"You're always shocked when a friend and an accomplished climber gets killed in a climbing accident, especially when it's not anything -- at least I don't think it was anything extreme -- that he was doing," Bocard said.

Evans lived in Talkeetna while in Alaska. He spent years guiding and rescuing on Denali, most recently with Alaska Mountaineering School, which was expecting him Friday for his first teaching course of the season.

"He was always involved with rescues," Rob Gowler, a guide with AMS. "Whenever there were rescues going on up on Denali, he was an incident commander, something like that. Everything to him was about safety, safety to the rescuers safety, I mean he always thought about safety."

It was Evans who answered the call for help in 2004 when a climber was killed by a rock slide on Denali's Windy Corner, Gowler said.

But Gowler also remembers the lighter moments.

"I remember being with him a 14,000 feet one year. Me and my crew, we were stuck there forever that year," Gowler said. "We spent eight or 10 days at 14 (thousand feet) and we had a big game ultimate Frisbee -- goggles versus sunglasses -- at 14,000 feet."

Evans is originally from North Wales in the United Kingdom. He leaves behind his partner Lynne and his two children, 22-year-old David and 18-year-old Rhiannon.

May 1st

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Melis and Joey called in today from 9,700 feet today after they had done their back-carry from 11,200' camp. She said that it had been relatively warm so far until last night. They are all feeling strong and "loving it". They have been doing lots of trail-breaking since they left basecamp. They weren't sure if they were going to make a carry around Windy Corner tomorrow, or take a rest day. They will try to gauge what the weather is doing or about to do and make a decision from there.


Over the last few days we have had lots of groups coming and going. Our first Advanced Mountaineering Course of the season is starting tomorrow, after 2 days of prepping for the course by the two instructors, Greg Collins and Russell Hunter.

This photo is what our gear room looks like during a typical indoor equipment check. It's getting warmer and warmer aropund here though, so soon all of our gear checks will be outside.

Melis

Melis called in this morning from the top of Ski Hill. They camped up there instead of moving all the way to 11K. This is a great way to do this section of the route. Because the distance and elevation gain from this camp to 11K is small they will most likely be able to single.

They are planning on moving to 11K tomorrow. Melis said the weather is "good, warm and wonderful". They won't have any cell reception once they get to 11K until the round Windy Corner so we won't here from them for a bit.

This photo is taken from near the top of Ski Hill looking down toward the lower Kahiltna Glacier. Most of the Kahiltna is covered in cloud in this picture, probably not the case today.

Allie and Dan Corn just flew out with the April 20th, 12 day Mountaineering Course. They are busy drying gear and cleaning dishes. The advanced Mountaineering Course just started packing up today, they fly onto the glacier on Sunday.

Kevin Mahoney also just started pulling gear for a trip into the Moose's Tooth. They are planning on doing Ham 'n' Eggs and maybe other routes if they the time and weather.

Photo taken by Brian Okonek of the Moose's Tooth, with Ham 'n' Eggs topping out in the low point of the summit ridge.

Rob

Dan Corn said that Nate and Sean did climb the SW Ridge of Francis as well as the first 6 pitches of the Mini Moonflower. I'll post some photos from their trip when they get out. For now here's a sweet one of Nate from Patagonia.

This Photo is so awesome, you might see this one for each of Nate's expeditions this season.