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!