Moutain Madness
Here are some shots from our trip to Denali National Park, Alaska this summer. I can't say too much about the trip that these pictures don't convey. Jessie, Allie and I had an incredible time. A day after we arrived in the park the clouds broke and a summer full of unseasonably nasty Alaskan weather graced us with a week of (mostly) sunshine. We spent six nights in the wilderness, traversed glaciers, forded raging rivers, hiked mountains, gained elusive passes, encountered the grizz, and saw some of the most amazing places on the planet. Just serves to reinforce the fact that Alaska is my favorite state, and Denali my favorite place in it.
"A long hard slog" to reach the park.
From the bus on descent into wilderness.
Those white specks are Dall Sheep..I think...
My bodyguards protected me from the grizz.
That other "mountain."
Land of the free...
...and home of the...brave?
"Big Mac" with the Muldrow glacier in the foreground.
Some icy puddles on the Muldrow. We spent approx. four days walking beside this massive glacier/icefield. The entire time we heard it rumble and crack as if it were alive. It left us with little doubt of its power and ability to shape landscape.
A closer look, notice the ice walls rimming the lakeshore. ~150-200' tall
Denali from our first campsite in the backcountry.
Hiking along the edge of the Muldrow.
Ummmm....so where are we again?
Syd?
The beginning of an incredible sunset.
Alpenglow.
Holy S#@T! What's that?
Oh, just a man-eating grizz poking around our tent. Glad I brought bodyguards.
On a ridge looking up towards Anderson pass. That wind has to be blowing around 70 mph.
Looking up into the bowels of the Muldrow.
Six nights in and a little dirt won't stand in the way of our freeze dried bounty.
Like Bambi...waiting for the slaughter.
Our last campsite in the park, in the front-country.
Civilization is a nice place to visit, but I woudn't want to live there.
Here are some pics from earlier in the summer. The next few are from a mini "epic" on Mt. Colchuck, North Cascades. Let's just say that what goes up, must come down, sometimes really really fast... I did manage to summit Colchuck though. Yeah I did...
Many thanks to some great friends NAE and DJ for waiting around for me and then assisting in the descent. Without them I would be ice ax-less. All photos courtesy of Pho-tog master, NAE.
Ascending into the Colchuck/Dragontail basin. Dragontail is on the left and Colchuck on the right. We ascended via th Colchuck glacier between the two.
The summit block is off to the far right. We ascended via the Colchuck glacial col on the far left and then traversed on the back side of the pointy rocks.
What goes up must come down.
Standing on the Colchuck glacier. Oh yeah, that's ice!
Out again.
These are from a weeklong adventure in the Olympic mountains with good friends MDS, LC and BG. This trip kicked off a summer of "moutain madness;" not an easy trip by any stretch. We traversed just under 30 miles, over a mountain pass and back down into a rainforest, with good glissades and bad blowdown. All photos courtesy of MDS, LC and BG. For a better trip description see: http://www.markopolis1980.blogspot.com/
"A long hard slog" to reach the park.
From the bus on descent into wilderness.
Those white specks are Dall Sheep..I think...
My bodyguards protected me from the grizz.
That other "mountain."
Land of the free...
...and home of the...brave?
"Big Mac" with the Muldrow glacier in the foreground.
Some icy puddles on the Muldrow. We spent approx. four days walking beside this massive glacier/icefield. The entire time we heard it rumble and crack as if it were alive. It left us with little doubt of its power and ability to shape landscape.
A closer look, notice the ice walls rimming the lakeshore. ~150-200' tall
Denali from our first campsite in the backcountry.
Hiking along the edge of the Muldrow.
Ummmm....so where are we again?
Syd?
The beginning of an incredible sunset.
Alpenglow.
Holy S#@T! What's that?
Oh, just a man-eating grizz poking around our tent. Glad I brought bodyguards.
On a ridge looking up towards Anderson pass. That wind has to be blowing around 70 mph.
Looking up into the bowels of the Muldrow.
Six nights in and a little dirt won't stand in the way of our freeze dried bounty.
Like Bambi...waiting for the slaughter.
Our last campsite in the park, in the front-country.
Civilization is a nice place to visit, but I woudn't want to live there.
Here are some pics from earlier in the summer. The next few are from a mini "epic" on Mt. Colchuck, North Cascades. Let's just say that what goes up, must come down, sometimes really really fast... I did manage to summit Colchuck though. Yeah I did...
Many thanks to some great friends NAE and DJ for waiting around for me and then assisting in the descent. Without them I would be ice ax-less. All photos courtesy of Pho-tog master, NAE.
Ascending into the Colchuck/Dragontail basin. Dragontail is on the left and Colchuck on the right. We ascended via th Colchuck glacier between the two.
The summit block is off to the far right. We ascended via the Colchuck glacial col on the far left and then traversed on the back side of the pointy rocks.
What goes up must come down.
Standing on the Colchuck glacier. Oh yeah, that's ice!
Out again.
These are from a weeklong adventure in the Olympic mountains with good friends MDS, LC and BG. This trip kicked off a summer of "moutain madness;" not an easy trip by any stretch. We traversed just under 30 miles, over a mountain pass and back down into a rainforest, with good glissades and bad blowdown. All photos courtesy of MDS, LC and BG. For a better trip description see: http://www.markopolis1980.blogspot.com/
posted by jal at
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