Category: snow and ice

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hike Wrangel – St. Elias National Park, Alaska?

First MAPS:

In a huge and wild park such as Wrangell-St. Elias, you can never have too many maps

National Geographic – Trails Illustrated has produced a 1:375,000 (1 inch = 6 miles) scale map of Wrangell-St. Elias that is a great tool for initial trip planning.

It is waterproof, tear resistant, and covers the entire park, including detailed inserts of the Nabesna Road and McCarthy/Kennecott areas. This map is available at all park ranger stations, or online through the Alaska Natural History Association for $9.95

We highly recommend that backcountry hikers also purchase the highly detailed USGS 1:63,360 (1 inch = 1 mile) topographic maps, also known as 15-minute quadrangle maps of the particular route they plan to travel. Note: this part of Alaska is not covered by USGS 7.5-minute maps.

maps – National Parks Service

Next, GUIDEBOOK:

The best I can find is Hiking in Wrangell-St. Elias National Park
by former mountain guide Danny W. Kost (2000)

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Amazon

This Park is very intimidating.

Get all the information you can before you travel to hike here.

We will simply dayhike from the road access.

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bigger than Switzerland, with much higher mountains

Flying in to Anchorage, Alaska from Juneau I was already worried.

How can anyone possibly hike Wrangell-St. Elias?

It looks the realm of mountaineers, not mere hikers like myself.

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Because there are very few maintained trails within the park, travel through dense brush, along steep scree slopes, and across fast and cold glacial streams and rivers should be expected.

For most routes, map and compass reading skills are essential. Weather in these mountain ranges can vary to extremes in relatively short time periods. It is best to expect (and prepare for) almost any possibility with a variety of layerable clothing (polypropylene, wool or pile), raingear, and extra food. Summer snow storms may occur at elevations of 4,500 feet and above.

Trip Planning

A successful hiking trip requires adequate planning. You should be prepared for everything and should not count on aid or rescue from others. Here, you will be on your own. Caution and good judgment are key ingredients for a pleasant expedition. For many hikers, hiring the services of a local guide will make the trip safer and more enjoyable. In general, the areas above tree line (~3,000′) afford the easiest hiking and best views. These areas are often accessed by chartering a flight to one of the many possible “bush” landing strips. Note that there are many more places to land than are shown on maps. Air taxis will often land on gravel bars or on the tundra.

Wrangell-St. Elias National Park & Preserve – Hiking & Backpacking in Wrangell-St. Elias National Park (U.S. National Park Service)

w-ste-map.jpgWrangell-St. Elias is the largest National Park in the USA. Indeed, if you combine it with the adjacent Parks and reserves it’s the largest protected land mass in the world.

But how does one hike it if you have only a small vehicle, not a helicopter or light plane? (Perhaps I can find some gold nuggets to pay for this trip.)

This will take some reconnaissance.

Wish us luck.

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video – hiking Flat Top Mountain, Alaska

Alaska Podshow has introduced a Hike of the Week feature. It’s well done

To see a sample, check out the 7min video for Flat Top Mountain close to Anchorage, the most popular day hike in the State:

We take you to the famous Chugach State Park! This park offers 495,000 acres of forests, lakes, mountains and valleys located right at Anchorage’s doorstep – and the welcome mat is out.

Today’s Hike of the Week is just a 30-minute drive from downtown places you in prime Alaskan wilderness adventures, which offers the ultimate solitude and wilderness beauty in every season!

» Blog Archive » Show #155 “Flat Top Mountain / Hike of the Week”

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start in Seattle and walk NORTH

Married couple Erin McKittrick (Molecular Biologist turned jewelry artist) and Bretwood (Hig) Higman are incredible adventurers.

Where to begin …

Currently they are on a 9 month trip from Seattle to the Aleutian Islands in Alaska by human power:

Journey on the Wild Coast will be an unprecedented four-thousand-mile expedition along the northern edge of the Pacific Ocean, through some of the most rugged terrain in the world. No road or trail follows this steep and fragmented coastline.

We’ll be traveling through forests, between islands, around glaciers, and across the tundra – by foot, packraft, and skis. No one has done this before.

Journey on the Wild Coast

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more detailed itinerary

I’ve subscribed to their trip blog. It’s an expeditions to explore environmental issues.

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I’ve you’ve any doubt Sig and Erin have the ability to finish it, check their previous Alaska Treks. Wow!

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Blockade Glacier – 2005

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Berg Lake, Canadian Rockies, early season hike

Outdoor Video Magazine have posted their best video to date. (That’s one nasty avalanche caught on film.)

A stunning trail featuring close-up glacier action, the Canadian Rockies Highest Peak (a staggering 2.5 vertical kilometres above the trail), blue-blue lakes, and more than one fantastic waterfall.

Berg Lake Trail – Mt Robson Provincial Park (with Video) · Outdoor Video Magazine

Though the trail was officially closed in May, these hikers braved a night walk, a glacier creek water ford in Crocs and snow storm. Snowshoes were needed for some sections.

We’d never recommend this to anyone … but I wish I’d been with them.

Our information page details how to organize a hike to this area in summer. Highlights: Valley of a Thousand Falls, Emperor Falls, Snowbird Pass, Toboggan Falls and the mass of Mt. Robson. One of the best hikes in the world.

 

Mount Robson: Berg Lake Trail – flickr photo set – Fotos de Canada

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VOLCANIC TRAVERSE hike in Alaska

Mark Scanlan recommended the Nabesna area of Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, the largest in the USA.

The jumping off point is Anchorage.

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… two rough gravel roads (the McCarthy Road and the Nabesna Road) wind through the park, making much of the interior accessible for backcountry camping and hiking. Chartered aircraft also fly into the park. Wrangell-St. Elias received roughly 57,221 visitors in 2004

Of the Nabesna trail options, the National Park Service website highlights a new adventure they call the Sanford-Dadina Plateau “Volcanic Traverse”.

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DISTANCE: 15 miles one way. 4-8 days depending on route and side trips.

ACCESS: Fly-in by air taxi from Gulkana Airport to upper Sanford River. Pickup from strip along Dadina River.

DIFFICULTY: Difficult. Requires extensive route finding (no trails), crossing glacial moraine, brush, steep rocky hill-sides with loose material, and negotiating swift but relatively small rivers.

HIGHLIGHTS: A wild and remote area with unsurpassed scenery. Volcanic peaks (Mount Drum 12,010’, Mount Sanford 16,237’, and Mount Wrangell 14,163’), alpine tundra, and splendid isolation. Watch for sign of caribou, Dall sheep, moose, bison, and ptarmigan.

linked via National Park Service Wrangell-St. Elias Hiking Routes

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new name for GLACIER National Park, Montana

A tongue-in-cheek article by Bill Schneider, founder of Falcon Guidebooks, sends a message to a Montana congressional delegation — “it is time they supported mandatory global warming pollution reduction policies.”

I love it.

GLOBAL WARMING POLITICAL STATEMENT
Group Wants to Rename Glacier

After 97 years, is it time to give Montana’s Glacier National Park a new name?

Yes, says a national green group.

Why? Because of climate change, scientists say all of the park’s famous glaciers will melt away by 2030.

So, says the National Environmental Trust, we need a new name, perhaps something like Used-to-have Glaciers National Park or Formerly Glacier National Park. …

Group Wants to Rename Glacier | Travel & Outdoors | New West Network

(via Two-Heel Drive)

I am worried. Not sure what really can be done about it though. How do you trigger an ice age?

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source – Politics Blog

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video – surviving freezing water

This clip is from a show called Man vs Wild.

Bear Grylls is surviving in the French Alps with only a water bottle, flint, and knife. In this excerpt he jumps into a frozen lake and shows how to deal with it. Hopefully this won’t ever come in handy.

This actually happened to Andrew Skurka during his 7700 mile hike across North America. Stuck in the middle of nowhere with no change of clothes, Skurka stripped down and ran to keep his body heat up.

Think or Thwim

Click PLAY or watch Man vs Wild – Episode 3 European Alps Highlights on YouTube.

This is very much like Les Stroud’s Canadian reality TV show Survivorman.

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lost on a glacier in Pakistan

Ben Tubby and partner Kerry had problems on a trek to Snow Lake guided by Vertical Explorers Expeditions.

Ben’s detailed photo trip report is recommended reading for anyone — like me — considering an adventure in Pakistan.

Bad roads, cold rooms, disgusting toilets, illness, crevasses, rain, sunburn, freezing river crossings, communication problems with guides, …

Sounds like fun!

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Northern Pakistan is beautiful. Amazing mountain scenery, honest, friendly people and lots and lots of ice. We spent 18 days wandering up the biggest slab of ice outside of the polar regions and then got lost in a white-out on the top, surrounded by crevasses.

Tubby: Lost on a glacier in Pakistan

(trip report)

Snow Lake Hispar La Experience – Vertical Explorers (a longer tour than Ben’s)

(via Nothing adds up)

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Biafo Glacier

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Ogre’s Thumb