TR: Haines, AK Glacier Trip

[gramboh]

Wow, what a trip, thanks for sharing. Are verts those solid "paddles" that you wear while booting up? Saw them in Further quite a bit.

[2stix]

Dammit! Fill in the blanks already, I'm dying over here! I just pulled dandelions out of my yard all day, I need more stoke and yours is top notch! What a trip, thanks for sharing!

[tone capone]

Gettin up in some business!

[JTrue]

Wow, what a trip, thanks for sharing. Are verts those solid "paddles" that you wear while booting up? Saw them in Further quite a bit.

Yeah, they have some small plastic points out front to bite into a slight crust if there is one.

Added a couple more shots.

[2stix]

Added a couple more shots.

What happened? Where is the rest of the trip?

[JTrue]

What happened? Where is the rest of the trip?

Got busy with riding bikes and work. Added a couple more shots(non-skiing) and words to post #7. Get back to the skiing in a bit.

[JTrue]

Added some more scenics from the flight out on the first page.

[Ted Shred]

Good style!

[JTrue]

So we flew out and got a room at the Captain's Choice. Gear explosion ensued. We used every available spot to dry our gear and ran a couple loads of laundry. It felt good to kick back and relax for a day after getting everything cleaned up.

Access to the mountains just outside of Haines is a bit tricky. Most of the shots you see just outside of town are across a body of water. The Takshanuk range is "easily" accessible from Haines.

Adam and I decided to do some exploring the next day starting from near the ferry terminal. We were told there was a trailhead all the locals used, but for the life of us couldn't find the spot that was described to us. After walking down the road for longer than I would care to admit we decided to just go up. We found a trail up the side of a stream, someone had taken the time to trim some of the brush back. We were pretty thankful for the trimming as the thwacking probably would have been heinous otherwise. After bootpacking for an hour we were able to start skinning and broke into the Alpine.

Adam enjoying the views


As we continued up the landscape changed, the wind had done it's darndest to create sastrugi sculptures out of the high alpine snow.


Looking down on the Haines Airport, Drake is down there somewhere


Although the snow was funky, the views were well worth it. Adam looking down on the Chilkat Inlet with Haines on his left.




We summited a couple peaks along the way, including Mt. Ripinski, which is the prominent peak N of Haines. We thought it would be an easy descent from Ripinski down to Haines. We were wrong. The south facing slope had melted out down low and most of the ground was covered with water ice. I took a wrong turn off the main trail, which is probably why it was so heinous. Adam and I got separated. I continued to descend towards Haines, downclimbing downed trees so that I could stay on my feet. It was nerve wracking how slippery the terrain was. I exited on Piedad Rd, right around the time the sun was setting and walked a couple miles back to the hotel. Adam showed up a bit later, quite the adventure right outside of town.

Until next time Haines.

[The Gnarwhale]

looks like you had a great trip, Jason. Wrangells next year?

[JTrue]

looks like you had a great trip, Jason. Wrangells next year?

Yup, somewhere in AK for sure. You headed up there? The adventure/cost ratio is too good on these types of trips to not do it.

[BFD]

nice write up. Rapinski definitely offers up some nice views. Never a good idea to just to drop off something in coastal alaska. Sometimes the cost to adventure can be too high.
http://www.adn.com/2011/01/20/165910...hour-wait.html

[JTrue]

nice write up. Rapinski definitely offers up some nice views. Never a good idea to just to drop off something in coastal alaska. Sometimes the cost to adventure can be too high.
http://www.adn.com/2011/01/20/165910...hour-wait.html

Yup, probably good to stay on the trail anywhere, not just coastal AK. We must've missed a slight turn and ended up off the trail, which we knew exited left. Lesson learned.

Things like that story posted above happen a couple times a year right outside of Salt Lake City.
http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/news/54...ympus.html.csp

[BFD]

easy to do. the person I just skied it with has made the same mistake. Missed the part about the trail. I kind of just wanted to start dropping fall line.

[mc_roon]

sweet sweet trip.

[SILENCER]

I think this TR defines FKNA !!!!

[supermodel159]

Wow, Man sized TR.

[OyamaGirl]

Fuckin' awesome work there fellas. It's mind blowing how much there is still to explore on Alaska's coast range.

[Dunkelgelb]

Awesome thread, thanks for sharing.

[GoEhuge]

Bingo! Just what I needed today. Awesome TR.

[Unfrozen Caveman Lawyer]

Wow - just seeing this now. Great TR!

[The SnowShow]

Just found this...amazing adventure

[Trackhead]

Bump, cause I'm stoked to be moving 40 miles south of Haines this fall.

[JTrue]

Bump, cause I'm stoked to be moving 40 miles south of Haines this fall.

Heard the skiing out of Juneau up the icefield can be good. Keeping the boat? If you're into a trip this spring I'm down. Need to schedule something, too much work, too little play lately.

[Trackhead]

Heard the skiing out of Juneau up the icefield can be good. Keeping the boat? If you're into a trip this spring I'm down. Need to schedule something, too much work, too little play lately.

Keeping the boat.

Come on up this spring if you want. Tour right out of Juneau. Endless...............