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Since moving from 300 days of sunshine a year to Valdez, AK this past August we've weathered four typhoons up here. The last one to hit us, Typhoon Nuri, was a wild one and it finally abated a few days ago after many, many, many stormy days. The cyclone dipped down to 948 millibars (hurricane Sandy-943 millibars) out in the Bering Sea with a hose of moisture aimed right at South Central AK. Our season total on Thompson Pass so far this season is 65 inches of snow with 7.5 inches of snow/water equivalent. North Shore Swell Check the Millibars!
The lady and I headed up to Thompson Pass on Nov 15 and met up with Valdez skimountaineer guru Matt Kinney. We toured up the DOT Glacier into Loveland Basin for some soft turns and a few minutes of sun on the face. Matt has a great web site, www.thompsonpass.com and made this video from our tour.
Matt laying down some high speed tele-turns. Matt Kinney
Jess lining up for her first bergshrund huck! Shrundalini
From L to R. The big white face is Tones Temple, Thompson Pass, and Marshall Pass looking south-east towards Wrangell St. Elias. Pano
With the clear skies and a North Flow the cold temps came back too! Valdez has a plethora of ice climbing, especially in Keystone Canyon. The only problem is that 99% of the routes are on the other side of the Lowe River which is not frozen yet and the ice still needs a few more cold snaps to be in good shape. When the river is frozen 99% of the climbs only have a 5 minute approach. We headed out to go look for some ice up on the pass and further inland where there are colder temps.
I almost bought this pack raft to solve the river issue. At 40% off that makes it cheaper than 2 gallons of milk in Valdez, damn pipeline prices. Pack raft
Keystone Canyon ice climbs Hung Jury WI4/5 and the Fang Gulley WI 2/3. Should have bought the raft
We took advantage of this no approach crag and found some nice sticks. It's no Lincoln Falls or Vail. Car Cragging
Cheers,
Taylor
Thumbnails for uploaded photos (click to open slideshow):
Good move. Cool looking flows beyond the river and peaks. I made the opposite trade moving from AK to CO - now I'm thinking of pulling a reverse and ignoring the job situation up there.
Thanks for sharing. Hope all is well up North amigo
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