Alaska Beta?

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peter303
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Re: Alaska Beta?

Post by peter303 »

Very little of Wrangle-Elias is accessible by vehicle. You can get up to the river a couple miles in with a sedan. And the mining town several miles beyond that with a 4WD. In the summer a shuttle also goes to the mining town. There are plenty of flight-seeing outfits in the area. Still its absolutely gorgeous just at the perimeter of the park.
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schrund
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Re: Alaska Beta?

Post by schrund »

I wish I had some Wrangell St. Elias pics, as of yet is just a pre-occupation that I have yet to fulfill~
We did not think of the great open plains, the beautiful rolling hills, and winding streams... as "wild". Only to the white man was nature a "wilderness".
-Luther Standing Bear, Oglala Chief
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planet54
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Re: Alaska Beta?

Post by planet54 »

It may be akin to blasphemy to say this on a mountaineering site ,but I think that the best way to see SE Alaska is by going on a raft trip. You will see plenty of mountains and hike to great viewpoints. I did this trip in 2004 and I highly recommend it.The big peak near the end is Mount Fairweather.

I would rather sit on a pumpkin and have it all to myself than be crowded on a velvet cushion. H D Thoreau
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gb
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Re: Alaska Beta?

Post by gb »

^^^ Yeah, I'm up here in AK right now, and amongst the active locals, pack rafting seems to be the summer activity of choice. The rivers up here make for so much easier travel than alder bashing, it seems.
Rosom314
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Re: Alaska Beta?

Post by Rosom314 »

steelfrog wrote:That's kinda what i was looking at--that or chugash or Denali NP. To give you an idea, I love multi-day backpacks in Sequoia Kings Canyon or Yosemite high country. Anything like that up there, where you can get some isolation and get high a little bit?
I can give you the low-down for Denali if you're interested. Just know that Alaska isn't like California, or Colorado, or anything you've experienced before. It's nothing like the 'high country' of the American West. Terrain is usually either rolling boggy tundra/spruce forest, insanely thick alders/willows, or desolate chossy ridgelines. And the lack of trails makes things very slow going. Be prepared for a high of 40 degrees and rain every hour of every single day June, July, and August. If you can survive in those conditions, you're in for the time of your life. If you're out more than a couple nights (and thus will have trouble drying things), don't bring down. Most people use a synthetic sleeping bag rated from 10 - 20 degrees in the summer. A low of 25 degrees in July at 2,000' is common, so it's about 15 degrees at 4,000'.

Also, know that the sun doesn't really set between mid-May and mid-August, so you can hike 24 hours a day.

Treeline is around 3,000. In the interior (Denali, north side of Wrangell) roped glacier skills aren't necessary on the smaller, lower glaciers, that tend to be either melted out or covered in moraine. But the coastal side of the mountains have some big full-on glaciers though.

If you really want an experience, you can get dropped off by aircraft in the more remote parks; Wrangell-St. Elias, Lake Clark, Gates of the Arctic, Noatak, Kobuk, etc.

Isolation is easy to find, even in Denali, which is quite popular.
peter303
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Re: Alaska Beta?

Post by peter303 »

Rosom314 wrote: Treeline is around 3,000.
Thats kind of an erie thing in Denali Park. The entrance by the highway still has some woods. But you drive in a few miles and uphill a bit you are in tundra. And can still breath easily, not like here.
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