TR: Haines, AK Glacier Trip

I started thinking about this trip almost a year ago. I had seen other TRs from Haines, both human and heli powered. I knew this was the spot I wanted to go. I had been touring a bunch in the Wasatch with buddies Mark H and Adam. They are both really fast on the up and confident on the down. Wills also showed interest, but couldn’t make it for the beginning of the trip. More on that later.

We were planning on flying into Juneau, taking a ferry to Haines, and flying out with Drake into GBNP to camp for 10-12 days. I think one of the most important things to keep in mind about AK is that there is a good possibility you will get skunked; for at least part of your trip. Haines has one of the wettest climates out there. The more time you have to spend there the better. Also keeping your options open and adapting is the name of the game.

Planning this thing was a task, I created a google spreadsheet with tabs for group/individual gear, itineraries, costs, groceries, menus, etc. It’s amazing how much research and planning goes into a trip like this, making sure everything is going to run smoothly once you’re in the thick of it. The nice thing about a human powered trip is that it’s relatively “cheap” in the grand scheme of things. The gear list is a bit daunting, but once you have it all future trips will be much easier to plan. Main costs after gear were planned and unplanned hotel nights, flights to Juneau, bush plane into GBNP, sat phone, and food. Once you’re out camping the hard part is done, or so we thought.

With all that said, “The Mountains will always be there, the trick is to make sure you are too"



Photos by myself, AOK and Mark H

So much to explore in AK, just scratching the surface…
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Flew into Juneau, spent the night at Super 8 and hopped on the ferry, it was overcast but you could just make out the high peaks rising up outside of Juneau.
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The stoke was high as we neared Haines and the clouds began to part, showing us what we’d be getting into.
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We arrived in Haines without hotel reservations, we were planning to fly out that day if the weather allowed. The SEABA van was at the ferry terminal and they let us pile in for a ride into town. Weather looked good, but we still needed to pick up the sat phone from the Post Office, which was closed. We booked a night at the Captain’s Choice.

Great views right off the balcony.
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The next two days it started raining and didn’t stop all day. We were antsy to get out, but knew we had to temper our enthusiasm. We spent the time reading, grabbing supplies in Haines, and testing the sat phone.
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The next day the storm broke and Drake called to tell us it was on. Fuck Yeah! We piled all our gear in the hotel shuttle and had Randy take us to the hanger. Stopping to buy and fill a propane tank on the way. We had shipped a 2 burner Coleman stove up to use as the main camp stove. We would be at camping at 3500 feet so propane would be fine. Brought a whisperlite with white gas for backup, glad we did.

A stoked Mark and Adam in front of the gear pile at Drake’s hanger.
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Views from the hanger
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Show me the money...
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Spine factory everywhere you look on the flight out.
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More later...

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still needed to pick up the sat phone from the Post Office

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guess you didn't opt for the gold streak.

Moar please! I'm curious to see what you got up to as I was trying to crash your party.

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Originally Posted by BFD

guess you didn't opt for the gold streak.

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No, Drake had us ship it to his PO Box, just didn't have a chance to grab it for us. Probably better off that we had an extra couple days to grab what we needed.

Back to the action. Mark and Adam agreed to let me fly out first with most of the gear and choose the spot we wanted to setup base camp.

Shit, I have to pick the spot.
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As we flew in there was still some cloud cover hanging out, but we could see most of the zones. The spots closer to town were a little low on snow this year. As we flew further the snowpack fattened up noticeably. I had a zone in mind that was about 55 miles west of Haines. As we flew out further we could see the Fairweather range in the distance looming magnificently above the low clouds.

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Soon the peaks of the zone we were interested in checking out came into view, as we got closer the clouds cleared out to give us our first glimpse.
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The light was still a bit flat on the glacier, Drake was thinking we might have to head back and wait for another day. But after we circled a couple times the clouds blew out to the north and we were able to land a little lower on the glacier. The snow had some texture to it, so it gave Drake good visual clues as he was setting her down.

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Drake helped me unload the plane and then took off to grab Mark and Adam. I called Mark using the sat phone to test it and told them Drake was on his way to pick them up. It was clear still, but some clouds to the south were just starting to show themselves. After hanging out for about 45 minutes I heard the faint drone of the Cessna 180 in the distance. At this point the clouds had moved in and there were only a spots that were clear. The Cessna circled a bunch and then headed back West. I didn't have any way to communicate at that point so I thought they might have had to head back to Haines. A couple minutes later I see them fly under the cloud cover closer to the toe of the glacier, pretty relieved to see that they will be able to land.

We got to setting up our camp and headed out for a dusk patrol to what looked like a tiny knob, which in the scheme of things it was. We got to the top and I was first to head down. Everything is STEEP around Haines, and a lot of the terrain rolls over. This was no exception, with the fading light it made the descent a bit nerve racking, I had no depth perception, the snow was about 6 inches deep on top of a bulletproof suncrust. I made it down and saw Adam start to head down. We all made it down without incident and decided that West facing shots were not the way to go.

We cooked a quick meal and passed out. We awoke the next morning to bluebird skies, cooked breakfast and got geared up. Mark looking at what we get to ski from camp. We were camped at about 3500ft and the peaks topped out at 6500ft.
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Another shot of camp.
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The lines right outside of camp were pretty steep, we wanted to get our feet wet on some mellower terrain the first day. Everything is farther than it looks. You can't even make out camp, but at this point we were about 5 miles away.
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Mark booting up a section that was too steep to skin.
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Adam just strolling through.
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As we topped out we could look down and see the Muir inlet, one of the better views I've laid eyes upon.
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At this point we saw a line in the distance that looked good, except for the monstrous cornice at the top . It was NW facing shot with a wide open snow field up top that funneled into a chute with a small schrund hop at the end. We found a good spot to drop and somehow I got to ski first, DROPPING!
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First real line in AK.
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We brought radios which were super helpful in communicating once the first person had dropped in. I radioed up telling the boys to give'er. You can just make out Mark in the shadow of the Serac.
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Fun one.
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We circled back around for another lap on some closer N facing terrain. Mark shredding the boot top deep velvet.
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Yup, it rolls over.
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Slogged back to camp, it ended up being a 15 mile day with about 6k of climbing. I think the menu called for curry that night, extra Sriracha.
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More to come...

Where were we...

The next day dawned clear like the last, just colder. We went through our morning routine, cooking breakfast, melting water and getting our gear sorted for the day. We wanted to hit one of the ramps coming off the peak to the west of camp. From camp it didn't look overly steep or seem to have much vertical rise, but looks can be deceiving. There was one large schrund at the bottom of the line that we could skirt around, as we continued up we dug hand pits, everything seemed ok. Most of the snow from the previous storm had sluffed down, but there was still some hangfire(mostly softslab) that was up high guarding a lot of the ascent routes.

Hangfire as seen in a previous shot I posted
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As we worked our way up we decided to continue climbing up the right hand side of the line, as we moved up we noticed a small couloir that hadn't been visible from the bottom. We set our sights on climbing it and trying to get to the top. Adam climbing.
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Me laughing at the situation, STEEP!
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As we neared the top we could see that the shot choked out into a vertical rock wall that would stop our ascent, oh well we came to ski. Mark looking around while the spindrift comes off the mountain from above.
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Time to ski, Mark going first.
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Me making a turn on the apron, camp a long ways off
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Mark's toes got a little frozen so he got to warming them up while I melted some water, and made some ramen for us. We were planning to go out again, but it looked like Mark should stay in camp and keep his toes warm so we could get after something bigger the next day. Adam and I headed back up to the same zone and skied some mellow pow laps on the apron. Concluded the night with some Chicken Alfredo, and hot apple cider with a little whiskey.

Woke up the next morning to more of the same weather, wondering if it's going to stay bluebird for the rest of our stay. Called Drake to check on weather as Mark needed to catch a flight in a couple days. Drake mentioned some weather would be moving in the next day so it would be best for Mark to be picked up at the end of the day. We wanted to try to get on top of the peak that had turned us around the day prior. We thought we could possibly skin and boot right up the gut to a col, then hike the ridge.

Bacon and Frozen Eggs for Breakfast, you can tell I was excited!
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After breakfast we got geared up and started heading up our skin track from the previous day. Once we hit the toe of the glacier we roped up due to a couple gnarly looking schrund at the bottom and multiple crevasses guarding the line of ascent.
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At some point you're going to need to start booting up these lines as everything goes to what feels like a vertical wall. We had brought verts, but since the snow was mostly boot top deep we decided to leave them at camp. Well booting up a 50 degree slope with a slightly unconsolidated base was tough work. Shoulda brought the verts.
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We ended up under one last hole, and thought it looked like we'd be able to get across. Adam started to move forward and decided to tap his pole against the snow bridge. POOF, no more snow bridge. Glad he decided to test it out. :fmicon:

We were running out of time as Drake was on his way out so we decided to descend. Foiled again, but awesome turns down. Mark making some nice turns above a big hole.
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Me making turns down toward the toe of the line.
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Mark was bummed he had to leave, but we got some good runs in. Wish we would of topped out on our objective, but that's how things go. We heard the faint drone of Charlie, Drake's Cessna 180. And then a second later he's buzzing camp, circles and lands right next to us. We were glad he didn't land in our shitter. Crap :biggrin:
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We helped Mark pack up his gear, and wished him a safe trip back to UT. Ended up getting into a routine of melting water, eating ramen, and drinking some sort of hot drink to stay hydrated after our tour. We did that and decided to cook some Jambalaya with summer sausage. I have to say every meal we had was amazing! It could have been all the hot sauce we brought.
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So Mark hit it good, no weather, good skiing, clean get away. Wills was supposed to fly out in a couple days but it looked like some weather was coming in, it was going to be tight getting him in before it hit. Adam and I slept well and awoke to light winds and low vis. Doh!
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We started off the day right with a delightful breakfast of chocolate chip pancakes, we cleaned up around camp, and went back to our tents for a nap to see if the low clouds would clear out.
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The low clouds cleared at about 5pm, but it was still cloudy on the higher lines we were interested in skiing. We had noticed an ice cave formed by seracs that was sitting below the clouds. We decided to go check it out and snap some pics. It was a pretty good slog across the glacier, mostly flat though. Adam hasn't finished putting up his pics, so I'll leave you with this shot for now.
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After a couple short laps on low angle terrain under the cave we decided we better head back before it got dark. Another great dinner of Chicken Alfredo with peas and sundried tomatoes, heaping spoonfuls of Parmesan cheese, and some Sriracha to wash it all down. Having veggies even if they are freeze dried or dehydrated is a luxury out on the glacier. We listened to some tunes, ate some chocolate and had some wine followed by a little whiskey. We hadn't gotten an updated weather forecast yet from Drake for tomorrow, but Wills was supposed to fly in. We would call first thing tomorrow on the sat phone to see how it was looking.

Sorry, got busy with riding bikes and work. Back to the um, action. We had been in touch with Drake and Wills about getting Wills out to camp, however the weather wasn't cooperating and we were biding our time waiting things out. That night I emailed by forecaster buddy Matt on the sat phone to check on weather. We had heard from Drake it would be unsettled for the next couple days. When I received an email back from Matt that said, "It looks bad, heavy snow and winds" I knew we were in for an adventure. Little did we know how crazy it would get. The next couple days consisted of reading, eating chocolate, napping, and repeating. Along with a shitload of shoveling.

My Tent before the storm...
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My tent when the eye of the storm actually hit...
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I've been in my fair share of bad weather, but the amount of snow and wind that came with this storm was insane. It started off relatively slow the first 2 days, we would need to get out and shovel every couple hours. Then the third day the winds started blowing and the snow started hammering. I believe in the span of 36 hours we received 5-6 feet of snow, that wasn't the issue as much as the 60 mph winds that were loading the snow into and onto our tents and mega-mid kitchen faster than we could shovel. For 6 hours straight we were outside shoveling, in hindsight we should've just taken down the tents/mega-mid and dug a snow cave to wait it out. Instead we tried to keep our tents and kitchen from collapsing, we had to undig the buried stakes for the mega-mid and re-guy the lines in order to try and save it. In the end it wasn't enough. The mega-mid collapsed and we hustled to dig it out, pack it up, and throw all our gear/food into a ski bag. After doing this I looked back to my tent to see the entrance buried by about 6 feet of snow with an overhanging cornice about to crush it. Unfortunately at this point I stopped taking pics, it was too epic, or something. :biggrin: Adam probably has a bunch of us covered in snow, i'll add those later when he posts them up.

We continued to shovel and at certain points we talked about digging a snow cave, but were optimistic, although a bit nervous, that we could keep up by continuing to dig. At least it kept us warm even though we were completely soaked by this point. Finally the storm started to let up and we decided to take down my tent and move into one tent as it would be much easier to manage the shoveling if the storm picked back up.

We had been cooking on our two-burner propane stove in the mega-mid, but that wasn't going to be possible in the vestibule of Adam's tent. We broke out the whisperlite and made some Ramen, listening to the wind still howling outside.
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We spoke to Drake that night and he explained there had been Hurricane force winds a bit further south. Pretty stoked the wind wasn't any worse. At this point Wills had been waiting in Haines either at the hanger or hotel for a couple days. All our gear was soaked and we really needed a reset at this point, either a sunny day or a pickup by Drake. We spoke to Wills and let him know the situation. The next day we awoke to more weather and made the decision we would have Drake come grab us when possible.

We sat in the tent for another couple days waiting for the weather to clear so we could get a flight out. Passed the time by eating different variants of Ramen Gumbo and all the extra chocolate bars that were meant for Wills.
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More in a bit...

Well after a couple days of laying around in the tent the weather cleared and Drake flew in to grab us. The winds had died down low, but were pretty gusty once you gained any altitude. Drake circled a couple times and then set her down. We loaded everything up, hopped in and took off into the wind. We were getting tossed around a bit once we got up a couple hundred feet, one gust lifted us 500 feet in a couple seconds. Glad it wasn't the other way around. The flight out was a good opportunity to take some beta shots for our next trip, we will be back.

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A bunch of scenics and spine walls...
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Mordor
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Landed, called the Captain's Choice and had a shuttle there in no time to take us back to the motel. Gear explosion...
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Next, touring out of Haines.

More photos, page 2

^^ this is worse then a cock tease!!!! Great photos

pretty awesome so far...

yay!!!!!!!!!!!! i missed logistics in school!!!!!!!!!!!!

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Originally Posted by JTrue

Saved for more...

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Time for more, it has been great so far.

Looks like Colorado.




jealous

Super NIce pics.

Love it. The 3 weeks I spent on an Alaskan glacier were like nothing else I have ever experienced.

Hey J
Get off your ass and post the rest of this TR! You're killing me. Are you too busy doing something lame like working or biking or something. Jeez. :wink:

Added some more shots and commentary from the next day.

Awesome work. Can't wait for the rest.

thread of the year, and its only 1/2 posted!

Some more words and pics.

Thread continues to deliver, and I agree with Marshalolson:yourock:

Radness. Thanks for taking the time to photo document!

Thanks for what you've shared so far J. This is easily the best thread I've seen up here for a long, long time ..... like in 4 or 5 years time.

awesome!
this is steeper than i'll ever be able to ski!
looking forward to the rest!

sidebar: what are "verts"?

Some of the posts here got me interested in putting together this trip. I can only hope this thread helps others say, fuck it, I'm going to book the tickets and let it ride.

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Originally Posted by acinpdx

sidebar: what are "verts"?

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Verts are like snowshoes, they help you climb the steep and deep.