33 Days Across Wrangell St Elias NP, AK: The Southern Spiral (NSR)

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Originally Posted by The Gnarwhale

Also, we also borrowed a SPOT and it was incredibly useful in that girlfriends and family would get emails with a pre-set "OK" message, assuring them we hadn't died nor mutinied, each time we pressed a button. Along with the "OK" it also gives coordinates and a google maps link to the place the message was sent from. It wasnt until I got back that I learned that the more backcountry-savvy folks on the email list were theorizing about our route choices based on these messages.

If none of us get one as a Christmas gift this winter I'll be extremely surprised. Having said that, SPOTs have some substancial design shortcomings and I'm not inclined to buy one until after a re-design.

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Could you elaborate on the shortcomings? Did you have some kind of problems with it?

Tremendous.

Somehow I suspect the four of you aren't finished adventuring yet.

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Originally Posted by Trackhead

That is seriously one of the best things I've ever read on the internet or print. Unreal adventure. Props to you guys for having the vision and balls to pull it off.

And Adam Barker like photos on the fly, too.

Sick.

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Exactly what Trackhead said. Most only dream to have an adventure of this magnitude. Truly epic...........

fuckin awesome.

That is unfuckingreal

What everyone else has said. Beautiful pics. Thx for sharing

Read this one again and I gotta say this is the best adventure/backpacking reports I've seen in a long time. Fucking sick. This one will stick with you for the rest of your life. A story for the young ones.

Man, I miss grape nuts.

I miss grape nuts too!

prolly get my vote for the greatest non-schralping TR of all time.

Incredible.

!!!!!!!!! Easily one of the coolest TR's I've ever read. The motivation, planning, and fortitude to pull this off is very impressive. What an experience of a lifetime!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...l/P1060158.jpg

Beyond incredible. I want to do this!

Late to the party but better late than never.

WOW!!! That was so amazing! So glad I visited the forum. Thanks for sharing! :yourock::yourock::yourock::yourock::yourock:

Wow.That was a good wake up.Incredible.

Wow I don't know how I missed this before. That was fuckin awesome! Thanks!

Epic stoke-o-meter breakage !!!!!!!!!!:fm:

Can we sticky this?
I've read it 4 fucking times and can't get over it.

Wow! Such great photos and words. Better than anything I've seen in old school print magazines for years. Well done.

Thanks for sharing, that was amazing adventure and I feel like I was there (except for the frigid river crossings, dangerous glacier traverses and all the hard work).

holycrapawesome.

Props on a great adventure. Sounds like a dream trip (and probably a nightmare at times).

Amazing TR, thanks for taking the time to bring us this great adventure, truly EPIC.

Unbelievable! The last picture is my favorite, any more topless ones?

Fucking Amazing TR!!! I was on my on AK adventure the same time as you guys but you definitely took it to an amazing level.

very nice

Thank you for taking the time to share this, truly incredible.

so envious of this amazing journey! hope i can do something half as cool someday! awesome photos too. many thanks for bringing something this great to tgr again.

Stunning, dude.

Epic. To the top.

I am blown away. Thank you for this TR.

What everyone else said.

Man I wish I had friends like that.

What an adventure. I don't think I could even do anything like that much less get along with 3 others in a tiny tent for 33 days. A lot of people dream but you guys actually did it. Bravo

Holy crap, what an awesome adventure. Great read and great pics!

Someone should make this a sticky at the top. Downright incredible.

Like most, I thank you for sharing!
beautiful pictures, and great places!
took me from the day it was posted till now to finish reading through, while pretending to work at the same time, but i was sad to reach the end. so maybe i'll start rereading again!
so happy to see the glacier crossing pics, reminds me fondly of working glacier-side a few summers ago when we used to go on walks downglacier into the crevasse fields. you could make it a long ways across, though we never actually tried to go from one side to the other. plus, our glacier was smaller..

Thanks! now i need to visit the south-lands again..

Excellent stuff. Brings back memories of a month I spent on a traverse in the Chugach in 95.

This is an awesome post. I grew up in AK and was actually in McCarthy over labor day weekend. Pretty rad trip you guys took.

This is adventure at its finest. I was blown away by all of it. Incredible pictures, incredible route, incredible accomplishment.

Well done.

I think your photobucket account got maxed out. Can't see the pictures any longer.

All I can say is badfreakingass. Mass amounts of respect to you guys for pulling something like that off. Definitely on my list.

I'm curious how much a trip like this set each of you back.