Chickaloon River Packraft - September 2020

Saturday started as a beautiful, crisp, and clear fall day waiting for Mike Meekin at his airstrip above the Matanuska Valley. Around noon he was back and chatting our ears off as we loaded our backpacks into his 185 for the flight to the pass between the Chickaloon and Talkeetna drainages.

The ground fell away as we lifted off and banked north. Covered in the burnt colors of fall, the Talkeetna Mountains rose around us.

We flew past the jagged monolith of Mount Monarch covered in a white blanket by snow showers the night before.

After Monarch we crossed the colorful landscape of Chitna Pass, and then were over the Chickaloon River and looking towards its namesake glacier. Years ago we tried to go skiing up there. The terrain is great, the snowpack can be less so.

Castle Mountain Ski - 3.11.2015

Updated 1.29.2019 to include another great day in Chickaloon.

"Are those the Northern Lights?"

"I think so."

It was 6:30 AM, -6 degrees, and Meg and I were running hill sprints to start out the day.

"Your legs are going to be barking!"

The day's goal.

A couple hours later I found myself pacing around my house. Where to ski? How much would it make my legs bark? I really didn't want to deal with my sled which is exactly why I wasn't making a decision.

Approaching the couloir entrance.

The impetus to move was a message from Tarah confirming the existence of the Chickaloon zone. I called Alex: "I'm running late, how about Chickaloon? Also, I still need to load up my sled, so its gonna be even later." Alex was running late too, so no problem.

Chitna Pass Backpack - September 2015

For Alex Geilich a good adventure should be scary, painful, or gorgeous.  Ideally, all of the above. When Alex came back delighted with the Chitna Pass backpack, I figured it rated highly on the Geilich Beauty Scale and was immediately intrigued.


Alex sent me a map and I looked at a few pictures; that was enough. A fall Saturday found us sitting at the Pinochle Creek trailhead on an overcast morning. Everyone else in the parking lot had a truck and an ATV trailer. Clearly, this was the right spot. Zach, Khalial, and Andalyn had all done some research, between the four of us the route could be pieced together.


The route was quickly confirmed by plenty of ATVs and mud. From Pinochle Creek a small pass brought us to Hicks Creek.