When we saw pix of Bob, Sam, and Emily ripping pow from the summit of the peak we knew to head that way - thanks for the hint guys! Fresh off the plane from Kodiak fieldwork, Nyssa picked me up at the airport at 8 AM and we raced south on the Seward Highway to give the snow globe a good swirl and shake.
We parked past the salmon ponds on the shoulder of the Portage Road, clawed up the icy snowbank, followed crust skier tracks thru the woods (where don't those guy's go?), and skinned into the gully. Getting buried in an avalanche at the bottom of a ravine would always be bad, but getting stuffed into a crevasse here would be an added bummer.
There was another group ascending via a different route and we passed them as we climbed higher in the basin. They weren't close, but Alaska is a small town and we figured we'd probably know em. At the col below the summit cone we peered over the edge into the Skookum Glacier then started the booter to the top. The Skookum gorge, with Carpathian as its crown jewel, is big country that seems out of place on the Kenai Peninsula. It would fit in better in the Alaska Range or the High Chugach.
We made quick work of Bob's bomber booter from the previous day and a few minutes later were standing on the peak looking east towards Middle Glacier Peak, Byron, and Carpathian.
There are still a few peaks and many many lines around here that we haven't had a chance to ski yet - good thing life is long. We made mental notes on the hit list while we sat in the sun eating lunch and watching a solo skier make their way up Middle Glacier. I wondered who it was. Maybe Dane?
