From the hubbub of Anchorage, Juneau is always in the back of our minds as an escape from the big city. About once a year we notice that the weather is drier in Southeast than Southcentral and rush to put together last second plans to get down there.
On a Friday night in March, we looked into the crystal forecast ball to see a sunny weekend in the coastal rainforest while our northern mountains were cloaked in clouds, wind, and snowfall. We rushed to jam our gear into our bags and jump on the first flight south the next morning.
In Juneau, we stepped out of the airport into a chilly and crisp spring morning. An hour and a cup of coffee later, and we were parked out the Thane Road and hiking into the mossy old growth forest of sheep creek.
Hawthorne Peak, the second objective of the day.
Wearing our running shoes, we followed the dirt trail up the valley until we were standing right under the big steep south face of Sheep Mountain.
We jotted down mental notes and snapped photos of the complicated 3,000 vertical foot face, shoved on our ski boots, and started climbing the frozen snow towards the west ridge of the peak.
