Skolai Images

Hey Folks,

Here’s Sergei, also known as ‘Borat’. We ascended this pass on day 2 of our trip, in good weather, fortunately, and I scarpered ahead of some members of the group to grab a few photos. One of the few times I was close to the front of the group - it was a great group of hikers. Sergei acquired 2 nicknames this year - ‘Borat’, initially, because his Russian accent is almost a perfect rendition of the film character - his second nickname came a little later in the trip - Day 3, I believe. We’ll talk about that one on another post.

We had some great weather on this particular day, it cleared up nicely, and the hiking was superb - not too hot, but not raining. On this hike we went through 4 high alpine mountain passes, each of which was quite a slog. The first 2 were snow-covered, but the last 2 were snow free. This one had a nice glacier on both sides of the pass, which made good walking. The terminal moraine at the end of each glacier was a little more treacherous.

Cheers

Carl

Hey Folks,

Just back in from a GREAT hike - Bremner Mines, in Wrangell - St. Elias National Park, to Tebay Lakes. We had an amazing time, and loved nearly every second of the trip. We started a little hesitantly - our flight in to the backcountry was a day late, due to inclement weather, and when we arrived, things hadn’t seemed to be on the improve. We hit a good hail storm within 10 minutes of landing and heading off - so rather than ‘tent it’, we stayed the first night in a little bunkhouse cabin near the old mines, currently occupied by the Park Service archaeologist, Barbara, a delightful and knowledgeable lady who made our night a treat. The next morning the weather was marginally better, and by the time we hit the first pass, close to lunch, we’d already hiked through a small snow storm. Here’s the view of the group at the pass, Jodee, Geoff, Svetlana, Mike and Sergei, from left to right. I think they’re wondering ‘what the hell are we doing up here’, before we set off down the steep snowy slope - an adventure, for sure.

All up, the trip was fantastic, the scenery incredible, the hiking a good challenge, and the group wonderful - everyone really chipped in and made this a memorable hike.

I’ll post some more over the next week or so.

Cheers

Carl

Hey Folks,

Here’s the follow up to the post of 2 days ago. I walked about 100 yards up the ridge from the pond, and found this Alaska Cotton Grass field, which made a nice foreground for the mountain, to me. The timber of the light had changed so much in just a minute or 2. I snapped a few photos here, and before I knew it, the peak started to dim. A cloud behind me blocked the rising sun’s rays, and within a few more minutes, the peak no longer glowed. Bummer. I lay on the tundra for a while, hoping for some more light, but by the time the light started to shine on the snow-capped Mt. Drum again, the warmth was gone, and a cold morning light wasn’t so great for photos - this tired cold puppy headed back to his tent for some rest.

I should be back from my Bremner - Tebay trip tomorrow, and will try to post something late tomorrow evening when I get in.

Here’s another image of this same scene:

Cheers

Carl

Hey Folks,

So here’s Mount Drum at 4:40am. A far better sight than I am at that time in the morning, trust me!

I got up and headed out early, but not early enough to catch the color in the sky around 4:15 - the clouds glowed a fiery pink, and I was still putting layer after layer of clothes on. It was pretty chilly this morning. I shot this photo of Mount Drum maybe 50 yards from out little kitchen - the unusually heavy rainfall left a number of small ponds and pondlets scattered across the high tundra, giving me something as a foreground for this photo.

I took a few quick compositions, then headed across the tundra for something else as a foreground, and it was amazing how much the light changed in a few short minutes.

Mount Drum is typically shot from the north face, or the southwest face - we were a little east of it here, and the high peak caught the morning rays nicely.

Cheers

Carl

Hey Folks,

So here’s another image from the fabled ‘night of the forgotten camera’ - I turned around, and shot Kevin’s tent as he sat inside and read - well, he told me he was reading, but I never saw a book, just the headlamp - I’m not sure he wasn’t just turning on the lamp to make us think he was reading. The mountain in the background is Mt Drum, this was one of the few opportunities we got to see it, as clouds covered the sky most of the time. Prtty sweet view out a tent though, eh?

Cheers

Carl

Hey Folks,

So I got back right on time - the last glows of the evening were just dwindling down, and I arrived back at the ‘house’ and grabbed my camera, and set up this shot. 10 minutes earlier and the color in the sky was gorgeous. 25 minutes earlier and the mountain was on fire. Zanetti and Wrangell, further south, were even more spectacular. As per usual, my impeccable timing got me a drab sky and no great light.

Cheers

Carl

Hey Folks,

Here’s a motley crew - the 3 Rascals. Left to Right, Sergei “Borat” Egorov, Steve “Don’t Dude Me” New and Dan “Two Plates” Kelly - only Kevin “Kayfer” Kelly escaped my lens on this shot - I think he was further up the ridge looking for a bear. We dayhiked from camp this particular day, and got back in time for a great supper and sunset over the mountains, alpenglow and all - of course, I wasn’t able to shoot any of that, as I was off on another hike, with Two Plates, looking for the rain pants he’d accidentally left behind on the hike up near a waterfall. We found them and headed back to camp, where my camera lay sitting under the tarp, neatly, where I’d left it - always leave your camera behind when you head out near sunset for a hike, that’s one of my Golden Rules. We had awesome alpenglow on Mt Sanford, Mt Wrangell and Mt Zanetti, all over 13 500′, and yours truly was walking around the tundra without his camera. I really do a great job, eh?

Cheers

Carl

Hey Folks,

Here’s Steve “Don’t Dude Me” New - posing in front of the Arch. Every so often a rock or three would fall from the bridge in the background, and crash down onto the ice below - pretty awesome stuff. We enjoyed the glacier and moraine, but the hiking is tough on that terrain. Fortunately we didn’t have to hike too far across the rocks and ice - and the moraine made the river crossing WAY simpler than it would otherwise have been.

Cheers

Carl

Hey Folks,

Here’s an image from our first afternoon on the Sanford Glacier - well, on the moraine section of the glacier. We arrive at the landing strip, donned raingear to ward off the ever-present drizzle, and set off up the valley. Before long, we found a place to camp, setup camp, had a nap (always a critical part of a day’s hiking), and then we hiked up the valley to the moraine, and explored that a little. Right before we got on the moraine we saw a grizzly bear, maybe 75 yards away. The bear reared up on its hind legs, took a look at our intimidating crew, and then dropped to all fours and raced off into the brush. Good bear!

After hiking around the glacier a while, we found this arch, which was really cool. Of course, we didn’t have cameras with us, so we made sure the following day to take a short detour off our route up to this arch for some images. I’m glad we did, what a cool place this is. What’s really cool is that it changes on such a scale that it could well not be around next year. I hope it is, but I’m sure we’ll find something else equally as interesting if not. Such seems to be the way of glaciers.

I convinced Dan “Two Plates” Kelly to head up on the bridge of the glacier for a photo-opp. Dan’s never one to shy away from such a chance to shine, and he posed nicely for this. I’ll post another image soon of his brother, Steve “Don’t Dude Me” also at this arch, from below.

Cheers

Carl

Hey Folks,

I just returned from a week on the Sanford Plateau. This is the view north from camp on our second evening. One of the few nice evenings we had - more rain, more wind, more clouds, more wind, and then crazy insane winds that nearly drove us off the range. Nearly. I was really hoping to get some nice stuff of the big mountains visible from up here, but the weather didn’t co-operate like I hoped it might. Such seems to be the summer. We had an AWESOME trip though, and thanks to Sergei, Steven, Daniel, Kevin and Wendell - awesome folks, awesome fun, awesome times. And best of luck with Daniel who’s about to head off to MIT for his first year of college - I’ve never met an MIT person before - I’m still kind of in shock.

More to come over the next few days - while I’ll be gone leading a trip from Bremner Mines to Tebay Lakes in Wrangell -St. Elias National Park until the 20th - so I’ll schedule a few posts for while I’m gone. Pray for sunshine.

Cheers

Carl