Skolai Images

Hey Folks,

And so, with little to no ado, I bid adieu, for the time being. I’m hitting the road in the morning, and I’m not sure when I’ll have internet access again - hopefully it’ll be no more than a few days between swigs. I’m heading out in the morning to Wrangell - St. Elias National Park, to live in a cabin named “Shacky”. I’ll be there a couple of weeks or so at a time, then make a run to Anchorage for some groceries and a little warming up, then back to Shacky. If all goes as planned. If all does not go as planned, I’ll spend a few nights there, say something like ‘this is C-R-A-Z-E-E-E!!!’ and boogie on back to the relative comfort of Anchor-ville. I’ve too little pride to tolerate discomfort long. (more…)

hey Folks,

I’m a little tired, so I’ll make this brief. This image is of a rock form called “Cara del Indio”, which translates to english as “Face of the Indian” - because the rock form resembles the profile of face of a wizened old Indian; the native people of this area were the Mapuche, who were mostly wiped out by the Spanish Conquistadors. The word “Futaleufu” by the way, is a Mapuche word that translates as “Big Water”, and yes indeed, the Futaleufu River is Big Water. Chile.

Cheers

Carl

PS - Oh, I should’ve added: this feature is just before Mundaca. Generally rafting trips will pull over on to a small beach below Cara del Indio, have a quick rest, and the guides will go over the plan for running Mundaca - it also allows the safety boats, like the cataraft and a kayaker or 2, to get ahead and set up for safety, if needed.

Hey Folks,

I got an email today from someone asking about the term ‘highside’, I mentioned in yesterday’s post. This photo shows a guide pulling a classic ‘highside’, alas, to no avail. His raft flipped moments later. The guide, nearest the camera with the blue helmet, is diving to the high side of the raft. If his crew had done the same, instead of falling out to the left, the boat may not have flipped - though I suspect it was going to regardless. You can see why folks wear a helmet on the Futaleufu. The poor soul in front of the guide, Brent, got smunched before the boat even flipped.

This is another shot from Mundaca, possibly the classic rapid on the Futaleufu. It’s not the biggest, which is why it’s so cool. Some of the bigger rapids are ‘Terminator’, ‘Throne Room’ and ‘Casa de Piedra’, among a few others. But they’re SO big guides generally have to play it safe - Terminator is at least a 1/4 mile long of solid whitewater, Throne Room is even bigger, and Zeta is a narrow slot canyon full of nasty undercuts and holes that keep bodies a long time - most commercial trips walk Zeta unless the water level is way down.

I promised myself I’d get to bed earlier tonight, but I got to watching the film “Crash” again, and here it is kinda late. What an awesome film.

On another side note, anybody notice anything else new about the ole blog today?

Cheers

Carl

Hey Folks,

I just got home a little while ago from an incredible concert here in Anchorage. I saw Bill Frisell, an AMAZING musician, with Greg Leisz on pedal steel guitar (among other instruments) and Jenny Scheinman on violin. Absolutely amazing. They performed a number of pieces composed and/or arranged to accompany a slide show of photos by Mike Disfarmer. The images themselves are compelling. The music, in Bill’s typical style, is quirky, yet flowing. Together, the performance is beautiful. (more…)

WARNING: - The following journal was sent to me (Carl) from my dad. Read on at your own risk - he does tend to ‘go on’ a little.

JOTTINGS ON OUR TRIP TO ALASKA AND THE NORTH AMERICAN ROCKIES

Dear Blog,

I’m not sure whether that’s the correct way to address a blog, but it’ll have to do for now.

Sorry for the delay in penning these brief notes on our trip to Alaska and the North American Rockies. I had to wait till the ice melted in my veins and the blood started flowing again.

After a very pleasant stay of two days in the lovely city of Vancouver, made all the more pleasant by catching up with an old Aussie mate and his partner, we embarked on our Cruise up the Inside Passage to Alaska. (more…)

Hey Folks

Why 2 posts so close to one another? I just got an email from this fella, whom I met and hung with in Chile this last winter (their summer). We went down to the Baker River together, along with a bunch of crazy folks, and all had a good time. We were there for 4 days, but the trip took another 2 days traveltime. It was quite a mission. (more…)

Hey Folks

Thanks so much for all the comments and emails I have had from readers so far, it’s great. I’ll try to keep up and be better about posting images, new and old and writing something about what’s going on. It tickles me that people out there are interested, thank you.

On another note, I would like to write this post in salute to Mr Paul Schoch, from Wisonsin, whom I never met, but wished I had. Mr Schoch went missing in Skolai Pass this fall, in mid-September. I won’t offer details here, other than point to a newspaper story for those of you who aren’t familiar with what happened. Mr Schoch’s tent was spotted, by my father, as we flew over the area looking for him, after Paul hadn’t shown back up at the landing strip for his scheduled pickup.

Newspaper Story

It saddens me that someone came to an unfortunate end in a place I love so much, and to which I return, often more than once, every year. Skolai Pass is possibly my favorite place anywhere. I was so excited to take my parents to this place, and show them a place I hold so deep. At the same time the reality of the wilderness was made perhaps no more evident than by Mr Schoch’s disappearance. It IS wild, rugged and remote country, and from what I’ve read, Paul seems to have valued those kinds of places as I do. In some weird and almost unspeakable way, I think I’d rather come to rest in a place like that than somewhere else.

It serves little purpose for me to speculate as to what may or may not have happened. What’s important is that his family and friends find some solace knowing their husband, father, or friend, died in a beautifully wild and truly awesome place. I wish them all my most sincere condolences and most heartfelt sympathies. Their grief, I’m sure, is in some way an important part of his death (as grief always is) and also a reflection of his life. To his memory, and to all those who knew and loved him, my deepest regards.

Sincerely

Carl

PS - This photo is of the Russell Glacier, and Mt. Bona, a 16 421 foot high peak, on the south side of Skolai Pass, Wrangell St. Elias National Park, Alaska.

Hey Folks

Well, this shall be my last post from the Lower 48 states, for a while at least. Tomorrow on the eve I fly to Alaska, and settle down for some winter fun. It’s been a short trip, and tons of fun with my parents - hopefully it won’t take 3 more years for me to get the chance to see them again.

I’m looking forward to getting back to Alaska, and if the weather is at all reasonable, trying to get some more images from Wrangell St. Elias. I also have a boatload of files to process, website updates to do, emails to return, and more computer stuff as well - which I’m not so eager to undertake, but, it seems, I have to. I have a ton of writing I want to, and also have had a few books recommended to me that I am keen to read. On top of that the moose rut is just starting to get underway, and that will be fun to photograph, so it seems I’ll be kept busy. I guess that’s good.

For now, I’ll just post this picture of my mum and her new friend from Banff National Park, waving us all goodbye.

Cheers

Carl
Banff National Park Photos.

Hey Folks

Well, here I am in Banff. I’m still riding around the countryside with my parents, who give new meaning to the word “doddering”. We’ve visited nearly every public toilet in western Canada, which has been a real treat. So far, I haven’t had to unleash any violence, but I may resort to that medium of regulation sometime in the near future. My patience has been the mainstay of what stability we’ve managed to clutch. Dad doesn’t listen, and mum mumbles; a potent combination.

Actually, they’re doing OK, and I’m really enjoying showing them some of my favorite parts of the world. (more…)

Hey Folks,

Here’s a photo of us rafting down the Upper Marsh Fork of the Canning River - essentially the headwaters of the Canning in the Brooks Range, close to the continental divide. The river here has eroded its way through the layers of bedrock to form this really neat little mini-canyon. I hopped out of the boat to take some photos of the run. Actually, we ran it several times, and I shot each time, some horizontals, a few verticals, some wider, some tighter, trying to get different compositions of essentially the same scene. (more…)