Ski Touring in the New Millenium

Someday, when you're too old to huck, or maybe 'cause you were never bold enough, this is what will look good:

 

International travel by ski, looking for wolverine in Mongolia. Check out all the pack animals. They are amazing. Forrest says the packrafting potential here is extra awesome, too.

Other People's Great Adventures

No doubt most have you have seen this:
 

 Makes Tasmania look like the great packrafting destination that it is. There have been a handful of adventurers reporting on their Tassie trips over the years, from whitewater creeking, to mult-day river trips, to traditional hike and raft, to modern coastal trips, to this wild canyoneering trip.


 And what about Europe? Besides Forest and Moe's fantastic looking exploration of Bosnia

 

there is the couple who seem to be prepping for a grand Eurasion or round the world trip with their packraft, too (this looks like a marvelous destination for traditional style packrafting):
 

 Really looks good, Europe does, for packrafting and there seems to be more and more of it happening.


But the trip I have been keeping tabs on is that by an athletic and skilled Alaskan couple, Pat Farrell and Caroline Van Hemert, who left Bellingham, Hig-and-Erin style but with Skurka speed, in March.

They are headed for Kotzebue by way of the Yukon. A PhD scientist, Caroline is from Anchorage and studied English in college. Pat is a carpenter and studied art. Together they have done some amazing trips, like building a birch bark canoe and paddling out from some wild river in the Yukon Territory, or sailing into and climbing Mt Waddington, and climbing Mt. Fairweather then walking and packrafting the Lost Coast to Gustavus. Anyway their blog is worth following as they unveil their adventure.

Oh yes, and rumor has it Luc and crew made it to the summit of Logan on their self-contained journey from Yakutat to McCarthy by packraft and ski. Looking forward to his return and the fruits of their adventure in story, pic, and vid.

Videos that have caught my eye

Butt-boating, mtn hiking, and 29er biking are probably my favorite outdoor activities and here are some other folks adventures to enjoy:

Ed Plumb of Fairbanks has posted a neat Alaska Range video:

and Forrest posted several from the WInd Rivers, this being my favorite, I think:



and then there's Mike Curiak's gonzo "ne school" trail riding:

Teton Pass from lacemine29 on Vimeo.

Flathead in Montana

Forrest's awesome video of the Flathead -- his best yet, IMHO.

Chasing Skurka: Forrest and Mike Brown Leave Town

Forrest McCarthy and Michael Brown, the National Geographic Photographer, took off from ANC yesterday to go chase Skurka along the Alaska Range, Rohn to Tonzona and maybe to Wonder Lake (doubtful unless awesome crust skiing).

Forrest has these fat short tele skis (150 cm long and 105 mm at the shovel) and Michael -- who's fresh from China -- picked up thinner, metal edge skis with backcountry NNN bindings from AMH. They are skiing east from Rohn Roadhouse, where Andy'll be waiting, and following in reverse the route that Carl Tobin, Paul Adkins and I biked/walked in '96 and Mark Stoppel and I walked in '89.

The stretch from Tonzona to Muddy River just before Wonder Lake is the wildest in the Alaska Range and the longest un-hunted area in Alaska: western Denali National Park. Caribou will be heading toward their calving grounds and moose will still be wandering the willow flats maintaing the best game trails in the state. Andy will cross the high empty plains at the base of Denali and Foraker, perhaps the place that is most magnificent for wilderness and wildlife in a State known for magnificent wilderness and wildlife. No signs of man on the ground (none!), but of course hourly jets overhead between Fairbanks and Anchorage.

They'll have three mountain passes where avalanches are possible, one with a small glacier; there may be bears busting out of hibernation; there's a storm now, so I bet that the pair will not get in right away from Talkeetna as the weather will shut down the flight until the low passes. I'd expect a slush swamp or two on their way to the Tonzona. I wouldn't worry about thin ice, just melt water. Hope they have neoprene socks.

The kid Michael Brown -- well a 32 year old kid -- is remarkably like Surka in age and temperment. I think they even look a lot alike. Smily, young athletic guys full of modern adventure and creative energy.

Mike's traveling around China in a van with an interpreter and 600 rolls of Kodak negative film. His work is beautiful and after meeting him I can see why he gets such intimate portraits. He's a warm and welcoming soul. What an incredible time to be in China, documenting its rush in to the present. A nation of a billion who are interested in him as he is in them. A traveler's dream trip, really, and he's only midway through. He's combining the Skurka trip with a trip to see his folks in WA and then back to China. He is excited and passionate about all that he's doing in China, from loading little cameras and Leicas with negative film to seeing China's headlong rush into modernity.

Maybe we can meet up in September, looking for ice worms in Tibet.

Local Creeks

Brad and I met Nathan Shoutis, one of the best pure (i.e., no other boating experience) packrafters out there, at Nathan's "local" creek, Little Susitna (see photo above of my own 2003 harrowing solo run in an early "condom-style" skirt). Nate'd run it twice over the last couple days, and it was running 800 cfs when we did it yesterday, pretty much a non-stop whitewater run. It was cushy but not too pushy. In some ways much more satisfying/exciting than the bony run that Brad and I made last fall. We met some hardcore kayak kids, complete with short boats and attitudes to match. But we had fun, too, in big waves and bigger drops, flushing holes and smooth granite boulders washed in sun-lit, glacier-tinted water.

Anyway, it got me thinking about boaters' local runs: Little Su for Nathan, S. Fork Eagle River for Brad, Ship Cr for me, Willow Creek in Wyoming for Forrest. These are the creeks that ultimately kill boaters, they say. Maybe we get complacent through familiarity and don't pay attention, then fall out of our boats, foot trapped and drowned -- at least that's what I learned in my swiftwater rescue course: "Complacency kills."

So as Cody Roman says, "Stay frosty." Focus in the white stuff, relax in the calm.

....My sabbatical functionally ends this week, meaning I wont have as much time for "creative and scholarly activities" to make these silly music videos and slide shows, like this one, of the ten days I spent in Wyoming last July.

6 Million Words on the Wilderness Classic

My Optio W60 shoots 30 frames per second. If a picture's worth a thousand words, then this 3.5 minute vid of the Wilderness Classic offers up a lot of verbage.