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Kodiak Island

Mt. Denison - Day 7 (pickup)

(photo left to right: Dick McClenahan '76, Chris Dickey '03, Richard Soaper '78, Taylor Nissi '08)

Day 7. We wake to a familiar noise: the sound of rain. At this point we have been doing a lot of "laying in bed" and it was wearing on us. A sort of physical and mental languish that is hard to describe unless you have actually experienced it. We worry that the clouds are too low and we'll be marooned on this gravel bar for the next 5 days... until we hear a different noise, the noise of a bush plane. Our hero, Roland, had flown in despite conditions no other Kodiak bush pilot would have challenged. We load our bags and fly back to Kodiak Island, anxiously awaiting dry clothes, fresh beds, hot greasy food and beer.

Mt. Denison - Day 6 (descent)

(photo: Chris Dickey taking a rest, rain-soaked in the snow. During the descent, rests had to be kept to a minimum to avoid cooling off too quickly and entering hypothermia)

Day 6. The morning of the 6th day of our expedition, we awoke to the same rain and fog that had greeted us the day before. Having previous knowledge that low pressure systems stay for weeks in the Aleutians, we pulled out our satellite phone and made the call to our bush pilot, Roland. We were informed that this low was indeed here for awhile and we had two choices for evacuation: 1) pick up tomorrow, 2) pick up in five days.

We choose the first option.

Immediately the group mobilized, tore down camp in the rain and proceeded to walk back to our lake rendezvous in a one-day push. Without a doubt, this was the most miserable day we endured throughout the entire trip.

(photo: Dick looking soaked but happy. Or should I say hopeful...)

High camp on the Hallo Glacier back to the lake in a day.

Mt. Denison - Day 5

Day 5. Originally, we intended to follow the successful second ascent of Mt. Denison with a first ascent of Mt. Stellar. However, having aggressively taken advantage of the unimaginably good weather, our stamina finally gave out. We therefore took the 5th day of our excursion as a rest day; according to our basecamp coordinator, Emmett Buell (Denison Faculty member), we were expecting at least two more days of decent weather. However, Aleutian reality was quick to set in and halfway through this day of playing cards, reading and eating double dinners, clouds rolled in and soon had our camp encased in 25ft. visibility and a light constant rain.

Mt. Stellar, still a virgin mountain. The photo shows the aesthetic and more technical east ridge.

Mt. Denison - Day 4 (summit)

(note: scale on snowfields is often difficult to relate. In this case, the dark dots interrupting the snowfield below is our high camp)

Summit Day. On the fourth day of the trip, still maintaining our weather window, the team took bare essentials and headed for the summit of Mt. Denison. It was the most difficult day of route-finding, with massive crevasses, ice walls, crumbling rock cliffs and variable snow conditions blocking our path. Twice during this episode Taylor Nissi plunged a leg completely through a snow bridge.

Taylor Nissi with morning sun shimmering off the Pacific in the background.

(photo left to right: Taylor Nissi '08, Chris Dickey '03, Richard Soaper '78, Dick McClenahan '76)

On the summit of Mt. Denison, Alaska. Mt. Denison is the highest peak in the Aleutian Mountain Range (7,600 ft). It was first surveyed by Denison graduate Kirtly Mather in 1923 for the USGS and aptly named after his alma mater. It wasn't until 1978 that any human stood on its remote snowy summit. Our ascent of the peak in June 2007 represented the second ascent in the history of the mountain.

Taylor Nissi, Class 2008.

Dick McClenahan, Class 1976.

Chris Dickey, Class 2003.

Richard Soaper, Class 1978.


(His third trip to the area. Richard has been on every expedition to attempt the mountain.)

A memorial for those who came before, who supported us getting there and for those who will come later.

Mt. Denison - Camp 3 / 4 / 5

High Camp. After joining the Hallo Glacier and traveling for approximately a mile, we came across another flat area, well protected from immediate ice or rock fall, screaming to be made high camp. So we did. Camping in the snow, we took care to secure the tent with as many anchors as possible. However, in the heat, anything we buried was quickly melted out by the intensity of the sun. This was a lesson almost learned the hard way when we returned from the summit and found one of the tents ready to blow way, save one remaining anchor. (the tent had ALL our belongings, food, etc. The powerful wind turned the wide side-wall into a sail and wanted to 'sail it' all the way down the glacier...)

High camp with Mt. Stellar obscured in the background.

Taylor turning a pile of gear into a Lazy-boy. In the end, most of us morphed into painful red lobsters from similar activities.

Richard Soaper checking out the view.

(photo: Taylor Nissi melting snow for water)

The tents were AWESOME. Thanks Hilleberg.

Chris Dickey digging snow anchors for the tent. (the sun and wind would eventually succeed in pulling out all save one).

Mt. Denison - Day 3

Day 3. As we left our second camp atop our grassy knoll, the group was blessed by yet another day of beautiful, bluebird weather. This morning we traversed the remaining snowfields lining our valley and finally reached the upper portion of the Hallo Glacier where we rejoined the 1978 expedition route. Before leading out to the glacier, we took an hour and practiced crevasse rescue technique and building a z-pulley. The joining of the snowfields with the Hallo Glacier was definitely an anxiety as there was no way to plan a 100% smooth transition. Often glaciers carve huge u-shaped valleys—we had no idea if our glacier had sunk into such a valley and if so, what (if any) recourse we might have. Luckily, everything worked out.

Taylor Nissi posing on the Hallo Glacier. At this point forward, we traveled exclusively as a roped team. We approached another mile up the glacier to a level ice field we would make our high camp. The travel involved winding back and forth among crevasses, crossing snow bridges and jumping small openings. Mt. Denison is the peak in the far left of the image.

Taking a rest high on the Hallo Glacier.

Mt. Denison - Camp 2

(photo: Taylor Nissi, when-in-Rome)

Camp 2. We elected to cut day 2 short by a few hours due to the softening snow and warm weather. With every step, our knees would sink 2ft. deep in the snow, a problem exacerbated by 75lbs. packs. As luck had it, we found this oasis of grass and flat ground amid a huge snowfield. In 90 degree heat, it didn't take arm-twisting to yank out the ground pads and take a nap in the sun.

The feeling of pulling off your boots and socks after a long day trudging through snow, rivers and muck can not be described in words... Dick, would you agree?

Napping.

The red arrow indicates our progress since being dropped off a day ago.

Taylor and Dick elected to sleep outside under the stars... err, two hours of twilight.

Mt. Denison - Day 2

Day 2. We ascended out of the valley transitioned to snow travel. It was also the only day we saw any of the legendary Katmai bears. Leaving the river and heading for the snowfields, we noticed several large grizzlies enjoying vegetarian diets on the newly thawed slopes. Fortunately, the bears wanted as little to do with us as we wanted to do with them and universally walked the other direction when we saw each other.

Richard Soaper scrambling up some of the newly thawed undergrowth at the snow's edge.

The team gained elevation quickly. Only a couple hours earlier we were traveling down the river in the background.

Taking a break! Can't believe the weather!!!

It's either a Rodent of Unusual Size or a very recent grizzly track...

As we went on, the weather got warmer and the sun more direct. We would soon be forced to break camp early because the snow conditions were too difficult (soft) to travel efficiently.

One of the most satisfying moments of the trip was finally achieving the ridge line between Hallo Bay and our southern valley. The bay on the left side of the image is Hallo Bay. We also filmed the entire expedition, camera generously on loan from www.everestgear.com

Dick McClenahan trying to soak in the moment and forget how much his feet hurt.

On top of the ridge separating the Hallo Glacier from our valley. For the next day, we would stay south of the glacier and traverse west, toward the upper reaches of the ice fields. One of the most compelling reasons to do this is visible behind Chris and Dick: the heavily crevassed 1000ft. ice fall.