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the links below to see the picture slide shows from the expedition- - JOURNEYS END - Even good
things has to come to an end and so did this extraordinary journey. It has
been an experience of a lifetime. Something we will bring a smile to both
of us when we are old and gray when we think of this amazing trip. The
route we had chosen did not let us down. It was as stunning and peaceful
as we had dared to hope. For a period of 8 days we did not see a single
person and never did we camp close to another camp until we crossed over
Denali Pass to descend the West Buttress Route. All the sweat and blood
(sacrificed to the mosquitoes mostly) it took to haul 70 kilos (155
pounds) all the way over the mountain was definitely worth it. Not at any
time did we feel it was too much work and that we should have followed the
standard route. As we progressed up the Muldrow Glacier we decided to
return via the West Buttress route instead of chancing the crevasses on
Muldrow for the return. We did not have any crevasse falls to speak of but
we also had pretty good luck with cold temperatures at night allowing for
better and safer travel. To expect the same luck on the return would be
unlikely considering the 16 falls the group that came down a few days
before had along the same stretch. It would also be interesting to see the
West buttress route that accommodate the vast majority of the climbers on
Denali. It was a bit of a shock to us all of a sudden running into so many
people. The camps were more like small mountain villages rather than camp
sites. We didn’t dwell long along this route but descended to the snow
strip on the Kahiltna Glacier in 2 days. The fly out to Kantishna put a
different perspective on the mountain. After 3 circles over Kahiltna it
had climbed enough to make it make it through the Traleika Col. 11,000
feet was all it could do putting some perspective on the 20,320 foot
mountain next to us on the right. Crossing over Muldrow Glacier it became
evident how hard it would have been to return down the same way we came
up. All the surface snow up to just above the lower icefall had completely
melted leaving a blanket of sand and rocks on the glacier surface making
it impossible to pull a sled. Nothing
we needed to worry about though as we were flying over looking down on it.
At 3 this morning we arrived back in Cochrane after 8 days of driving and
3 flat tires. Yesterday on the way down Banff National Park we stopped by
Moraine Lake and scrambled Mount Temple (3543m/11,621feet) before
proceeding the last two hours home. An excellent ending to an already
awesome trip. Hope you all
enjoyed following along with us to the top and back and thanks to everyone
for leaving messages in our guest-book and sending SMS messages to our
satellite phone. Take
care everyone! Håkon and Jarle |
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The
Alsek River trip is now unfortunately over. 27 days of |
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- Previous Wilderness Expeditions
- (these pages may take a few minutes to open) Tatshenshini-Alsek rafting Expedition 1999 Tatshenshini-Alsek rafting Expedition 2000 |
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Photo Credits:
Ron Niebrugge, Håkon
Askerhaug, Ola Moen & Mark ter Keurs |
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This web site was last updated on:
04/08/2003 |
