Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Panorama With the Mountaineering Class

It started out as a very snowy morning as everyone groggily got all their gear ready for the climb up Panorama peak. We loaded up the vehicles and started our drive down the Parks Highway only stopping at the Miner's Market to get delicious breakfast sandwiches. After satisfactorily stuffing ourselves we continued on our way and marveled at how much the weather had cleared up during out drive. When we arrived at the peak we gathered up our gear again and hiked our way over to the base. We strapped on our crampons pulled out our mountain axes and started our assent. It was fantastically warm, with a nice view of the surrounding area. After much huffing and puffing the summit was achieved. To everyone's dismay the summit was shrouded in clouds. We then carefully picked out way back down steep slopes. After everyone gathered back at the vehicles wet with sweat and smiling from the accomplishment, we took off back to the University with a quick bathroom break at Miner's Market and concluded the trip on a successful and happy note.

Tuesday, March 6, 2012

White Mountains Ski

Last Sunday we gathered up our back country skis and made our way out to the beautiful White Mountains trail system. We were expecting a brisk -15 degrees and overcast skies but were pleasantly surprised to find that it was fantastically sunny and about 0 degrees. Skiing out onto the summit trail we crested the ridge and stopped for lunch taking pictures of the far off mountains. There was much laughter as we got started again and several of us fell in the snow. Connecting into the the ski loop we skied through the pines knocking off snow as we went. Then connecting into the Wickersham trail for a pleasant easy finish to the relaxing and sunny day. As an extra bonus we stopped at the Hill Top Truck Stop for some DELICIOUS pie!

Ice Wall Open Climb Days

March 10-11

Attention UAF community! The Ice Wall is open! The Ice Wall hours will be Saturday and Sunday from 10am-2pm. No experience no problem; we will have instructors present to show you the ropes. All equipment will be provided free of charge. This is free of charge only to current UAF students. With any further questions please contact Sam Braband at 474-6306 or sjbraband@alaska.edu.