6/4/2006 – Whittier
Well, after about an hour driving around trying to figure out access (without gnar-gnar alder bushwhacking!), we discovered a trail that involved only 5 minutes on dirt . . . not bad for June! After a few false summits, we were stoked to get to the top and be greeted with a view of Prince William Sound, looking down on Blackstone Bay . . . I’ll let the pictures do the talking.

The sound

Blackstone Bay – glaciers to the sea 🙂

(photo: Ryan Hokanson)

A few steepish turns . . .

(photo: Ryan Hokanson)

Is that cruise ship waiting for us?

Overall, it was a great day, complete with salmon burgers on the shore when the skiing was over and rock climbing on the drive home!

6/5/2006 Byron Glacier (near Portage)
The next day, we went in pursuit of another multisport day on the Byron Glacier. The plan was to climb something and get a nice view, and then hit some sport climbs near the base.

We ended up climbing to the ridgeline directly over my right shoulder in this pic when the weather kinda came in, reminding me that one should not plan for spring conditions to persist all day!

Time to ski! That’s portage lake way down there. Just on the other side of it is a 6 mile tunnel through the mountain that takes you to Whittier – pretty cool

(photo: Ryan Hokanson)

Ryan on the cool steep part . . . what’s a day of spring skiing if you don’t get to bootpack up something?

The ski down was surprisingly good, and it was MUCH warmer once we got off that silly windy ridge! Then it was time for some sport climbing . . . w00t w00t!!

Overall, it was a great couple of days! I had told myself before that the skis were up for the season, but you can’t turn away from sunny skies and great corn snow!!!