So, I admittedly have a
small
obsession with the Alaska Volcano Observatory webcams – situated to
consistently provide info on weather and conditions for the prominent volcanos
across Cook Inlet from the Kenai peninsula, they keep me inspired. This year, when the stars aligned to take a
boat trip out to the Augustine Volcano, I was more than stoked! I’ve been wanting to get out there forever –
one of those mountains that I have had countless conversations on skin tracks
about . . . so when Scott Dickerson of
www.surfalaska.com
said we could get out there on the M/V Milo, living/cooking aboard and
travelling at night to maximize ski days, I knew we had to make it happen.
Cue the hodge-podge group: Kathy and the Viking, Matt and
Agnes Hage, Andy, Doug, Cody, me . . . many of us had never skied together,
many had never met prior, we had varied levels of uphill/downhill experience .
. . but sometimes those are the best groups – just random enough to ensure
adventure!
Leaving on a Thursday night, we all slept as the Milo
cruised west and awoke to stunning views of the volcano right at our fingertips
. . . serene waters between it and us . . . game on!
Onshore we went – not having much beta beforehand, Mike the
captain anchored at the location with the closest access to the mountain from
shore. From below, there was no obvious
route through the upper rime iced sections, but we chose what looked to have
the best chance of going.
The climb was straightforward – skis transitioning to a
stairway to heaven – and then we got into rime ice, fumaroles, snow bridged
caves formed by the hot rocks melting the snow from below . . . I found myself exploring an alternate route up
to the climber’s right that looked like a potential ski line and found myself
navegating a series of precarious crossings, steam emanating from below them,
with the distinct wonder of whether we should be there at all! Both Andy and I took routes that converged on
a path to the caldera and then got shut down on going further by a steaming and
unstable world around us. We had one
more idea to try, gaining a nearby rock that looked to possibly connect to a
higher zone of the caldera . . . but as Andy approached it, he fell in up to
his shoulders – with that, we called it.
We reasoned that for a volcano, reaching the caldera was accomplishment
enough . . . no need to off ourselves to get the actual highest point J
After a brief snack and a few moments to soak in the view
through the steam, it was time to ski!
Of course, the rime ice that had surrounded our climb, and the contrived
route up made for some interesting skiing!
We picked our way through the top section and then started having fun on
the rimed features as things started to open up and we got out of the fumarole
zone – starting to relax as we got back on what seemed like stable ground. Like any good Alaskan volcano, however,
Augustine had one up on us, and we had a
brief scare as Matt was traversing over to setup for a photo, and fell in to
his neck in a pretty darn unpredictable place . . . guess the hot rocks lasted further down that
we thought! We definitely had a tense
moment until we realized all was well, at which point the smiles/laughs/jokes
started as Matt mountaineered his way out of the hole!
Back on track, it was ski fun back to the bottom . . . as
Cody put it, the rime “skied like butter: really hard, crusty, chunky, frozen
butter” . . . but these things don’t really seem to matter when the sky is
blue, you’re surrounded by water, skiing a dream line with great people –
mostly we just felt grateful to be there and loved the turns, whatever they
were comprised of!
After the caldera run, Andy and I decided to go back up and ski
the couloir we’d eyed earlier in the day – always believing “there’s no promise
of tomorrow” it was too hard not to go up and explore a bit more. So, up we went – unfortunately, the clouds
rolled in as we climbed and the sun became obscured, so we had some festive low
light skiing in variable snow conditions in a super steep and narrow line –
gotta love it! Gotta say it was pretty
awesome to ski all the way to the water though, and in no time, we were on the
beach looking back up at a lenticular on the summit and feeling thankful we’d
eeked our day out of the weather!!!
As we cruised to our anchor spot for the night, with the hopes
of being setup to ski a new aspect the following day, we saw multiple
straightforward ski lines emerged and laughed at how we seemed to be on the
most contrived spot possible . . . still, we were glad to have it that way – it
was awesome to be in such a volcanic zone, hiking in the steaming world,
slightly out of place and unsure – raw adventure!!
The next morning unfortunately dawned gray, but we could still
see the summit (in and out), so we decided to see if we could eek out another
ski . . . with 45 mph winds whipping across the inlet, white caps dotting the
sea, and the ceiling obscuring the mainland we’d been able to see just a few
hours before, we decided to turn back.
Regardless, it was awesome just to be there in the weather – to feel the
power of an incoming storm, to look down on the rough seas . . . and to be glad
we had a warm boat to go back to!
Our third and final day was one for exploration on the mainland
– after a rough crossing (that had most of us admitting defeat against the
inlet!), we ended up in Iniskin Bay.
Though raining, three of us motivated to get out and explore, but for me
I was honestly motivated as much by getting on solid ground and prolonging
subsequent exposure to the sea as I was by going skiing! Regardless of motivation, Erik, Cody and I
booted up a super sweet couloir to the sea and found much better and more
consolidated snow than we’d imagined from below – score!!! Soaked at the bottom, we were psyched to
return back to a warm dinner and get horizontal before the final crossing.
Overall, this was an amazing trip – 3 days of exploring, super
cool skiing, great people, and a wonderful adventure. Huge thanks to Scott/Stephanie and Mike for
making it happen!!!
