On Friday, Jenna and I decided to take advantage of the calm winds, sunshine, and 20 degree temperatures to break for the Delta Range. Our intent was to ski the south aspect from the ridge splitting the Castner Glacier to the north and the Fels Glacier to the south.
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A frozen Lower Miller Creek. |
We left Fairbanks at 7, negotiating sheet ice plastered on the
Richardson by our recent freezing rain storm. We reached Lower Miller
Creek around 10, and were on our way by 10:30. The big outwash plain of
Lower Miller was a bit windy, but firm and fast going. After a few
miles of skinning, we made it to a point where the creek flows out of
the mountains into the big Delta valley, and began to climb through a
reasonably spacious alder thicket, following a wayward moose who seemed
to have a good idea of the most efficient way through the bushes.
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Engaging the brush. |
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Escaping the brush. |
The nice thing about interior AK is that the brush peters out quickly,
and we were soon skinning up moderate slopes on a supportable wind
crust. Views out to the enormous Mounts Moffit, Shand, and McGuinness
were characteristically imposing, and I was reminded of how much I'd
like to get back amongst those mountains again. We made short work of
the remaining climb to the ridgeline, and were greeted with views of
Silvertip and White Princess among other smaller Delta peaks.
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13k+ Mt. Moffit dominates the Hayes Range skyline on the other side of the Deltana. |
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Lunch spots. |
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Ridgeline cruising. |
Travel on the ridge was fast, and we followed Wolverine tracks for about
a thousand more vertical before reaching a point where a fall line run
would place us directly at the Fels terminus. Dropping into the vast
glade, we expected to find wind blown, slabby snow or sastrugi like we
had been climbing on. Rather, we found deep and settled powder snow,
and took turns trading tracks for over a horizontal mile and 3000
vertical feet. From the bottom of the run, it was a quick schuss out
the bottom of Lower Miller Creek, and we were back to the car with
plenty of daylight remaining.
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This is not a black and white photo, there just aren't any plants. |
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See? |
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Looking back up the egress route. |
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