Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Memorial Day weekend -Yukla!

Where to Start?
This trip simply oozed of awesomeness in every aspect.
Headed up Eagle River valley to the Twin Falls valley Saturday with JT, A, Dogust, Julie & Chunkfest 09.


Very Busy Beavers!


After a few hours we turned and headed up the very steep hunter trail into Twin Falls.


Windy night, chicken curry, a flapping megamid and restless puppy gave way to a stunning bluebird morning.


JT, A and Dogust headed over the pass to Vertigo peak and the ridge, while J, Luz and I headed up Mt Yukla. Its the highest peak in the Eagle River valley but has a nice snow route that twists around the back side of the peak.
up up up... past the little glacier.


Over Twinsicle pass to the back side of Yukla. Mt. Soggy just plastered with ice..

up up up, made our way through a little couloir and over an ice buldge that Luz needed to be carried through. We were not sure at that point how to get her down but 'll get to that later...

summit ridge, luz needed to be tied off to prohibit 4000' cornice hucking.


Yukla has twin summits, J & luz stayed on one, while I went over to the other.




View down Yukla's North face into Icicle Creek. Nice contrast between summer's lushness and the alpine. About 6,800' vertical relief!



Time to go down. Luz was short roped as the exposure was quite stiff for a fearless puppy.



To the ice step. After some quick thought, the only real option was to sack the dog. She really did not protest at all and quickly started snoring. A good reason to bring a decent sized pack!






down down down, 1000's of feet of glissading:





Monday was beautiful again. A hiked out early, so after a mellow breakfast with JT we headed up to the ridge for a little hike before going back. JT headed over the pass again to traverse around to Emerald peak and out Thunder gorge.


Glacier Lake - the start of Eagle River and the crow pass trail valley:



Devils Mistress and Beezelbub - Two hard to climb peaks in the western Chugash.


Yukla from the trail hiking out the valley:


still oozing..

8 comments:

William Finley said...

I love the photos of you with the dog! That's great!!! Next time I get tired will you throw me in your pack?

The Rideouts said...

Nice work. We were up there last weekend - any remains of our footprints? Only tagged the first summit, but a sweet hike. Man, those views are incredible! Nice work on bringing up Super Dog the right way.

The Rideouts said...

Nice work! We were up there last weekend, in bluebird weather as well. Only tagged the first summit, but what a fantastic hike. On the north face there was some creamy pow - for a brief - BRIEF moment I wished I'd hiked up with my split board - the run down on to the Icicle glacier looked very tempting. Nice work, continue to raise Super Diog the proper way. I approve.

Eric said...

YES!
we totally saw your tracks, used them for a bit of route finding on the upper part.. nice work. I was actually thinking of you guys on the hike out. Sweet

Billy - sure when it's alpine ice 0 down climbing I'll throw you in.

Kid Riemer said...

You've got one gnarly dog Eric! No knit cardigan's or him/her!

Dan's Tango Life said...

Nice to see the Neves getting some use on Yukla - sweet! Ha! Pooch in the bag, still a green puppy after all...classic! OK man, that was your start to Alaska summer trip, looks like you're feeling better finally!

Phil said...

Awesome pics and very cool climbs!

Sherrie Soltis said...

where did you pick up the hunters trail by twin falls? Looks like a super fun trip!