December avalanche training

I recently got a chance to participate in some really good avalanche training, both experiences were compliments of the AMRG. The first training was a weeks worth that was mostly snow assessment, route consideration and terrain management with a little bit of formal rescue added for good measure. This was a 40 hour class so it was tedious but very good. The next training was an interagencey avalanche training in which we got to work with the Alaska State troopers,Chugache National Forrest, State Parks, Alaska Search and Rescue Dogs, and The Nordic Ski Patrol. This was a 15 hour event that involved an elaborate mock avalanche on a massive scale. The idea was to create overwhelming chaos and see if multiple agencies could work together to get the job done. responding to this "emergency" involved a 30 min Snow machine ride to the base of the accident scene then a 300ft climb. With 15 subjects there was quite a bit of chaos. There was single digit temp that day (around 5 degrees) so staying warm was a challenge. Anyway, here are some pics.



hatcher pass



Snow evaluation pit





stairway to heaven



checking out a small slab

INTERAGENCY;



State of Alaska Incident Command Center



the scene





Sate Troopers comming in over the probe line



Helo 1, inbound




well that should do it..

a few more pics

Moose


Marching 3rd platoon



The AMRG "space station"




The dogs on skyline mtn.



s Supercub on Lake hood at sunrise

been a while

Its been a while since I last wrote so here is an update. It was a really good summer. We made a bucket list of things we wanted to do this summer and we got to most of them. Most recently we hiked O'malley for the 2nd time this summer and climbed in Hatcher Pass. Other things we did this summer were;
Camping with Trent and Missy at Kenai Lake for a couple nights, camping in Johnson pass, mountain bike Juno falls, hiking along turnagain arm, a few crescent lake fishing trips in search of graying, Fuller lakes hike/fish, Hiking in Hatchers with the sexton family,Hiking grant lake with the sextons, exploring reed lakes, climbing and repelling along turnagain arm, climbed Flattop, mountain biking in Kincaid park, Longboarding, and all sorts of other fun stuff. Another point of interest in my life is that I have recently joined the AMRG (Alaska Mountain Rescue Group)and am in the lengthy process of training to become an operational member. Training has included Rope rescue fundamentals, river crossing, and some informal backcountry medical training. In the future I am looking forward to becoming fully operational and specializing in Avalanche rescue (go figure). The AMRG works under the Alaska State Troopers and responsible for most rescues that take place in a wilderness setting. you can check them out at http://www.amrg.org/

kayak

This is a kayak I built a few years ago, at 19ft long with a 20in beam this thing is a dart. The Original plans designed the boat with a very small keyhole cockpit. The cockpit was so small that it did not allow a water entry for a paddler unless he entered upside down, rolled back up and bilged the water out. I hacked the original combing out and re cut the cockpit to accommodate my body. This is how it looks now; I will post pictures as I put the new combing on.

airshow

I went to the bi-annual air show today; It is an interesting assortment of people that you get to see at one of those events. Kind of like the state fair but with an announcer yodeling on and on in the background about how much the U.S. kicks ass. (I am amazed more every year at the amount of technology we can produce in the name of kicking ass). I was less impressed this year with the Military Aircraft as I have been. Sure, its cool to see what an unlimited amount of money, power and Jet-A can do but in the end I decided that as impressive as the F-22 is, it’s essentially just an amazing piece of software. If the computers went out on an aircraft like the f-22 the pilot would have to eject. It is simply to much airplane for a human to fly without the millions of corrections from the flight computers. For my money, I enjoyed the Super cub demonstration. That was true flying, man feeling his way through the air, using the seat of his pants to tell him where his airplane is. For me, aviation is about romance, mans love affair with flight. Our desire to leave the surly bonds of earth and dance on laughter silvered wings has haunted us, I’m sure, since we saw the first bird fly over our heads. Ironically, it seems that with all the innovations in avionics, aerodynamic, and thrust, we are creating aircraft that can fly faster and higher than we ever even thought possible. We are leaving our dreams of flight in the clouds below us.

summer fun

here are some pictures of my buddy Trent and I longboarding this weekend.

skis!

Behold, Misty's new skis!

July 4th

We did some camping this holiday weekend, the wife and me. Took our dogs out to nice secluded space on a river away from the tourists and locals alike. Here are a few pics

More pics!

here are some pics from the weekend. We did some hiking in Hatcher Pass, Flat Top Mountain and Misty ran her 5.6 mile run. She is tossing around the idea of a half marathon in August.

just some new pics

hatcher pass last sept



mountain biking



nothing on earth that a fly rod, pipe and your dog cant fix



misty and Malley up in Hatcher pass



me an malley



painting skateboards



Misty up on O'Malley



"avalanche leg"



again, making skateboards



misty up on O'mally

Well, thats all I got for now!

making skateboards

I’m really getting into this longboard thing, which could be a bad thing for this 30 year old.... Hopefully it'll just keep me young. My infectious enthusiasm has also been spread to my other half, Trent, who just bought his own board and is also falling under its spell. As soon as possible I’m hoping he can bring it up to Anchorage so we can cruise together like we did in the good old days. Back in High School (ah… the glory days) we put these Street Luges together and tried to get out every night looking for some patch of steep and paved road to ride down. Soldotna doesn’t have a whole lot of steep paved road so we began migrating farther and farther away, eventually driving all the way into Anchorage (a 3hr drive) in search of that white knuckle ride. Those were pretty good days. We lost interest when we broke our boards doing 60mph down a steep residential area near Anchorage and I never thought I'd do something that stupid again. Alas and hooray,… I have discovered the longboard. A similar device with one major difference, instead of laying down inches from the road and bombing hills at breakneck speeds you get to stand up. The other difference of course is that we are much older and mature which means, I’m not sure what yet but if it yields any significant difference you’ll all be the first to know. In a related story, Misty and I have been making her a longboard so she can cruise the asphalt waves as well. The project has been a lot of fun so far. We have laminated the wood, bent and cut it into the right shape and even put some fiberglass on it. I painted a design of Misty’s choice and we are currently in the market for pink wheels... here are some pics