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!