Getting Stoked

Gordon, you absolutely must post a trip report, with some photos, of the Lost Creek area, so that the rest of us will know how much post-holing (if any) you had to do. Have some good fun.

First real summer off since 2007, .. stoked.

I have my annual birthday-hike coming up Sunday-Tuesday up here in Anchorage. It's been an exceptionally warm spring, and it was a light snow year here, so I'm skipping the snowshoes for my looping trek from Nearpoint to Ship Valley, up Ship Pass and up up the Ramp, and then back to the TH.

Historically I've done a lot of postholing back there this time of year, but I'm both smarter now (stay high) and I *think* the conditions are on my side.

It was going back there in 2010 by myself, totally unprepared, and postholing for 3 days that both sunburned my eyebrows worse than ever in my life and made me fall in love with hiking despite how miserable I was back there.

My route this time may have 2 fairly steep slopes with some avalanche potential, but those are both east-facing so my hope is that they're clear. If not, well, I'll bring some traction aides and a healthy sense of fear in case things are either slick or seriously treacherous. It's weird, that element of potential danger is one of the things I love most about backcountry hiking. When each action matters, when there's no escape plan but my own feet, when dangers aren't just irksome but salient, when I'm pitting my abilities against the conditions in a fair fight, MAN! I just love it.

Anyhow, yeah, I also am stoked!