Walking in Wrangell St Elias, Alaska

Words and Pictures by Clare White

March 22^nd, 2020

To me, the photos of Alaska seemed a world away from the familiar sights of the UK mountains; glaciers that stretch for miles straight from the highway, mountains so numerous many have no names other than their spot heights.

Guidebooks described mountaineering expeditions needing weeks longer than we had time for, but there was plenty of hillwalking we could fit into a two-week trip. After a week of day walks around Anchorage and Kenai Peninsula, the second half would be a multi-day backcountry trip.

Alaska itself is huge and rather than the more popular destination of Denali we settled on Wrangell St Elias National Park, itself bigger than Switzerland. Information was limited but Phil did some fantastic research on what is not a widely published area. Mapping is another issue - the National Geographic map covers the whole park so has very little detail. The area has been surveyed but no paper maps are produced; thankfully the entire US is available online and after some sizing adjustment can be printed at home. Some of the most up-to-date maps are from the 1950s but something is better than nothing and we were aware things may have changed, especially in glaciated areas. Armed with this we decided on a five day explore of the Kennicott, Gates and Root Glaciers.

After stopping off at the Wrangell St Elias NP Rangers’ office to pick up our bear barrel, later referred to as ‘the bastard’, our starting point was McCarthy, a small village 60 miles along a dirt road on which rental cars are banned. This trip itself is popular with day trippers wanting to see the Kennicott Mines, a wealthy coppermine back in its heyday, and a National Historic Landmark, although McCarthy itself is no more than a single street and a cluster of houses. From there we had a short backcountry flight booked to our drop-off alongside the Kennicott Glacier; only a 20 minute flight would have been a two-day walk if we needed to get back in hurry.

Bear spray strapped to the wings we trundled down the gravel strip and took off low over the glacier, our pilot pointing out the best routes along the ice before a long chat about the state of UK-American politics. And then we were standing on the moraine of the Kennicott Glacier - just us and our bags.

Walking north to our first intended camp spot it would have been easy to forget we were alongside the glacier as the towering lateral moraine blocked the view and kept us from the cold. Stopping to filter water we were surprised to see some tents above us; they were a student ecology group towards the end of a long research trip with a rather weary lecturer. He certainly seemed to enjoy some human contact that wasn't his students! From there we continued north until finding a suitable spot to stop and pitch. The afternoon’s cloud lifted as we cooked, opening up views along the glacier and giving us an incredible backdrop to dinner. Plan A for the following day had been the rocky ridge opposite but looking thought the binoculars this looked more technical then our research suggested and alternative plans made before bed.

With a damp cloudy start we explored further north along the moraine towards the Kennicott Icefall. The mountains above us resembled the Black Cuillin with small glaciers filling the hanging corries. Sheltering under the tarp during a 30 minute downpour allowed us to collect enoughrain water to avoid filtering from the glacier. After retracing our steps back to the tent the weather had started to clear, our next camp spot was across the glacier and below a mountain called Goat Hair Ridge. The main difficulty was finding somewhere to cross the huge lateral moraine, easily three stories high - thus was the start of ‘the rising scree traverse’; we stayed along the crest until finding our only option to drop down, although the earlier downpour has turned this into sliding silt and I inevitably sat down.

Lightweight crampons and poles made a change from the normal as the dry glaciers meant we avoided roping up. Some glacial streams and loose boulders required care and most crevasses were easier avoided with a short diversion, some required a large detour but after zigzagging our way across we reached the far moraine. Another ‘rising scree traverse’ to get above the ice gave us a distinctly warmer camp spot despite the protests of the local ground squirrels. This small flattening gave us a fantastic vantage point over the glacier below, the Chugach Mountains ahead and Mount Blackburn, the fifth highest US peak (16,390ft/4996m), to the north. We enjoyed the last of the evenings sun with Pad Thai.

The previous evening’s zigzagging round crevasses had made for a longer day than we had anticipated and we woke up tired. Eventually I was tempted to look outside and, greeted by blue skies, our motivation improved! After another scree climb we’d risen above the glacier enough to reach the grass slopes of Goat Hair Ridge. We stashed our bags and followed the narrow ridge separating the Kennicott and Gates Glaciers; it was now a warm day and with a plan for our next camp site we didn't go to the true summit but stopped to take in the views of the Gates and check out the next section of glacier.

After retrieving our bags and a brief lunch stop we stepped out onto the ‘Kennicott Highway’, a pristine five miles of uninterrupted glacier walking. The sun was shining, the views were huge, the ice was crunchy and not a single crevasse to dodge - spectacular! Our pilot had given us instructions to our next destination - ‘Step off the highway after Hidden Creek Lake but before The Knoll’. Stepping off the ice onto the moraine we seemed to cross into another world. In contrast to the ice and rock of previous days Donoho Lakes gave a complete change of scenery with lush vegetation.

There was definite bear activity around the lakes with plenty of berry-filled bear scat and paw prints including those of a club; needless to say it wasn't a night of good sleep. I was kept awake by an unrecognisable animal noise, I wasn't convinced it was a bear but after seeing the club prints earlier in the day I was still paranoid.

Phil would have slept soundly if I hadn't woken him every hour to tell him about the unknown animal cry! It turned out to be a lynx…

But despite the disturbed sleep it was a spectacular location to wake up.

Our next day started, and finished, with bushwhacking. The UK may have tussocks, peat hags, bogs and puddles but at least we don't have alder thickets. Whacking though alder I managed to poke myself in the eye, set off my air horn, cut my leg and catch my camp mat all at the same time, and still have the scar six months later. Across the alder were the screes of Donoho Peak. We had actually found a national park description pretty much stating ‘go up the screes’. It really was straight up and it was really washed-out scree.

Being nearer to civilisation we met a guided group who proceeded to overtake and knock as many rocks as possible onto us. We reached the summit saddle and, fed up of rocks coming down onto our heads, decided to turn round to avoid an injury and found a much kinder grassy descent - if we’d found this on the way up it would have been much more pleasant! From here we could see from our first camp spot towards the Kennicott Icefall all the way down to the terminal moraine, as well as the joining Gates and Root Glaciers.

We descended to the lakes in good time and picked up the ‘bear trail’ to our intended camp at the south lake until the trail disappeared… into the lake.

All the surrounding flat areas were also submerged and so began more bushwhacking to reach the Root Glacier. The Root was certainly the easiest glacier to navigate and we were able to see the Glacier Trailhead we were aiming for. The Stairway Icefall gave impressive views, itself a mile high let alone the mountains beyond.

Arriving at the trailhead campground in early evening it was rather full and we were pleased to see the ecology group had arrived here too. We continued on towards Kennicott convinced there was another campground; this was an error on my part as there was none to be found! Luckily as we set off towards McCarthy so did the local guides heading to the bar, they gave us lift in the ‘Beer Bus’ and directions to the best place to camp outside of town. Despite being closer to the road we had the place to ourselves, the only sound being occasional rocks splashing into the glacial pools where the Kennicott ended its journey. Not only was this the end of the glacier it was also the end of our trip, and with our campsite covered in autumn leaves the end of summer also.

EAT, SLEEP, HIKE, CLIMB -
TRAVEL TALES

If you enjoyed this article, tune in for our live event on Wednesday 25th of March when Clare will be talking about this and other adventures of other amazing places around the world, sharing more pictures and stories.