Fun in Seward, Alaska!!!

Me attempting to look bad ass, but the Exit Glacier in the background is way burlier

My honey and I on a lovely summer hike in Kenai Fjords NP

The Exit Glacier spilling off the Harding Icefield (the Harding is 30 miles wide by 50 miles long)

Krista and I down on the flats by the Resurrection River

Kenai Mountains, as seen from Lowell Beach, Seward AK

Krista and I at Lowell Beach, Resurrection Bay is behind us

Ryan Audett fly fishing the Russian River for Sockeye's & 'Bows

Where are all the fish?

Snow River Glacier, AK 22 Day Mountaineering Expedition


Peak 4901; Snow River Glacier Area

Me Pondering Going Outside into the Storm

After the 60 Hour Storm that dumped 1+ Feet of Snow

Looking Down Falls Creek Valley on the Approach into Snow River Glacier

Looking Out Into the Maelstrom

Sunset Looking North

Sunset Looking South
Sunset (i.e. Midnite) Overlooking Snow River Glacier

The Helicopter Resupply

"Emergency" Bivuouc (We did it for fun). I put my feet in my pack, sat on a vest and wore all my clothes during the endless Alaskan dusk-dawn


Self Photo During the Night (2AM) Note: I Was Not Warm!

Enjoying A Lovely Morning
Me Being Silly


My Favorite Camp, Overlooking Grant Lake

Room With A View
Mark (my Co-Instructor) and Myself
Recon of the TS Glacier and TS Pass (Top-Center of Photo)

Me Rigged for some Glacier Travel
On the TS Glacier With The Students

Ascending Up To TS Pass

View From Atop Forever Peak

Mark and I on the Summit

Some bushwhacking, fun!!!

Yep, Our Packs Were Big and Heavy

A Sweet Waterfall

And Of Course a Stream Crossing

Vantage Rock Climbing

If the weather sucks on the West side, you can usually find good weather on the East side, so Krista and I decided to take a trip over to Vantage (aka Frenchman's Coulee). We met our friend Travis at Vantage on Tuesday evening. Travis works for Outward Bound as an instructor. I hadn't climbed since last October, so I was a little rusty. The Feathers are the perfect place to scrape off the rust and do some short sport routes.
With sport routes ranging from 5.1 to 5.11, one can climb multiple routes in a short amount of time. Usually the Feathers (pictured above) is extremely crowded, with every route occupied. Travis, Krista and I climbed here for two and a half days with seeing only one other party.

Getting ready for the first route...hmm where are those quickdraws

Krista climbing on day one at the Feathers


Me leading a 5.4, notice the graffiti on the rock, not so cool :(

Travis stylin' it

Travis leading 'Don Coyote', an excellent 5.8 route and one of my favorites at the Feathers

Me leading 'Don Coyote', this climb never gets old for me

Me following a 5.9 that Travis led. We were both seriously pumped doing this climb.

Krista following our first route of the day on Day Two

Me leading Skipem' or Clip Em', shortly before I conceded my lead

Travis leading Vantage Point at the Sunshine Wall

Me following Vantage Point

So, who knows how maple syrup is made? I sure didn't know before I came out to Vermont- Maple Syrup Capitol USA. Prior to living in VT I had always used fake syrup on my pancakes, waffles, etc. Sometimes maybe I splurged on a $6 glass bottle of mass produced syrup made in Canada somewhere. Most syrup you buy at the store isn't even syrup, its just high fructose sugar that looks like something resembling syrup. The higher end stuff in the glass bottles is real maple syrup, but is what is considered "Fancy Grade". Over the months I have learned a bit about how maple syrup is actually made. I've also enjoyed real maple syrup, made by my fiancee's cousin Chuck. Let me say that I will NEVER use anything other than pure Vermont maple syrup anymore. Yesterday I had the chance to visit Chuck's sugar house and see the process of producing maple syrup.

Chuck's Sugar House. Notice the steam spilling out the top.

Chuck stoking the fire. Sap is boiled in a large pan above a raging fire. It takes about 40 gallons of sap to make one gallon of syrup. The sap is boiled for a period of time until enough of the water content is removed and the sap reaches the proper density.

Me holding maple syrup samples. Starting on the left is Fancy Grade. In the beginning of the season the syrup that is made is usually Fancy and progresses through the season to Grade B Dark. From left to right: Fancy, Light Grade A Amber, Medium Grade A Amber, Dark Grade A Amber, Grade B (cooking syrup). Most people enjoy Fancy or light Grade A. These are sweeter, grade B is darker and is an acquired taste, most Vermonters prefer Grade B.

The pan that the sap is boiled in

Syrup being poured into filters. This syrup will be filtered once more before it is bottled.

This is where all the sap lines converge. You can't tell in this photo, but sap is pouring out of the tubes and draining into a huge (500 gallon) tank. This little window is used to see at what rate the sap is flowing.

Me (looking a bit silly) drinking sap. Maple sap looks and tastes just like water. I always imagined the sap to be viscuous and amber colored, but nope.

Sap lines. The trees are tapped with a plastic spout, which is connected to a piece of tubing. This tubing then connects with larger diameter tubing which runs all the way to the sugar house. Chuck tapped about 1400 trees this year.

Another photo showing the sugar house with the sap lines connecting into the tank. The large black tube is connected to a large vacuum, which helps pull the sap to the tank. The sap is then connected to another tank (located on the right, near the building).

I found all this to be very interesting. I never really knew how maple syrup was made so it was cool to see the process first hand. This morning I went out with Chuck and we checked a bunch of the sap lines for leaks. Squirrels like to knaw on the lines and sometimes the taps crack open, which affects the pull of the vacuum. So we fixed a bunch of the lines and he taught me a lot about sugaring (the technical term for the process of making maple syrup).