Penguin Ridge (16 miles; 10,000 vertical feet)

We did this in mid-September, which turned out to be a nice time, with no snow. I've read other reports saying springtime is the best time, and I'd love to see if that's correct. I personally imagine that the snow would make me feel a lot less stable on the knife-edge ridges. I knew I was in for sketchy areas on this traverse, but there were definitely a few sections that could end badly if you happened to slip. While the ridge generally gets easier the farther from Penguin Peak you get (if you're heading toward Girdwood, which is what I'd prefer, since you get the hardest part out of the way), the most challenging section for me was downclimbing a very steep section that ended on a knife-edge ridge, just about halfway from both trailheads. It came out of nowhere, and I didn't expect it. In hindsight, this whole ridge was just fine, and I'd do it late in the summer again, for sure. But don't forget: it's LONG. It took us 14 hours, and I felt we were going at a comfortably fast pace. 12 hours would be the fastest you could expect, walking. 

I have heard a lot of not-so-inviting stories about this ridgeline. My friend James made a meetup run for it back in 2014, expecting a 7 hour journey over the 10,000 vertical feet. It ended up taking the 3 people that participated 12 hours. Almost everyone I know ends up running out of water up on the ridge, as there is no water, whatsoever, except for a lake near Gentoo Peak on the Girdwood side. However, to get to it, you must drop several hundred feet and go perhaps 1 mile roundtrip out of the way, which is a lot when you're pressed on time and wanting to get back. One friend a few years ago took her pack off near the sketchiest part of the ridge, Penguin Peak, and it rolled nearly all the way to the lake 2,000 feet below.

I made sure we would be prepared. There were 5 of us that came, and I brought 1.5 gallons (I actually ended the hike with about 2 liters to spare! What a waste!). Sarah and I staged a car on the beginning of the California Creek Trail in the morning, and met up with the others at the Bird Creek Trail. 

From the Bird Creek Trailhead, follow for about 1 mile, until you see a trail marker for Penguin Peak Trail that takes off on the right. Be aware: this area has the highest number of bear maulings of any area in Alaska. The Penguin Peak trail weaves through dense Alders as you follow the gully to the top of the ridge. There's no best way up to Penguin Peak, but I prefer to get up on the ridge as soon as possible. Once on the ridge, simply stay as close to Turnagain Arm as you can, unless that involves falling off a cliff face. We got fogged in the Girdwood half of the peak, and ended up unintentionally losing our bearings up on Emporer Peak, which is slightly out of the way. I had to get the GPS out to figure out where exactly we were. 

It does get confusing around Gentoo Peak. You can either go up and over Gentoo, and drop down a very steep gully, which definitely has slippery tundra and dirt, or you can bypass Gentoo Peak, which is what we did, and side-sloped down to intersect the gully from below. Either way is quite a steep descent. When looking at aerial imagery: aim for the triangular shaped open meadow. It is waist-deep with ferns/parsnip/grasses, but if it's late in the season, someone will have stomped down a trail up to the gully. On the far downward side of the open meadow, there is a well-established trail. 

Once you've found the trail, be prepared for mud. Ankle-deep mud. There are numerous trail options down, but I've learned that all lead to the same area. Just keep aiming downstream, and you'll intersect the Crow Creek Road at the intersection of California Creek. 

This adventure took us 14 hours. When we had about 12 hours of light. We started in the dark, and ended in the dark. Plan on a long day! 

The more dangerous sections have arrows pointing to them

Skookum Glacier

It's approximately 5 miles from the Placer Creek boatlaunch parking lot, and I'm surprised more people don't up up here! Yes, it requires a big chunk of the winter for the river to freeze up nice and solid, and biking is very difficult in an area that typically gets dumped on several times a week all winter. But even with high winds, skiing to Skookum Glacier seems to always have plenty of powder. 

In early 2017, the area managed to go almost an entire month without getting snow, so everything was packed down by snowmachines, and fat bikes, so the biking was actually very easy to both Skookum and Spencer Glaciers. 

From the Placer Creek Trailhead, head up Placer Creek until the creek gets within 50 feet of a railroad bridge. The underpass under the railroad is about 7 feet tall, and this is typically the easiest route to get to Skookum. But there is also a shorter route through a field, about a mile closer to the trailhead, that may or may not be packed down by the time you head up there. 

As I got up there, there were several snowmachines that were sledding down the glacier from up above, apparently doing some tour skiing. 

Spencer Glacier Fat Biking

There was a period of roughly a month where there was no new snowfall at all in the Placer Creek Valley. Which is something that doesn't happen very often! The snowmachines packed the river trail down very well, and the bike ride out to Spencer Glacier was soooo easy! The entire thing could have been done in 3 hours roundtrip, if we hadn't stopped at the ice to look around. 

From the Placer Creek bridge trailhead, you simply follow the snowmachine tracks up the river. This likely requires a January or later time period, as there tend to be open hazards along the creek early on in the winter. Follow the Placer Creek up 10 miles to where it goes under the large railroad bridge, and keep following up until Spencer Glacier! 

If there's a lot of snow, skiing should be fine. There were lots of windy days, and I had figured the area would be scoured and full of sastrugi, but the trail was packed, and the snow on the side was soft and plentiful. 

It's worth noting: the glacier calves directly into the lake. Meaning, the iceburgs at the front of the glacier are suspended entirely by ice that may only be 2-3 feet thick. They could shift at any moment, so ask yourself if the risk is worth the spelunking experience! 

In just the last 2 years, the glacier has receded a solid 200 feet. Where there used to be 60 foot tall blocks of ice, there is bare ground on the sides. It's so bizarre to see. 

Arctic to Indian Ski Traverse

I had dropped down to Ship Creek several times before, so I knew what I was getting myself into. What really surprised me about this ski traverse was how difficult the seemingly FLAT half of the 23 mile traverse was! I can't even imagine how difficult it would be for the first people of the season to venture out and find/create the trail for the season. It weaved in and out of the woods, as a surprising amount of Ship Creek, even after an especially cold winter, was still open water. 

The downhill portions, from the Arctic Valley Trailhead (about a mile before the ski area) down to Ship Creek, and from the top of Indian Pass to Indian, were more difficult than I had imagined as well. The areas under the trees were icy, and the trail had steep sections followed by abrupt turns, which made for a mentally exhausting trip. Laura stopped about halfway down saying she needed a "mental sanity break". 

However, this is going full-speed. We finished in 7.5 hours, and were going at a solid clip on the uphills. I've known many people that have done this traverse that are not very good on skis, and they simply took their skis off whenever they felt uncomfortable. They finished in the 10-11 hour timeframe. 

After skiing 3 miles from the Arctic Valley Trailhead, this is where the trail meets Ship Creek for the first time. If this section of creek isn't frozen, there is another trail that shoots to the left at this exact location that you can follow for another 2-3 miles. 

There is a lot of open water, and sections that are a little interesting to get around

This is the only steep uphill section of the entire traverse, approximately 3 miles before the top of the pass. 

The one single sign showing that we're on the route we want to be on!

Looking back at Ship Creek Valley from the top of Indian Pass

Dropping down into Indian. While we were going fast, this section seemed to take a lot longer than I'd have imagined, and was mentally exhausting! 

Knik Glacier Skiing

Late January. Every post I could find was full of people that have only biked out to Knik Glacier in March, and yet I wasn't sure why it's not possible to do in the middle of winter. From Hunter Creek, it's only about 10 miles one-way, and thus if you start just as the sky is getting light, you should be able to get back before total dark. 

We unsucessfully attempted to bike out to Knik Glacier via Jim Creek Trailhead in early January. The original plan was to go in from Hunter Creek, but my friend had noted that they had attempted to bike in the day before, and the Knik River was still open water. So we started on the Jim Creek side. The temperature hit a high of -6F, and we made it 16 miles in, and were only 2 miles away from the glacier, but we were too cold even to have the energy to eat, and it was 2:30pm, so it was time to head back. 

We parked in a large pullout just a hundred feet beyond the Hunter Creek bridge. The ice climbing groups use this pullout as well, to hike a few miles up Hunter Creek to a waterfall. We put our skis on right as the sun was hitting the tips of the peaks across the valley. It was pretty straightforward finding the way out of the valley. 

Once in the Knik River valley, the river channel itself was very frozen, but we've had an abnormally cold winter, and I'm not sure how this compares to other years. I know from aerial imagery if you follow the Knik River up to where it is pinched against the cliff faces, and you're forced to cross, the river is iced over in that location well into April. But when it first begins to ice over is a question I still have, and something I'll have to explore in future years. 

We crossed Knik River near a large open area, and that river was flowing deep and fast! I was surprised how fast it was moving. I brought rope just in case, but there were snowmachines that had crossed in the same location a few days earlier so I was letting that give me a (false?) sense of security that everything would hold. 

It's a straight-shot of skiing up to the glacier from there, though as I learned from my friend who went out on his fat bike a week later, this area changes quickly! There was absolutely ZERO snow left on the ground, due to a large wind event. There was lots of ice and overflow, and skis were out of the question. Only biking and walking would be options. 

We spent a solid 1.5 hours exploring the glacier, and made it back to the cars 9.5 hours after we began, right at the end of nautical twilight, and about the point where we would need a headlight to go further. 

Heading down Hunter Creek 

A stream feeding into Hunter Creek

There were a few areas of open water where we had to find a way around

It's a snowmachine highway! Someone definitely trims the vegetation here; though it's in such a boggy area I'm sure it's only for snowmachine use, and not ATV's in the summer. I have heard that someone in the past used to groom this area for skiing? 

An arm of Knik River we crossed

This is the main channel across the Knik River. It is about 0.4 miles across, and there was some FAST moving water in an open area nearby. However, snowmachine tracks gave us a little more confidence that the ice would hold. 

Looking across the valley at the Jim Creek side

Looking back at the glacier, and Gorgemeister (center right)

There's a small hill you must ski up and drop down to get to the lake

The descent onto the lake

Looking out toward Lake George

Heading back, with Pioneer Peak in the distance