Item Ridge

In the past few years I have come to understand that emotions are an essential part of the Christian life. These emotions are not primarily moments of intense religious experience. The emotions that are often described in the Bible are related to sustaining a love for God that is not altered or destroyed by any specific circumstance or experience.

Affections for God arise from understanding something about God and enjoying it. The emotion arises from seeing and responding to a reality. Just as we see a reality and respond with emotions in our relationships with each other, we can see a reality about God and respond with emotion. Feelings of happiness and awe rise out of me as I consider what I understand about God.

Heading back to our camp after attempting to reach Item Peak, I started singing. One way to think about Christians singing is that we are remembering God's word, we responding to God's grace, and we reflecting on God's glory. The song that my emotions produced as I was walking along a snow covered ridge and considering what I know about God was "How Great Thou Art."

Oh Lord, my God, when I in awesome wonder

Consider all the worlds thy hands have made...

...When I look down, from lofty mountain grandeur

I hear the brook and feel the gentle breeze.

Glory!

And when I think that God, His Son not sparing,

Sent him to die, I scarce can take it in.

That on the Cross, my burden gladly bearing,

He bled and died to take away my sin.

Grace!

It was a pleasant trip.

The Alaska Alpine Club puts together weekend trips each spring into the Eastern Alaska Range and the Delta Mountains. A group of us attempted Item Peak last weekend. We drove to Michael Creek along the Richardson Highway Saturday morning and made our way up to "the headwall," where we set up camp.

Skiing up Michael Creek past some open water.

Setting up camp below the headwall.

We decided that the window of mostly sunny skies on the Saturday should be taken advantage of. The original plan was to make camp and attempt to reach the summit the following day but the weather report called for mostly cloudy skies with snow likely on Sunday. We strapped on the crampons and headed up the headwall towards the ridge in the sun.

Looking south towards the head of the Delta River. One of many
rock formations called Devil's Thumb.

Moving upward along the ridge. Photo by Nick.

We came to a bump on the ridge and quickly realized we would not be making it to the top of Item Peak. Another half mile across a saddle and our turn around time 15 minutes away kept us from the top. We stopped at this knob on the ridge and took in the views. 

At our high point (not Item Peak). Photo by Nick.

Item Peak further up the ridge.

Looking north towards the Jarvis Glacier and the slopes of
Mount Silvertip. 

Looking down on ridge we ascended. Our tracks are barely visible
just below the rock line.

Returning to camp. (Photo by Nick)

Grant and Nick moving down.

Crampons are useful at this point.

We were all pleased with the effort, even though we didn't reach the summit. The last stretch back to our camp involved several hundred feet of cramponing down the headwall that was not difficult. So we waited on the ridge above camp and watched the sun go down.

Glory!

The next morning we slept in and returned to the cars. By about noon the clouds had rolled in and snow was falling, which was encouraging as the morning had presented few clouds and I was wondering if we could have made the summit. But had it been a spotless sunny day, we all would have been content. We agreed that the evening before was so enjoyable that it was worth missing the top. 

Then sings my soul my savior God to thee! 

How great Thou art! How great Thou art!

Glory

From "a serious book about being happy in God."

Glory is not easy to define. It is like beauty. How would you define beauty? Some things we have to point at rather than define. But let me try. God's glory is the beauty of His manifold perfections. It can refer to the bright and awesome radiance that sometimes breaks forth in visible manifestations. Or it can refer to the infinite moral excellence of His character. In either case it signifies a reality of infinite greatness and worth. C.S. Lewis helps us with his own effort to point at it:

"Nature never taught me that there exists a God of glory and of infinite majesty. I had to learn that in other ways. But nature gave the word glory a meaning for me. I still do not know where else I could have found one. I do not see how the 'fear' of God could have ever meant to me anything but the lowest prudential efforts to be safe, if I had never seen certain ominous ravines and unapproachable crags."

Beginning up the main couloir on the south side of Panorama Peak.

Resting and enjoying the sun.

Continuing up. Looking south toward the Jack River and Nenana
River confluence.

Denali in the distance. 

At the top of the main couloir with summit above.

The last push to the summit.

Looking east from near the true summit. 

The true summit looking north down the Nenana River valley
toward the Denali National Park entrance.

Working our way back to the summit ridge using a safer route
than our ascent.

Descending the summit ridge.

Descending the couloir.

Western Alaska Range in the distance.

Panorama Peak from the road.

The upper end of the couloir and the summit from the road.

Ah, the spectacular and merciful display of God. A glimpse of the glory of God and the sense of "the fear of the LORD [that] is the beginning of knowledge."

Precious Moments: Oosik Classic

The Oosik weekend was very enjoyable. Here are a few snapshots of the fun.

Ella doing some strange pre-race limbering up exercises. 

"And when we get together, we give the beaver call!
Ah vuh vah vuh vah vuh vah, vah vah vah vuh vah vah. "

Ella giving Julia a congratulatory post-race whack on the
head with ski poles. 

I guess I was sweating a little bit during the race. 

The race and the weekend was very fun.

A Marathon of a Year

The Oosik!

This weekend Joel and I are headed to Talkeetna, AK to race in the Oosik classic 50km ski race. For those of you who aren't familiar with ski races the 50 km distances is considered a "marathon" for skiing.  The Oosik is considered the funnest ski marathon in AK with the best awards ceremony and after party. We'll find out if this is true this weekend. 

As I headed to Freddy's, the store that has everything (groceries included), I thought back on the races that were completed by the Coulter clan and its counterparts (Pierson and Aas') in 2010 and the beginning of 2011. I came to the conclusion that we are a pretty accomplished family in terms of marathon races. Here are some highlights:

February 2010: Mom and Dad  and Melzar ski in the Vasa and or White Pine Stampede either 25 or 50km

Spring 2010: My first ever 50 km, Anchorage AK

September 2010: Julia runs a relay leg of the Equinox Marathon 

October 2010: Anna and Harald kick butt in the Oslo marathon ( the week before getting married and running away together)*

October 2010: Nina runs the Chicago marathon (with a personal record)*

January 2011: Anna skis in a 70km race (I think?)

February 2011: Mom and Dad and Melzar ski in the 25 or 50km white pine and vasa

March 2011: Aurelia skis in the Norwegian Biriki (she's not part of the family, but one of my best friends...)

March 2011: Joel and I race in the Oosik in Talkeetna, AK (hopefully.....)

* Nina and Anna and Harald have run many other races probably half marathons included, but they do so many I can't keep track. 

For my Christmas present Harald signed Joel and I up for the Oosik. Signing each other up for races is becoming a tradition in our family.  Its a great way to make sure we're all staying in shape and it allows for one more reason to travel local and distant destinations. Joel and I have never sent time in Talkeetna, but I hear the views of Denali are spectacular. We are looking forward to partly cloud with temps in the mid 20's to 30's. Sounds like a great place and day to race. 

Thanks for the Christmas present Harald, I'll try to give you some photo updates when we're back in Fairbanks.

40-Mile Fun

The nights were cool and clear and our humble home had everdang sep a heppy tar swang. 

Our pleasant camp site. The Arctic Oven tucked into a nice
patch of spruce.

Recently my friend Greg invited me to come along for a caribou hunting trip. He hoped to complement his freezer full of moose meat with some tasty caribou. After considering a rather complex and slightly dangerous attempt at caribou on the North Slope, he ended up settling on making a go at the 40-Mile herd that is often found along the Steese Highway, at a spot about 100 miles from Fairbanks. I was happy to have the chance to get of doors, see some beautiful country, and get my heart rate up. We were able to do all three. 

We did not go light. The sled I borrowed to haul stuff with weighed about 20 pounds empty. The wonderful Arctic Oven tent and stove weight about 30 pounds. If we wanted to transport all of our stuff, the heart rate was elevated.

Two people camping in the winter requires all sorts of stuff.

We loaded up and headed down a valley that drained into Birch Creek searching for caribou and a campsite. We saw plenty of tracks and trails created by caribou along the way. Greg found a suitable campsite along a smaller drainage that had evidence of caribou. We definitely knew where the caribou had been previously.

We set up camp, chopped some wood, and Greg glassed the hills looking for animals to shoot. The Arctic Oven is a wonderful place to spend -20 nights. It has a windproof outer fly that is buried in the snow and an inner layer that allows water molecules to pass through. In the morning the inner part of the tent was completely dry. Also it has a small wood stove and chimney. Nicest and warmest tent I'll ever sleep in. It was likely near -20 or so at night but I was never uncomfortably cold. The idea that it weighed 30 pounds or so was only not fun for however long it took us to ski in and out of where we set up camp. The rest of the time, the 30 pound tent was awesome.

The next morning, Greg thought we ought to try to go up the small drainage that we were camped on and see if we could get above tree line.

We were heading toward the white part a ways away. 

I ended up getting my butt kicked. I had brought along heavy, wide skis that could stay up on top of snow and climb hills quite well. But going long distances on flat ground was not comfortable for the feet so I was wearing a different pair of skis that were better for flats and hoping that snowshoes could keep me from sinking into the waist deep snow. That approach didn't work. Greg's wide skis allowed him to mostly stay on the surface of the snow but I could not. We ended up struggling upwards through the trees, alders, and deep snow for about an hour and making it about half way between the floor of the valley and above tree line. Then we turned around. My bad.

Admitting defeat and skiing back down the drainage
towards camp. Nice day though.

We returned to camp, started a fire in the stove, cooked up some very good beans and rice for lunch, and warmed up the feet.

The next plan was to stay on the snowmachine trails that we had followed along the main valley and head towards Birch Creek, about 4.5 miles away. We headed out towing two sleds, eventually dropping both along the trail as we tired.

The moon looked neat.

We saw footprints, defecation, and micturition from caribou on the snowmachine trail we were traveling on. There were trails on the hillsides where caribou had climbed in and out of the valley. There was even a spot where eight or nine caribou had bedded down for a while along the trail. But no caribou. We came to where Birch Creek runs into the creek we were following, paused to take in the pleasant views, and started back.

Looking down the valley toward Birch Creek. 

Looking back up the valley towards the trail head.

No caribou. Crud. Well, we definitely had a nice day of skiing. We decided that tomorrow would be the last day. We would briefly take a look around in the morning, pack up, and try to be back to the trail head by 3 or 4 and head home. We were hungry so we ate a lot of food. Sodium soup, mashed potatoes, and chocolate. Also, before we took off on the trip, Julia helped put together some wonderful smash-proof, hand-held, fist-sized, hyphen-requiring balls of food called bierocks. We had three varieties: pizza, apple, and ham and egg. We ate these happily throughout the trip. The breakfast bierocks in the morning were quite a treat. My wife is wonderful. 

The next morning we toured down the valley again, but saw no caribou. 

Greg looking for animals to shoot.

We packed up the camp, hitched ourselves to sleds, endured/enjoyed the unpleasant part of packing heavy, packed up the truck and headed home. 

In general, we saw nothing. We didn't even run across a moose. Oh, well. It was a very successful caribou camp. Heart rate elevated, good conversation, no significant injuries, and a whole lot of soaking up sunlight with a good friend.