Finally Alive on Silvertip

The day we went after getting to the top of Silvertip, we left camp at about 6:30 AM and tumbled into the truck at about 11:00 PM. After singing "How Great Thou Art" a few times, I had some time to sing a different song. "Finally Alive" came out.

But I'm Finally Alive 

I've been made new

I'm satisfied in You

And these dead bones live

And this new heart beats

For You

The song is about the new birth. The wonderful work of God where He acts and people who reject Him are changed. Instead of ignoring or even hating God, becoming "finally alive" causes a person to embrace God as their most precious treasure. But my mind drifted. I wanted to think about how I was finally alive and running around Alaska after being perpetually exhausted by a dysfunctional brain and a lazy metabolism. That was easier to think about and easier to see. But that wasn't all that the song was pointing to.

Max and Hank above the Jarvis Glacier.

I joined an experienced group of climbers on a trip to make an attempt on Mount Silvertip. We got a good view of it on our trip along the ridge leading to Item Peak two weeks earlier. This tremendous panorama was stitched together by one of the members of that trip.

Silvertip panorama by Galen. Item Peak on the right.

Disclaimer: This trip report was written by a former flatlander who gets to explore mountains after growing up on a farm in the Midwest. The most exciting geological features in the Midwest are drumlins left after the most recent period of glacial advance. I had heard of drumlins but never actually observed one since they were only really noticeable from the air. Alaska is very different. Please pardon my excitement.

At 9,400 feet, Mount Silvertip is not even in the top 100 tallest peaks in Alaska. That's OK. It is plenty tall and the third trip of the spring up Michael Creek proved to be the most spectacular.

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We headed up the creek. There was a bit of sun and this time we had a group ahead of us breaking trail. Jeremy had two of his buddies along and he was not going to allow Item Peak to beat him twice. This was very helpful. In the time it took us to barely get out of the valley last week, we had made it to our campsite near the headwall.

Up Michael Creek on another beautiful day.

We got a couple good looks at a group of dall sheep. They got some good looks at us.

Impressive animals.

Photo by Max.

Good day, easy traveling. Photo by Hank.

Ahhh. Skin track already in place. 

View from our campsite. Track out to the loo on the right. The
john offered a pretty nice view.

Max and Hank scouted a route to the top of the headwall and decreased the amount of trail breaking we would need to do in the morning while Steve and I stayed at camp and melted snow. They enjoyed a low visibility but pleasant ski off the headwall back to camp. We decided to wake up around 4 AM, prepare breakfast and water, and be heading up the headwall around 6 AM.

Evening time.

Then the fun began.

Thanks to the trail breaking from the guys the night before, getting over the headwall from camp was not difficult. We got our first look at where we were heading.

Objective!

On the headwall looking towards Item Peak and the zone
of accumulation of the Jarvis Glacier.

There was a pretty steep spot just getting off the headwall so we took off our skis and strapped them to our packs. I was very pleased about this. Unless we are on a flat or going up, I dislike having my skis on my feet. Previously I had read something about skiing in mountaineering boots and spiral fractures. Also the bindings that I am using have never released on any fall that I have taken (and there have been many). Maybe I should check that out.

Deciding to boot down the headwall onto the Jarvis. Photo by Max.

Hank descending the headwall onto the Jarvis. Windy on Item. 

After a few minutes, it made sense to put skis on again. I was not excited. For a while I just stood there while the other guys were changing back to skis from crampons. Then Max, the leader, said something to the effect of, "Let's go Joel. We've got to make these transitions quickly." This was no place to be a wuss, that was certain. Mental breakthrough. Quick transition from, "Well, I bet we could get there" to "Let's get there." Thanks Max.

Time to go back to skis. Photo by Max.

So we skied down. I only fell 14 times even though I going very slowly and I had the stance of a four-year-old girl.

Hank gracefully skiing down to the Jarvis. Photo by Max.

Once off the headwall, we roped up for safety to cross the Jarvis Glacier.

This part was for safety. Photo by Max.

Crossing the Jarvis Glacier was cool. An hour-and-a-half of plodding along surrounded by peaks and ridges on a smooth glacier. I'd do it again.

We made our way to the slopes of Silvertip, unroped, and started up. We kept our skis on due to the unusual amounts of snow on the route. Max and Hank stopped and dug a snow pit and conducted a Rutschblock test to see if there were any significant avalanche dangers. Most of the layers of snow were stable and even the unstable layers were pretty reliable so we headed up the snow slope.

This activity was for safety.

I broke trail for a while as the other two guys testing. They soon caught up to me and took over breaking trail through the loose snow.

Plenty of up.

Selecting an appropriate route.

Around 8:00 AM that morning we had established a 1:30 PM turnaround time. This was B.S. We planned to turn around at 2:00 PM. As we climbed and got a good look at the weather, we decided if we didn't get to the top from where we were in less than 2 or 3 hours we were wusses and we didn't deserve to get to the top. That was at about 12:30 PM. All of this disregard for the turn around time was possible because of absolutely spotless weather.

My breathe was taken away more than once.

Looking west back toward the headwall from the slopes of Silvertip.

Hank breaking trail.

Above Jarvis Glacier.

We started to get views that made us point and gawk.

Looking west towards the big mountains in the Eastern Alaska Range.

Black Rapids Glacier working its way 25 miles along the Denali Fault.

Looking west towards Mt. Moffit and the rest of the Eastern Alaska Range.
Photo by Max.

We eventually found windblown snow that would allow us to take off our skis and enjoy the bite of a crampon.

Just below the two smallish rock bands is where we dumped our skis in
favor of crampons.

Hank and I heading across the snowfield. Photo by Max. 

Looking west some more.

Eventually we made it above Item Peak.

Looking southwest towards Item Peak.

We worked our way around small rock ledges and past gullies leading down to the arms of the Jarvis Glacier that descend off the south and west flanks of Silvertip.

Another look at the headwall we had ascended and descended
earlier in the morning. 

Max and Hank coming up.

It was cloudless in every direction so we had spectacular views of the Delta Range east of the Richardson Highway as well. 

Black Cap on the left and White Princess on the right.

Eventually the Castner Glacier came into view. The main body of the Castner flows from left to right behind the ridge in the photo below. The visible glacier is the M'Ladies Branch of the Castner flowing north. This was another beautiful place to camp last year.

White Princess on the left and Triangle Peak on the right.

Working on some V1 technique. Photo by Max.

One bit of rock climbing made my heart pound but there were no falls. 

That was exciting. Photo by Max.

The last bit of trail breaking until the windblown ridge to the top.
Photo by Max.

Looking south, nearing the final ridge to the summit of Silvertip.

Soaking up the views from the ridge. Summit on the left. Photo by Max.

We are going up there. Photo by Max.

More cramponing. False summit just visible. Photo by Max.

Easy slopes for the push to the summit. Time for singing.

I was dead and depraved and I loved my sin 

I was lifeless in the grave of hopelessness

But I'm Finally Alive

I've been made new

I'm satisfied in You

And these dead bones live

And this new heart beats

For You

You, in Your loving kindness healed my blindness and let me see.

Now I can see and savor, enjoy forever Your majesty!

I was certainly enjoying God's majesty in the context of what He has created. The day was so beautiful that we hardly thought about a turnaround time. We could see 100 miles in every direction and the nearest wisps of clouds were completely friendly looking. It was a great day in the Deltas.

It was so easy to compare the lyrics of the song to my body feeling broken and nearly dead but then a bit of medication giving me new energy and making me feel alive again. I could have had a seizure driving a car or floating a river or any other precarious spot and been quite literally dead. Now I feel alive enough to attempt Mount Silvertip. But that wasn't what the song was referring to.

And then we were at the top.

Summit high five! Nothing to it! Photo by Max. 

We reached the top just after 3 PM and soaked in the views in every direction.

The view to the northwest. The Delta River and Donnelly Dome below.
Photo by Max.

Looking northeast. Mount Hajdukovich in the distance.

Tak for the summit snack Anna. Tak for turen too. Tak you.
Photo by Max.

Summit photo. Photo by Hank's Camera.

After about 20 minutes enjoying the top, it was time to dismount. In general we were laughing and smiling the entire way down.

From the summit to the false summit, looking south. Photo by Max

A good view of the Silvertip (foreground) and M'Ladies branches of the
Castner Glacier. White Princess on the left. Photo by Max.

Enjoying the descent, looking west towards the Delta River. The
glacier descending the western slopes of Silvertip is ahead. Photo by Max.

Working around the rocks. Tracks from the ascent visible below.
Photo by Max.

We returned to our skis. I started to get nervous. This is not a place to get a leg twisted up underneath me nor is it a good place to hit any kind of rock. Max and Hank were excited for a ski descent of the lower slopes of Silvertip.

Hank is a good skier.

Photo by Max. 

Max is also a good skier.

I am not a good skier.

Scouting out where to carve my turns*.
*Fall and then point the other direction.
Photo by Max.

"Ha! He's moving again! Watch!" Photo by Max.

Try to distinguish my tracks from the tracks of the skilled skiers.
Photo by Max. 

Catching up to the rest of the party and enjoying the gentle slopes
of the Jarvis. Photo by Max.

Tackling the headwall again. Photo by Max.

After following our tracks back up the headwall from our descent earlier in the day, we eventually ran into some slopes that had become loaded with snow by the wind throughout the day and increased the opportunity for avalanches. This put the crampons back on our feet and we followed a windblown rock band with no unstable snow back up to the top of the headwall.

Camp in view. Fatigue beginning to set in. Photo by Max.

Our camp was in sight and we charged down to pack up and head out the canyon. 

Our tents are tucked into the snow on the bump in the lower left.
Photo by Max.

Ha! Last steep slope to the camp. Photo by Max.

We reached the camp a little after 8 PM. Fourteen hours of go. But there was plenty to do before we could head home. We packed up camp, filled water bottles, and started down the valley into the canyon as twilight settled in. 

Just a few more hours to the car. Photo by Max.

We reached the car and happily piled in for the drive home just after 11 PM.

It was a good day.

Accomplished objective. Photo by Max.

I was feeling very much alive. But after the trip I wanted to go back to the sermon that had helped me make sense of the dysfunction of my brain. I landed on this excerpt.

Why did God subject the natural order to such horrific realities when nature did nothing wrong?...Why is the earth bursting with volcanoes and earthquakes?... What's the deal with this universal subjection to corruption when one man and one women sin one time and the whole natural order goes wrong? Disorder everywhere in the most horrible ways that most of us are protected from most of the time. What a kaleidoscope of suffering in this world. Century after century. 

Here is my answer. I don't know any other answer biblically. God put the natural world under a curse so that physical horrors would become vivid pictures of the horror of moral evil. That's it. I don't know any other reason. 

Cancer, tuberculosis, malformations, floods, car accidents happen so that we would get some dim idea of the outrage of moral evil flowing from our hearts. Why did he do it that way? Ask yourself just an honest question. How intensely outraged over your belittling of God compared to the engagement of your emotion when your child is hurt, or your leg is cut off, or you lose your job, or some physical thing happens? Everything in you rises, "NO!" How often does your heart say "NO!" with the same emotional engagement at your own sin? Not very often. Not very often.

Therefore what God is doing is saying, "Alright. I know that about fallen man. I will display the horror of his sin in a way that he can feel." That is why Jesus, when the tower fell on the 18, said simply, "Unless you repent you will all likewise perish." [Luke 13.1-5] What was that? The point of the falling of the tower and killing 18 people was your moral evil. That was the point. 

All physical evil has one point: Sin is like that [!] morally and we don't have the wherewithal to feel it appropriately therefore we're going to get some help from the physical order. That's the point of the world we live in. It's pointing to the horror of moral evil. Oh that we would see how repugnant and offensive and abominable it is to prefer anything to God. We do it every day almost. I do. 

Adam and Eve brought the universe into this present condition by preferring their own way and fruit to God. All the physical evil in the universe is not as bad as that one act of treason. All of it summed up for all the centuries that exists is not as bad as that.

You can see how this history, if that's true, this history that we live in, these millennia of pain, this conveyor belt of corpses, is all about the magnitude of that sin which is all about magnifying the worth of the One who screamed so we wouldn't have to bear it. It's all about Christ. Cancer is about Christ. Tsunamis are about Christ...

Why was the song so easy to think about in the context of my own health? Because God, in His mercy, allowed me to see the weight of my sin as I reflected on epilepsy and my newfound energy. He allowed me to see, just a little bit more clearly, the magnitude of the spiritual reality of sin.

I was dead and depraved and I loved my sin

I was lifeless in the grave of hopelessness

But it does not end there! I am finally alive! My body has been "made new" and I feel well enough to explore places I only dreamed about. And so it is with my standing with God. God did not design the physical evil of the world to draw attention to moral evil just so He can tell us that we are morally evil. There is Gospel!

"For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God." 2 Corinthians 5:21

But I'm Finally Alive

I've been made new

I'm satisfied in You

And these dead bones live

And this new heart beats

For You

The great "making new" that God accomplishes through Christ is the apex of history. The present physical condition of the world is providing a picture of the present moral condition of the people in the world and it is horrendous. We boast in Christ's physical suffering on the cross because a great and infinitely beautiful God sent His Son, who embodied everything that God is, to bear wrath that our sin deserves. And if we would believe in Jesus we would be finally alive.

Oh, that we would see the beauty of being finally alive and the beauty of the One who has accomplished everything to make it so.