October 25, 2008

The Pinnacle Loop - Talkeetnas


Kruser and yours truly made the Friendship Pass - Fairangel Lakes Loop around The Pinnacle. We skied from Indenpendence to Goldcord on a COLD morning. Skies were clear and as the sun rose and we climbed, we didn't stay cold for long. About 4" fresh had fallen since last week, and making laps on Microdot, Hatch or some other peak was tempting, but we had a plan.

We were planning to circumnavigate The Pinnacle, shown here in the sunshine.










Goldcord





Microdot in the background.








Friendship Pass enjoyed the morning sunshine, but clouds had rolled in by the time we arrived.
Our beautiful sunshine gave way to a storm and not many pictures beyond Friendship Pass.

Here is Kruser in the Fairangel basin. Fairangel Lakes are surrounded by enormous boulders. There are lots of boulder fields in the Talkeetna Mountains, but the Fairangel boulders are super huge, some like a Mack truck.

We couldn't see and the day was getting short, so we skied to the Archangel Road - found it right at the Firn Mine Gate. Skied the Archangel Road (closed to vehicles, but it had a nice ski track.) Then I hitchhiked back to Independence and Kruser skied down to the MotherLode where I picked him up with the car.

A splendid adventure.

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