Chickaloon Climbing Trip, Labor Day

We again took advantage of a long weekend to make a trip south, this time to go climbing at a place called Chickaloon, about 90 miles north of Anchorage on the Glen Highway. Tom was paving in Denali, so I picked him up on the way through on Thursday night. We got in late and ended up sleeping in a pull-out right under the crag. 18 wheeler diesels are loud.

A great field of boulders lies 2 minutes off the road, halfway to the crag (Weiner Lake aka Wookie Wall). After a quick tour of the best bouldering lines we rolled up to the crag. As we finished a short warm up we were joined by a few locals, including main developer Paul Turecki. We spent a chilled-out afternoon up there climbing and chatting with those guys. Tom had two routes in mind from a previous trip, and wasn't about to let sleep deprivation and weeks of non-stop paving slow him down. After a couple red bulls and a mid afternoon under-the-route nap he sent 'Illuminati 5.13a' fourth shot. I spent some time working out the bottom of the "must-do local classic" next to it, and we called it good, retiring to the free camping spot on the river behind the real slice of Americana that is the Chickaloon bar.

Lisa and Lalida got in about midnight. It had already started raining and didn't let up until about midday Saturday. By that time we'd rolled down to the greasy spoon in Jonestown for a real breakfast of king-sized pancakes, hashbrowns and eggs. The overhanging headwall protected many of the Weiner Lake routes and we spent the afternoon climbing. Late in the evening I went to my happy place after fighting to onsight a superb 100 ft 5.11 (22/23).

Camping on the river, Tom, Rob and Lupin, Lalida and Lise; view from Purinton Creek crag; Tom up at the Wookie Wall; Lalida at Purinton.

On Saturday night we had a few beers and a late pasta dinner with local climber, all around good guy and Tom's friend, Carl, and road-tripping Rob and his beautiful Siberian Husky 'Lupin' on their way home to Canada after a summer of fishing off the Kenai. Sunday morning we all climbed a mile up the road at Purinton Creek. Tom and I took off back to Weiner and Lalida gave Lise some crack-climbing coaching. They rocked back to Weiner in time to hear me screaming my way up my project - pAAH!! Tom put on the real show though, when he sent the local 5.13c (30) test piece, second day. Very impressive. The ladies drove home early Monday, and I managed to link up 'Breaking the Chains' 5.12b second go, which Tom repeated, to cap off a very successful and enjoyable 4 days climbing.

What a place! This is surely the best sport climbing spot in Alaska: a huge cliff of compact rhyolite, maybe 1 km long, 100 m tall and gently overhanging at the base; free camping on the river, spectacular scenery, and plenty of well bolted routes in the 5.11 - 5.13+ range. Too bad its not closer to Fairbanks, but next summer I'll be back!

Looking across Weiner Lake from the crag; walk in through the fall colours.

Fall is in full effect now. The colours in the beautiful Matanuska Valley were great.Driving the Parks was equally spectacular; this has to be one of the most enjoyable 300 miles to drive anywhere. Tom's stories and music help too though! The final treat was that Denali was out. Absolutely enormous.