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After successfully completing the NOLS Alaska mountaineering course, I finally got back home today. I’ll sort out all the notes I’ve jotted down during the trip and share my learning and living experience on this blog soon. Below is a short description written by Pat, one of the four outstanding instructors, about what we did during the 30-day period:

AKM6 7/15/06 Course Summary

This Alaska mountaineering course was composed of 11 students and 3 instructors. The expedition took place in the Chugach Mountains of south central Alaska. The group traveled up the Matanuska glacier and focused on basic camp and travel skills. They moved up to 7,100 feet and learned the basics of roped travel and crevasse rescue. Once this foundation of skills was established they took five days in an attempt to climb Mt. Marcus Baker. This is the highest peak in the Chugach. They ended up making it to the slightly lower north summit at 12,360 feet. The expedition then moved towards turtle flats in difficult whiteout conditions. At 8,500 feet they encountered a storm with wind gusts of over 50 mph. After the storm the course took the opportunity to climb on turtle flats in small groups. The course then started to move down the Matanuska with students leading the majority of the time. The expedition covered 85 miles and gained 15,000 feet of elevation over the course of 28 field days. There were three rerations done by bush plane throughout the course. There were no evacuations on this course. In closing, this was a fun and cohesive expedition that performed well in these challenging mountains.

A link to the photos