Bomber Traverse 25 Mile
Talkeetna Mountains
July 20
    J.T. Lindholm
    Mike Morganson
    JP Ingenbrightsen
    Jeff Arndt
    Rob DeVelice
5 starters

In bad weather and off course a B-29 bomber crashed on what is now known as the Bomber Glacier on November 15, 1957.  Four of the 10 man crew survived.  Today, the wreckage remains on the surface of the glacier just over half way on the Bomber Traverse.

Of the five participants in the 2004 outing, two included ice axes and one set of crampons in their rucksacks.  As would be discovered, these items would prove valuable in completing the circuit.  In most years, the two glaciers that are crossed have sufficient snow on their surfaces to provide reassuring traction.  This year, however, weeks of record warmth melted most of the snow and left behind solid, slippery, ice.

The route began on the well maintained Gold Mint Trail up the Little Susitna River.  The scenery was a magical melange of verdant slopes, towering granite spires, and spectacular waterfalls.  After about 7 miles of easy terrain the trail turned steeply uphill to an airy catwalk leading to Mint Hut, high in a cirque basin.  After a shin scrapping ascent through loose boulders and scree the view of Pennyroyal Glacier emerged through the mist at Backdoor Gap.

As one of the two with an ice ax, I scouted ahead to test the conditions on the glacier.  To keep from rocketing down the steep bits, it was necessary to chop steps.  Meanwhile, JT, with ice ax and crampons, romped around on the ice seemingly without effort.  Given that conditions on the ice were just too treacherous without traction devices, I asked JT to inform our three other compadres to turn around and head back.  Just as JT arrived with the message, a rock dislodged above the quartet and came rocketing down between them.  With that exclamation point our party divided into a pair with ice axes that continued with the glacier traverse and a trio without axes that completed an out and back.

In the end, the two parties logged about the same distance and reveled in a fine day of adventure in spectacular country.