Extrasensory Perturbations in Southcentral Alaska

(2007 Quintessential Adventure Running Series Report - July 16-21)

by R.L. DeVelice
7/29/07

Throughout the cosmos lies a staggering array of satisfying exploratory opportunities.  Among the range of options are intraspatial tidepool dipping on Quaylon 7 at one extreme and quadrahermaphroditic expulsion in the far reaches of the Gammulon system at the other.

Closer to home, in the Chugach Front, is a linkup of high points so otherworldly it can ONLY be called "Cosmic Integration".  Originally devised and implemented in the mind and body of the legendary Shawn Lyons, the route connects the 12 highest points in the mountains above Anchorage in a sinuous beat extending over about 40 miles and unmentionable elevation change (click here for map).

The challenge of this linkup stewed in me for years.  I aborted a 2005 attempt after attaining just five of the summits under sweltering heat and stunted ambitions.  Then, a January 2007 article by Joe Stock in "Trail Runner" reinspired my desire and validated the international, if not intergalactic, significance of the route.

And so it is, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, "Cosmic Integration" takes it's righteous place at the start of the 2007 Quintessential Alaska Adventure RUNNING (by damn!) Series.

Seven intrepid adventurers converged at Snowhawk trailhead at 5 am to start a journey in which all seven would revel in the initial summit of Temptation Peak but only two souls (not much in the way of bodies remaining at that point) would surmount the final two Suicide peaks.

Pain comes in a variety of spatial and temporal extents, and intensities.  In my case, pain began on my left little toe on the descent off Temptation, grew with each successive descent, and continued through the six days of the Quintessential.  In fact, as I type this almost two weeks after the onset, my little left toe remains altered, swollen, off-color, and painful in shoes (particularly rock climbing shoes).

To me, ultraendurance is more about the psychological, the extrasensory, the spiritual, the beyond, the essence, than it is about the physical.  Pain is part of the game and sometimes to succeed in ultras requires ignoring the scream of the senses to STOP (you bloody fool)!

There wasn't any extended stopping to be had during the 12-peak linkup since the goal was to finish in under 30 hours.  As peaks were ticked from the list the number of participants progressively dwindled.  Only four of the starters were planning to do the complete shebang so thinning of numbers was expected from the onset.  The actually thinning went like this, in order of peaks:

Temptation - 7 summitters; Tikishla Peak - 6 summitters; West Tanaina, East Tainaina, and Koktoya - 5 summitters; Williwaw, O'Malley, and Hidden - 3 summitters; The Ramp, Avalanche, North Suicide, and South Suicide - 2 summitters.  The trio that completed 8 or more of the peaks was Todd Holmes, Charlie Thomas, and myself.  

The most ominous looking sections of the route were the views of Mount Williwaw from Koktoya Peak and Hausers Gully on the approach to the Suicide peaks.  More on Hausers later...

The six day block of the Quintessential was fortuitously dominated by clear skies preceded and proceeded by wet weather.  I was particularly thankful of the favorable weather because I knew that low clouds and storms would make the linkup neigh impossible to complete.  So it was with some concern that I watched clouds spinning around the summit of Mount Williwaw, the 5445 foot high point of the Chugach Front.  

A narrow, ragged ridge, featured with gendarmes, was our route to the summit and was one of only two sections of the linkup that I had never been on before.  As we proceeded along a sometimes indistinct sheep trail Williwaw moved into and out of clouds but no storm developed.  The biggest obstacle of the ridge was negotiating a four points climb past a gendarme.

To me, the most aesthetic portion of the linkup was the section between Mount Williwaw and Black Lake below O'Malley Peak.  This segment passes a string of beautiful alpine lakes and tarns and is one of the few parts of the linkup with a (wo)man trail.

At Black Lake a devious short cut dredged from the recesses of my mind became our route to the summit of O'Malley Peak.  I had not tried this section before and it began as a very steep tundra ascent from the lake, followed by a steeper yet ascent on ball bearing scree, and culminating in an ever steeper scramble through broken bands of rock.  This short cut brought us to the summit of O'Malley about one hour later than the latest time I had hoped for.  From previous experience I knew that the next peak on the tick list, Hidden, was not one to be messed with in darkness.

Of the 12 peaks, Hidden has the skimpiest information about it and likely resides on few tick lists.  It is guarded on all sides by loose, broken rock and death blocks -- not the kind of place to be wandering around fatigued in the dark.  We made it to the summit in failing light and soon turned on headlamps for our descent though steep gullies and rock bands to Hidden Lake.  We kept the spacing wide between us to maximize opportunity to get out of the way of the inevitable partner dislodged rock fall.

At Hidden Lake, Todd decided to abort his participation in peak bagging for the day.  His legs had succumbed to the relentless onslaught of mega descents.  After Charlie and my excursion up The Ramp the three of us descended to the Powerline Pass Trail and Todd headed out to the Glen Alps Trailhead and civilization.

After an all too brief (30 minutes) bit of shut-eye on the tundra, Charlie and I continued to the tenth peak, Avalanche Mountain.  Ascending Avalanche involved a long side-hilling traverse followed by a scramble to a false (darn it!) summit.  Charlie opted for to continue through craggy bits to the true summit while I descended around and up past a rock rib.  As I proceeded up, Charlie was coming down.  I could see two high points above me and I asked if the high summit was the one on the left or the right.  I confused Charlie's left with my right and proceeded to the left which was not right.  I ended up on the same false summit as before!  This time I opted for Charlie's scramble option to the true summit.

The final phase of the linkup involved struggling over the ridge above Powerline Pass to Rabbit Lake followed by ascents of the two Suicide peaks.  Just above Rabbit a most ominous site emerged -- the 1000 foot plus Hausers Gully.  We ascended this scree choked burner of the psyche by pulling up on the rocks forming the gully edges (Charlie on the right, I on the left) while our feet skated in the scree.

Through all this, Charlie continued to emit positive vibes and commentary and powered up and down each peak at amazing rates.  Hats off to you Charlie!  In contrast, the struggle of the journey progressively showed in my monosyllabic responses and slowing rates of movement.

In my view, North Suicide is one of the top three summits of the twelve in beauty and geographic splendor.  Guess the other two.

Finishing the linkup on two peaks named "Suicide" was a fitting end to a journey requiring so much mental and physical energy to complete.  Anne Ver Hoef rendezvoused with us below South Suicide and provided delicious sandwiches and wonderful companionship on our final bit out to the Falls Creek Trailhead.

After about 34 hours of elapsed time the twelve-peak linkup was complete but four more days of Quintessential Adventures remained!

Days 3, 4, and 5 involved a spectacular point-to-point fast pack through the Talkeetna Mountains highcountry.  Jeff Arndt led this outing which took us past Eska Falls, Granite Peak, to the headwaters of Granite Creek (yee haa!), down the King River, past Castle Mountain, and on to Chickaloon.  Five completed this route including Jeff, Anne, Todd, Jane Baldwin, and myself.

The day 6 finale was a figure-of-nine in the Girdwood area following the Winner Creek Trail to Berry Pass, continuing to the headwaters of Winner Creek, sidehilling to the ridge splitting Winner and Glacier creeks, and finishing on snowcat trails and the initial segment of the Winner Creek Trail.  Participants in this visitation to natural oriental gardens were Anne, Todd, Charlie, Jason Hlasny, and myself.

So ended the fourth annual Quintessential Alaska Adventure Running Series.  Check out the photo links posted at the Quintessential website to get a sense of the magnificence of these unique adventures.

Quintessential 2008 has entered the brain wave stage and Anne Ver Hoef is joining forces with Jeff and I to figure out the when and where's, SO STAY TUNED!