An Alaska Summer Must Do!

If you look up Lost Lake on-line it will tell you:

Seasons: All Year

Difficulty: Difficult

Activity: Hiking, Backpacking, Skiing, Snow machine

Lengths: 15 Miles

I would have to add that it is one my favorites and a must do every summer. Surprisingly it worked out that Sherrie, Tanya and I all had the same day off....was meant to be! This was the longest that Tanya had ever run, which she did in fine style. It took us three hours, perfect weather, ran in sports bras for perhaps the first time all summer, huge yellow salmon berries along the way, and we scored a ride back to our car as soon as we finished!

Mamma-T Climbs in the Sun - Lovers Leap

I'm just going to start this blog entry off with one of the coolest Lover Leap photos ever.....! Did you notice its sunny.....?

What to say about Lovers Leap...cool featured rock, sunny and warm, multi-pitch trad, cool in the mornings and hot in the afternoons, moderates, did i mention sun?




And sure enough I ran into my friend Stephanie from years ago....!



Climbing....a blessing or a curse....depends on the day. But how am i ever thankful and greatful for it coming into my life....Tanya - a teacher, a mentor and a friend....I couldn't have asked for a better climbing partner over the years! Thanks for taking time for such an amazing trip!

Fireweed Revisited!

My friend Jessica put this together for a class she was taking....Enjoy!

Ascending Path Office Person Gets Out for a Day!

Ok, office person becomes guide for a day. And I am sure at this point in time everyone is tired of hearing me talk about my first Glacier Hike as a guide....but i LOVED it. Maybe it was the super beautiful day or the super fun clients or just the awesome guides on the trip....but it was certainly one of my summer highlights - Ok, i haven't been getting out very much. Enjoy the photos!

My first clients!

Cathy and me! Should have gotten a shot of all of us...Heather, Ryan, Cathy and me.

One of the rope teams heading up the bowl.

A little slide show for your viewing pleasure!

Chasing Donuts on Pioneer Peak And Finding a Piece of the Sky!!

You might be wondering what we were doing chasing donuts on Pioneer Peak, the 6398-foot mountain outside of Palmer, but it seemed like a good place to go, and we certainly found them here and there! Sherrie and I headed out on a somewhat cloudy day trying to find that weather window, that one patch of blue, that Donut in the sky - blue sky in the middle surrounded by dark stormy clouds....It was certainly dark and grey to the south and perhaps slightly less grey to the north....so we thought if there was going to be any circle in the sun, it would be on Pioneer. A beautiful, very wet and sloggy trail quickly opened to alpine tundra walking.....a ridge-line and some rock scrambling towards the top. We thought we might hike through the clouds and enjoy the sun at the very top, but the clouds remained...and only became more thick (is that correct English?). Here is a slideshow for your viewing pleasure! (Thank you Sherrie for the wonderful day and for showing me the coolest blogging technique ever! I'm addicted!)

The Meaning of the Olympic Rings....

The meaning of the Olympic Rings is a very symbolic meaning and it was designed by Frenchman who was named Baron Pierre de Coubertin in 1912, he is also regarded as the father of the modern day Olympics, and the founder of the International Olympic Committee. Baron Pierre de Coubertin wanted there to be an important meaning of the Olympic rings and he wanted to ensure that the Olympic flag would be universally accepted for all the nations involved and he wanted to make this flag a part of the new Olympic Tradition. As you can see the flag is still flown today in both the winter and the Summer Olympic events, and this is just as important to the Olympics as the traditional Olympic torch.

The original thoughts as to the meaning of the Olympic rings on the flag of the Olympic Games is the symbolism of the five different colored rings, all interlinked together. These five multicolored Olympic rings stand for the five continents where the athletes traveled from to take part in the sporting competitions of these Olympic events. The reason for the interlocking rings on the Olympic flag is symbolic in showing that the Olympic Games are intended for all nations to be able to come and compete against one another in unity. The meaning of the Olympic rings colors is not of any important significance, but the five colors of the Olympic rings and the white background have at least one color of every nation’s flag in them. The design of the Olympic flag was first made in 1914 but it was not flown in the Olympic Games until 1920, when the games were held in the city of Antwerp, Belgium and it has been flown in every Olympic Event since that was not cancelled due to war.

Fishing with a Hot Rod!

Here fishy fishy!! Time to go Halibut Fishing!
Brian, Sue and I headed to Seward to do a fishing charter....well, Brian actually went to go scuba diving....I think he is crazy.

We arrived late, of course, and got the last camp site in town...."Hot Rod". Of course this became the joke for the next 24 hours.

Sue and the Captain with the first catch of the day!







Sue with the second catch of the day! Cool looking rock fish!



It truly was a great day...calm water, cool, but not cold. A great group of folks on the boat. Final count was three halibut and two rock fish...not so bad! And the best part was the captain cleaned the fish!!!